In Search of the Best Module Ever

[Ghostwind]

My personal classic recommendations (in order of preference):
1. Forgotten Realms Bloodstone series (H1-H4) (How can you not like adventures written about Orcus?)
2. GDQ1-7 - Against the Giants, Descent into the Depths of the Earth, Vault of the Drow and Queen of the Demonweb Pits all combined into a single campaign supplement.
3. Temple of Elemental Evil (T1-4)
4. Ravenloft (I6)
5. Desert of Desolation series

Of course, there are others that stand out as great works, but these are classics that stand the test of time.

 

[Psion]

• Dead Gods
• GDQ1-7
• Ruins of Undermountain (not so much an adventure as a mini-setting...)

 

[tetsujin28]

Hands down, Village of Homlet. After that, the weird jungle one with the illo of an exploding frog on the cover. There was also a really cool adventure in an old (c. '82 or so) issue of Dragon with a drow forest. The original G/D series gets honourable mention, but not the horrible Q1.

 

[A'koss]

Our Top 5, beginning with...

1. The Gates of Firestorm Peak
- the Bruce Cordell written gaming favorite.

2. Against the Giants
3. The Illithid series
4. The Bloodstone series
5. A Paladin in Hell


Cheers,

A'koss.

 

[Larry Fitz]

I narrowed it down to two:

The Village of Hommlet

Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (Behirs!)

 

[Sixchan]

The first Ravenloft with Strahd was great, if not a bit cliched. The map was just killer. The original Dragonlance module, with Xak Tsaroth (or whatever that city was called) was also great. I wasn't a big fan of the stuff that came after, but man, that city was memorable. Wow.

*concentrates really hard*

I...I think I remember that one. Did it have a party fighting a black dragon on the cover?

 

[Methuslah]

I think it has to be B10: Night's Dark Terror. Honourable mentions should go to B7: Rahasia, X13: Crown of Ancient Glory for OD&D books, and Necropolis or The Grey Citadel for 3E. Some of the old Judges Guild modules were great too - I'm running a campaign based on 'The Illheidrin Book' that's lasted for two years so far!

Richard Tongue,
Transfinite Publications,
http://www.transfinitepublications.com
**Almanac One is Out!!**

 

[jmucchiello]

Either Castle Amber or the Desert of Desolation. I'd probably lean toward the Desert--there's more meat to it.

Complete agreement.

 

[NiTessine]

I would choose the deepest dungeon of them all, the largest mass-grave of adventurers in the face of Faerûn, with its nine levels, fourteen sublevels, two boxed sets, three adventure modules, a CRPG, and a novel all bearing its name... The Ruins of Undermountain!

 

[rounser]

I would choose the deepest dungeon of them all, the largest mass-grave of adventurers in the face of Faerûn, with its nine levels, fourteen sublevels, two boxed sets, three adventure modules, a CRPG, and a novel all bearing its name... The Ruins of Undermountain!

Pity they left it less than a quarter complete, and therefore almost unplayable without extensive development (or extensive improvisation, or PCs walking through very large empty areas), though. The best usable part of Undermountain is the wonderfully detailed and imaginative Skullport, IMO. They did a bang-up job with that book.

I think that D&D's quintessential dungeon in published module form is White Plume Mountain. It lacks verisimilitude, and it lacks the (arguably undeserved) hype of Tomb of Horrors, Temple of Elemental Evil etc., but I've found that it's a lot more fun to play than they are. And I haven't played it with a group who didn't attempt to steal the weapons rather than return them at the end.

Apart from that, I'm of the opinion that by far the best "modules" D&D has to offer are either written for the RPGA or for Dungeon magazine, or are in computer game form (check out Planescape:Torment or Baldur's Gate II). In the case of Dungeon mag and the RPGA modules, because there are a lot more of them, there's more gems hidden amongst them than the published modules.