D&D 5E Storm King's Thunder is someone's Demonweb Pits

[Reynard]

By that I mean: there is a whole generation of gamers for whom the WotC hardcover adventures (plus the STarter Box etc) are going to be the classic, gold standard adventures. Their history and therefore their future in the hobby is going to be defined by Lost Mines instead of Keep on teh Borderlands, or whatever.

I'm not saying it is a bad thing. It just suddenly occurred to me that the defining qualities of the WotC adventures are going to be fundamentally D&D to a whole new generation. As someone who came in via Metzner and never really played the modules of "my time" or the original modules, I find that strange and interesting.

 

[Democratus]

I know what you mean. Time will tell what becomes a classic and what doesn't.

In a way, I guess Harry Potter was the "Star Wars" of its generation.

Storm King is certainly a higher standard that the initial Dragon Queen modules!

 

[Stormonu]

Mines of Phandelver is really in a position to be the new Keep on the Borderlands for how many have played it.

 

[Blue]

Tenatively I think it's a good thing. Many of the modules from when I started playing in the 80s where adapted Tournament modules, designed to see which party could get the farthest in the four hour slot as a competition, then fleshed out. They definitely had a set of priorities, and I'm not sure those priorities align with how I like today.

Plus, we have homages to classics Tomb of Horrors and Ravenloft, and even when the oral history of those originals fades we have new experiences in the current versions. And the ones that weren't so great can be forgotten.

I agree, this is an interesting phenomenon, but I think that generally it's a positive change over time.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

5th edition adventures are very different than the classic 1st edition adventures in just about every way...but the overall level of quality is quite high and I think they'll be fondly remembered. I've folded, stapled, and mangled Storm King's Thunder, Dragon Heist, and Dragon of Icespire Peak and as a DM found virtue in all of them.

 

[Reynard]

5th edition adventures are very different than the classic 1st edition adventures in just about every way...but the overall level of quality is quite high and I think they'll be fondly remembered. I've folded, stapled, and mangled Storm King's Thunder, Dragon Heist, and Dragon of Icespire Peak and as a DM found virtue in all of them.

I often say that Dragonheist is a terrible module that gave me some of my favorite 5E gaming memories. As an adventure, it is an absolute mess. But everything in it can be repurposed for a great open ended urban campaign.

 

[Stormonu]

This is going to sound heretical, but a lot of those old modules are actually pretty badly designed, and only have gained a “classic” standing because they were the only things available at the time. There’s actually very few that were more than sources of inspiration or a place to pull a set-piece encounter from. (For example, Ghost Tower of Inverness has almost nothing redeemable or noteworthy for use).

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

My feeling on the matter is that it wasn't necessarily the best idea to introduce a bunch of tournament modules for home play. These were adventures where it was supposed to be a contest to see who could make it the farthest, get the closest to the end. They were written to be hard, not necessarily enjoyable (nor conducive to players not storming off because their favorite character that they'd been playing for years just died to a no-save deathtrap).

This is going to sound heretical, but a lot of those old modules are actually pretty badly designed, and only have gained a “classic” standing because they were the only things available at the time. There’s actually very few that were more than sources of inspiration or a place to pull a set-piece encounter from. (For example, Ghost Tower of Inverness has almost nothing redeemable or noteworthy for use).

My gaming groups tell stories about moments from Storm Kings Thunder, Tomb of Annihilation, and Tyranny of Dragons in the way that people talk about their experiences with White Plume Mountain, Village of Hommlet, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, and all the other classics. My brother and I compare notes on what our experiences were like with our separate gaming groups going through them. The joy of modules has ever been that communal experience. Two gamers that have never met before can sit down and reminisce over their experiences playing Isle of Dread, Ruins of Undermountain, or Out of the Abyss.

 

[Stormonu]

I was posting about old bad modules as a response to the comment about Dragonheist, mostly. Some people hold “Classic” modules on a pedestal as if they didn’t have issues at all. There are certainly great memories and experiences to be had, but I think a lot of the newer adventures are actually better than most of the originals.

It is fun to compare them, at least and see what 40 years of change has wrought upon the game

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

Yes. The Isle of Dread is a treasured classic for me, but so is Curse of the Crimson Throne. I think Rise of the Runelords is a classic from the 3rd edition era, and Kingmaker from the Pathfinder years.

What would be a classic from the 2nd and 4th edition eras?