Which adventures from Dungeon Magazine have you used since it went 3E?

[Chaldfont]

Dungeon magazine is the best gaming value out there. Nearly half of the adventures in my current campaign have been from Dungeon. It is a lot of fun to figure out ways to fit wildly different adventures into an ongoing campaign.

There may be SPOILERS below....

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We started with Skulking Below (#81) just before 3e came out. The rogue's thieve's guild hired him to take out this outpost of a rival guild. The wights achieved a TPK when both remaining characters fell victim to a hold person.

After a few more misadventures, the PCs undertook Eye for an Eye (#82). This fit very well into my campaign as I made Radeem a member of a fallen cabal of evil spellcasters (the unimaginativly named Circle of Darkness) that the PCs are researching in the campaign. Hehe, we still make "Shucky the Imp" references to this day!

Rana Mor (#86) came soon after. I have to agree with the others that this was a very fun and challenging adventure. I even downloaded pics of Angkor Wat (ancient Cambodian ruins) as handouts for the ruins of Rana Mor. I slipped this into the campaign by saying that the druid's ancestors had migrated to this world from a parallel one, the world of Rana Mor. His ancestors were the builders of that ancient city. The adventure involved him traveling there to recover the Rain Tiger, a fabled magical emerald which would free his enslaved people.

I used Demonclaw (#84) as a side adventure to catch the druid up in levels (since he had died a few times along the way). I set this in the same world of Rana Mor, where the druid's barbarian tribe had settled after their gaining their freedom.

Later, the PCs took on The Seventh Arm (#88). Yenejg Togan made a great candidate for another member of the Circle of Darkness and his Marilith Disk became an unfinished artifact meant to control the doppelganger/assassins used by the Circle of Darkness to conquer much of the known world over 300 years ago. A major goal of the PCs in this campaign is to defeat these shapeshifters who are now being controlled by a new evil threat. The PCs decided to finish the Disk in order to turn the shapeshifters against their new master.

There are many other great adventures that I would love to stick in this campaign, but now I won't have the chance as I am moving to California in December.

 

[Kershek]

As a matter of fact, this adventure is particularly special, since it launches the DUNGEON Magazine Adventure Path. We'll have more information in a special preview in issue #96, but we plan on continuing the adventure path every other issue or so.

This is great news! Why not every issue? Also, will there be strong hooks between adventures and a long-term story arc? (i.e. stronger than WotC's adventure path series)

 

[Thomasson]

This is great news! Why not every issue? Also, will there be strong hooks between adventures and a long-term story arc? (i.e. stronger than WotC's adventure path series)

I don't want to make promises I might not be able to keep. Some issues, like issue #100, will feature some other heavy hitter as the "super special adventure," and the Adventure Path will have tendency to usurp that roll (it's about keeping your eggs in different baskets). That said, I'll print them as often as I can and not overwhelm DMs running the campaign. Each adventure in the Adventure Path will run at least 32 pages (or one module unit), just like the Wizards of the Coast adventures, but we might run a little long in the later modules as stat blocks get longer and the adventures get wordier.

And yes, the Adventure Path is intended to be run as a campaign that takes characters from 1st to 20th level, so there will be a strong story arc, and lots of module to module tie-ins. At the same time, each adventure will be self-sufficient, so DMs will be able to pluck from the Adventure Path tree as they desire. I'm putting together an Adventure Path bible, actually, so I can keep track of all the names, places, and plots that give a campaign continuity.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

I fleshed out my first 3E campaign almost completely with Dungeon adventures. The players only followed up rumors to two of the newer modules - Evil Unearthed and Depths of Rage.

**Potential Spoilers**



Evil Unearthed was a great starter, providing a local town for the party to use as a base camp, along with a couple of good villains. I changed the evil cleric slightly - when he impersonated the good acolyte, I made him seem to be really incompetent and klutzy. When the pc's first met him, the party monk was so embarassed by "Arrius" that he stayed around to teach the "kid" how to run the temple...the monk ended up captured and re-appeared in the final battle. By the time the players figured out they'd been had, they were ready to tear Kor apart bare-handed (seeing him raise a local woman as a zombie didn't help).

To me, Depth's of Rage's most memorable aspect was the environment - the quakes really kept the players on edge, wondering if they'd ever get out.

Anyone needing ideas or full-fledged modules should check out any issue you can get. I picked up a couple dozen older issues on ebay at a very reasonable price, and used several adventures from them.

 

[Richards]

Originally posted by Mistwell:

Anything by Johnathan M. Richards is brilliant!

That's what I keep telling my kids, but they won't believe me! Seriously, though - thanks! Reading this was certainly a pick-me-up after a rather bad day!

