Help me choose a great module

[dungeon blaster]

I'll be running an adventure module for a group of friends and I need some help choosing a good one. Here's the criteria:

AD&D, AD&D 2ed, or 3ed
Set in Greyhawk, FR, or generic (not set anywhere in particular)
Can be finished in 6-12 hours (definitely not more than 18 hours)
Mix of hack & slash and decision-making
For low-mid (6th) to high level (16th) characters. It doesn't have to include the whole range, it just has to be somewhere in that range.

Most importantly, it has to be FUN!

I'm sure all you old schoolers can come up with some pretty good ones, so let me hear em!


On another note, for anyone who has DMed or played Return to the Tomb of Horrors, was it fun or was it simply aggravating? How difficult were the puzzles? Did the players finish? How long did it take? Did they try to murder the DM?

 

[Crothian]

For the module, I'd go with White Plume Mountain. It is not a big module, has both puzzles and hack and slash, plus some uniquer encounters in there. It is my personal favorite module of all time. And if you want you can go back in the return to module which is really good, and then the Hackmaster module which is also fun.

 

[diaglo]

On another note, for anyone who has DMed or played Return to the Tomb of Horrors, was it fun or was it simply aggravating? How difficult were the puzzles? Did the players finish? How long did it take? Did they try to murder the DM?

edit: oops i read it as Tomb oF Horrors not the Return.
10 total minute real time.

TPK

hit reset and they tried again.

still TPK but at least it lasted a few more hours.


as for your criteria... how about visiting the wotc board. they have free downloads of adventures in the FR. 2edADnD.

 

[dungeon blaster]

I'd like to get some opinions first before I look at a bunch of modules. White Plume Mountain sounds good. How about Scourge of the Slave Lords? Anyone play that?

 

[Crothian]

I'd like to get some opinions first before I look at a bunch of modules. White Plume Mountain sounds good. How about Scourge of the Slave Lords? Anyone play that?

all four of the A mopdules really need to go together IMO, I like them though

 

[GuardianLurker]

X2(Castle Amber) is a classic stand-alone, and can easily be completed in the allotted time if you restrict yourself to the castle alone.

C2(Tower of Inverness) is a great 1e module.

S3 (Expedition to the Barrier Peaks) is another great one, but may not be to your taste.

 

[DaveMage]

On another note, for anyone who has DMed or played Return to the Tomb of Horrors, was it fun or was it simply aggravating? How difficult were the puzzles? Did the players finish? How long did it take? Did they try to murder the DM?

I DMed it for my group and we had a blast.

We made it all of the way through. It took about 12 or so Sessions, but this was under AD&D 2E, where combat goes *much* faster. My players enjoyed it and we only had one PC that was permanently destroyed. (See the "Scariest Monster" thread in which I reveal what killed him. )

Now, part of the fun for my players was that a number of them had played through (or knew about) the original Tomb, so they enjoyed the nostalgia part too...

 

[John Morrow]

I'd like to get some opinions first before I look at a bunch of modules. White Plume Mountain sounds good. How about Scourge of the Slave Lords? Anyone play that?

I'm currently running a set of adventures "inspired by" or modelled on the A1-A4 series of modules (collectively, "Source of the Slave Lords"). I haven't played the originals but I've read most of them, including the Hackmaster treatment. My main warning is that it can be a little railroaded in a couple of places (the Hackmaster module's advice for player complaints about this is pretty funny), in part because it started out as a series of Tournament modules and in part because it's got a particular ending it's trying to get to.

The original design criteria for each segment (there are actually seven, which is why several of the adventures have two distinct parts, often one above ground and one below ground) was to have two traps, a trick to fool the players, a problem to solve, an ambush, an encounter with an unintelligent monster, an encounter with a new monster, two encounters with the basic monster (one with a friend), and a grand finale. The original tournament adventures where also expanded out a bit for the modules, to make them less linear and more complicated. So there is a pretty good mix of stuff in there. It shouldn't be a bad choice, though you might have to adjust some of the encounters to run higher level characters through it.

You should also be able to find 3E conversions of the module on the web (on this site, in fact).

 

[DarrenGMiller]

How about:

Heart of Nightfang Spire
Ravenloft (the original)
Ex Keraptis Cum Amore (from Dungeon - another take on a "return" to White Plume Mountain) or White Plume Mountain
Ghost Tower of Inverness

DM

 

[dungeon blaster]

I've heard Ghost Tower of Inverness a couple times... just downloaded the ESD of Slave Lords, seems pretty fun, but too long.