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

[wakedown]

I've recently run both Forge of Fury and Speaker in Dreams for my group. Both ended up working really well, but I did some good retrofitting for both before I ran them. I dumped Forge into Greyhawk (in the Lortmils) and gave the party a mission to free a captive I place there (a lot of backstory I'll skip to avoid spoilers). I think they really felt the place was 'cool' since each level had an interesting name (The Glitterhame, The Sinkhole) and they had a dwarf NPC who was pointing out the history of each area as they went through.

I gutted the town in Speaker and morphed it into Safeton in Greyhawk (a walled city generally safe and not allowing weapons - perfect!) The group already knew about Safeton (Safe-town) so they were immediately intrigued when they surveyed the guards (who show up late to the first disturbance) and merchants - only to find out all sorts of B.S. was "suddenly occuring". To them, a sudden break-out in attacks throughout the city *must* be connected. They were very intent in each encounter to try to take captives and question them to try to find a connection, which I happy to provide pieces to - it was great to see their trepidation heading to the bookstore...

Now, they're off to celebrate their success with one Dame Gold... *cough* and some real fun will begin!

In general, I think you can make some satisfying adventures if as a DM you take a little bit of time and read through them and try to personalize them to the characters and campaign. I've gotten a lot of mileage out of things like Dungeon and AEG's Toolbox to add a little spice and detail when needed.

 

[Ghostwind]

Song of Storms was, in my opinion, one of the best written modules produced by MonkeyGod Enterprises. It does require more roleplay and critical problem solving/thinking than the standard hack-slash kill the BBEG module, which is why I liked it so much. However, for pure monster killing fun, you can't go wrong with the Rappan Athuk trilogy. My beginner's group decided to take a break from it because of the high party mortality rate.

 

[Mystery Man]

Song of Storms was, in my opinion, one of the best written modules produced by MonkeyGod Enterprises. It does require more roleplay and critical problem solving/thinking than the standard hack-slash kill the BBEG module, which is why I liked it so much. However, for pure monster killing fun, you can't go wrong with the Rappan Athuk trilogy. My beginner's group decided to take a break from it because of the high party mortality rate.

Key of Destiny is also written by Chris Coyle. Just an observation.

Lately I look for authors of the modules, I have my favorites and when I see their name on the cover I snap it up. Doesn't matter what setting it's in.

 

[JesterPoet]

...I really like the module for Midnight called "Crown of Shadow" though numerous people have slammed it for the reasons I like it. I really like it because it presents an adventure/campaign framework and requires the DM to pull their weight instead of relying on grey boxes to read to the players...It is like decorating a Christmas tree from the bottom up to the top. The tree is the module and you add an "ornament" here and there until you are finished with the whole (campaign).

I have to agree with this. CoS is a great module, and is set up perfectly for "building" a great adventure. If you just want to run it straight out of the book, it very well may suck, but if you're willing to put in some time and make add some meat to the skeleton it provides, you've got yourself a definite winner.

 

[S'mon]

Well, I gave Lost City of Gaxmoor 3/5 - it has problems (building maps unkeyed, CR 20+ BBEG melee type in a level 1-10 scenario) but overall it doesn't suck, in fact it's quite good fun IMO. I also bought Necropolis: sucks - but you don't realise it at first, it's a campaign-killer - fine as a sourcebook though and Bastion of Broken Souls: sucks, it's dry as dust and utterly unengaging.

So, there y'go - buy Lost City of Gaxmoor, it doesn't suck (mostly).

 

[Drakonus]

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.

The Orcs were definitely not friends of the "yappies", in fact, it was the Kobold lair that kind of set things off in my head. I decided that my PCs Orc clan needed to have a staging point for their assault on the halfling village. So, they basically wiped out all the Kobolds. That was a very fun session - my PCs have never role-played so well. Crazy orcs running around all over the place, falling into every pit trap, getting stuck in small corridors. They came up with some very clever (for Orcs) solutions to some of the problems they ran into. Also, I must say, the PCs took to smashing the hatchery with much glee. It was fun - in a very disturbing sort of way.

But they never did reach the halfling village. I had planned an ambush by a rival Orc clan for shortly after they left the Kobold caves, unfortunately, I didn't anticipate the routing that the PCs would receive at their hands. So, I had them captured (and tortured) by the rival clan, which of course led to an escape. During the escape, the PCs battled many "Black Orcs" (which are detailed in Kingdoms of Kalamar's Orc Sourcebook) and discovered that this rival clan is bolstering their numbers by somehow magically creating these new fierce warriors (stolen from LOTR, but it is working effectively).

