D&D 5E (2014) Most Underrated D&D Module

[guachi]

That homestead invasion by the goblins is epic. I called up tribal drum music from YouTube (who knew you could get 60 minutes straight of it?) and played that during the night and before the dawn assault (spoilers!).

I stopped the music and the players said, "What happened?"
"The drumming stopped."
"The drumming stopped?"
"Yes. The forest is silent after a night of goblin drumming."
"I have a bad feeling about this."

People complain that monsters in 5e are boring. These people need to play B10 and see how fun goblins can be.

 

[MerricB]

B10 has a problem. It's a major problem. And it's why it doesn't turn up on "Best of..." lists often.

It was released too late. 1985 is just too late to enter the consciousness of D&D players.

Almost every "classic" adventure had been released by 1983. Only a very few adventures past that date really entered the notice of the D&D consciousness; mainly because the numbers being released was much higher. Belonging to the "B" line didn't help. Basically, if the adventure didn't have "Gary Gygax" or "Tracy Hickman" on the cover past 1983, the chances of the adventure being remembered dropped significantly.

A *huge* part of this comes from a limited supply of adventures. When that's the case, the shared experience builds massively (especially as, in the early 80s, a bunch of people got into D&D and used the adventures to learn how to play and build adventures). So, when there are only seven adventures, people play those. When there are several hundred...

(It's one reason I think the Wizards adventure release schedule is so good - there's more shared experience here than there has been for a long time.)

It's also worth keeping in mind how hard it is to get this adventure. I got a copy a four years ago... for US$72. That was a good price. It has counters. It has a map. I don't know how many were printed, but it's not in the numbers that, say, B2 Keep on the Borderlands.

So, why doesn't it appear on "Top Adventures" lists? It's not because it's underrated - it's because it's not rated at all. People haven't read it.

Cheers!

 

[Derulbaskul]

2E's The Shattered Circle.

This is one of the most creative site-based adventures of all time - in the same class as Caverns of Thracia - but it doesn't get much love because it came out at the tail-end of 2E when TSR was really on the skids. It's also a reminder of just how good Bruce Cordell was as an adventure writer... until 3E (post-Sunless Citadel) did something to him from which he has never recovered.