D&D General The most played D&D Adventure of all time

[Lanefan]

I've never looked at Curse of Strahd - how close is it to I6 Ravenloft? I ask as I'm wondering if they're close enough to lump together as being the same module or not.

As a point of comparison, I wouldn't see Village of Hommlet and Temple of Elemental Evil as being the same even though ToEE includes Hommlet as a chapter.

 

[Echohawk]

I've never looked at Curse of Strahd - how close is it to I6 Ravenloft? I ask as I'm wondering if they're close enough to lump together as being the same module or not.

As a point of comparison, I wouldn't see Village of Hommlet and Temple of Elemental Evil as being the same even though ToEE includes Hommlet as a chapter.

Curse of Strahd is Ravenloft with a bunch of extra content added around the core adventure. Even if someone playing through CoS spent most of their time exploring the new content, there will still be a core Ravenloft experience holding it all together. In other words, there is a lot more overlap than with T1/T1-4. Enough to call them the same adventure? That's a harder call.

 

[Zardnaar]

Well we don't have exact figures on sales let alone players.

It pretty much has to be B2 or LMoP. LMoP has probably outsold B2 by a factor of 2-3.

So it's basically a question if the extra 35 odd years is enough time to make up those numbers.

Sunless Citadel probably wouldn't break top 5. Next up probably ToEE or CoS.

After that probably the next biggest selling 1E or 5E adventure. Maybe X1.

 

[jasper]

Village of Hommlet is up there too.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Forest Oracle.

 

[the Jester]

How many editions (not to mention the 5e playtest) has there been a version of Keep on the Borderlands for?

 

[Clint_L]

How many editions (not to mention the 5e playtest) has there been a version of Keep on the Borderlands for?

How far do we want to stretch the definition of "version"? There was the original module that was packed into the beginner set in the early 80s, which was then re-released as part of a collection a few years later. There was a sequel the late 90s, and a kind of revised interpretation of it for 4e, I think. Plus a "reincarnated" version for 5e, by a 3PP.

I think the vast majority of people who would have encountered and played it would have done so through it being packed into Basic. That was how we got it, and we didn't even play Basic. But everyone got a set from an Aunt or someone who heard you into D&D, since it was like ten bucks, so we kept the module and played through it using AD&D creatures and rules.

Thinking more on it, I suspect the answer to the OPs question is "Phandelver." It's been in print as a main title for longer than B2 was, during a period when more folks played D&D.

 

[MerricB]

How many editions (not to mention the 5e playtest) has there been a version of Keep on the Borderlands for?

Probably fewer than you think.

It first come out in 1980.
It then shipped with the Moldvay set (1981-2). It was not in the Red Box (Mentzer) Basic set of 1983.
It went out of print in the mid-1980s.

The 10th Anniversary D&D Collector's Set in 1984 had it - 1000 copies of that was made.
The Caves of Chaos portion was reproduced in B1-9 In Search of Adventure (1987).
It was reprinted in full for the Silver Anniversary Collector's Set (1999).
The Caves of Chaos portion was used during the playtest. (2012).
It was reproduced in full in the prestige product, Into the Borderlands (Goodman Games, 2018).

Modules inspired by it:

• Return to the Keep on the Borderlands (AD&D 2E, 1999).
• Keep on the Borderlands: A Season of Serpents (D&D 4E, 2010)

Actual editions that printed a version that was the original updated to the new stats? Basic D&D (Holmes), Basic D&D (Moldvay). D&D Next playtest.

Return to the Keep on the Borderlands has the same basic plan, but greatly changes the cave descriptions (and Keep descriptions). I wouldn't count it as a reprint. Likewise for A Season of Serpents.

Cheers,
Merric

 

[Clint_L]

Thanks Merric. Yeah, I think we old-timers think B2 is more ubiquitous than it actually was.

 

[MerricB]

Thanks Merric. Yeah, I think we old-timers think B2 is more ubiquitous than it actually was.

There's no doubt there are a LOT of copies of it out there... I myself have several.

That it wasn't in the 1983 set was a bit of shock to me. (I started with the Moldvay Basic set of 1981).

I'm really curious about the Village of Hommlet. A few people have suggested that was the most popular adventure and I can't see it.

(What I can remember of playing T1 in the late 80s can be found here).

Cheers,
Merric