The PCs then managed to find the location where many of these Black Orcs were being 'created' and killed the Ogre Mage that was assisting with the process.

At that point the tensions between the two clans were reaching the point where I decided that the best thing would be to have a huge clan conflict to settle the matter once and for all. That's about where we are right now. The PCs are about 5th level and I'm planning a major battle to ensue (hopefully) next weekend.

I think I will end the campaign after that epic battle. This was always desigend to be a very short campaing and I think that will be a fitting end.

 

[Treebore]

OK Ed, I finally bought your modules.

Merric,

I totally agree. I have ran a lot of adventures and had a blast with them, just to find other people thought they sucked.

For example: NeMorens Vault. Some people have had a lot of fun with this module, I'm one of them. Others thought it sucked. Was the module badly edited? Yes. Did it have information missing and/or out of sequence? Yes.

Did this keep me from fixing it, adapting it to my style of DMing, and having a great time with it? No.

That is why I am willing to buy any module out there. No matter how much I may dislike it I know I can turn it into something useful/worthwhile if not outright great fun. I buy modules for ideas/adventure ideas that I would not come up with on my own, or at least provide maps/NPC's/background for the ideas I would have come up with.

So I buy modules. They are far more useful to me than most "sourcebooks", and I have bought a lot of those as well.

 

[Ed Cha]

The Orcs were definitely not friends of the "yappies", in fact, it was the Kobold lair that kind of set things off in my head. I decided that my PCs Orc clan needed to have a staging point for their assault on the halfling village. So, they basically wiped out all the Kobolds. That was a very fun session - my PCs have never role-played so well. Crazy orcs running around all over the place, falling into every pit trap, getting stuck in small corridors. They came up with some very clever (for Orcs) solutions to some of the problems they ran into. Also, I must say, the PCs took to smashing the hatchery with much glee. It was fun - in a very disturbing sort of way.

But they never did reach the halfling village. I had planned an ambush by a rival Orc clan for shortly after they left the Kobold caves, unfortunately, I didn't anticipate the routing that the PCs would receive at their hands. So, I had them captured (and tortured) by the rival clan, which of course led to an escape. During the escape, the PCs battled many "Black Orcs" (which are detailed in Kingdoms of Kalamar's Orc Sourcebook) and discovered that this rival clan is bolstering their numbers by somehow magically creating these new fierce warriors (stolen from LOTR, but it is working effectively).

That sounds like a lot of fun and I think it's a good idea to have the PCs (esp. if they were 1st-level) wipe out the kobolds first to advance to at least 2nd-level before taking on the halflings. There are a lot of funny characters in the hamlet, so I'd definitely recommend a rampage through there, too.

I've got to pick up that Kingdoms of Kalamar book because I want to take a look at the black orc. It seems like a lot of people are using this race and I've always thought a stronger orc race would be great. I've generally used 2nd or 3rd-level orcs or hobgoblins for that role.

Have you picked up "The Village of Oester" yet?

 

[Ed Cha]

OK Ed, I finally bought your modules.

LOL. I hope you enjoy them! Did you pick up both books?

That is why I am willing to buy any module out there. No matter how much I may dislike it I know I can turn it into something useful/worthwhile if not outright great fun. I buy modules for ideas/adventure ideas that I would not come up with on my own, or at least provide maps/NPC's/background for the ideas I would have come up with.

So I buy modules. They are far more useful to me than most "sourcebooks", and I have bought a lot of those as well.

Yep, me, too. I buy them for ideas and inspiration as well as just pleasurable reading. I've only used a handful myself. Sometimes I'll read a module and it's really boring, but there is one NPC or plot idea that is just great and worth the price of the entire module.

I also find most sourcebooks too general for any use. I can see how a highly-detailed one that focuses on one region can be very useful though.

 

[Drakonus]

That sounds like a lot of fun and I think it's a good idea to have the PCs (esp. if they were 1st-level) wipe out the kobolds first to advance to at least 2nd-level before taking on the halflings. There are a lot of funny characters in the hamlet, so I'd definitely recommend a rampage through there, too.

I've got to pick up that Kingdoms of Kalamar book because I want to take a look at the black orc. It seems like a lot of people are using this race and I've always thought a stronger orc race would be great. I've generally used 2nd or 3rd-level orcs or hobgoblins for that role.

Have you picked up "The Village of Oester" yet?

I haven't gotten "The Village of Oester" yet, but it is on my short list of modules next time I make a purchase.

A note on the Black Orcs: I've made them Lvl 3 fighters and a group of 3 or 4 of them is a very stout encounter for an average low level group.