Classic Adventures

[Eltern]

I'm bumping around between various options for what my next "big campaign" is going to be, and one option that recently sprang up was taking ye olde classics, 1ed and 2ed adventure lines, buying the PDFs, and running them in 3e. Unfourtanetly, as a younger guy I am not very familiar with which of these are of the greatest quality and which are just kind of "there." I'm hoping for a series that that has well-crafted hooks from one module to the next, instead of just "oh, look, a hole! Let's go in!" at the end of the the first and into the second. Some that I seem to have heard pretty consistently are the Slave Lords and Against the Giants/Descent/Drow lines, but I'd like some second opinions. Evidently there was some "BIG MONDO LINE OF DOOM" that went ToEE, Slave Lords, Giants, Descent, Drow Queen. If all of that is actually good stuff, then that sounds like the stuff for me If not... :\ I'm kinda interested in the Vecna-related stuff, myself.

Relating to that, whatever happened to the big conversion library that was once the bread and butter of ENWorld? Did Eric Noah originally envision this site as a repository for conversions of "Old Goodies" to 3e? I see the current one ENWorld sports, but it's kinda small, a good portion of the links are dead, and it just doesn't seem very extensive. I was going to use this as my major tool for converting anything I get, but...yipes, without that maybe I'm biting off more than I can chew

edit: Note: I'm not big on the hacknslash, rather I go for a blend of smack stuff and roleplaying/overarching plots, etc. I'm wary of things like Tomb of Horrors, for example.

Thanks!
Eltern

 

[Frost]

Against the Giants... definitely.

 

[liquid]

I'm bumping around between various options for what my next "big campaign" is going to be, and one option that recently sprang up was taking ye olde classics, 1ed and 2ed adventure lines, buying the PDFs, and running them in 3e. Unfourtanetly, as a younger guy I am not very familiar with which of these are of the greatest quality and which are just kind of "there." I'm hoping for a series that that has well-crafted hooks from one module to the next, instead of just "oh, look, a hole! Let's go in!" at the end of the the first and into the second. Some that I seem to have heard pretty consistently are the Slave Lords and Against the Giants/Descent/Drow lines, but I'd like some second opinions. Evidently there was some "BIG MONDO LINE OF DOOM" that went ToEE, Slave Lords, Giants, Descent, Drow Queen. If all of that is actually good stuff, then that sounds like the stuff for me If not... :\ I'm kinda interested in the Vecna-related stuff, myself.

Relating to that, whatever happened to the big conversion library that was once the bread and butter of ENWorld? Did Eric Noah originally envision this site as a repository for conversions of "Old Goodies" to 3e? I see the current one ENWorld sports, but it's kinda small, a good portion of the links are dead, and it just doesn't seem very extensive. I was going to use this as my major tool for converting anything I get, but...yipes, without that maybe I'm biting off more than I can chew

edit: Note: I'm not big on the hacknslash, rather I go for a blend of smack stuff and roleplaying/overarching plots, etc. I'm wary of things like Tomb of Horrors, for example.

Thanks!
Eltern

The Desert of Desolation series, White Plum Mountain, Return to the Tomb of Horrors is one that I am going to do (Boxed Set) and perhaps The Keep on the Borderlands (try actually putting some monsters in it). There's a whole slew of them. Just pick one.

 

[grodog]

Some that I seem to have heard pretty consistently are the Slave Lords and Against the Giants/Descent/Drow lines, but I'd like some second opinions. Evidently there was some "BIG MONDO LINE OF DOOM" that went ToEE, Slave Lords, Giants, Descent, Drow Queen. If all of that is actually good stuff, then that sounds like the stuff for me If not... :\

A1-4 and G1-3/D1-3 are among my favorite modules for D&D. I also really like N1, S4, T1, U1-3, WG4, WG5, and X2. Since most of the old classics were set in Greyhawk, you might consider dropping by some GH forums for specific input/advice: the WotC forums at http://boards1.wizards.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=353 and the Canonfire forums at http://www.canonfire.com/htmlnew/modules.php?name=Forums are great starting points!

I'm kinda interested in the Vecna-related stuff, myself.

I'm not a huge fan of WGA4 Vecna Lives, but it has some fun background material and ideas you can certainly make use of.

