The Classic 1E modules - an exclusive list

[cimbrog]

I haven't seen hide nor hair of X10: Red Arrow,Black Shield which as far as I know was the first mass combat/adventure combination and also helped establish what would become the Known World of OD&D. It breaks ground like a classic, but it seems to have smashed up against the glass AD&D ceiling that only B2 and X1 have broken.

 

[johnsemlak]

I haven't seen hide nor hair of X10: Red Arrow,Black Shield which as far as I know was the first mass combat/adventure combination and also helped establish what would become the Known World of OD&D. It breaks ground like a classic, but it seems to have smashed up against the glass AD&D ceiling that only B2 and X1 have broken.

I think X10 may have simply come too late, as well. Nearly all hte 'classic' mods were released by about 1983. After that, there were so many mods that it was much more difficult for the 'classics' to stick out.

Regarding mass combat, was X10 actually the first to integrate mass combat in a module, or was the H series released earlier. Also, mod CM1 had mass combat integrated into the adventure's storyline as well.

It would be interesting to do a separate list of 'classic modules after 1983 (or thereabouts)'.

 

[Prince of Happiness]

I can easily believe it - I believe you'll have local pockets of players where the X modules were common, and then other groups where the X modules are ignored because they're part of the Expert series, not AD&D.

I also have seen several people who loathe X2. Oh well!

Cheers!

Ah, good point!

I just think that X2 was a great, classic "weird" adventure.

 

[MerricB]

Ah, good point!

I just think that X2 was a great, classic "weird" adventure.

There is a third category: "Really Good Adventures", and a fourth category "Good Adventures", and the fifth category "Awful Adventures"!.

Cheers!

 

[Evilhalfling]

There are many worthy modules, but the true "classic" status comes as a function of popularity and time. Will we look back in 30 years at The Sunless Citadel and call it a classic?
Cheers!

Just from the sheer number of people, on these boards at least, running it?
Yes it will be a classic. The first modual you use gets the benefit of the doubt, even if it kind of sucked. It prolly depends on how long 3rd ed lasts -
1st ed ph 1978, 2nd ed ph 89, 3rd ed ph 2000 do you think it will be 2011 before we see 4th?

Did any 2nd ed modules make this list; surely there were some people that started in 2ed How bout - WRG1 - greyhawk ruins - I played this one into the ground. I have read half the moduals on your list, and used half of those. (s3, T1-3, U3, g1-3, B2 and x1)

 

[rogueattorney]

My list:

AD&D division:
C1 Hidden Shrine of Tomoachan
D1-2 Descent Into the Depths of the Earth
D3 Vault of the Drow
G1-2-3 Against the Giants
I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City
L1 Secret of Bone Hill
S1 Tomb of Horrors
S3 Expedition to Barrier Peaks
S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
T1 The Village of Hommlet
WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun

D&D division
B1 In Search of the Unknown (The first 2 printings had a "how to use w/ AD&D section)
B2 Keep on the Borderland (The first printing said it could be used w/ AD&D "with minor modifications")
B4 The Lost City
X1 The Isle of Dread
X2 Castle Amber

My caveat is that anything after about mid-1982 is not a classic. It might be very, very, very good - near mandatory to have in an OOP D&D collection, but still not "classic" in the old school (A)D&D sense.

Someone mentioned "classic" 2e modules. The problem with naming classic adventures in 2e is two-fold...
1. During the 2e years TSR really concentrated on setting material instead of adventures. TSR also increased its AD&D output tremendously. In my opinion, the attention to gameworlds as opposed to adventures and the necessarily limited testing time really shows in the generally poor quality of adventures put out. Sure, there were some great 2e adventures, but there was never the run of consistant quality that 1e had from '78 to '82.
2. Most 2e adventures were set in a particular gameworld. They are not as universal as 1e adventures. Hence, a fan of, say, Planescape who wasn't interested in Ravenloft, will not necessarily have had contact with any Ravenloft adventures. Thus, as opposed to 1e, where there were adventures EVERYBODY played, there aren't as many 2e modules that pretty much everybody had contact with.

R.A.

 

[Brund the Decrepit]

Boy how I love talking/reading about the 'classics'. To me any of the older modules/adventures that I really enjoyed and have fond memories of playing through are 'classics' and will always be so.

I still enjoy collecting the ones that I have lost over time and reading through them all.

-Brund the "long time lurker, first time poster"

 

[spectre72]

This and other discussions on "Classic" modules has convinced me to dust off a couple and convert them to 3E to pun at a convention here in Vermont this fall.

Tomb of Horrors, Here I come.....



Scott

 

[grimslade]

Classics

I will also give the nod to X2. The great Poe ripoffs and all the Averoigne stuff I've used again and again.
Where's the love for I2 Tomb of the Lizard King? This is a great mod. Sakatha is a classic monster and a precursor to the templating madness of 3E.

Grim

 

[MerricB]

I2... hmm. I'm not all that fond of that module. It's solid enough, I guess, but it isn't really special enough.

Cheers!