D&D General What's your favorite beer'n'pretzles dungeon?

[Reynard]

I have a pretty big exam coming up soon so I need to cut down on the time and mental bandwidth I give gaming, but still want to get my weekly D&D DMing fix. So my group is looking for a good dungeon for pick up and play, beer and pretzels style gaming. The edition does not really matter -- I will probably run whatever it is in either 5E or an OSR clone -- but I don't want to have to track a multitude of factions or NPCs or plot threads. It does not have to be a forever dungeon either, although I don't have a problem with a megadungeon in theory. Also, we have already played most of Tales from the Yawning portal and Dungeon of the Mad Mage so those are both off the list.

Thanks!

 

[GlassJaw]

Check out some of the 3ed Necromancer modules. I love 'em: Lost City of Barakus, Vault of Larrin Karr, Tomb of Abysthor.

You could also run Rapan Athuk but not sure I would call it a "beer 'n pretzels" dungeon per se - it's a meat grinder.

 

[Reynard]

Check out some of the 3ed Necromancer modules. I love 'em: Lost City of Barakus, Vault of Larrin Karr, Tomb of Abysthor.

You could also run Rapan Athuk but not sure I would call it a "beer 'n pretzels" dungeon per se - it's a meat grinder.

I have been eyeing RA 5E recently but right now I am looking for something with minimum prep and maximum skull smashing catharsis.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I am going to stay tuned to hear the suggestions too. Time and a energy have been at a premium of late.

wish there was a good book of encounters as well that could be dropped into play....

 

[Retreater]

Rappan Athuk is a great dungeon, but it takes a bit of prep due to its complexity. Barrowmaze might be a good one. It's pretty straightforward, and has numerous small crypts and chambers in addition to the megadungeon. Easy to run right out of the box (with little prep).

 

[TarionzCousin]

Barrowmaze might be a good one. It's pretty straightforward, and has numerous small crypts and chambers in addition to the megadungeon. Easy to run right out of the box (with little prep).

I played through Barrowmaze in OD&D over two and a half years. I bought it after. It's very straightforward: pick a barrow and enter.

It does have some over-arching plots--and it is very large. I think our 2.5 years of dungeon delving found approximately half of the numbered rooms/loot.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

If I were looking for something that I could run by just looking at a map and accompanying encounter key, without doing a ton of prep or having to keep a lot of stuff in my brainpan, I'd go with one of the original Judges Guild modules. Dark Tower, Citadel of Fire, Thieves of Fort Badabaskor, something like that.

 

[Cadence]

Have all of your group already done Keep on the Borderlands and Against the Giants a few times?

 

[CleverNickName]

Tomb of Horrors is an excellent "beer and pretzels" dungeon. It's like golf: you aren't playing against a Big Bad or a faction, you are playing against the course.

 

[Reynard]

Have all of your group already done Keep on the Borderlands and Against the Giants a few times?

In my experience, KotBL is too much work for what I want right now -- there are lots of factions to consider, among other things. And AtG is just a slog.