Which "new" adventures are classics?

[doctorhook]

When do newer D&D adventures become classics? Are there any "classic" 3E adventures? How about for 4E, which is barely two years old? Which adventures will become classics? (Official stuff only, please, but magazine and "free online adventures" from WotC are allowed.)

Here's some of my "classics":

• The Burning Plague (3E): Available free from WotC online, I've ran this one three times, at least.
• The Sunless Citadel (3E): It's got Meepo.
• The Forge of Fury (3E): It comes after The Sunless Citadel in the series.
• Bastion of Broken Souls (3E): Ashardalon. Also, it didn't suck like several of the middle modules between The Forge of Fury and level 18.
• Red Hand of Doom (3.5E): Good, long adventure. Precursor to the Scales of War AP.
• Expedition to Castle Ravenloft (3.5E): Best of the Expedition series of "mega re-modules".
• DD1: Barrow of the Forgotten King (3.5E): Decent dungeon-crawl. Not as good as...
• DD2: The Sinister Spire (3.5E): I loved running this adventure. Pedestal rocks!
• Honorable mention: DD3: Fortress of the Yuan-ti (3.5E): Caps off the last set of official 3.5E adventures.
• ???: The Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde (3.5E): Never played it, but heard it was great.
• ???: Scourge of the Howling Horde (3.5E): Never played it, but heard it was pretty good.
• ???: Age of Worms AP (3.5E?) An adventure path about Kyuss in Dungeon Magazine. Never played it, but I enjoyed reading it.
• H1: Keep on the Shadowfell (4E): If anything on this list will become classic, it's this, just for the sheer number of people who've played it, I think.
• H2-3, P1-3, and E1-3 series (4E): Along with the above, it forms the first official 4E adventure path, following the machinations of Orcus from level 1-30. Orcus is far more famous to me now than ever before.
• ???: The Scales of War AP (4E): An adventure path about Tiamat in Dungeon Magazine. Haven't played it, but I liked Red Hand of Doom.

Whew. Too exhaustive? Not exhaustive enough? These are the classics to me; they're the adventures that I still think about.

 

[Rechan]

I think part of "Classic" being that it's something that everyone remembers and has fond memories of. Or it has some feature that stands out over the test of time in people's minds.

Sunless Citadel and the universal memories of Meepo is a good example of this.

 

[pemerton]

I GMed Bastion of Broken Souls, broken up and reconfigured to fit into an ongoing Oriental Adventures-style Rolemaster campaign.

The module has some interesting ideas, but I'm not sure it's a classic. At least in my view, it spoils some of its ideas by pushing things into combat too quickly. In the version I ran, the PCs ended up befriending and getting valuable information from both the imprisoned god and the night hag.

 

[delericho]

When do newer D&D adventures become classics?

If it's old and still popular (regardless of actual quality), it's a classic. Personally, I think the term is so overused these days as to be near-useless, especially whenever something is hailed as an "instant classic" - most often, it's all but forgotten within a year.

In D&D terms, I think an adventure has to have been around for a fairly long time (say a few years), and still be widely recognised, if not widely played, to be considered a classic.

Are there any "classic" 3E adventures?

Just two: "Sunless Citadel" and "Red Hand of Doom". Possibly the "Shackled City" Adventure Path (which isn't the best of the Paizo adventure paths, but gets the recognition for being the first).

There are many other superb adventures out there, but I don't think any of them have the recognition to be considered classics.

How about for 4E, which is barely two years old?

Not yet, but give it time.

Which adventures will become classics?

"Keep on the Shadowfell" will probably be considered a classic for being the first. The "Scales of War" Adventure Path will likely go the same way.

"War of the Burning Sky" will probably become an "ENWorld Classic", but probably not in the wider market. Also, it's not official, of course.

The Burning Plague (3E)

First 3e adventure I ever ran. Good times. I don't think it has the name recognition to be considered a classic, though.

Expedition to Castle Ravenloft (3.5E)

Don't have this one. Of the "Expedition" series, I have "Demonweb Pits" (which is a poor adventure, but contains the core of a really good campaign arc), and "Ruins of Greyhawk" (which is better, but still disappointing - perhaps because I didn't have the appropriate sense of nostalgia going in).

DD1: Barrow of the Forgotten King (3.5E)
DD2: The Sinister Spire (3.5E)
DD3: Fortress of the Yuan-ti (3.5E)

A very good trilogy, and a personal favourite. The second part, in particular, is great. However, I doubt they have the recognition to be considered classics.

The Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde (3.5E)

It's no better than okay. Interesting for the format (which introduced the "Delve" format for adventures, which has since evolved to the familiar 4e format, and also made use of the "multiple booklet" format used in 4e), but the adventure itself is so-so.

