D&D General Top 5 Best Non-WotC adventures?

[Raith5]

I came here to name the same adventure. How is your campaign going?

I'm actually simultaneously DMing a campaign and playing it in another group. It's not an ideal situation, but we made it work. It truly is a remarkable campaign, and it supports different playing styles fairly well too.

We are about 5th level and the campaign is going well. I think the adventure balances complexity and flexibility well - I have had to make some changes here and there and it is all OK. It does indeed support different playstyles. But my biggest take away is that my players shaped up to explore a ruined city so loaded up on skills and classes that were useful in that context - but the adventure really leans into the factions so social skills are far more important than originally expected.

 

[R_J_K75]

But the damned thing is dense with great adventures.

Yeah it is. I've browsed it, read parts here and there, as I owned the 3.5 version and I have the 5E version but never read the whole book. Its such a big book that its intimidating.

 

[Loren the GM]

I posted this previously over here, but these are some of my favorites:

• Call from the Deep - the most D&D adventure path that isn't actually published by WotC. Really fun pirate adventure! Lots of support (maps, DM info and suggestions, etc.) on the Ghosts of Saltmarsh Discord.
• The Demonplague - Sandbox adventure with lots of DM support guidance written into the book.
• Empire of the Ghouls - Great, evocative adventure in Kobold Press' Midgard setting.
• Freyja's Tears (Svilland) - epic 1-20 Viking adventure. I'd recommend the setting book as a companion as it gives more character creation options and info about the world.
• Odyssey of the Dragonlords - Epic Greek-esque mythology campaign with a ton of user support available to fix some of the issues and play better through it's Reddit page and Discord - also check out this PDF for collected ideas.
• Raiders of the Serpent Sea - from the creator of Odyssey of the Dragonlords, and Viking campaign in the same shared world.
• Ruins of the Grindleroot - Excellent adventure from SlyFlourish, with lots of advice and context for the setting.
• The Scarlet Citadel - classic dungeon crawl
• Tales of the Old Margreve - anthology of adventures set in a deep, ancient forest
• War of the Burning Sky - heroic fantasy war campaign
• Zeitgeist: Gears of Revolution - steampunk adventure where characters are government agents hunting spies, assassins, and international conspiracies.
• Carbon 2185 - Cyberpunk setting with several good adventures available
• Humblewood - woodland critter setting and adventures (follow up book has even more adventures in it)
• Farsight / Chronicles of the Edge - Sci-fi space opera conversion with a setting and several adventures
• Born from Ice: Stone Age Roleplaying - Blood and Clay - shameless plug, I'm developing Born from Ice currently. No magic prehistoric stone age setting. This adventure is free! Be sure to get the free Quickstart Guide as well.

 

[Ancalagon]

Zeitgeist is also really good, but I haven't read it, only played as a player, so don't know what % was our GM and the original adventure.

 

[SlyFlourish]

Two jump straight to the top of my list. I need to think about the other three:

• Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands by Raging Swan
• Empire of the Ghouls by Kobold Press

 

[Necropolitan]

Paths of Immortality doesn't get enough mention, though outside the PF1e circles I'm not sure how many are even aware of it.

What's that? I Googled it but couldn't find anything.

 

[Ancalagon]

It's not quite D&D (although it could easily be played with D&D), and it's sort of a hybrid between campaign setting and adventure, but I would be remiss not to mention UVG (UltraViolet Grasslands), an "point crawl" adventure that has wildly creative locations and NPCs. Even if you never run it, it's worth getting just to grab these ideas.

 

[Piperken]

...With 5.5 rapidly approaching I'll probably give it a go, but what are some good non-WotC adventures...

I'd humbly suggest:

• The Secrets of Skyhorn Lighthouse (Kelsey Dionne)
• Winter's Daughter (Necrotic Gnome - Gavin Norman)

@DarkCrisis

 

[GreyLord]

What's that? I Googled it but couldn't find anything.

It's a set of three adventures that Paizo put out that are a mini-adventure path of sorts (sort of like the Crown of the Kobold King was originally, before they made it a hardcover).

It starts with Crypt of the Everflame (where you have an origin and a startling turn of events).

It then is followed up with Masks of the Living God.

The final adventure in the mini AP is City of Golden Death.

I also misnamed it by accident. It's the Price of Immortality mini adventure path.

 

[Blue]

Since this is under D&D General, I've got to go with Eyes of the Stone Thief, which was for the D20 OGL system 13th Age. There is an official adaption of the first bit for 5e, but I don't think the whole thing has been migrated over. Though it is mildly setting specific, building on 13th Age's Living Dungeons.