D&D General The most played D&D Adventure of all time

[Stormonu]

That's the one one of my players bought.

It's a lot nicer than my copy. Came in coffin box, player hand outs etc.

That coffin box is pretty awesome. I finally picked it up when it was nearly 50% off earlier this year. And Van Richten's fits into it as well.

Though, I'm one who picked up the original hardback CoS when it first dropped @Whizbang Dustyboots, so this was an "upgrade" for me.

On that note ... I wonder exactly how many copies of B2 and X1 I own; I think it's around 5 B2's and at least 3 X1's ... not so much that I love those adventures, but it came bundled several different ways over the years.

 

[TerraDave]

There is no reason to reinvent the wheel when we have a thread with sales data going back to TSR.

What does that even mean in the context of my post?

 

[Parmandur]

That coffin box is pretty awesome. I finally picked it up when it was nearly 50% off earlier this year. And Van Richten's fits into it as well.

Though, I'm one who picked up the original hardback CoS when it first dropped @Whizbang Dustyboots, so this was an "upgrade" for me.

On that note ... I wonder exactly how many copies of B2 and X1 I own; I think it's around 5 B2's and at least 3 X1's ... not so much that I love those adventures, but it came bundled several different ways over the years.

Heck, I have two copies of B2: a secondhand original I found a few years ago, and Goidman Games reprint.

 

[Lanefan]

A good friend of mine (he's 70 now) was given the Moldvay box with Keep back in the day. The dice were still in the packaging! It was never used!

And yet those dice were still probably worn down.

 

[Lanefan]

Completely anecdotal uncatalogued guesses would be...
1. Keep on the Borderlands.

If not, and/or followed by...
2. The Village of Homlet(te).
3 (or I might guess the #1 slot, if Keep is wrong). Against the Giants.
4. Isle of Dread.
5. Descent to the Depths of the Earth.
6. Queen of the Demonweb Pits.
7. Tomb of Horrors.
8. Slave Pits of the Undercity.
9. White Plume Mountain.
10. mmmm....toss up between, The Lost City and Dungeonland.

For just the 1e-era adventures, this list hits most of the key ones even if I'd quibble with the ordering between 2 and 10 (1 is a lock).

But there's also been a few big-time adventures since then, in terms of number of times played; so my guess as to how this would look (and I think I'm missing some key ones, as I'm going by memory):

Core: (i.e. the most-played adventure is one of these, with the other(s) close behind)
Keep on the Borderlands (BX)
Lost Mines of Phandelver (5e)

Inner Circle: (i.e. the next 'tier', played a lot but not as much as the core ones)
Ravenloft (1e)
Steading of the Hill Giants G1 (1e) [I suspect this one got played quite a bit more than G2 and G3)
Isle of Dread (BX)

Peripheral: (i.e. played a lot but not as much as those noted above)
Sunless Citadel (3e)
Village of Hommlet (1e) (but not the whole ToEE, just this bit)
Tomb of Horrors (1e)
Glacial Rift G2 (1e)
Hall of the Fire Giant King G3 (1e)
Keep on the Shadowfell (4e)

Outer periphery: (influential, honourable mentions, etc.)
Caverns of Thracia (JG)
Dark Tower (JG)
Dragons of Despair (1e) (plus, to a diminshing extent, the rest of the DL series)
Forge of Fury (3e)
Fedifensor (2e?)
Queen of the Demonweb Pits (1e)
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (1e)
Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (1e)
Curse of Strahd (5e) (not counting this as being the same as Ravenloft)
Pharoah I3 (1e)
White Plume Mountain (1e)

 

[Parmandur]

For just the 1e-era adventures, this list hits most of the key ones even if I'd quibble with the ordering between 2 and 10 (1 is a lock).

But there's also been a few big-time adventures since then, in terms of number of times played; so my guess as to how this would look (and I think I'm missing some key ones, as I'm going by memory):

Core: (i.e. the most-played adventure is one of these, with the other(s) close behind)
Keep on the Borderlands (BX)
Lost Mines of Phandelver (5e)

Inner Circle: (i.e. the next 'tier', played a lot but not as much as the core ones)
Ravenloft (1e)
Steading of the Hill Giants G1 (1e) [I suspect this one got played quite a bit more than G2 and G3)
Isle of Dread (BX)

Peripheral: (i.e. played a lot but not as much as those noted above)
Sunless Citadel (3e)
Village of Hommlet (1e) (but not the whole ToEE, just this bit)
Tomb of Horrors (1e)
Glacial Rift G2 (1e)
Hall of the Fire Giant King G3 (1e)
Keep on the Shadowfell (4e)

Outer periphery: (influential, honourable mentions, etc.)
Caverns of Thracia (JG)
Dark Tower (JG)
Dragons of Despair (1e) (plus, to a diminshing extent, the rest of the DL series)
Forge of Fury (3e)
Fedifensor (2e?)
Queen of the Demonweb Pits (1e)
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (1e)
Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (1e)
Curse of Strahd (5e) (not counting this as being the same as Ravenloft)
Pharoah I3 (1e)
White Plume Mountain (1e)

Seems reasonable, barring more hard data.

 

[Zardnaar]

For just the 1e-era adventures, this list hits most of the key ones even if I'd quibble with the ordering between 2 and 10 (1 is a lock).

But there's also been a few big-time adventures since then, in terms of number of times played; so my guess as to how this would look (and I think I'm missing some key ones, as I'm going by memory):

Core: (i.e. the most-played adventure is one of these, with the other(s) close behind)
Keep on the Borderlands (BX)
Lost Mines of Phandelver (5e)

Inner Circle: (i.e. the next 'tier', played a lot but not as much as the core ones)
Ravenloft (1e)
Steading of the Hill Giants G1 (1e) [I suspect this one got played quite a bit more than G2 and G3)
Isle of Dread (BX)

Peripheral: (i.e. played a lot but not as much as those noted above)
Sunless Citadel (3e)
Village of Hommlet (1e) (but not the whole ToEE, just this bit)
Tomb of Horrors (1e)
Glacial Rift G2 (1e)
Hall of the Fire Giant King G3 (1e)
Keep on the Shadowfell (4e)

Outer periphery: (influential, honourable mentions, etc.)
Caverns of Thracia (JG)
Dark Tower (JG)
Dragons of Despair (1e) (plus, to a diminshing extent, the rest of the DL series)
Forge of Fury (3e)
Fedifensor (2e?)
Queen of the Demonweb Pits (1e)
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (1e)
Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (1e)
Curse of Strahd (5e) (not counting this as being the same as Ravenloft)
Pharoah I3 (1e)
White Plume Mountain (1e)

CoS and HotDQ are good contenders for 3rd and 4th place.

 

[Scott Christian]

White Plume Mountain (1e)

I feel like White Plume should be in the inner circle.

 

[MockingBird]

It was designed for four groups to be playing it simultaneously. It works like that.

As a dungeon for a single group? Not so much.

Cheers,
Merric

Definitely a head scratcher as to why it was chosen to be included in Yawning Portal.

 

[Lanefan]

I feel like White Plume should be in the inner circle.

I'd listen to a case for "peripheral" but I think "inner circle" is gilding the lily a bit much for WPM.