1993 - a bumper year for adventures!

[MerricB]

Didn't 2nd ed have like 2 decent published adventures? The Night Below and Labyrinth of Madness+ Dungeon magazine? The intro to the 1st DS set was ok as well.

There were actually more than two decent adventures in 2E, but - as you can see from the list I posted - they were few and far between. One of the biggest problems is just identifying which adventures were decent, with so many published and the base splintered so much, many of these adventures would hardly have been seen by players and DMs - and certainly not enough to register as decent.

I am very fond of Feast of Goblyns, the first of the Ravenloft adventures (published 1990), which I ran to great effect in a 3E campaign a few years ago. One of the interesting features of the era are the "railroad" plots, but for today's gamer, such plots aren't quite so unfamiliar (Paizo's adventure paths are a case in point). Railroading isn't that bad - but it all depends on how it is handled in the adventures.

I'm also quite fond of how Shadowdale reads - one of the Avatar trilogy, which is rightfully condemned as a horrible series - but the problems are only partly due to the railroaded plot, and much more due to the way the NPCs get to do all the important things (like become gods), making the story much more about them than the players. That's a cardinal mistake in adventure writing. The Dragonlance series (1E) did get that right; the players take on the roles of the heroes, whether as the pregenerated PCs or as their own.

Cheers!

 

[howandwhy99]

What do you think about City of Skulls and Swamplight?

I remember my college gaming group at the time liked Jungles of Chult and the Darksun adventures you listed, but little was done with it. Dragon Mountain we actually played, but it was highly modified. It's actually a poor adventure that railroads you into the mountain and then provides the DM with a number of huge maps that are utterly vacant and uninspired in design. Far worse than even the Undermountain box sets, of which the first isn't too bad.

One of the HHQ class challenge adventure is famously good, but I think it was Thief's Challenge II, not I. So much of the other material was considered by customers as setting specific and offered little more than setting really. This was the advent of the non-game adventure, synposes are of what the PCs WILL do, and Act/Scene illusionism is dabbled in.

By contrast warbringer's 1984 is far better and even that was a time of transitioning for adventures in the hobby. The DLs were insanely popular, but completely unlike an adventure you'd play as a game. B6, UK3, snf WG5 are all standouts, but there are many good ones there. ...Also UK2 & B7 rock too, from Echohawks expanded list.

"The Jade Hare" is one of the worst adventures published by TSR, but was famous in the 90s as being exceptionally rare and one of the collectors' holy grails. I'm guessing it still auctions for between $500-1000. It's 5-6 bland rooms of a cave missing it's wizard IIRC. The other two uniques Echohawk mentions I don't know of.

Zardnaar's right. The best adventure material in the 2e/1990s era was in Dungeon magazine. But there's some decent setting material from then

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Didn't 2nd ed have like 2 decent published adventures? The Night Below and Labyrinth of Madness+ Dungeon magazine? The intro to the 1st DS set was ok as well.

I would definitely add:

- Gates of Firestorm Peak;and
- The Shattered Circle,

to that list and, arguably, Return to the Tomb of Horrors for a Bruce Cordell-authored trifecta.

(snip) I'm also quite fond of how Shadowdale reads - one of the Avatar trilogy, which is rightfully condemned as a horrible series - but the problems are only partly due to the railroaded plot, and much more due to the way the NPCs get to do all the important things (like become gods), making the story much more about them than the players. That's a cardinal mistake in adventure writing. (snip)

I thoroughly detest that adventure for the same reasons... and yet it is a wonderful sourcebook that I am referring to a lot for my upcoming 4E campaign that will be set in Shadowdale.