Worst D&D adventure of all time?

[Steel_Wind]

Well, the reason I think that the players have no choices is things like having your main NPC virtually indestructable. No matter what you do to Berem, he's there at the end. This is only one example. It's not just the bad guys that come back. It's bloody near everyone. Drop Fizban off the mountain, poof, he's waiting for you at the bottom (convenient that the NPC's are indistructable, immortal or GODS.)

You do realize that the module series' ending is flexible...right? That the modules themselves provide that Fizban need not be a God - may only be a crazy old man and that Berem has nothing to do with any of this and its up the PCs or Waylorn (or a few other options) to defeat the Queen?

Which pretty much ends this discussion I think. Your belief as to what the module design requires and "fates" is simply not accurate. Your protestation above is based on facts which are not correct. Those matters are specifically left to the DM to determine.

As Cam has said - it's been a while since you've read these modules. Most people's recollections of the novels are so strong - they tend to blur with their recollections of the modules themselves.

 

[ZuulMoG]

I guess your party wasn't good and lucky enough.
Ravenloft has a similar theme to Call of Cthulhu--if you're lucky, you get out, probably not whole and maybe not with everyone you came in with. It raises the bar for heroism precisely because it is so dangerous.

What party? I read the stuff in the Boxed Set back in 1980-something, and turned my nose up at it. The possibility of PC death is neccessary, the certainty of it is lame.

 

[Shadowslayer]

Book of Crypts - again,not sure of the exact name (it was long ago). The one with all the short filler adventures. Same as above.

Hah. I subjected my players to the one about the dude who invited all the PCs to dinner, only to have them find out that the room they're eating in is now floating in a black void.

Only way out was to trick the Baron into revealing his weakness. (it was the mirror, or the harpsichord...I forget which)

It took a while, but my players forgave me.

 

[Sunderstone]

Hah. I subjected my players to the one about the dude who invited all the PCs to dinner, only to have them find out that the room they're eating in is now floating in a black void.

Only way out was to trick the Baron into revealing his weakness. (it was the mirror, or the harpsichord...I forget which)

It took a while, but my players forgave me.

lol. I really hated the book. Right down to the living wall.

 

[JustKim]

Compare this to the changeling NPC who keeps showing up in the Eberron modules. He's a fake vampire or something, but he's a recurring villain.

On that subject, what a crappy recurring villain he was..
If the players are really paying attention or the DM doesn't play Garrow very clever, they may put together that he's not really a vampire. However, there is no opportunity in the adventure to learn his name and no reason to suspect he's a changeling. In the next adventure he appears as Rarwog, but there is absolutely nothing to tie him to the faux vampire. He rams his expensive airship into another to get to Lucan, but then inexplicably does not follow through. Presumably, he just leaves and comes back for a final encounter in Grasp, which is meaningless because the PCs will never remember meeting him before. The entire thing is solely for the DM's benefit.

As for worst adventure, I was terribly disappointed with Whispers of the Vampire's Blade as a whole, not for its classic railroad but for the sheer number of plot holes, the two weeks of random monsters every day on a peaceful stretch of road which lead up to 3 days of actual adventure, the frustration of Lucan's untouchability, and did I mention there are about 20 major plot holes?

 

[Shadowslayer]

lol. I really hated the book. Right down to the living wall.

Funny, that one "adventure" I spoke of is the only one I actually remember. I recall there was cool stuff in there too though.

 

[pogre]

Many of the DL campaign modules are open ended and feature some of the greatest maps ever done for D&D in any edition.

DL1 is a heavy handed railroad. It lightens up progressivley until the railroad disappears half-way through the series.

They were feeling their way. To dismiss all 12 modules because of the first few, or worse, one DM you had 20 years ago, is naught but uninformed opinion.

Nah, DL1 is the worst - and you get one chance for a first impression...

 

[Gwaihir]

The Murky Deep!

 

[Arnwyn]

The Murky Deep!

Boy, did my players hate that one. It was all right until the big final fight, with

Spoiler

all the sahuagin on the ship

. It was released at the time when there were no mass combat rules, so it became an over-long combat of drudgery. (Though this was probably a case of me, the DM, botching it up more than the module...)

 

[Steve Miller]

Like someone smart once said, the goal of an RPG is not to write an epic story.

For someone smart, he sure sounds pretty stupid.

I wrote an epic story when I ran my three-year and five-year Known World campaigns--or co-wrote it, because the PCs are always the center and the PCs impact the direction of the story.

I wrote an epic story when I ran my one-year and two-year Dragonlance campaigns--or co-wrote it, because the PCs are always the center and the PCs impact the direction of the story. (And no-one was railroaded, because I've never bought into the notion that the module dictates the direction of the game.)

I wrote an epic story when I ran my two-year Ravenloft game that never left the boundaries of Sithicus--or co-wrote it, because the PCs are always the center and the PCs impact the direction of the story.

I am STILL wriing an epic story in my nine-years and counting Star Wars campaign----or co-wrote it, because the PCs are always the center and the PCs impact the direction of the story.

Maybe that smart person just doesn't know how to run a good campaign?

(As for bad modules, I think "Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure" and "Prince of Lankhmar" are the only two that I couldn't find anything to even scavenge in. And I use the occassional Greyhawk map/adventure in my Star Wars campaign....)