What are the classic adventure modules of 3E? (with a tally!)

[Hammerhead]

I'm a fan of Heart of Nightfang Spire. It's a bit lacking in NPC interaction and the plot hooks are terrible - I didn't really feel any urgency about defeating Gulthias.

However, it provides a very challenging dungeon experience, IMHO. The Sunless Citadel seemed too easy at points, as our sorcerer blasted through things with color spray as our tank cleaved. My brother hated Standing Stone, and we were stunned that the BBG for an 8th - 9th level party had a meager 28 HP. He also claims that the Speaker in Dreams will be too easy, even for our rather effective party. Similarly, it seemed as my group was coasting through the adventures we faced prior to HoNS - in a different campaign. We definitely didn't coast through the Heart. It was deadly, but there are plenty of ways to reduce the danger to a manageable level. The adventure had me busy thinking up ways to deal with it, just as it had our DM chuckling evilly. It provides very challenging situations, but ones that seem appropriate to the level of the PCs. I think that level of challenge is a good thing, and hard to find, as many challenging games seem to involve foes that outmatch the PCs easily.

 

[Storminator]

Well, I looked at 'The Standing Stone', and saw multiple 5 stars, multiple 3 stars, and a few 2s and a 1. And the 1 was from dinkeldog, who's opinion carries more weight with me than many of the 5-star reviewers. And when I read the module and felt a 1 was appropriate, 2 was generous...well, it told me that almost all of the reviews on d20reviews were worth avoiding, based on the two cases where I've gone there, and seen wildly skewed reviews.

Standing Stone averages out to 3.92 stars. Out of 12 reviews, only 2 people actually gave it 4 stars (close as you can get to its score). Opinions diverged widely, from multiple 5s to a 1 and multiple 2s.

Relics and Rituals, for a counter example, has an average of 4 (very similar), and of the 17 reviews, 7 gave it 4 stars. The individual reviews clustered much closer to the average.

I think this is because people rate modules very differently than other products. It's a more subjective process. That's my only point! Small point!

I very much agree with you that reviewers have to monitored and that you have match tastes. For example, Simon Collins has a very different expectation from a module than I, as I gather from actually reading his reviews. So I don't lend his reviews as much weight as I do Psion's, as Psion and I game much more alike. I just think these differences come out more when discussing adventures than it does in evaluating rules.

PS

 

[Jhyrryl]

** There be minor spoilers here.**

Too late for the tally, but I still wanted to add my comments concerning the first four Adventure Series modules. These comments are slanted toward a marketing perspective of, "We're trying to introduce new players to the game with these."

The Sunless Citadel: Definitely a classic. It gave the PCs an objective, and entertained them along the way to that objective with other stories. The group I ran through it didn't cooperate with the kobolds and ended up with a party member captured while the rest of the group escaped. [Meepo died very quicly after the fighting broke out.] Selling an unconscious, but still alive Calcryx to an evil half-dragon sorc who needs living dragons for a ritual, became the seed from which the overall campaign story grew.

The Forge of Fury: Too much of a raw dungeon crawl to be a classic. I considered it to be a worked over random dungeon. The module had no story for the PCs beyond "get loot" and gave no nod towards real newbies. I managed to make the roper "lesson" work out, but only because I was being nice and only attacking with a single strand at a time. I was also running a party of 6 through it, so they had the manpower to rescue people as they got caught. A party of 4 new players would have been decimated if none of them picked up on the fact that the creature was intelligent and open to negotiation. My party happened to be evilly inclined and was more than happy to capture a couple trogs to feed the roper. While my group had some good fights in the dungeon, and even a couple memorable deaths, I didn't need to spend the $10 to stage random fights, that's what the MM is for.

The Speaker in Dreams: I'm suprised that more people didn't like this module. I think it should be considered an up and coming classic. By this point in a campaign's progression, the characters should have a sense for there being a world outside of dungeons, and this module does an excellent job of teaching them that such a world can also be a source of adventure. The module fell a little flat near the finale, but a decent DM who is willing to put even a little bit of effort can correct that.

What really makes this module so good is that it makes the players feel like their characters are heroes. They become celebrities, as the majority of their encounters are very public and witnessed by dozens, if not hundreds of people. The fight with the gargoyles on top of the bell tower was particularly satisfying for my players. I highly recommend the refreshing change of style (but not pace) that this module provides. There are too few like it.

