TSR Example from the worst TSR adventure module(s) ever published

[Joshua Randall]

Hello, it’s 2026.

The thread is old enough to drink now. Maybe one cup of the sleep-potion lake water?

 

[Chaltab]

The thread is old enough to drink now. Maybe one cup of the sleep-potion lake water?

Oh wow. I didn't even notice how old this thread was when it got necromanced.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Oh wow. I didn't even notice how old this thread was when it got necromanced.

A thread is necro’ed. Posters are following the rules, and are neither harrying nor trolling. Their identities are concealed. Some could be dressed as clerics of some sort, and others dressed as traveling drummers. Still others could be peasants or serfs going from one board to another. Each carries some sort of baggage. It is plain that they are not authors by their haphazard way of writing. It is unclear if they are joking or exaggerating as they participate.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Mostly this. Axe stats but longbow and dagger? 2HD on a L3 Fighter? I didn't even notice the first time I read this module.

But the nymph that can't wake up her easily awoken lover? Whaaa...

Even that's easy to fix. He needs true love's kiss and she is magically forbidden to enter, etc. Heck, the original text is kind of sweet! It just... doesn't pass the most basic problem solving as written.

I have the urge to run the adventure with complete seriousness now, and without telling the players what they were playing, correcting the issues as I would any other published adventure. I wouldn't record it though, puts too much pressure on players to be performative.

I have run The Bane of Llywelyn like that, which has some similar issues, but lacks the poetry of Forest Oracle.

 

[Lanefan]

I have the urge to run the adventure with complete seriousness now, and without telling the players what they were playing, correcting the issues as I would any other published adventure. I wouldn't record it though, puts too much pressure on players to be performative.

I have run The Bane of Llywelyn like that, which has some similar issues, but lacks the poetry of Forest Oracle.

Bane of Llywellyn and its companion pre-module To Find a King are, I think, the two worst modules I've ever run. It got to the point where halfway through the second one (Llywellyn) I just threw up my hands, apologized to the players, and begged their forgiveness while we played it out.