Worst D&D products ever.

[twofalls]

Gentlemen, Tomb of Horrors was designed as a spoof, not as a serious module. It was run at an early rpg con becuse it was fun, it wasn't ever inteded for serious campagining. Nor was it entirely written by Gary Gygax, it was edited and adapted by him and mostly written by a guy named Alan Lucien who used it to end a high level campiagn that he was sick of. It was then adapted by Gygax as a tournament module and run at Origins 1. It was enjoyed so much that it made its way to print as one of TSR's tournamet series of modules (which by the way the A series were also a part of). Fans and overzealous (and in many cases immature) GM's used it as a PC killer over the intervening years. Relax, it was all for fun!

 

[RichGreen]

On the hate side... I'd have to go with Ruins of Adventure, man what a let down.

I'd forgotten how disappointing that adventure was -- particularly as it was one of the first (the first?) proper adventures published for the Forgotten Realms. Plus Phlan is a sucky name for a city.

Cheers


Richard

 

[haiiro]

I had dropped in here and not been able to think of anything that I actually hated -- but then BiggusGeekus mentioned Diomin in another thread, and I had my answer.

Diomin is the worst D&D product I've ever read. It's Synnibar-bad, and although I sold it shortly after buying it, I think the taint still lingers on my bookshelves.

I must have blocked it out -- thanks, Biggus, for bringing it back to haunt me.

 

[MDSnowman]

Hmm...

Thoughts of Darkness (2e Ravenloft) The author, David Wise, apologised for the product on the Kargatane website. (To be fair to him, by the sound of it, he was forced to do a rush job which saw his initial idea totally revamped by TSR).

A Light in the Belfry (2e Ravenloft) It came with a CD full of sound effects. At the end of each effect was an annoying *bing*. Kinda ruined the mood.

As much as I love Ravenloft as a setting I have to agree, so many 2e adventures butchered the setting miserably. For a supposedly low-powered setting there were sure enough +2 weapons laying around for no particular reason.

It's part of the reason I'm glad they're not making adventures for 3.X Ravenloft... it's been my experience that writing a Real Ravenloft Product takes practice... and while people practice the occasionally release stinkers like Thoughts of Darkness, and Champions of Darkness (Hands down the worst Ravenloft book I have EVER read... and considering I own light in the Belfery that's saying a lot.)

 

[RichGreen]

I know many people are reporting it's a monser slog.

I know the feeling, having tried to run book 2 of night below.

You're not the only one who got bogged down in Book 2 (the trolls, and then the grells). It's a shame as there's some really good stuff in Book 1 and Book 3.

Cheers


Richard

 

[StalkingBlue]

I gave most of my "worst" books away a while ago, so I don't really remember them all...

Both Necropolis and World Builder's Guide stick in my mind as high up on my "worst" list.

Also the entire Wizards 3.0 splatbooks series. (Haven't even looked at the 3.5 ones.)

FFG's Midnight scenario Crown of Shadow comes close. It's a continent-spanning railroad (with about half a dozen or so pre-scripted encounters in specific locations, over five PC levels) and a UPS quest to boot. What makes it scrape into the "mediocre" range for me are tons of atmospheric description, which helped me drift away from standard DnD and find a more suitable mood when I was getting ready to start my own Midnight game.

 

[Crothian]

(Crosses arms all sulky like)

I think the worst D&D products ever are Crothian, BiggusGeekus, Wombat and PirateCat.. neah neah neah!

Wow, not only am I a D&D product, I get first billing!!!!!

 

[Templetroll]

The Avatar trilogy. the tone was "impress the yokels (your players) with the might and majesty, the noblesse oblige of the characters from the novels as they do what they do in the books. Let you players come close to death but keep them around so they may simper and fawn over the new gods they have been burdened with hanging around."

It sucked. We ignored it and its effect.

 

[Orius]

All of the FR products that were thinly disguised in their translation from the real world. After hearing about how much great stuff Ed had in the Realms, TSR proceeded to pee in the realmsian pool with products that made no attempt to utilize the things that made the setting special.

The worst offenders are the Horde and Maztica, as they ripped off specific historical figures, as well as the surrounding cultures.

I'll agree there. Don't know The Horde really well, that was so dry and dull that I can't read it without getting bored. Maztica completely ripped off Mayan and Aztec history, almost as if it were a cut and paste from a history book with some name changes.

 

[Orius]

Does anyone remember Sages and Specialists? The 2e book that made classes of the blacksmith, the guide, the healer, the appraiser, the seer and a whole host of other NPCs? (I seem to recall an engineer, but I may just be hallucinating.) The one with flavor text concerning a warrior woman's quest to reclaim a powerful magic sword to kill a dragon? As far as I am concerned, that was the absolute low point of D&D.

Thank goodness for 3e and the expert and the adept.

EDIT: I suddenly remembered - I think it had a cartographer class, too.

Yup, it had an engineer and yup, it was at or at least near the pinnacle of 2e sucktitude. It's pretty much the only 2e product that I have absolutely no use for now, as the 3e NPC classes fit the same purpose, and don't need 128 pages to explain. Hell, even the much maligned class books had good ideas that can be stolen for 3e or are actually used in 3e.