So what 3E adventures were worst?

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I hear what you're saying about RttToEE. I personally loved it ... but that's only because I only used the updated moathouse and chucked the rest.

The first three Eberron modules were stinky railroads, come to think of it, as was a recent WOTC release that is a perfectly linear dungeon (might be Scourge of the Howling Horde, but I don't remember exactly).

 

[Andre]

Witchfire I would say the trilogy, but we never made it past the first module. We were fortunate enough to have a novice GM handling this, as she has a real talent for bringing NPC's to life. But nothing could save the utterly, completely horrible final encounter. This is the module I point to when people ask how bad railroading can be.

 

[Treebore]

I dunno. Sometimes, the very best sequels and remakes come from an original that had a good concept but didn't really live up to its promise. The best example I can think of would be Star Trek II (although you'd have to discount the TV series, of course), and X-Men II.

That has nothing to do with RttTOEE, though.

With movies you can go in drastically different directions.

With ToEE and RToEE your stuck with many levels of long halls and many, many rooms. Not easy to fill with interesting things that doesn't get monotonous and still make some kind of sense.

Still, it can be done, I love Rappan Athuk, even though I don't think its quit as expansive as ToEE.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I remember seeing lots of bad reviews of Standing Stone, but it turned into a memorable part of my campaign when I grabbed some of the main themes and characters but integrated them together in different ways (pretty much what I did with the preceding adventure too).

Like many others I found RttToEE a bit of a stinker though. About a third of the way through the crater ridge mines, when everyone was in danger of dying of boredom, I went seriously off-piste, starting up an alternative adventure into the volcano underneath the crater where the PCs end up releasing the grand emperor of a thousand years ago (epic dragon) and allowing the whole volcano to blow up, preventing a world wide cataclysm yada yada yada.

RttToEE as a mega dungeon just didn't really work IMO. A mini campaign which is a series of linked adventures like the Paizo adventure paths seems like a much, much better deal.

Cheers

 

[cthulhu_duck]

I'll concur with previous posters on Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil's Crater Ridge Mines.

The setup to get the players there really didn't work with my group, and we gave up that campaign shortly after arriving at the Mines.

 

[Vague Jayhawk]

I will have to cast my vote for several sections of the Worlds Largest Dungeon. Some of the sections are good, but some of them are REALLY bad.

 

[ivocaliban]

"The Standing Stone" was quite bad.

The only WotC adventure I ever bought (with the exception of Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk). And, yes, "The Standing Stone" was horrid.

 

[Winterthorn]

Tomb of Horrors: may be vintage - but it's horrible!

I'm running my players through the 3rd Edition update of The Tomb of Horrors and I have to say this one is awful! There's no motive for players to wade into this mess (other than the pretense of exploration and hopes to earn XPs). Perhaps the original 1st Edition version ran better, but this 3rd Ed version doesn't work for me. In fact it is quite a chore for the DM. Not only are there constant repetitive traps and effects to tire the players -- and psyche them out no doubt -- but it tries my patience to run it!. I had to add a whole layer of more sensible rooms and traps and creatures than what this adventure had to offer. In comparision to ToH my own dungeons and catacombs have been much more of a pleasure for both myself and my players.

The interesting thing for us is we are all grognards and some players vaguely recall the original they played in many years ago so they've guessed in metagame terms where they're adventuring. The odd consolation is the amusement I get from the players guessing what's next based upon their memories -- and of course some things are different than what they remember! The only reason I'm running ToH is because of it's history/legendary infamy amongst experienced D&D players -- I feel it is my duty as a DM to experience it with my players - at the least we can all say that both players and DM survived running it!

But really and truly, in terms of dungeon design, The Tomb of Horrors (Acererak's Tomb), is just party killer nonsense. I was hoping that something inside the dungeon would pull things together and offer some cohesive explanation -- even for a twisted wizard's mind behind it story-wise -- but no. ToH is a roll-playing dungeon, not a roleplaying dungeon. The PC party survived the mutant 4-armed gargoyle and a lich, and several weird traps. (I guess there is some old school charm to be found in all of it!) It's a good thing my players' PCs are 12th level or they'd have rolled up several new characters by now -- what is the fun in TPK again and again? Ick!

I suppose there are worse dungeons than Tomb of Horrors, but this one has been the worst so far for my group and for me as a DM. Live and learn, right? So we'll soldier on to finish it (we're a stubborn bunch). If anything, the next step in the campaign after this dungeon romp will be something to look forward to again!

 

[Garnfellow]

World's Largest Dungeon for me. I ordered it based on the positive comments of some Enworld enthusiasts -- as well as a review by Monte Cook.

I wouldn't say it was horrible, but it was easily the biggest disappointment among the adventures I bought.

 

[Samnell]

I'm the freak. My players are obsessed with the Crater Ridge Mines. At one point, I more or less told them that they could move on to the Outer Fane. No good. They wanted to clear all three elemental temples when two would have sufficed. One of them accidentally released the bebelith with a prying eye, so I had it clear out a whole map segment on its own. Then I had the Water Temple wipe out the Air Temple. They tried to treat with the PCs and got creamed.

Now, finally, they're just gearing up to hit the Outer Fane.

The Standing Stone and Deep Horizon were epic stinkers, though. I really can't imagine what the authors were thinking. There could be others, but I rarely buy small adventures. The big ones are more exciting to me...although I'm liking City of the Spider Queen's ticking clock less and less every day.