I was just wondering what y'alls favorite modules are and why. As I educate myself and am educated, I would like to see what was good and what was bad. If you have the time, (and the inclination) a top ten would even work! If you would like to get specific about a certain module, do it. Just don't be surprised if I am on here asking a lot of questions! _________________ *Insert appropriate witty retort here*
The 3 towers in this adventure have it all. With a little work, WGR1 has been both my favorite to play and DM.
It contains a proper balance on all fronts...
Hack and Slash vs. Puzzle Solving
Dice Rolling vs. Roleplay
Monte Hual vs. Rationing
Plot vs. Outline
WGR1 can take years to play through and is able to handle characters beginning at level 1 all the way up to 15ish.
It is also full of innovative encounters from the armored, ring of fire resistance wearing trolls guarding the stairs into the Tower of Zagyg to the group of Nerull worshiping Ogre Magi in the bottom of the Tower of Power.
IMO, WGR1 is a must have for any Greyhawker running their campaign in the Domain of.
GRM12: Return To the Tomb of Horrors (A+)
Tomb of Horrors was alright as a stand alone, albeit the many "save or die" or simply "die" situations presented within it, but the Return to the Tomb of Horrors really took this module to the next level.
Travelling to the Tomb, this module presents many side treks including one involving a family of Stone Giants. Couple the side treks with the survelliance of a trio of Vampires following the PCs along the way and the mod comes right out with some high adventure.
Once there, the PC find that a necromantic city, devoted to Acererak, has cropped up around the tomb which presents the 2nd phase of the adventure in infiltrating the city and the new temple atop the tomb's entrance.
The 3rd phase, the tomb itself, was left untouched and is no different than the original.
In the 4th phase (my favorite), The PCs trail Acererak into the Plane of Negative Energy in an effort to thwart Acererak's plan (by finding and destroying his phlactery or destroying all his undead minions and him) to become part of the Plane itself, which in essense, means that Acererak can "possess" or become any of the countless undead that draw their "unlife" from the plane (which is ALL undead.)
The mod does a great job in providing the DM with all the tools neccessary to create a really enveloping atmosphere within the Plane of Negative Energy and with the differing possible outcomes, the mod steers clear of "rail-roading."
3. WG6: Isle of the Ape (B) <---- but don't let that grade fool you.
WG6 is a really unique adventure recommended for 18th+ level PCs, so I have never actually ran it myself, but the module really intrigues me and reminds of one of those great "grade B" fantasy movies that you can watch 100s of times and never tire of, such as the Conans and the one that seems to come to mind here, King Kong (the Jeff Bridges version.)
As stated in the mod's opening notes, WG6 is a battle of attrition, will, and perserverence. The rewards are basically trivial and PCs even stand to lose the possessions they came with, but the fun here seems to be in the atmosphere and the idea behind the adventure. Something about going up against primitive people and giant apes (Oonga is a "super" giant ape) is very appealing to me. Mix this with the fact that a very important Greyhawk personality, Tenser, and a very important Greyhawkian artifact, the Crook of Rao, are 2 parts to the WG6 puzzle, and you are in for a real treat.
4. N1: Cult of the Reptile God (A+)
This module is a GREAT low level adventure set up much like T1-4 with a village full of personalities and an adventure locale.
The PC arrive, start noticing some wierd stuff (like freaky cult people), and after some investigation, are lead off to the Cult's hideout.
Some people argue the ending is for the worse, as the mod aids the PCs with a higher level NPC travelling with the the heros for the finale, but I think it adds a nice touch.
5. I6: Ravenloft (A+)
The classic Count Dracula theme meets D&D. An awesome, yet simple module where the PC infiltrate the vampire's castle (Count Strahd Von'Zorovich's in this case.) Great sense of impending danger and a wonderfully detailed gothic type atmosphere.
6. S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (B-)
To each his own, but this baby is #6 on my list.
7. 11621: Slavers
I really liked A1-4, so naturally I found this mod interesting. Given my current party make-up, I had to adjust it some which made it even better.
IMC, the PCs were a group of agents of the Scarlet Brotherhood under direct command from Uncle Pramas (director of the Office of Diplomacy.)
The Brotherhood was aiding the Slavers by shipping them supplies and gold to the Slaver's HQ in Highport in return for a generous cut of the slave bounty.
