D&D 5E Classic or just plain brilliant adventures/modules

[Jaracove]

I'm not familiar with this one. Can you please tell me who published it?

It appeared in White Dwarf issue No. 12 (April/May 1979) and was written by Bill Howard

I can't remember any details other than it was a great adventure.

 

[Nebulous]

The original Ravenloft can be awesome if you can get it to work properly. Here's some advice on running it (DMs only):
[sblock]So here's ideally how it goes.

Prologue: The PCs explore the creepy town, building up the atmosphere. They meet the dead mayor and his alive kids, maybe taking them on the adventure. They see the fortune teller and make good note of what she says.
Act 1: They go into the castle, Strahd finds them, nearly TPKs them, and bounces before they do any real damage to him.
Act 2: They quest for the sun sword, find it, fight Strahd again, and defeat him. Strahd turns to mist and goes down to the crypts.
Act 3: They rush down into the catacombs to finish Strahd before he regenerates.
Epilogue: The girl dies and Strahd's brother comes back to life or whatever.

Obviously hijinx will ensue, but try to keep it as short as possible. There's enough content for 3-4 sessions, but the story doesn't last that long, so shoot for 1 or 2. The castle is so big they won't see it all in one playthru. One way to keep up the pace is to announce a specific real-life time when Strahd will attack.

You can probably use the vampire mage from the Monster Manual, but make sure he has dimension door, cloud kill, and wall of fire. Consider giving him more powerful "legendary" effects the closer he is to his crypt. You might have to run a few playtest encounters to make sure you have the danger right.[/sblock]

The only other published adventure I've run so successfully is Bastion of the Boglings. It's just a well designed, well presented, classic dungeon crawl that's easy to customize (DMs only): http://content108.wuala.com/rawcont...20–%20The%20Bastion%20of%20the%20Boglings.pdf

I actually found a 5e adaptation of Ravenloft 1e and I'm seriously considering running it when i'm done with Lost Mine.

 

[Nebulous]

The original Ravenloft can be awesome if you can get it to work properly. Here's some advice on running it (DMs only):

\

That's good advice. So how does this pared down 5e statblock look?

Shadow Demon (CR3)
medium, fiend, chaotic evil
AC 14
HP 35 (7d8 + 3)
Speed 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
16 (+3) 16 (+3) 12 (+1) 15 (+2) 14 (+2) 6 (-2)

Skills Sneak +6
Damage Immunities: fire, cold, lightning
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12

Resistance in the Dark. The demon is resistant to all damage if it's in darkness or dim light.
The Light Burns. If illuminated by a torch, the demon's armor class becomes 10. If a light spell is cast on it, the demon takes 1d6 points of damage per level of the caster.

Bite (x1). +5 (1d8+9)
Claws (x2). +7 (2d6+5)
SQ: (1/day each) Darkness, Cause Fear

 

[TerraDave]

Out of the lower tier 4e adventures, i thought Thunderspire Labyrinth was pretty awesome myself. I'm actually going to borrow the Seven Pillared Hall maps and encounters and reskin them for 5e.

It had a lot going on. But it could have been more open, and at points--maybe meaning to be thematic--it felt repetitive. You are sort of chasing the slaves from one ancient shrine to an evil godling after another.

But it had cool stuff in it. If you were willing to put in the work in, you could expand it and make a whole campaign of it.

 

[Nebulous]

It had a lot going on. But it could have been more open, and at points--maybe meaning to be thematic--it felt repetitive. You are sort of chasing the slaves from one ancient shrine to an evil godling after another.

But it had cool stuff in it. If you were willing to put in the work in, you could expand it and make a whole campaign of it.

Very true. With the Seven Pillared Hall as the hub, you could fill out a whole campaign journeying down into the various set pieces of the module.

 

[aramis erak]

B1 to B9 are all pretty nifty. Note on B1-B2: They can be run fine as "each room stands alone", but can be ramped up by having realistic reactions from neighboring rooms.
X1 and X2, as well.
G1-3 D1-3 Q1 is epic.
Castle Ravenloft was awesome.
S2 and S3 are potentially game breaking... but are also great old school stuff.


The earlier Dragonlance Modules are NOT really all that great. They ride the plot-railroad pretty hard. If your group is okay with that, go for it, they can be fun. (Dragonlance Classics has the main bunch as a single volume. Bonus: It has stats for doing it using DL5A rules, as well... I ran it that way, and it plot-hammered at 2 of my players pretty hard. The others enjoyed it.) Plus, it's playing the novels.

 

[The_Gneech]

Most of the big hits have already been mentioned; I will second Red Hand of Doom, which is one of the best campaigns I ever ran. I'd also like to put in a plug for Temple of Elemental Evil, which is dense but crammed full of stuff.

-The Gneech

 

[Raith5]

Yeah 5e lends it self to the dungeoncrawling classics.

I think G1-3, D 1-3 and U 1-3 would work and I also liked UK1 Beyond the Crystal Cave back in the day. I also like N 1 Cult of the reptile god.

