Dungeon Adventure Discussion

[Ashtal]

I have only used an adventure here or there, but what I like best are the maps for the adventures, the side-treks and the 'Maps of Mystery.' I also raid the magazine for NPCs.

My skills at map-making are only so-so, which means if I am going with a home brew, any advantage I can get in the building stage is appreciated. Sometimes the map alone is able to encourage ideas even if the module itself doesn't quite fit my current campaign.

 

[Wicht]

The Wererats of Relfrin has got to be one of my all time favorites.

 

[Psion]

Psion, as for your questions:

I think you mean, Keraptis Ex Cum Amore - which is perhaps one of the crappiest adventures I have ever seen in Dungeon. It is a sequel to the sequel to White Plume Mountain - and is senseless dungeon leading to a huge hackfest on a demi-plane - to find out the uber-poweful wizard is only pretending to be Keraptis the Uber-powerful wizard. . . . or he is so crazy he has convinced himself of the fact that he is that person - funny thing that is in the adventure this is a sequel to, the bad guy in that one is ALSO pretending to be Keraptis.

Well, I won't worry about what I am missing out on if I rob the map, then.

 

[Teflon Billy]

I liked Dungeon of the fire Opal (I think that's what it was called anyway).

Temple of the fire Opal, maybe?

Anyway...that one with the Fire Opal

The same issue also had Wyrmclaw in it, which was good.

 

[Pyske]

Issue numbers? [...]

Tsk. Laaazy! OK, I'll go back and add the issue numbers, which I shall now look up in the index provided at the top of the thread.

. . . . . . . -- Eric

 

[Holy Bovine]

My favourite adventure has to be from issue 16 called Vesicant. It deals with a rather small green dragon with BIG plans. Oh and evil humaniod pirate cities are just plain cool.

I also like Necropolis from the same issue (more of a 'side trek' adventure that is easily dropped into any campaign - I've used it 3 times in three different settings - FR, GH and a homebrew - worked great each time). It revolves around a small village being besieged by a an long dead war hero come back to unlife.

From more recent issues I loved Kambranex's Machinations and Bogged Down from issue 91. the half-machine template was very well done and Bogged Down was a very good intro adventure that I used to demostarte D&D to my sister and brother-in-law. They loved it (adventure and game itself - YAY more converts ).

Personally I think the new format is excellent - much better than that ugly black border top and bottom thing they did for a while. Much easier to read at a glance and I don't find the pages so glossy that I can't still write on them.

I have always thought that Dungeon was the best value for your money as far as D&D goes. For example in issue 91 you get 6 adventures, 2 'critical threats', a map of mystery and the Polyhedron magazine for 5.99 US. Thats less than a dollar an adventure. Even those AEG 'mini' adventures run $3 each or more Dungeon is a bargin.

 

[Shadeus]

Tallow's Deep is one of my favorite adventures of all-time.

There was another one (I can't think of the title) where the party has to go after this group of adventurers that are missing. An explorer finds a map to a tropical jungle in the middle of a mountain range that has no business being there. They suspect it to be the site of a lost elven civilization. It's a great adventure with dragons, an artifact (stone of Gul, I think), and an archmage with a split personality.

The adventure's picture was on the cover. I think it was Thoridar's Legacy maybe?

 

[Old Fezziwig]

My favourite adventure has to be from issue 16 called Vesicant. It deals with a rather small green dragon with BIG plans. Oh and evil humaniod pirate cities are just plain cool.

Vesciant is absolutely one of my all time favorites. I think we ran that one over and over again...

tKL

 

[el-remmen]

I've played a character in Vesicant (and was killed!) but the DM cut out the pirate city part and replaced it with a whole other adventure.

Thiondar's Legacy is the adventure Shadeus mentioned. It is in Issue 30 (by Steven Kurtz) - Great adventure from what I remember - never ran it - but I have a spot saved for it. . .

Unhallowed Ground (issue #54) is a great one as well - based on "The Name of the Rose"

 

[javapadawan]

Psion: I haven't run that adventure, called Divisions of the Mind, but I did read it, although it was quite some time ago, so the following details may not be entirely correct.
See there's this Beholder, and he wants the adventurers to find out what the deal is with this Mind Flayer who lives in this floating crystal citadel in his territory. Of course, the Mind Flayer has secrets of his own...
I thought it sounded pretty cool, but it's for higher level PCs and mine aren't quite up there yet.

Dungeon magazine (and to a lesser extent, the advent of 3rd Edition) are what got me started running a game in the first place. Some of the adventures I read sounded like so much fun, I found myself wishing someone would run them for me! Of course, since I had read them that was now out of the question, so I decided, what the heck... and I started a campaign. I only have issues 79 and up, but I plan on rectifying that situation at GenCon this year.

Almost all of the adventures I've run have come from Dungeon. Here are some of the ones I enjoyed:

Evil Unearthed (#82): PCs investigating mysterious disappearances in a small hamlet uncover a plot by an evil cleric to unearth ancient evil (Hence the title ). Although as written the adventure has nothing to do with Tharizdun and his cult as presented in RttToEE, modifications can be made to provide some mild foreshadowing.

A Race Against Time (#81): Delayed blast fireballs placed in stasis and scattered around a city + a list of clues + realtime time limit = fun for all (or at least the DM )!

Bad Seeds (#79): The PCs arrive at an out of the way inn late one night and find the place utterly empty come morning. Only some strange yellow dust and a dream of a dryad may lead the PCs to the missing patrons.

Valley of the Snails (#87): The PCs are hired to go looking for a missing ranger in a strange valley. The ranger has been struck mad by the poison dart of a local band of goblins. Lots of wilderness goodness for outdoorsy PCs.

Cradle of Madness (#87): This one is a great lead-in for RttToEE if toned down a bit (it's for 5th level PCs). What appears at first to be a kidnapping turns out to be a much more diabolical plot to awaken Tharizdun.

I know there's more, but I guess I've rambled enough.