Ofcourse, the Brotherhood wasn't receiving their fair share, so Pramas sends the PCs off to investigate this leak in the agreement.
After travelling to Highport, then Hardby, then Dyvers, the PC finally track down Markessa, running her operation out of a cove north of Greyhawk along the coast of the Nyr Dyv.
They then pose as slaves (as maruading about as agents didnt work for them the first time) and board an outbound shipment to Elredd. It is here that the PC learned that their cut was being off'd to the Cult of the Earth Dragon which was using them as mining slaves, sacrifice, and a higher source of income, as they were selling them off to Illithids whom used the slave manpower as their crew for SJ ships.
In conclusion, the Heros (heh heh Brotherhood heroes) found the leak, sabatoged the Earth Dragon Cult, and were on their way home (to the Tilvanot) aboard a galleon with a huge shipment of slaves when they were approached by a unit of the Hardby Navy, boarded, and killed. Fun stuff!
8. REF1: Terrible Trouble at Tragidore (B)
This mod is not specific to Greyhawk, and I haven't ran it yet, but I will. It is a great low level module with 2 small villages... easily adaptable to WoG.
all of the town's men slowly begin to dissappear and the PCs have to track the source down and bring the town's men back. Turns out a drowdess involved in mining operations is the culprit.
Not really much of a story, but its great for low level, relaxed, and fun play.
9. 9147: T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil (A-)
I'm sure everyone and their brother's girlfriend's cousin knows about T1-4. heh..
10. WGT2: Star Cairns
Part of the late 90s Greyhawk revival, which was rather lacking, (with the exception of 3 books, IMO) Star Cairns attempts to go back to the roots and take the heroes below ground. It takes place in the Domain of, mostly in the Abbor-alz region, and is a great low-mid level adventure for campaigns in that area.
Basically there are 5 cairns, but only 4 are revealed, most of which have already been pillaged. However, the heroes can uncover the location of the 5th, untouched cairn and find their way to it's bounty.
Alot of fun here, but alot of DM work, much on the same level as WGR1 is required, as there are alot of empty and undetailed rooms and other miniscule details not explored upon. With a little prepping, I've found WGT2 to be a fun run...
Honorable Mentions
I11: Needle
WGS1: Five Shall be One (+ WGS2: Howl From the North)
S4: Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
C1: Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
C2: Ghost Tower of Inverness
DA2: The Temple of the Frog
I2: Tomb of the Lizard King
STEER CLEAR!
WG7: Castle Greyhawk
GM1: Borderwatch
WG9: Gargoyle _________________ Kneel before me, or you shall be KNELT!
Thanks for the reply Abyss! I asked this question to get an idea of how the people who have played it it feel. The masses. I wanted to know how you liked it, why and why you would play it again with a group of new players and all that. Modules for dummies, if you like. _________________ *Insert appropriate witty retort here*
Other additions to the Greyhawk Hall of Fame (in no particular order):
N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God - see my review of CF for this module
U1-3: The Saltmarsh Trilogy - perfect example of the "wheels within wheels" characteristic of the best Greyhawk modules, this series keeps building up and up into a wider and more involved plot.
GDQ1-7: Queen of the Spiders Supermodule - another example of a snowballing, ever escalating in danger plotline. Classic old school monster thumping that ends up being an adventure to literally save the world.
WGR6: The City of Skulls - Great one shot hit and run rescue mission set right in Iuz's hometown. Good method to keep track of how much notice the player's actions garner from the prison guards (called the Noteriety system, a good method to incorporate into other modules).
I1: Dwellers of the Forbidden City - Great example of having a location based adventure vesus a plot based one. Your players can go so many different directions with this one. No linear plot devices that have to be met here, just exploration and plenty of room for DM development.
L1: The Secret of Bone Hill - Another location based adventure that puts the party, not the plotline, as the primary focus.
Some non-Greyhawk modules to consider:
UK7: Dark Clouds Gather (which I retro fit into GH)
X1: The Isle of Dread (which I retrofit into GH)
X7: Saga of the Shadow Lord
I8: The Ravager of Time (which I retro fit into GH)
A Paladin in Hell
I definitely recommend getting your hands on Dungeon #116. Because, it has a list of the Top 30 Greatest D&D adventures of all time. It is of course, as most things, a subjective list - but still interesting.