I also played parts of P2 - Demon Queens Enclave in my 4e campaign and that was very good.

 

[Daern]

I'm gonna throw out The Grey Citadel from Necromancer games as the great module I still need to run. 3rd edition. I'm gonna run it for 5e as soon as I can get to it.

 

[Jaracove]

Thanks all for these recommendations

Good stuff here

 

[pemerton]

Castle Amber (I have a vague feeling this is a great adventure)
ToEE (we did the first level but that was it)
I also have
Grakt's Crag
Halls of Tizun Thane
Pool of the Standing Stones
The Lichway
Maldred the Mighty

I've never finished Castle Amber. The last time I ran it was as an on-the-fly conversion just after 3E came out. We got as far as the garden.

Some of those White Dwarf adventures are (in my view) a bit dated - Tizun Thane has some clever bits, but also some padding, and likewise the Lichway. I ran Maldred the Mighty once (maybe twice?), converted to Rolemaster. I don't have fond memories, but I probably didn't get the best out of it.

My favorite module is B-10 Night's Dark Terror:

<snip>

While the introduction is a little weak, the rest is great, featuring overland travel, exploration of old ruins and the discovery of a forgotten civilization.

I used this as the basis for my 4e campaign, mixing in other bits and pieces (Thunderspire Labyrinth, Speaker in Dreams, Heathen, plus some stuff of my own design).

But I don't agree that the introduction is weak - if you mean the "defend the homestead" bit, that was great!

I recently ran G2 converted for a mid-Epic 4e game - links here and here. Of the G modules I've always had the fondest memories of it (mostly because of PCs falling over the edge into the rift), and it didn't disappoint.

It's probably 20 years since I last ran D1, but I have fond memories. And I ran D2 in my 4e game about a year ago: link here.

 

[Atomo]

I was also a huge fan of Dragon Mountain, but I might be in the minority on that.

THIS! The most fun (and dangerous) campaign arc I ever Dm'ed... Well, the Tomb of Horrors was more dangerous, but sounded more like the Paranoia RPG... The Dragon Mountain, on other hand, makes my players REALLY hate kobolds. Normal kobolds, not super-kobolds... Normal kobolds that defied a 9th+ level players on 2nd Ed and really pissed them off the limits.

Tangent comment: one of the handouts for this adventure is really brillant. pages from a torn journal that described an adventurer exploring the mountain. Players reading that identified themselves from the "just kobolds" from the first day entry to the "oh, no. I think if I do not hide, they will see me" in the fourth or fifth day.

 

[Skyscraper]

Intersting thread.

Does anyone know if a 5e conversion of Red Hand of Doom exist?

 

[Tortoise]

What about the following

Castle of the Mad Archmage
Lesserton and Mor
Night of the Walking Dead
Stonehell Dungeon
The Lost City of Barrakhus
Barrowmaze

I'll give two thumbs up for Lesserton & Mor having played through some of it with the folks at Faster Monkey Games.

I also have enjoyed my brief time playing in Barrowmaze for its take on the classic dungeon crawl.

 

[FXR]

Other classics include Dark Tower and Caverns of Thracia, which are two Judges Guild modules by Paul (Jenell) Jacquays. I believe they should be mandatory reading for any dungeon-adventure writer. The plot is minimal, but both of these modules feature something which many writers have forgotten: open-endness.

 

[FXR]

I
But I don't agree that the introduction is weak - if you mean the "defend the homestead" bit, that was great!

Indeed, that part is amazing. I'm referring to the initial adventure hook, but it can easily be replaced by something a bit more engaging than a mission for delivering horses.

 

[Jaracove]

Thanks for all these recommendations

Have to ask, is the Temple of Elemental Evil a classic, because I've heard it's nothing but a grindfest

 

[Gilladian]

Depends on what you mean by a classic. Is it a good idea to play through it, to understand the origins of the concept of a "killer dungeon"? I think so. I think anyone who wants to know the roots of DnD should play through it, hopefully with a DM who really plays it strict and doesn't fudge. Should it be something you play with hard-leveled characters at the apex of a long campaign? No, certainly not. Play it with the pregens. Play it knowing it doesn't much matter, you will die. Play it like you play paranoia, with six backup clones ready to go. And have a blast.

 

[billd91]

Thanks for all these recommendations

Have to ask, is the Temple of Elemental Evil a classic, because I've heard it's nothing but a grindfest

There's a diversity of opinions on the quality of Temple of Elemental Evil. I think it drags pretty badly and needs a lot of editing. Others seem to think it's awesome.

 

[billd91]

Not enough love for the Slavelords modules being tossed about so I'll toss it in:

Scourge of the Slavelords (the A series) - fun adventuring locations, lots of potential dynamism, great challenge in the 4th chapter as the PCs try to escape a dungeon without any equipment. Overall, fantastic set of adventures for that fun mid-level (4-9th level) campaign.