1993 - a bumper year for adventures!

[Orius]

Also, the majority of those are setting-specific. The only one there that I recognize as generic is Dragon Mountain, which is a supposed to be an old-school style mega dungeon crawl.

I'd argue that 1998 was 2e's best overall year.

 

[Echohawk]

My copy of UK2 is 1983 in the copyright, but its a UK copy... Did they release earlier in the uK? .... I don't have a copy of b7, but it was originally published in 1979, republished in 1984. C3 was 1984 according to my copy, and I don't have O2, wiki says 1984, though that again is a UK release date

The Sentinel has a registered publication date of 1984-02-01 in the US Copyright Office database, but says "Copyright 1983" inside the adventure. Either TSR was tardy with the copyright registration process, or The Sentinel was delayed slightly during production/printing. I don't think the UK series was released early in the UK -- I have a vague recollection of the opposite, that they were available in the UK slightly later than in the US [citation needed!].

I can't find a registration for The Lost Island of Castanamir in the US Copyright Office database, but it does have a 1984 copyright date printed inside. It would also make sense for it to have been a 1984 release to have come out ahead of the next title in the C series (To Find a King, February 1985). But over the years, TSR's production schedule strayed from a sequential release for more than one of their series (the A and OA series spring to mind). I believe that Castanamir was an example of this, and I think that it only came out in about March 1985, after C4. My main reason for thinking that is an advertorial on page 32 of Dragon #93 (January 1985), which lists Castanamir under "Coming Attractions".

O2: Blade of Vengeance says 1984 inside, but has a publication date of 1985-02-15 in the copyright database. It's also listed under "Coming Attractions" on page 64 of Dragon #94 (February 1985), which makes me lean towards 1985 for that one.

Rahasia was first published in May 1979 by Daystar West, then republished as RPGA1: Rahasia in April 1983 and then finally combined with RPGA2: Black Opal Eye to make B7: Rahasia. B7 has a 1984-07-30 publication date listed in the copyright database, so it was probably an August 1984 release.

 

[Zardnaar]

Speaking as an adventure junkie who was well into the hobby by then- never played any of these and I've only seen a couple of them.

Pretty much every adventure that I looked at from the late 1e period until a few excellent late 2e additions was total crap.

The good adventures were in Dungeon magazine in that time period IMHO. The original list really shows the fragmentation of TSRs game worlds.

 

[N'raac]

Believe me, quantity does not make up for quality. This was the era of railroad adventures, where the modules punished you for not trying to be the good guys.

This was also the early days of 2e, with (it seemed) TSR trying to capture the market of game accessories and modules. 2e was also the "clean up our image" edition - get rid of demons and get rid of evil characters - so there is definitely a basis for modules assuming the PC's would be the good guys - that was the push for 2e, especially early 2e.

The good adventures were in Dungeon magazine in that time period IMHO. The original list really shows the fragmentation of TSRs game worlds.

This predates the advent of splatbooks, rules additions, etc. books, so modules were pretty much the only accessory published with any regularity. The efforts to support multiple game worlds was pretty clear. If each one had found an audience and role playing games become a mainstream pastime, that might be an effective business strategy - make D&D "all things to all people" and capture more market share. But that's a bit "if"!

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

I only have experience with one of the adventures on the OP's list, Dark of the Moon, but had quite a bit of fun with it at the time. I DMed it back in the 90s and took a group of Dragonlance characters through it, including a Kender. Kender in Ravenloft was quite amusing. At any rate, the only player who didn't have fun was the one who insisted on creating an urban based thief as the adventure was mostly based around a wintery wilderness.

 

[Zardnaar]

This was also the early days of 2e, with (it seemed) TSR trying to capture the market of game accessories and modules. 2e was also the "clean up our image" edition - get rid of demons and get rid of evil characters - so there is definitely a basis for modules assuming the PC's would be the good guys - that was the push for 2e, especially early 2e.



This predates the advent of splatbooks, rules additions, etc. books, so modules were pretty much the only accessory published with any regularity. The efforts to support multiple game worlds was pretty clear. If each one had found an audience and role playing games become a mainstream pastime, that might be an effective business strategy - make D&D "all things to all people" and capture more market share. But that's a bit "if"!

By 1993 a good chunk of the 2nd ed complete books and tome of magic had been published already.

 

[JeffB]

2e is just the pregame warmup for the D20/OGL glut. There are some gems, you just have to sift through loads of crap to find them.

 

[TerraDave]

When I first read the title I thought it said "a bummer year for adventures".

Then I looked at the list...and thought it again.

 

[MerricB]

When I first read the title I thought it said "a bummer year for adventures".

Then I looked at the list...and thought it again.

It was a bumper, bummer year for adventures?

 

[Zardnaar]

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.