D&D 5E (2014) What is your favorite encounter site or dungeon from an official module?

[Reynard]

Note that this thread is marked 2014 but you can pick something from Vecna or Dragon Delves or the new Starters, too. I was just trying to keep it to 5E.

What is your favorite dungeon, adventure site, or set piece encounter from a 5E official WotC adventure? Why? What do you like about it, or what does it do right, or simply why was it so fun when you played it?

Although I was not terribly impressed with the adventure overall, we had lot of fun with the duergar lair in Rime of the Frost Maiden. A combination of clever play, lucky rolls and a giant elk from a Bag of Tricks made it a super memorable, fun romp through the dungeon where the PCs just obliterated the bad guys. Having a Gloomstalker Ranger certainly did not hurt the party's chances, either.

What about you?

 

[Maxperson]

Ever since 2e Undermountain has taken the cake for me. Since we're 5e specific, Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage.

 

[Reynard]

Ever since 2e Undermountain has taken the cake for me. Since we're 5e specific, Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage.

The whole thing?

 

[Maxperson]

The whole thing?

Yeah. I love me my Undermountain. It's a dungeon and a location.

 

[SkidAce]

Tomb of Horrors.

The idea of being able to play it without spending time converting it from 1E just grabbed me by the nostalgia and reeled me in.

Especially the entrances. So much fun for folks who have never played it before. And it was fun. (not as lethal as the original, but fun)

/tangent
best location of all time? Dragon Mountain (with modifications)

 

[Sacrosanct]

I was going through all of the 5e published adventures in my head that we played, and I kept coming up with scenarios from remakes of AD&D adventures. Hmmm... I'm struggling to find a stand out moment from the 5e only adventures we played.

 

[touc]

1. Strahd's Castle itself (Curse of Strahd, obviously). Not sure rehashing material from an older edition counts, but it's just a creepy romp into one of the most amazing 3-D maps ever generated, whether you're trying to survive Strahd stalking you or simply exploring during the day and going places you weren't invited.
2. Optional demon lord battle royale (Out of the Abyss). There's an option to let players control a demon lord in a royal rumble finale. In and of itself, epic. With a tiny bit of tinkering (making demon lords more badarse) and letting the party face the wounded winner (cause it's not epic if your characters don't do something!), it's one of the more killer finales out there. Bonus points if your gamer who owns a 3-D printer prints out those demon lords and paints them...

I haven't played enough published materials to brag on other stuff, and there's a decent amount of DM Guild material that's turned out to have stellar encounters.

 

[BenjaminPey]

The Vast Oblivion in Out of the Abyss: vertical encounter against a crazy Beholder, with side tunnels, crossing bridges and webbings, yes please! Best yet: no map. It's all in your head.

Xanathar's lair in Dragon Heist. Huge social potential, arenas, cool defense protocol with central control room, a map by Dyson: great.

Karkholok in Rime of the Frost Maiden. Cool location, multiple groups of people, side building, bridges, lethal voids, caged beasts, NPC in quite the pickle as main villain/potential ally. Yum.

Camp Carrionclay in Shadow of the Dragon Queen. Because freeing an enraged bulette in a camp filled with hobgoblins and draconians to topple a very fragile wooden tower in the center is the best.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Since Strahd's Castle was already mentioned, I'll go with Old Bonegrinder from the same Curse of Strahd. What starts off as a tasty welcome with the smell of freshly baking pastries turns creepy and gross when hit with the stench of the dretch barrel and then quite dark with the discovery of the finger bones. (We changed things up a bit where it was the kids selling out their parents - there was a joyful orphanage being run in Vallaki in our campaign). Great opportunity for roleplaying with Morgantha and her sisters and the battle in tight quarters with spiral stairs was very enjoyable.

The Tide of Retribution starter adventure on the Menagerie Coast in the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount was fun for our group, too. A strong start where some R&R on the beach is interrupted by invading sahuagin and an earthquake threatening to sink the whole peninsula! Combats, looting, rescues, and a race against the clock to escape with unlikely allies made for an action-packed nail biter and set the course for where the Party would place its allegience for the campaign (now approaching our 43rd session).

 

[Zardnaar]

Probably Forge of Fury.