Classic Adventures

[Shroomy]

So what makes an adventure a classic, or even an instant classic? Quality has something to do with it, that's for sure, but what else? Wide distribution, the shared experience of playing, meta-setting impact? What connects A1-4, T1-4, S1-3, U1-3, the B1, X1, GDQ1-7, the DL series, Dead Gods, The Redhand of Doom, The Sunless Citadel, The Shackled City, The Age of Worms, and THe Savage Tide (some of the many adventures I've seen touted as classics). I'm just throwing out the question.

 

[delericho]

I'm not sure The Savage Tide can be considered a classic yet - at least we should wait until it's all out there before judging it, surely?

As for the rest of it, I think a lot of it is down to nothing more than timing. The adventure needs to have quality, and wide distribution... but it also has to show us something we've not seen before (or not seen for quite some time) at just the point where that happens to be what we're looking for.

 

[thedungeondelver]

So what makes an adventure a classic, or even an instant classic? Quality has something to do with it, that's for sure, but what else? Wide distribution, the shared experience of playing, meta-setting impact? What connects A1-4, T1-4, S1-3, U1-3, the B1, X1, GDQ1-7, the DL series, Dead Gods, The Redhand of Doom, The Sunless Citadel, The Shackled City, The Age of Worms, and THe Savage Tide (some of the many adventures I've seen touted as classics). I'm just throwing out the question.

Well, let's analyze this a bit:

Overcoming S1 TOMB OF HORRORS (at a time when there was nothing like it on the market) meant that you and your group were players of very high caliber in terms of problem solving skills; equally, running it and impressing such a challenge successfully on your group meant likewise that you were a Dungeon Master of equal abilities. Likewise, S2 WHITE PLUME MOUNTAIN presented a similar challenge for both players and Dungeon Master.

S3 EXPEDITION TO THE BARRIER PEAKS put typical AD&D characters and tropes in a wholly new setting: a wrecked spacecraft, filled with pulp SF tropes! The characters would leave armed with goodies like blaster pistols, powered armor, grenades, healing technology, and so forth. I personally know of two AD&D campaigns that were shifted, courtesy of a few wish spells and a rejuvenated spacecraft, to outer space.

B2 KEEP ON THE BORDERLANDS had the advantage of being (along with its predecessor, B1 IN SEARCH OF THE UNKNOWN the first thing out there for a great many players. They're famous simply because they were the first place that many adventurers tread, and many early Dungeon Masters cut their teeth on these modules, introducing gonzo events to the players that left a strong impression.

T1 THE VILLAGE OF HOMMLET brought players, for the first time, very, very close to being in Gary's WORLD OF GREYHAWK campaign as played out in Lake Geneva: notes on the battle of Emridy Meadows, rumors of the nearby abandoned TEMPLE OF ELEMENTAL EVIL, implications for activities in T1. Furthermore, like B1 IN SEARCH OF THE UNKNOWN, it served as the jumping off point of many campaigns. Its follow-up THE TEMPLE OF ELEMENTAL EVIL, built on that experience.

A1 SLAVE PITS OF THE UNDERCITY,A2 SECRET OF THE SLAVER'S STOCKADE,A3 ASSAULT ON THE AERIE OF THE SLAVE LORDS and A4 IN THE DUNGEONS OF THE SLAVE LORDS represent some of the better virtues of AD&D in places: they give the Dungeon Master an area of the world in which to place the adventures, real-time events happening during the course of that adventure, dungeon crawls, infiltration of a castle (which was, coincidentally, the subject of the very first DUNGEONS & DRAGONS tournament game played although the actual adventure was different), and (should the characters find themselves unable to overcome the Slave Lords at the end of A3), a marathon escape attempt in the end culminating with the gottdamnrung conclusion for the Slave Lords' hideout-town! The AERIE series is a tournament event (as are many of the great old modules) and laid out such; overcoming the challenge means that the players are, like in S1 definitely up to winning their way through difficult challenges!

G1 STEADING OF THE HILL GIANT CHIEF through Q1 QUEEN OF THE DEMONWEB PITS (regardless of your feelings about the latter), gave new definititon to the term epic adventure. The series takes a group of adventurers from merely "tough" to "near impossible" challenges, and places a mystery before them (and, if the Dungeon Master plays it right, gives them the uncomfortable choice of letting an evil demigoddess live instead of being played for suckers by Lolth's enemies on the Prime Material Plane). Getting through these seven modules is a memorable event for any group, regardless of the ruleset or players.

U1 THE SINISTER SECRET OF SALTMARSH, U2 DANGER AT DUNWATER and U3 THE FINAL ENEMY deserve equal mention with T1 VILLAGE OF HOMMLET and B2 KEEP ON THE BORDERLANDS: it is a series of memorable adventures for low level parties and a great jumping off point for many a characters' adventuring career. But more than that, it introduces a very well woven story-line and, even more than Q1 QUEEN OF THE DEMONWEB PITS makes the playes make choices that could have serious implications in the future of the adventure.

