What are the greatest published adventures you've run?

[Celtavian]

Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh.

Best module ever. Everyone realizes the thief is a bad guy, but they almost always still take him along...

Haunted houses, pirates, and backstabbing! Who could want more!?

I've run that adventure probably six different times and had a blast every time.

How could I forget this module. That series was a blast.

A player said a timeless line that none of us who played that module will ever forget. We were infiltrated by Ned, I'm sure everyone that played the module remembers Ned. Later in the module Ned stabbed and killed one of the other players in the party, which prompted this other player to say, "Ned, is that you?" to Ned after he killed the player. He seriously said this with complete naive incomprehension in his voice. He really could not believe that Ned had turned on us.

We players sat there in silence for a while staring at that player stunned.

The DM didn't bat an eyelash and said, "Yup. Sure is." Then stabbed the player that said it in the chest.

"Ned, is that you?" has become a classic in-joke amongst those of us that remember that module fondly. It evokes much laughter when we remember how that encounter went down.

 

[MerricB]

Despite high expectations, I really had a bad time with WG5. But I was young and relatively inexperienced.

I think there's no doubt that WG5 is for experienced players and DMs. I'm not especially fond of how the lower levels read - the first level (with the Golem!) is fantastic, but below that I get a different feeling reading it which isn't as great.

I've played and run part of it, but never all of it.

Cheers!

 

[pemerton]

I think there's no doubt that WG5 is for experienced players and DMs. I'm not especially fond of how the lower levels read - the first level (with the Golem!) is fantastic, but below that I get a different feeling reading it which isn't as great.

That fits my memories. I don't remember much about the lower levels except that they were boring.

 

[humble minion]

Two relatively recent ones, with an obvious link between them...

The Sea Wyvern's Wake, and Here There Be Monsters.

A nicely sized cast of characters for the PCs to get to know and develop relationships with. A contrained environment in SWW for them to do it in. A mix of big standup fights, horror, resource management and slow-burn raising of tension. A varied mixture of enemies.

Only real issues were the two-mirrors trap room in HTBM, which is one of the stupidest ideas I've ever seen in an adventure, and the fact that my PCs went in all freshly rested and uber-buffed for the final fight and tromped all over the bad guys in something of an anticlimax.

 

[pemerton]

If we're doing non-D&D, I'll put forward one of the many early-90s ICE modules for Shadowworld (statted for RM and Fantasy Hero): The Orgillion Horror. A nicely done haunted house, complete with doppelganger. When I ran it, the doppelganger did succeed in killing one of the PCs (who had led a group of men-at-arms into the house to try and catch said doppelganger) and take his place.

Another nice little haunted house scenario - a D&D one, this time - is The Black Manse - an early White Dwarf fiend factory scenario reprinted in BoWD Scenarios vol 2.

And I'm surprised the thread has got this long with Castle Amber - which is also a type of haunted house - being mentioned. I've started it twice, once as player and once as GM, and never finished it, but it certainly has fun moments. (For those who don't know it, this classic series of Castle Amber actual play reports also has its fun moments.)

 

[Jhaelen]

Of the ones I remember, the most recent was probably 'Forge of Fury' which I ran in the early days of my 3e campaign. It's the only 3e adventure I played pretty much as written.

In the 1e/2e days the two best I can remember were 'When a Star falls' and 'All that glitters' (both from the UK series).

None of the usual 'classic' modules (that I actually ran) did much for me.

In general, adventures I've created myself are the ones that play best, if only simply because I know them in-and-out, they're better thought-out and are customized to work well with the pcs and (homebrew) setting.

 

[Crothian]

White Plume Mountain: I've ran this for multiple parties in multiple editions and it is always a blast.

Of Sound Mind: Piratecat wrote this and it was a great module to run. we had a lot of fun with this one.

Dragon Fiend Pact: This is probably my favorite of the Dungeon Crawl Classic Line that I've run. THere are many good ones but this short module really helped establish so much in the campaign.

Death in Freeport: The Freeport modules are a lot of fun and have a lot going on in them.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I never bought or played many of the old modules. I was poor back then and did not buy many. I did homebrew as it was cheap.

Keep on the Borderlands-- I have no idea why it is so good, but it just is.

Sinister Secret in Saltmarsh -- My first real module after Keep on the Borderlands

Pharoh--Pure gold from beginning to end. Old-style exploration.

Lost Tomb of Kruk-ma-Kali-- Good premise, awesome library, too many traps in the tomb.
Overall a whole lot of fun.

Red Hand of Doom. Awesome heroic campaign.

Overall, I like exploration modules, where things unfold from the beginning to the end, and players who concentrate can get a lot out of it and feel very clever. Having a lot of hooks into further adventures is also a HUGE plus.

 

[Raven Crowking]

The DM didn't bat an eyelash and said, "Yup. Sure is." Then stabbed the player that said it in the chest.

Harsh DM.

I only go after the characters.

 

[Piratecat]

I've usually been one of those guys who read modules and yoinked as much inspiration as possible, instead of running them straight. That said, I've run G1 (Steading of the Hill Giant Chief) two or three times with great success every time. I got massive inspiration out of the old Dungeon adventure "Kingdom of the Ghouls" by Wolf Baur, as well as the kuo-toa from D2.

Some of those early Dungeon modules, in fact, provided me with near-endless joy and plot hooks. Chadrathar's Bane (the adventure where everyone shrinks) is a good example.