The Classic 1E modules - an exclusive list

[dcollins]

The original list is very agreeable.

If you're allowing in "X" modules, then I would support the X4/X5/X10 series. Very evocative, a lonely trek across the desert, infiltration of an evil theocratic nation... very solid.

Also, I'd pitch in WG6, "Isle of the Ape". (Which I get the impression was an inspiration for X1, even though it was published in print later on.)

 

[Dinkeldog]

I would include I4. Oasis of the White Palm not recognizable? I pity the masses, then.

 

[MerricB]

I would include I4. Oasis of the White Palm not recognizable? I pity the masses, then.

When I originally read the series (back in '84 or so - I was 11 or 12), Oasis seemed the least of the modules to me. Almost twenty years later I got to run the module, and I realised how wrong I had been. Although Pharoah is probably still the greater module, Oasis was a fantastic experience. The role-playing and adventure opportunities were fabulous.

One of the great things that happened during the play of Oasis was one of the PCs being turned into a (tiny) monkey. The PC invented a little "Monkey Dance", based on Abu from Disney's Aladdin... he had us rolling around the floor as he played that character.

I4 is a truly great module, but I don't think it is quite as iconic as I3. Is it a great classic or a minor classic? Hmm.

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

The original list is very agreeable.

If you're allowing in "X" modules, then I would support the X4/X5/X10 series. Very evocative, a lonely trek across the desert, infiltration of an evil theocratic nation... very solid.

Also, I'd pitch in WG6, "Isle of the Ape". (Which I get the impression was an inspiration for X1, even though it was published in print later on.)

X1 and WG6 share similar inspiriations. I find that X1 is inspired by "King Kong" to a certain extent, and "The Lost World" to a greater extent. Oh, and with Lovecraftian themes as well.

I think X4, X5 and X10 aren't quite well enough known to go in my classics list (although perhaps the minor classics for X4 and X5), although they are probably excellent modules - I don't know them that well.

WG6 comes a little late in the day, and I well remember my friends disliking the module very much - a copy used to sit on the shelves of my FLGS for ages with no-one picking it up.

Cheers!

 

[SmokeDoctorlove]

Where is ravenloft on the list? Surely you must include an adventure so good it launched a setting. It was the best I ever played or DMed. That oe and the Tomb of Horrors still give me chills.

 

[MerricB]

Where is ravenloft on the list? Surely you must include an adventure so good it launched a setting. It was the best I ever played or DMed. That oe and the Tomb of Horrors still give me chills.

It's the one after Pharoah on the list. (Both lists)

Yes, you are going blind.

Cheers!

 

[SmokeDoctorlove]

Well yes I am (Darn Beer) heh.

 

[SmokeDoctorlove]

Friends don't let friends drink and post

 

[Henry]

Although Pharoah is probably still the greater module, Oasis was a fantastic experience. The role-playing and adventure opportunities were fabulous.

Indeed, Oasis was the first adventure I ran into in that series, not Pharaoh. I had Oasis & Martek before I even realized that I3 was part of the series, too! Therefore, when I acquired it later, I found it lesser than the middle two - maybe because of the reason one finds the first book of a trilogy lesser if it's the last one they read - you already passed it by!

Side note: I gave away a lot of my old modules years back, including the I3-I5 trilogy. This year, when re-buying in PDF, Oasis was the first one I re-bought - yet again.

 

[MerricB]

Indeed, Oasis was the first adventure I ran into in that series, not Pharaoh. I had Oasis & Martek before I even realized that I3 was part of the series, too! Therefore, when I acquired it later, I found it lesser than the middle two - maybe because of the reason one finds the first book of a trilogy lesser if it's the last one they read - you already passed it by!

Quite possibly. I think I might have mentioned that as a reason I don't like some of the tournament modules as much... I encountered White Plume Mountain first, and so the other modules were lesser in comparison!

Side note: I gave away a lot of my old modules years back, including the I3-I5 trilogy. This year, when re-buying in PDF, Oasis was the first one I re-bought - yet again.

Oops. I've had to acquire most of my classic modules second-hand (the one exception being D3: Vault of the Drow, which was the first module I ever bought, B2 having been given to me).

Cheers!