Which "Expedition" to get?

[TerraDave]

My players enjoy mystery, problem solving, and roleplaying as much or more than pure combat.

Then the Ravenloft consensus may be right. Though using the original is also not bad advice, especially for the above.

 

[Arnwyn]

I find the negative reviews of Demonweb Pits very depressing. I have heard so many good things about the original and yet this seems only vaguely correlated and not up to the same quality. Are the classic drow modules worth finding and updating or is the perceived greatness mostly due to the nostalgia of veterans?

You may be referring to the GDQ1-7 "Queen of the Spiders" supermodule compilation.

AFAIK, Q1 Demonweb Pits was not highly regarded, and is only mentioned because it was attached to the far superior D series (D1-3) and G series (G1-3). IMO, the old modules are absolutely worth getting and updating. I did so, and it was well worth it. Nostalgia has nothing to do with it, as they (demonstrably) play just fine today.

But this new Expedition module has very little to do with either the original drow series (D1-3) or Q1. There's definitely promising stuff in there, but the execution was just dreadful (again, see Lancelot's post, above).

 

[painandgreed]

I played in Ravenloft, the biggest issues we had was that the NPCs that tried to help you were useless and all the major magic items you needed were legacy items. The costs for the legacy items were damning and no PC wanted them so we were able to give them to the NPCs and make them useful, but it still felt it cost us too much money to do so. It was an ok adventure but cemented my group's hatred of legacy items. If you don't mind legacy items, then it will probably be ok all round. In the hands of a good DM, it will probably be great.

 

[Nepenthe]

I'd vote Ravenloft. While it has a few problems here and there, I think it's the best of the three, and presents the most complete (yet still flexible) adventure/mini-campaign.

I'd second this. It's the only one I own and thus the only one I've completely read through. Mostly based on the fact that I'm a big fan of the Knight of the Raven PrC in it, IMHO one of the best organisation-prc integrations I've seen in a while.

The "new" encounter format I am not a big fan of. Makes it hard to get a picture of how things will work out when you need to keep flipping back and forth.

 

[IanB]

Ravenloft is by far the strongest.

Demonweb Pits has interesting tactical encounters, but much of the story and some of the encounter setups are ludicrous to the point of breaking any kind of suspension of disbelief. I will mine it for re-branded encounters, and that is about it.

Undermountain has no plot to speak of, so if you're looking for something to run as a campaign I would probably avoid it (unless your campaigns are already old school door-kicking exercises, which there is absolutely nothing wrong with.)

 

[the black knight]

Wait for Greyhawk.



Although I hear the Demonweb is quite good.

 

[Maldin]

I also vote for the item not on the list... Expedition to Greyhawk Ruins

Why does everyone assume Greyhawk will be better than Undermountain? Aren't they supposed to be set up in a similiar style? Neither detialing everything and leaving a lot of details for the GM?

Why? Because I know the people behind it and I know the kind of work they do. Plus, my campaign has always been in Greyhawk, and not FR.

Denis, aka "Maldin"
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com

 

[JoeGKushner]

I also vote for the item not on the list... Expedition to Greyhawk Ruins


Why? Because I know the people behind it and I know the kind of work they do. Plus, my campaign has always been in Greyhawk, and not FR.

Denis, aka "Maldin"
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com

The authors on it are good. But so were the authors on almost all the other books too. It's not like Bill Smoo came along and wrote those other books.

 

[Felon]

I have all three Expedition books.

Ravenloft has more content than you'll likely ever be able to include. It's mostly well-done though. Shouldn't disappoint.

Demonweb Pits is what I'm running right now. Lancelot's comments are pretty spot on. It's a big, dumb adventure. Rather cartoonish, in fact, with characters jaunting around Graz'zts capital city like it was a big Star Wars Cantina (if you've read Downer in Dungeon magazine the last few years, that's a good reference point). And for every phantasmagoric element there's an element of demons being as petty and banal as any mortal. You actually do encounter a number of demon lords (in their lesser aspect forms) which might be cool for some, and asanine for others. For creatures of pure chaos and evil, demons sure do have a high regard for bureaucracy and following rules. Portraying them thusly is done simply as a matter of plot convenience, which is sloppy.

Undermountain is still new, but I don't like the layout. It's supposed to cover a wide range of party levels, but most things seem centered around a CR of 3 or 4.

 

[ivocaliban]

Wouldn't be prudent...

Why does everyone assume Greyhawk will be better than Undermountain?

I don't assume that Greyhawk will be better than any of the other Expedition books. For a frugal buyer like myself it just seems like common sense to wait a couple of months and get the feedback on Greyhawk before investing that kind of cash in a mega-adventure. I've never purchased a mega-adventure before, but I'd hate to spend that kind of money on one of the current three and then discover Greyhawk is a superior product. It's not that I assume or expect greatness from the Greyhawk Expedition book, but...it could happen.