Johnathan

 

[dreamthief]

I don't want to make promises I might not be able to keep. Some issues, like issue #100, will feature some other heavy hitter as the "super special adventure," and the Adventure Path will have tendency to usurp that roll (it's about keeping your eggs in different baskets). That said, I'll print them as often as I can and not overwhelm DMs running the campaign. Each adventure in the Adventure Path will run at least 32 pages (or one module unit), just like the Wizards of the Coast adventures, but we might run a little long in the later modules as stat blocks get longer and the adventures get wordier.

And yes, the Adventure Path is intended to be run as a campaign that takes characters from 1st to 20th level, so there will be a strong story arc, and lots of module to module tie-ins. At the same time, each adventure will be self-sufficient, so DMs will be able to pluck from the Adventure Path tree as they desire. I'm putting together an Adventure Path bible, actually, so I can keep track of all the names, places, and plots that give a campaign continuity.

Wow thanks Chris. Looking forward to it!

 

[Kershek]

I'm putting together an Adventure Path bible, actually, so I can keep track of all the names, places, and plots that give a campaign continuity.

This sounds really great. I'm glad I have a subscription! Which reminds me, I need to renew...

I have a suggestion - after the series is printed, or perhaps every few adventures, print a small summary that culls all the different plot threads and NPC interactions spanning across the modules, utilizing your bible. This will help DMs plan the adventure series by reorganizing the data in summary form that they normally wouldn't get.

 

[Ycore Rixle]

The adventure path sounds great!

Modules from relatively recent Dungeons that I've DM'd with my regular group (sorry I don't have all the issue numbers handy, I'm at my fiance's):

Fortune Favors the Dead (78?) - Players and I absolutely loved this one; they keep talking about a return to Guadalante.

Eye for an Eye (84?) - When the barbarian later drew an outsider's wrath via a card from a Deck of Many Things, the outsider was Thurra, and she plagues him still.

Dying of the Light - Changed to an urban mansion, but the party still almost died.

Lord of the Scarlet Tide - Changed and replaced many NPCs with long-time PC foes including an avolakian lawyer, an illithid assassin, and their Bloody Tongue cultists.

The Blessed Damozel (92) - Playtest version. Nigel the rakshasa kept his identity hidden for three or four sessions of follow-up gaming, playing cat-and-mouse with the halfling rogue and his rival thieves guild.

Worms in the Exchequery (94) - Playtest version. The shadows almost killed the wizard and rogue on entry, the cleric was the only one who could hurt the clay golem, and the barbarian had to dive off the balcony to impale the last shadowdancer.

Rana Mor - Very heavily modified - the characters woke up in the bodies of new arrivals in the Ziggurat of the Dead, set in the middle of a desert.

And many more, including the stoned gnomes and cockatrices, the giants crafting pottery, the snowy barbarian werewolf adventure, Cradle of Madness, Ruun-Khazai (briefly, the party turned around before going in!), and part of Glacier Season (possibly soon to be the whole thing).

Modules that I DM'd for the kids (13-16 yo boys) in my Summer Camp:

Totentanz - We started with this. "You're studying swordfighting when suddenly your instructor's flesh melts and the remaining skeleton isn't just practicing any more..." The kids loved it. They had never played D&D before, and they kept saying, "What can we do now?" and I kept saying, "Whatever you want! You tell me what you're doing!"

Dungeon of the Fire Opal - Classic dungeon crawl for the kids' second D&D experience. Someone described the bat familiar as a 'quick little bugger' and that became a catch phrase for the summer.

Modules that I've played in:

Challenge of Champions IV
Something that I think was a modified version of Dungeon of the Fire Opal


This thread has been great. People really seem to like puzzles, mysteries, and urban adventures. In the next issue of Dungeon, I have a gladiator murder mystery that is set in an urban arena. I'd love to hear more about what people like in an adventure. Dungeon is a fantastic resource, by far the best value in d20 (imho), and I couldn't be happier as a subscriber, contributor, and reader.

 

[Psion]

Dungeon of the Fire Opal, which has been mentioned by a few posters, is a fun dungeon crawl. The dragon is tough,

The dragon was a pushover when I ran it. I did have to scale it up, but the major factor was the rogue's sneak attacks and the cleric's magic weapon spell.

 

[VorpalBunny]

I ran The Door from Everywhere (#88) as my 2e FR group's first 3e adventure, and Flesh to Stone (#85) as a one session "filler" adventure and had a blast with both.

I'm about to start (on Sunday!! ) The Harrowing (#84) as a sort of prequel to City of the Spider Queen.

Eventually, I'd like to work in Glacier Season (#87) and The Storm Lord's Keep (#93), and I'm drooling with anticipation over the Delta Green scenario in next month's Polyhedron...