X1 ISLE OF DREAD gave Dungeon Masters and players their first taste of the non-european themed "dungeon" adventuring by creating a tropical setting and letting them loose in it. Rather than a single story arc, the whole of the island is left open for the Dungeon Master, complete with fantastic, Burroughsesque atmosphere (Edgar Rice, not Wm. S.). Further, it probably represents the first "outdoor" adventure for many Dungeon Masters and players alike (aside from the wilderness presented in B2).

The DRAGONLANCE campaign, whether you find it distasteful or love it (put me in the former column...) gave ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS players a chance to step in to a literary world for the first time in a published setting, instead of a world dressed up with tropes from different fantasy sources. Regardless of the immutability of the storyline and inflexibility in the overall of the entire series of modules, it accomplishes the task of letting people "play" in the DRAGONLANCE campaign world. Unfortunately it did it in a way much like REBEL ASSAULT and REBEL ASSAULT II the computer games let people "play" in the STAR WARS universe: by putting them on an unchangable course while the pretty scenery flies by, totally without the ability to interact with any of it.

...

Unfortunately, I can't speak of any of the others as I haven't the faintest idea about them beyond the titles!

 

[Lanefan]

So what makes an adventure a classic, or even an instant classic? Quality has something to do with it, that's for sure, but what else? Wide distribution, the shared experience of playing, meta-setting impact? What connects A1-4, T1-4, S1-3, U1-3, the B1, X1, GDQ1-7, the DL series, Dead Gods, The Redhand of Doom, The Sunless Citadel, The Shackled City, The Age of Worms, and THe Savage Tide (some of the many adventures I've seen touted as classics). I'm just throwing out the question.

Being first, mostly, relative to setting. That's why the various letter series are on your list; they were the first modules put out for the game. Ditto Sunless Citadel (and I'd add Forge of Fury in there), as they were the first put out for 3e. The Dragonlance series were the first attempt to tie modular adventures in with a series of novels.

The others I'm not familiar with other than hearing the titles go by...is one of them by any chance the first "adventure path"?

Lanefan

 

[Shroomy]

The others I'm not familiar with other than hearing the titles go by...is one of them by any chance the first "adventure path"?

Lanefan

The Shackled City is the first Paizo AP; Age of Worms and The Savage Tide are the second and third Paizo APs, respectively. Dead Gods is a 2e Planescape adventure and The Red Hand of Doom is a 3.5e adventure published last year.

 

[kenobi65]

The thing about those early modules was that many (most?) people who played 1E AD&D played them. So, there was a big "shared experience" thing...almost everyone from that era could tell you about how they lost a PC in Tomb of Horrors, or wielded Blackrazor, etc., etc.

 

[mearls]

So what makes an adventure a classic, or even an instant classic? Quality has something to do with it, that's for sure, but what else? Wide distribution, the shared experience of playing, meta-setting impact? What connects A1-4, T1-4, S1-3, U1-3, the B1, X1, GDQ1-7, the DL series, Dead Gods, The Redhand of Doom, The Sunless Citadel, The Shackled City, The Age of Worms, and THe Savage Tide (some of the many adventures I've seen touted as classics). I'm just throwing out the question.

I think an adventure needs a wide distribution and some trait that makes it unique. I have a real fondness for the UK produced AD&D and BD&D adventures, particularly the Alderweg series (UK2 The Sentinel and UK 3 The Gauntlet), but I'm not sure they're classics for all of D&D gamerdom.

The Alderweg series served as the lynchpin for the first real AD&D campaign I ran. The Gauntlet ends with the PCs defending a small mountain fortress against a fire giant and horde of hobgoblins. That session was one of the high points of my gaming experience, and that pushes the series to classic status for me. To this day, I have a penchant for putting the PCs into a position to command a small army or defend a castle or similar place. I just love the concept.

 

[Nightfall]

What connects me to Age of Worms? The fearful/fond memories of fighting the Spawn/Sons of Kyuss.

What connects me to Rappan Athuk? What else? Orcus!

 

[Delta]

It must be listed in the back of the 1E PHB.

 

[Hussar]

Glad someone else mentioned it, I had no idea what Dead Gods was. Never got into the whole Planescape thing at all.

I'd agree with the sense that a "Classic" module should have been played by a very large number of gamers - which is why it's almost all 1e modules that are considered classic. As TDD mentions, most of the modules on the list were the only modules out there for most gamers. Since there are just so many more modules available now, it's pretty difficult for any current era module to get that level of play.

Anyone who started with red box Basic D&D played B1 Keep on the Borderlands - which is a whole pile of people. Same with X1 for Expert D&D. Something like Rappan Athuk or The World's Largest Dungeon simply don't have the shared experience to ever make them common enough to be a classic.