Are there any 3/3.5 Adventures that don't suck?

[Pramas]

I also like the 3 original Freeport adventures (Death, Terror, Madness in Freeport)) by Green Ronin. There's additional adventures now, including Tales of Freeport, Black Sails and even a Dungeon Magazine contribution, but I haven't run those. Hell in Freeport is pretty brutal, so I would advise caution if you decide to run it, and probably assume the party needs to be at least 2 levels higher than recommended to have a shot at surviving some of the nastier encounters.

FYI, while Death in Freeport has been out of print for a couple of years now, a 3.5 revised version of it is now available as a PDF on RPGNow.com.

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2865

 

[diaglo]

y'all should check out this thread: http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=93633&page=1

 

[Treebore]

If you decide to give Necro a try may I recommend saving some money by going to my favorite on-line store? They have Necro modules, banewarrens, and lots of other stuff at about 50% off, while supplies last. I bought about 10 books during this sale and the shipping was like 5 or 6 dollars.

And the Freeport stuff was tickling the back of my brain during my original post. In other words, those are very good too.

Can anyone tell me a good site to get Ed Cha's modules? rpgnow? anywhere else?

If interested it is stiggybaby dot com.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

The Witchfire Trilogy from Privateer Press is good, but sometimes uneven. It would benefit immensely from the Iron Kingdom's Campaign Guide. (Note to Privateer Press: Hint, Hint.)

Don't know what YOU'RE hinting at...I've got my Iron Kingdoms Character Guide on my desk, next to my computer, reading it as I type.

 

[Americano]

Of WotC's adventure path series, I would recommend Sunless Citadel and Forge of Fury, which is the best of the group, I think. Individual tastes differ on the remaining modules, and without knowing your playstyle, I couldn't say.

My group loved Sunless Citadel, liked Forge of Fury. They found Speaker in Dreams somewhat less rewarding (I liked the concept a lot, but they were bewildered at times). We just started The Standing Stone last session. I'm finding Standing Stone quite challenging to run, as they PCs seem to have no idea what the heck is going on (they really need to work on their interactions with NPCs... oh, and not killing everything that moves. Hint for my players: If an enemy tries to surrender to you he might be willing to talk and, I don't know, tell you some information you need. This is easier if he still has his head.).

I haven't run any other 3-3.5 modules, though I have a few in the works for future (Hero Snare is one I am looking forward to running a group of victim...er, players through).

 

[Saeviomagy]

My group loved Sunless Citadel, liked Forge of Fury.

These were good. Classic dungeon crawls with interesting points.

They found Speaker in Dreams somewhat less rewarding (I liked the concept a lot, but they were bewildered at times).

Frankly this was awful. The party would just hang around until a random (and blindingly obvious) clue was dropped. Wererats attack the fair? The old clocktower is full of rats? duh...

And then finally you kill off all these unassociated groups, and assume they're all unrelated, and then another unassociated group takes over the town, so you kill them too.

It was like a one-room-after-the-other alphabet dungeon. I mean sure there was supposed to be a plot, but it was totally irrelevant, unneeded and inscrutable.

We just started The Standing Stone last session. I'm finding Standing Stone quite challenging to run, as they PCs seem to have no idea what the heck is going on (they really need to work on their interactions with NPCs... oh, and not killing everything that moves. Hint for my players: If an enemy tries to surrender to you he might be willing to talk and, I don't know, tell you some information you need. This is easier if he still has his head.).

The problem with this one was that there's basically never any chance for you to talk to people who DO know what's going on. All of them just seem to attack you on sight. Even the ones which aren't supposed to be evil.

This played very much like speaker in dreams, except more frustrating, because there weren't obvious clues on what to kill next, and we had to keep track of how much food we had the whole damn time.

And finally in the end, we'd have had the same effect on the situation if we'd just let the village starve to death.

Basically it ended up as a 'kill em all and let gawd sort em out', but with some epilogue that told us what had actually happened.

Nightfang spire was a tedious dungeon crawl, and again it made with the "good guys attack on sight" thing.

Hint: If you want the party to communicate with a race, don't have room after room of them immediately attack on sight before the party meets the good ones. Chances are the party will win initiative and jump the good guys, slaughtering them all.

 

[Ed Cha]

Agreed!

I used the Hamlet of Thumble as the starting point for our most recent campaign, which consists of Orc PC's. The halfling village was going to be a key component and the site of a major conflict (read: Orc feeding frenzy), however, the campaign took an unexpected twist and the PCs never got to lay seige to the village

I wish more companies would provide alternate alignment plot-lines like Open World. The section on how to run the module as evil characters inspired this entire campaign. Kudos!!

I love reading posts like this! I'm so glad you enjoyed "The Hamlet of Thumble", Drakonus. It was actually called "innovative" by many people, including Gary Gygax. He really liked the multiple-variable encounter tables. Were the orc PCs allies of the "yappies" or wandering adventurer-thugs? Can you tell me how your evil PCs campaign is going? I've always wanted to run a long-term evil game.

Also, have you taken them to "The Village of Oester"? That one is more ambiguous in the good/evil dichotomy, but I'd be interested in knowing how an evil group might twist the politics with the king, baron, and viscountess over the land deal.

 

[Ed Cha]

Great topic, I gotta pick up a copy of The Hamlet Of Thumble now. Hehe. I personally enjoy adventures that feature problem solving (puzzles, traps, etc), second is role-playing and hacking/slashing is least important. Any recommendations that would fit this bill? 3.5 compatible and relatively low level as well. The more detail the better because I'm a DM that buys modules because I don't have time to make my own. Thanks!

Hi, Brandigan! Thanks for your interest. Lots of detail to be found in the World of Whitethorn series, as that's my trademark.

"The Hamlet of Thumble" can be used for good or evil PCs and has scenarios for each. Also, it has a fully-detailed mini-setting for use over and over again. There are supplemental rules like three new core classes, dozens of new spells, tips for DMs, and more in the back. It's a great way to start a new campaign and highly recommended for new DMs.

"The Village of Oester" has a lot of political intrigue, quirky NPC encounters, tricky situations, sexual seduction, and great artwork! It has a darker tone than its predecessor. There's more adventure and less setting, but lots of expandable areas like "The Town of Mullikin" included as a free bonus.

Good luck and please let me know how you like them.

 

[Ed Cha]

Can anyone tell me a good site to get Ed Cha's modules? rpgnow? anywhere else?

Treebore, you can pick up the adventure settings at www.rpgshop.com or PM me and I'll have someone send you copies direct with free shipping.

I've been trying to get you on board for a while now, so I'm glad to see your interest! Please let me know what you think.

Also, thank you to Gothmog, trancejeremy, Buttercup, diaglo, and others for the good mentions! Always appreciated.

By the way, are new reviews of the books at Silven Crossroads:

"The Hamlet of Thumble"
http://www.silven.com/adnd.asp?case=show&id=302

"The Village of Oester"
http://www.silven.com/adnd.asp?case=show&id=350

 

[MerricB]

The Speaker in Dreams (for my group) was a fantastic adventure. I think it fitted my style as a DM and their styles as players extremely well, though I understand why other people might not enjoy it as much.

Another Adventure Path module which is generally considered to suck is Deep Horizon, but I had a ball running that adventure. I changed a few things around to fit my campaign, but on the whole it preserved the idea of the original adventure.

It just shows you - even with a bunch of very knowledgable people making recommendations about an adventure, their advice still might have no relevance to your experiences.

Cheers!