Relating to that, whatever happened to the big conversion library that was once the bread and butter of ENWorld? [snip] I was going to use this as my major tool for converting anything I get, but...yipes, without that maybe I'm biting off more than I can chew

WotC changed their policy for how modules had to be converted, so many of the older conversions had to be removed, unfortunately. They were a bit too... thorough... in the materials that were included in the conversions

 

[billd91]

Scourge of the Slavelords (A1-4), the Desert of Desolation (I3-5), and the Giant/Drow series (GDQ) are all well worth the price of admission. The modules do kind of show their age in some cases because some of the maps in the Slaver series really don't make much sense for any setting except a tournament modules. A little judicious editing and the versimilitude factor can go way up.

I wouldn't really go for a whole Temple of Elemental Evil (T1-4), Scourge, Giants series. While they kind of fit the first two modules together into a continuity, it really doesn't work too well. Characters who have survived T1-4 to completion are leveled a bit inappropriately for most of the Slaver series.
The chronology that includes all modules in the T-A-GDQ order is kind of kludged together anyway. It never really works with other chronologies and backstories going on at the same time. So don't sweat it.
If I were to run T-A-GDQ in that order, I'd seriously abridge the ToEE. As a member of the series, it's the most expendable, though run separately in its own right, it's not a bad adventure (though vulnerable to falling into too much dungeon-crawlitis if you aren't careful).

 

[RithTheAwakener]

Oh man, my favorite campaign ever that i played in ran thru Isle of Dread and White Plume Mountain, id HIGHLY suggest using it!!!

 

[dratz]

Isle of Dread was fun. The Veiled Society (B6) is more intrigue in the city, and looks interesting, but I haven't played it. Rahasia (B7) was an interesting dungeon. I always hear how good B10 Nights Dark Terror is, but I've never seen it. The original Ravenloft (I6) was also good.

 

[Eltern]

WotC changed their policy for how modules had to be converted, so many of the older conversions had to be removed, unfortunately. They were a bit too... thorough... in the materials that were included in the conversions

That's truly unfortunate. Is there any particular locale or group of websites where these might still be up? Maybe a listing of who originally wrote the conversions? I completely missed this news bit, and it must have happened awhile ago.

 

[Walter_J]

B2 through B5 rock, although be careful with B4 (the Lost City) as it can quickly turn into a HUGE dungeon crawl. To give you an idea, I once was going to use it as the lead in to the D series with the PCs starting at 1st level. To get the most bang for your buck, try and snag B1-9 In Search of Adventure. I think at rpgnow it is the same price as any of the adventures individually.

As others have mentioned, the A's, and GDQ's are good stuff, as is T1. Out of the A's, I like A1 the best and I think is the most playable. A2 seems cool, but always felt difficult to DM. Of course, that was 10+ years ago, so I don't know what my opinion would be now. You can't go wrong with the G's. They are very simple and I got a lot of use out of them.

L1 was great, as was U1. I never got to DM or play any of the others in those series. Out of the S's, S2 and S4 are the most usable, with S4 coming out on top IMO. S1 is the Tomb of Horrors and S3 deals with a space ship. I've never included either in a regular campaign.

Out of the X's I'm most familiar with, X1, X2, and X4-5 are all good. I've used X2 dozens of times. It is a great mix of dungeon adventuring, roleplaying and problem solving. There's also some good stuff in C1-2, the I's, and N1-2.

If I were going to run a campaign using old modules, I'd probably run B5 (Horror on the Hill) and then X2 (Castle Amber). Those two alone would take care of the better part of a campaign, without even needing a setting. (B5 takes place on, in, and under a big hill and X2 is, well, X2. I think the characters have to travel through 3 different "worlds" before they are able to wrap things up.) If you are bored with the "kobold, goblin, orc" thang, you could replace B5 with something else, say, N2 "The Forest Oracle", which I think would play very well using 3E. N1 is great, but I think it would be very deadly for 1st or 2nd level characters with 3E.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (U1)
Bone Hill and The Assassin's Knot. (L1 and L2) Both of these can be found for free on the Wizard's website.
Village of Hommlet. (T1) I really did not like Temple of Elemental Evil though...

The Auld Grump