D&D 5E Non-Dungeon Crawl Published Campaign Recommendations

[AslanC]

So I am running one group through Red Hand of Doom, but have a 2nd group and am looking for a simillar type of published campaign. One that is not focused on dungeon crawls, or maybe even has none. I don't mind a 1 level temple or cave complex for example, but stuff like the Sunless Citadel or Forge of Fury just go on far too long for me.

Any suggestions? I really appreciate any and all help on this one.

Cheers!

 

[Rabbitbait]

I'm just running Tomb of Annihilation at the moment and for the most part it is wilderness adventure. There is a huge dungeon at the end, but there is enough material in there that you could cut that out and design your own campaign using the materials that are there. I'm finding it great, it feels incredibly old-school hexcrawl D&D, but it is a heap of fun. The first time in 20 years that I have used random encounters - and they work because of the context of the adventure.

 

[toucanbuzz]

Running Curse of Strahd and loving it. There's only one real dungeon crawl, and that's Castle Ravenloft, but it's unlike any dungeon out there (heck, you'll probably get invited to dinner). Currently players just hit 7th level (it maxes around 10th) and the majority of our adventures have been "urban" (as urban as gothic villages get) and wilderness-based. Significant role-play opportunities, and solid portion of adventuring can be resolved without always hack-n-slash. Everything else is unique enough (haunted house, winery, druid circles and so on) to give you a tremendous amount of variety. As with all pre-published adventures, you'll probably want to do a search for a "guide" to make it better. Ultimately, my players had the same request (less dungeon) as we'd done a lot of underground "kick in the door" adventuring lately and they wanted something significantly different. They got it.

 

[77IM]

Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Out of the Abyss both have their flaws, but "dungeons are too huge" are not among them.

 

[77IM]

Also, En5ider provides 5e versions of Zeitgeist and Holdenshire Chronicles which are not really dungeon-oriented. I've run the first part of Holdenshire and it's an excellent adventure setting although portions of the campaign require the DM to do a lot of improvisation.

 

[DM_Jeff]

So I am running one group through Red Hand of Doom

An adventure in a similar vein to Red Hand is Eyes of the Lich Queen, a romping Indy Jones style adventure across Eberron.

 

[ClearlyTough69]

Try B10 Night's Dark Terror or X4 and X5 together. They're BECMI but well designed wilderness adventures with a clear goal.

 

[GlassJaw]

Try B10 Night's Dark Terror or X4 and X5 together. They're BECMI but well designed wilderness adventures with a clear goal.

I love B10! One of my favorite modules of all time. I remember buying it at a hobby store when I was probably like 10. I still have it mostly unpunched too!

Sort of a tangent to the thread but I'm definitely curious how you've linked them together. The X series modules are great too.

 

[GlassJaw]

Some of my favorite campaigns are the Necromancer sandbox modules from 3ed. They put out some mega-dungeon crawls but many of them had huge wilderness areas to explore. My favorite is The vault of Larin Karr. There are some dungeons and underground exploration but it's really varied. TONS of plot hooks, side quests, and areas to explore.

Even Lost City of Barakus (which ends with a mega-dungeon) has a huge wilderness area.

 

[werecorpse]

Tomb of annihilation becomes a dungeon crawl once you get to the Tomb (which looks like being 7-12th level). So does Lost City of Barakhus (once you find the Lost City). Iirc War of the Burning Sky, Storm Kings Thunder & Hoard of the Dragon Queen aren’t too dungeon crawly but I’ve only read not played them so my recollection is fuzzy.

I recommend paizo module W1 Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale (you are hired to help re open a caravan trail that has been closed for centuries and have to dea with the denizens of the valley - the W stands for Wilderness) and also any Paizo ones that are set in Falcons Hollow - they do have a couple of dungeons as part of the series but they also have a neat village, a scavenger hunt, a wicked fey carnival etc. they can be a bit grimdark in tone so if that’s not your thing maybe not.