The Standing Stone: As someone else said, I found this module unusable, and not just because it wouldn't fit into my campaign, but because it wouldn't be entertaining to the players on any level. This is another, "I don't need to spend $10 to..." module. In this case it's, "I don't need to spend $10 to advance characters through three levels of mission failure." Especially if they aren't even going to realize that they failed, which the module attempts to set them up for.

Regarding 2nd ed. modules that are classics, Castles Forlorn is excellent. My recommendation is to not run it as a Ravenloft domain, and recognize that you need to really know the information presented in the boxed set. If you're the kind of GM who doesn't need an outline of events, and can "run with it", this module is for you.

The biggest problem that this module had was its layout of information. All the info you need is there...if you can find it. I can't think of a more free-form module than Castles Forlorn, and it's not helped by the fact that to present the players with information about a room and then run an encounter there, you might have to look in 3 or 4 places. Preparation with a spreadsheet can overcome most of that.

 

[Mithriltooth]

Actually, I do recall an excellent Dungeon Magazine adventure called "The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb". IIRC, it was for characters level 8-10. It reminded me of the Tomb Of Horrors but it was also well done.

 

[Gizzard]

Forge of Fury SPOILER discussion
Forge of Fury SPOILER discussion
Forge of Fury SPOILER discussion
Forge of Fury SPOILER discussion
Forge of Fury SPOILER discussion
Forge of Fury SPOILER discussion

I managed to make the roper "lesson" work out...

Yes, thats one problem in this module. I discussed it at length with a couple DMs; none of us were very happy with it. I had a problem with the fact that the Roper is such a sticky, hard to escape from monster and that he has, IMHO, very little reason to negotiate. One of us suggested that a Golem might make a better foe, since it would mindlessly guard the area without necessarily pursuing - that would teach the "flee" part of the lesson. He also doesnt entrap his foes as his attack, which I think counteracts the "flee" lesson in the Roper encounter.

But one or two problems doesn't affect whether the module is generally great. (If the Roper were the finale, it would be much more bothersome). The attack into the fortress at the beginning of the module is quite spectacular and probably worth the price of admission right there.

 

[Wolfen Priest]

The thing about the forge of fury that I didn't quite "get" was along the same lines as something that happened early in the RttToEE adventure: a huge freekin' dragon facing a low-level party.

Now, I understand the PC's are supposed to run or whatever, but to me these scenarios (especially the one in forge of fury, assuming I'm remembering that one correctly) are just way over the top for some 3rd-level PC's. Mainly because the black dragon was underwater most of the time.

I just find it slightly anti-climactic to have the PC's run from the BBG at the end. I don't think that would leave new players feeling all that great about that game, personally. YMMV.

 

[Sejs]

Heh, in my campaign Meepo actually ended up surviving the entire adventure. Calcryx went after him right off the lick and due to a mad streak of luck he got out of the dragonling's grapple and lived thru the fight.

I have a question though. Someone mentioned an NPC in Nightfang Spire named Gulthias. Now I've run Sunless Citidel for my group, but not HoNS.




Possible spoiler


Now I was under the impression that in Sunless Citidel, that the Gulthias Tree was named for the vampire that the tree sprung from. Namely, the vampire Gulthias. Who is the Gulthias in HoNS, and is he connected to the Gulthias Tree in any way?

 

[WizarDru]

Now I was under the impression that in Sunless Citidel, that the Gulthias Tree was named for the vampire that the tree sprung from. Namely, the vampire Gulthias. Who is the Gulthias in HoNS, and is he connected to the Gulthias Tree in any way?

SUPER ULTRA MEGA SPOILER! GO! FOR GREATER JUSTICE!


They are one and the same. The actions of Sunless Citadel theoretically lead to the revivification of Gulthias [the tree having grown from the stake driven through his heart], who then returns to his dread temple, Nightfang Spire.

And for the record, look at the cover of Bastion of Broken Souls. I'll give you three guesses (and the first two don't count) who that big red fellow is.

 

[Morpheus]

The Forge of Fury

The module had no story for the PCs beyond "get loot" and gave no nod towards real newbies.

The true beauty of the Forge of Fury is that it probably was the easiest to import into a campaign world. It was generic enough that a DM could just say "Here is where I am going to put it." and would not have to make serious changes.

When I ran it, the PCs were trying to recapture Khundrukar for the dwarf fighter's clan (and birthright).

 

[Teflon Billy]

Re: My 3e Classics

...Probably not a classic, but very good is Atlas' Maiden Voyage...

Finally! Thank you!

I wanted to nominate Maiden Voyage for an ENnie. Alas, I was alone