Recommend a lengthy d20 product?

Jürgen Hubert · May 22, 2007

How about Ptolus? It certainly has enough adventures in it - both those printed in the book, and those included in the CD-ROM...

Odhanan · May 22, 2007

I second Ptolus. There's enough ready-to-play material (as in, entirely mapped with keyed encounters) in there for an entire level 1-20 campaign.

If not, then I'd go with the Banewarrens, which could fit in any fantasy city of your making/choosing.

Psion · May 22, 2007

eholsinger said:
I think a single mega-adventure may be most effective. I don't want just a bunch of separate modules.

Shades of Gray by Necromancer Games is a traditional "quest" style fantasy campaign for levels 1-12. The players have to find pieces of an artifact that will halt a magical plague, and their journeys take them to snakemen infested islands and bring them to interact with an ancient race.

BTW, is Shackled City a traditional fantasy campaign, or does it have odd-ball technology, psi etc?

Nope, traditional fantasy, though there is some plane hopping at higher levels.

JustKim · May 22, 2007

BlackMoria said:
The Drow War series from Mongoose.

This seems to come up in every campaign adventure recommendation thread, and I don't understand it. I've always found Mongoose products to be on the poor side, and when you approach a 30-level adventure from start to finish it's harder to say "I just won't use this and this and this, and all of chapter 3".

I started writing a review (read: rant) of Drow War a while back, but abandoned it. Here it is if you care to know why I disliked the adventure:
[sblock]The Drow War, Book One is the first volume of a three-part drow themed adventure campaign which promises to take PCs well into epic levels. At 256 pages for $34.95, the hardcover is nicely priced but a significant investment for something as hit or miss as an adventure. Does it all come together? In a word, no.

As a foreword of caution, this review contains Drow War spoilers.

The first 10% of the book contains history and detail for a setting made especially for the adventure. Those of you familiar with Mongoose's tendency to replace non-Open Game material with new pantheons and cosmologies, discontinuous across all products, will not be surprised by the pages and pages of new deities and mythology. Thankfully, the most crucial deity of a drow campaign is preserved under the pseudonym of "She". Alongside all of this setting information are house rules about the way spells work, which have convenient exemptions for player characters and beg a question of professionalism: is this a finished product or a homebrew that someone thought we might get a kick out of? The setting may be adequate for someone going into a Drow War campaign a blank slate, but it defies modularity every step of the way.

Further problems arise when the adventure requires that all PCs be given a constellation-related template which ties into the cosmology but has little consequence in the adventure, except to give PCs a tingle when they're close to something important. The book mentions that the template is not powerful enough to warrant a level adjustment, so why bother? It's required that all PCs have clearly visible, blue birthmarks for easy NPC identification, but the template must also be secret to the players. How?

The adventure begins with the PCs waking up in a dangerous area with no memory of how they got there. This situation is for the convenience of handing the PCs the fate of the world from a goddess, and it's recommended that the DM get the PCs there another way if they're likely to not enjoy the old "you wake up elsewhere". This would certainly apply to people I've shared the table with. From here the PCs go on a quest to find relics that they're destined to have. The door is left open to what type of weapon, armor or shield each PC is questing for, but the requirement that it be one of the three mean monks, sorcerers and wizards at least are left out.[/sblock]

Voadam · May 22, 2007

What levels are you looking for?

Something to slot in every once in a while or the main focus of the campaign?

Adventure paths include:
for 1-20:

Shackled City Paizo
Age of Worms Dungen Only
Savage Tide Dungeon Only
Drow War by Mongoose
Dragon Lords by Mongoose
War of the Burning Sky (EN Publishing)
Dragonlance new 3 module set (sovereign press)
World's Largest Dungeon (AEG)

For about 5-20
Rappan Athuk (Necromancer)

Midlevels of various amounts
Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil (WotC) Red Hand of Doom (WotC) and Banewarrens (Malhavok) are pretty good

1-13
Shades of Gray (Necromancer)
Coils of Set (Necromancer)
Dungeon Interludes (Goodman Games)

1-X
Freeport series (Green Ronin)
Coin Trilogy (Kenzer Co)

Not sure of the levels for Black Sails Over Freeport Megamodule (Green Ronin)
Or the Lamentations of Thieves set of adventures (Necromancer)
Or the Dragonlance Chronicle 3.5 redos (Sovereign)

I'm not sure about the new Goodman Games cult of the Dragon AP

DaveMage · May 22, 2007

Another vote for Rappan Athuk Reloaded (Necromancer Games).

Alternatively, you could use the World's Largest Dungeon - either in whole or in part.

eholsinger · May 22, 2007

I would be looking for level 4+

I got the party to level 4 through a few modified and scratch built adventures, but it's just too much work. I'm looking to take them 4+ for a while. I don't mind tweaking a few things (as any good GM is inclined to do) but I need something stock since I just don't have the time to do it from scratch anymore.

Rappan Athuk sounds good for a drop-in and the burning sky thing would probably fit in pretty well with some level adjustment. It kind of sounds like the storyline could tie right into the political turmoil thing I was starting to build.

I'm going to look at some of the other suggestions later. I really appreciate all the suggestions.

Psion · May 22, 2007

eholsinger said:
I got the party to level 4 through a few modified and scratch built adventures, but it's just too much work. I'm looking to take them 4+ for a while. I don't mind tweaking a few things (as any good GM is inclined to do) but I need something stock since I just don't have the time to do it from scratch anymore.

Rappan Athuk sounds good for a drop-in and the burning sky thing would probably fit in pretty well with some level adjustment. It kind of sounds like the storyline could tie right into the political turmoil thing I was starting to build.

Rappan Athuk is too tough for a 4th level group. Save it for later.

If you aren't afraid of a little conversion of 3e material, you might consider Necromancer Games' Vault of Larin Karr. It occurs in a valley, and has PCs exploring the local region in pursuit of the legendary treasure of a drow elf adventurer. It ends at about 9th level, which is a good jump off point for Rappan Athuk, if you want to go there next.