Scourge of the Howling Horde (3.5E): Never played it, but heard it was pretty good.

No. This adventure is absymal on just about every measure. Avoid at all costs.

H1: Keep on the Shadowfell (4E)

I'm inclined to agree that this will become considered a classic. Having neither read nor played it, I can't comment on quality, except to say that the reviews I have read have been deeply mixed. (And, of course, it's always hard to determine how fair those reviews are, or how badly influenced they are by edition-warrior issues.)

H2-3, P1-3, and E1-3 series (4E)

The only one I have and have read (but not played/run) is "P1: King of the Trollhaunt Warrens".

Frankly, it's just not a very good adventure. The skill challenge is almost completely pointless (and 'penalises' failure by giving the PCs an exciting fight followed by a bundle of nice treasure), and the adventure is almost completely lacking in meaningful choices. Essentially, it's just a path: kill A, kill B, kill C, kill D, finish dungeon 1, kill D, kill E, kill F, kill H, finish dungeon 2. Congratulations! You win!

The Scales of War AP (4E)

The reviews I've read of this one have been mostly negative. Hopefully, if WotC do another 4e Adventure Path, they'll have learned a lot about how (not) to put one together.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

Agreement with the above...but I'll add one:

Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. Due to legacy (the older edition adventures), the "earliness" of its release, name recognition, and general overall quality (generally regarded as quite good).

For the smaller print runs, you can almost tell which will be/are classics by cost on ebay/amazon/used bookstores etc. Not the only factor, of course, but if it costs more now, rather than less, it's a good sign.


What about Ptolus?

 

[meomwt]

For Adventure Paths and the like, I'd suggest that nominating all 12 adventures is probably overkill, unless all 12 have that certain something, and I'd suggest that's not the case.

Having said that, I'd be more than happy to nominate The Whispering Cairn, Part 1 of The Age of Worms AP. It has a creepy dungeon, a couple of nice twists, a great villain in the final showdown and sufficient background material with it to run a few side adventurs in Diamond Lake. Even if you don't plan to run the whole AP, I don't think that there's a better "official" First-Level adventure out there for 3.xE.

And Ptolus wasn't an "offical" (WotC/ Dungeon magazine) release, otherwise it might easily wipe the floor with a number of products.

 

[GlassJaw]

Great topic, although I disagree with pretty much everything on the OP's list. None of those would even make my "consideration" list.

Here's my list:

Rappan Athuk Reloaded - the king of all megadungeons.
Freeport Trilogy - the series that introduced Freeport. Just oozing with flavor.
Lost City of Barakus - mini-sandbox campaign. Perfect way to kick-off a new campaign.
Shackled City - kicked off the Adventure Path phenomenon, but also one of my favorites.
Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil - it's generally regarded as a big slog, but as Aberzanzorax mentioned, it has a lot of history. Plus, it was written by Monte.

Honorable Mention
The Banewarrens - good dungeonc crawl by Monte
Vault of Larin Karr/Tomb of Abysthor - other great modules by Necromancer
Pathfinder Hook Mountain Massacre - Part 3 of Runelords, controversial because of the inbred ogres but great module nonetheless.
Dungeon Crawl Classics - the series alone should get a mention.

Red Hand of Doom (3.5E): Good, long adventure. Precursor to the Scales of War AP.

I know this gets mentioned a lot but I think it's incredibly overrated. Been playing through for a while and it feels like a slog. *shrugs*

 

[Grymar]

I have a hard time judging since I've never see or played any of these.

Gaming has changed for me in 20+ years...where back in the day we bought the modules and played them to death. These days we rarely do modules, if ever. I will sometimes grab a short adventure and rip it apart to put into the campaign, but it is usually an adventure from Dungeon Crawl Classics, not WotC or Paizo.

 

[GlassJaw]

Having said that, I'd be more than happy to nominate The Whispering Cairn, Part 1 of The Age of Worms AP. It has a creepy dungeon, a couple of nice twists, a great villain in the final showdown and sufficient background material with it to run a few side adventurs in Diamond Lake. Even if you don't plan to run the whole AP, I don't think that there's a better "official" First-Level adventure out there for 3.xE.

I didn't care for much of the rest of the AP but The Whispering Cairn (and Diamond Lake) is a great module that could easily be adapted for a campaign other than the AP.

Be careful though, it's a tough dungeon and can turn into a TPK quick!

 

[Jhaelen]

Whew. Too exhaustive? Not exhaustive enough? These are the classics to me; they're the adventures that I still think about.

Too exhaustive, imho. Not all of these adventures are really great, imho.

Regarding the WotC modules, I agree about the Burning Plague, Forge of Fury, and the Red Hand of Doom. My group has only played the former two and several of the others. But none of them have been that memorable.