[Dungeon] Which TSR Modules are "Classics"?

[BSF]

''
i did see your post. and after reading realize you don't know your head from a hole in the ...

come on you don't even know the S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks or WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins or...

and you even liked Greyhawk Ruins...what a POS that was. i wonder who had a hand in writing it.

besides the fact it was 2ed.

Well, I do know S3. It's sitting roughly 8 feet from me right now. As are a good majority of the older modules mentioned here.

That said, why on earth would I want anybody to "re-write" them for old editions?

I would have a hard time laying a blanket statement on most of these as "classics", I would say favorites! I have favorite stories for a lot of the modules out there. So do a lot of other people. It is clear we all liked a lot of the same things, even though there were small differences in the way each was probably run. I would be interested in seeing a lot of the modules being re-done for current versions, so long as the focus was on trying to convert rather than re-work. Although, new idea seeds
would be welcome.

(C'mon, I wasn't the only one that looked at the map for White Plume Mountain and thought Dragotha? Whoa! What would Dragotha be like? I was kind of disappointed in the way the draco-lich was done when I saw that later. To this day, a 3.0 draco-lich just doesn't match up to the way I always imagined Dragotha.)

 

[qstor]

G1-Q1
A1-A4
S1
Temple of Elemental Evil..

Col. Pladoh's finest work.


Mike

 

[Leopold]

In a way, one might think of Night Below as one great adventure/setting (Haranshire) and one OK adventure/setting (City of the Glass Pool) strung together by a rather dull long cavern only meant for upgrading the PCs from the power level they have after dealing with Haranshire to the power level they need for the City.

I like NB, it has potential, it has all the elements that make a good module sellable and playable. Go see the thread regarding what makes a good module sell and look at Orcus' post, all apply here.


The problem with the long trek down is that it is essentially a meat grinder that just buffs the PC"s up in level till they hit the cities below. Until they reach that point it's just XP after XP garnered until they are about 'right' to tackle the city.

My players are about the right level to tackle the city of the glass pool this time and they are 15th level at least. By the time they go deeper they will be epic level and that's about on par with the conversion being done to keep it right.

Night below requires a DM with patience and innovation to keep the players going down there over and over again. If not they get bored and want to do other things as it is just a meatgrinder. I've killed almost 25 N/PC's on the journey there and back so far. RtToEE is about the same.

hell if erik is hiring sign me up!


PS diaglo, anytime you want to talk we can talk at BFD at nutkinland. ANYTIME....

PPS I started the fun right here! http://www.nutkinland.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1756

 

[Harlock]

Argh. You probably *like* Windows 95, too (sneer).

I'm not Diaglo, but I can tell you that I am posting with Win95 as we speak!

 

[Stormrunner]

Never got to play Keep on the Borderlands - my starter set came with Into the Unknown, which seemed cool at the time but looking back on it was kinda crappy.
Favorites:
G1,G2,G3 - lots of fun. Clean out the kitchen, poison the mead, disguise yourselves as orcs, carry the poisoned mead into the feasthall...
Q1 - loved the Escheresque interlacing pathways and the alternate worlds.
Oddly, i wasn't all that fond of the D series.
S3 - weird tech, weird critters, and it ws the first module we went through that had an illustration book.
I6 - Ravenloft. 'Nuff said.
UK1 - Beyond the Crystal Cave. Only pacifist module I know of ... hack'n'slash would get you in BIG trouble, had to use wits and diplomacy which at the time was a rare thing in modules. Plus it had art by Tim Truman (of Grimjack fame).
OA2 - Night of the Seven Swords. Explore a ghostly castle, fight seven cool weapon masters ... then sneak through enemy territory without being caught by the army ... then stop the assassination without doing anything rude or dishonorable. The best of the OA modules IMHO.
EX1 - just to see the players faces when they realize they're in Wonderland. Though if I had to run it now I'd make some major revisions.
Desert of Desolation series - more for the nifty settings and ideas (loved the Skysea!) than for the dungeoncrawls.

 

[Silver Moon]

Wow, 6 pages into the thread and only a couple of mentions for "I1: Dwellers of the Forbidden City". My group played that one back in 1985, and then turned the city ruins into their base of operations, still living there some 18 years later. The module is very good, with an interesting mix of monsters and other wilderness encounters.

I'll also strongly support both "X1: Isle of Dread" (the first D&D game I ever played in) and "B2: The Keep on the Borderlands".

And I realize that the thread's focus is on D&D/AD&D modules, but another excellent "classic" TSR module is "BH3: Ballots and Bullets", for the Boot Hill gaming system. I've been using it since last year for a second campaign on a D&D/Boot Hill hybrid game, with great results (related Story Hour currently posted).

 

[Psion]

and you even liked Greyhawk Ruins...what a POS that was

Beats "Castle Vaporhawk."

A bird in the hand is better than one that doesn't exist.

 

[kenjib]

Wow, 6 pages into the thread and only a couple of mentions for "I1: Dwellers of the Forbidden City". My group played that one back in 1985, and then turned the city ruins into their base of operations, still living there some 18 years later. The module is very good, with an interesting mix of monsters and other wilderness encounters.

I also love I1. It introduced a bunch of really great new creatures into D&D, and most importantly it's incredibly open ended. There are locations and groups and it's left up in the air all the possibilities you could have between them all. You could also approach it with any number of different objectives - different groups could go through I1 and barely even know it was the same module. It also had a really great pulp era mystique to it with exotic places, strange people, and ominous cults. Cool stuff.

I'd also say Tomb of Horrors, Expedition to Barrier Peaks, and In the Dungeon of the Slave Lords. No surprises on those three...

 

[Mirth]

Well, Mr. MirthCard (if that's your REAL name)...thanks to you I had to add a theramin to my sig line.

I blame it all on you.

Wow! That's the first time I've contributed to someone's sig - cool Just thought you should know that it is spelled theremin, though (if you're gonna put it in your sig and all). Also, the name of that documentary I posted about earlier is Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey. Here's a link:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108323/

Vegepygmies and theremins forever!

 

[grodog]

Ranked, in order, my top ten module list for D&D (all editions):

1. G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King by Gygax
2. WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure by Kuntz
3. Treasures of the Dragon Queen---a fabulous tourney from the early '80s, see my web site for details at www.thepale.org/grodog/gh_tourneys_dragon_queen.html
4. A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity by David Cook
5. WG4 Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun by Gygax
6. D3 Vault of the Drow by Gygax
7. MoZ 1-4 The Maze of Zayene by Kuntz
8. Tomb of Abysthor by Clark and Bill
9. from Dragon Magazine: "The Ruins of Andril" by Ian Melluish and from Dungeon Magazine "Into the Fire/Out of the Ashes" by Greg and Grant Boucher (tie)
10. Return of the Eight (late 2e by Roger Moore)