Recommend me an old school campaign

[Koppe]

Me and my bunch of very old schoolers (We still play BECMI) have now played through all BECMI adventures and most of the notable AD&D stuff. Now we have our eyes on Swords and Wizardry stuff. Which S&W campaign would you recommend for a group that wants something more than just the regular dungeon crawling? We have already played The lost city of Barakus.

Here’s a list of the campaings we are considering. Feel free to suggest also any outside these:

The Blight
City of Brass
Cults of the sundered kingdoms
Necropolis (2021 version for S&W)
Razor coast
The Northlands saga
Splinters of faith
Stoneheart valley
The Slumbering Tsar saga
The Sword of air

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Have you payed the old Judge’s Guild stuff from back in the day?

 

[jdrakeh]

Wolf's Head Tor by Pauli Kidd, now available on DriveThruRPG, is pretty good stuff despite a number of minor spelling errors (none of which affect the playability of the setting/campaign). Barrowmaze Complete is, likewise, very good (but also betrayed by a number of spelling errors). It is very undead heavy, though, so plan for that.

 

[Koppe]

Have you payed the old Judge’s Guild stuff from back in the day?

Only Caverns of Tharchia, which was great. They might be worth checking out, ty. Is there any particular adventure you liked?

 

[Koppe]

Wolf's Head Tor by Pauli Kidd, now available on DriveThruRPG, is pretty good stuff despite a number of minor spelling errors (none of which affect the playability of the setting/campaign).

Thank you. I’ve never heard of that one. Now that I’ve checked the link, OMG…

A side-trip to hell!

Arctic playgrounds!

Dinosaurs!


Is it really that all over the place or is there some common thread beneath all that craziness?

 

[LoganRan]

Me and my bunch of very old schoolers (We still play BECMI) have now played through all BECMI adventures and most of the notable AD&D stuff. Now we have our eyes on Swords and Wizardry stuff. Which S&W campaign would you recommend for a group that wants something more than just the regular dungeon crawling? We have already played The lost city of Barakus.

Here’s a list of the campaings we are considering. Feel free to suggest also any outside these:

The Blight
City of Brass
Cults of the sundered kingdoms
Necropolis (2021 version for S&W)
Razor coast
The Northlands saga
Splinters of faith
Stoneheart valley
The Slumbering Tsar saga
The Sword of air

Your group wants something more than dungeon crawling?!? And you call yourselves "old school"?!? Turn in your grognard card on the way out, Sir/Madam!

 

[Lidgar]

Of those you listed, I only have experience with Necropolis (the 3.5e version). It's good (verging on great), but requires a fair amount of work from the DM to make sure it fits your group's playstyle and to really bring the village and NPC's to life. It's classic Gygax - think ToH mixed with Homlett/ToEE - so without getting into spoilers, know that going in.

 

[GuyBoy]

I’ve DM-ed Necropolis, Northlands and Razor Coast and would recommend each of them very highly. As to choosing between them; it’s more about what style of campaign ( Ancient Egypt, Pirate or Viking) that your group prefer. Necropolis is actually Gygax, so that might swing it.
I’ve played Slumbering Tsar and loved it (shout out to the DM, @TheSword ). It’s a meat-grinder, but also some great opportunities to roleplay and very grimdark.
One poster mentioned Caverns of Thracia which is also superb.

Not sure whether this helps you make a selection, but, wow, these old-school campaigns are awesome!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Only Caverns of Tharchia, which was great. They might be worth checking out, ty. Is there any particular adventure you liked?

Tegel Manor and Dark Tower are classic adventures, IMHO.

I also used the various City States, Portals, and Wilderlands setting supplements as standalone or drop-in settings at various times.

The Wilderlands got the most use because it was sprawling, had great maps, and was largely left “incomplete” so you could flesh things out for yourself. Some of the included encounters were not suitable for all adventurers.

The Portals supplements were essentially like Stargate, decades before Stargate was a thing.

 

[jdrakeh]

Thank you. I’ve never heard of that one. Now that I’ve checked the link, OMG…

A side-trip to hell!

Arctic playgrounds!

Dinosaurs!


Is it really that all over the place or is there some common thread beneath all that craziness?

It's pretty wild, but that level of gonzo is perfectly in line with early-era D&D and its many spin-offs (e.g. Arduin, Blackmoor, etc).