Anyway, here is my top ten:
1. T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil (1st Ed.)
2. Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil (v.3.0/d20)
3. I6 Ravenloft/RM4 House of Strahd (1st Edition/2nd Ed.)
4. WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun (1st Ed.)
5. X11 Saga of the Shadowlord (Expert)
6. CM2 Death's Ride (Companion)
7. WGR6 City of Skulls (2nd Ed.)
8. The Banewarrens (d20)
9. FRG3 Doom of Daggerdale (2nd Ed.)
10. WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure/Maure Castle (1st Ed./d20)
Some are Greyhawk, some are Forgotten Realms, etc. But, they were all fun for me. Others have shared their opinion at Paizo's Web site, HERE.
1 - M3 Twilight Calling
2 - CM 6? Where Chaos Reigns
3 - B 11? The Eye of Traldar
4 - M5 Talons of Night
5 - Crypt of Lyzandred the Mad
6 - X 11 Saga of the Shadowlord
7 - CM 3? The Tree of Life _________________ Kneel before Rahu!
1 - M3 Twilight Calling
2 - CM 6? Where Chaos Reigns
3 - B 11? The Eye of Traldar
4 - M5 Talons of Night
5 - Crypt of Lyzandred the Mad
6 - X 11 Saga of the Shadowlord
7 - CM 3? The Tree of Life
close... but
B11 is Kings Festival, TEoT would have to be B13
and Tree of Life is CM7
B2 Keep on the borderlands (OD&D) (in fact most of the B series... the megamodule 'In search of Adventure" which compiles B1-9 is very worth while).
B11 King's Festival (OD&D) is a nice introductory adventure, which an be fairly easily transplanted to greyhawk.
S2 white plume mountian (AD&D 1e)... my favorite module
Return to the Tomb of Horrors (AD&D 2e)... the only module in the "return to" series that was decent in my opinion, RttToH was awesome.
The Labyrinth of Madness (AD&D 2e), a great high level module for 2e, incredibly difficult if ran the way it was meant to be run.
Temple,Tower, and Tomb (AD&D 2e)... this module had 3 interconected adventures for character levels 9-12 each was challenging and fun.
X1 The Isle of Dread (OD&D) a classic lost world type island adventure
X8 Drums on Fire Mountian (OD&D) my personal favorite module of the x-series is another module that takes place on a tropical island.
CM8 The Endless Stair (OD&D), a module written by Ed Greenwood, set in Mystara, that I found realtivly easy to import to greyhawk... seeminly a mass of contradictions that was both fun and rewarding.
City of the Spider Queen (D&D 3e) do not dismiss this because it says FR on the cover, with a few name changes it can work well in any campaign which has an underdark (including Oerth).
The Night Below (AD&D 2e) another great adventure into the underdark, this one agianst the macheniations of the Aboleth, works well in the greyhawk world (and was originaly going to be set there from what I have heard).
WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins (AD&D 2e) the offical dungeons of castle greyhawk... while they might not be gygaxes original, they work well enough for me.
Demon Gods Fane (D&D 3e) while it might take some work to get this module to work in the greyhawk setting, I was impressed by how well crafted it was... you will not find me praising Monte Cook often, but he did an oustanding job with this one.
The Gates of Firestorm Peak (AD&D 2e) wow... one of my favorite module, so close behind s2 that it is meer breaths away, this module by Bruce Cordell would probably have the top spot if it didn;t have so many of the optional rules from the Skills and Powers books integral to it, a great weird adventure that introduced the concept of the "far Realms" to the game.
CM8 The Endless Stair (OD&D), a module written by Ed Greenwood, set in Mystara, that I found realtivly easy to import to greyhawk... seeminly a mass of contradictions that was both fun and rewarding.
I'm not sure I quite catch your meaning, Wes. Not having read the ancient CM8, I'm wondering, is CM8 much like Crypt of Lyzandred the Mad, content-wise?
not realy, I meant that it is seemly a mass of contradictions to for the guy who created the forgotten realms to write a mystara module which I used in greyhawk.
I can never forget the Judges Guild "Spies of Lightelf." 20 years past, one of the first modules I was player, the DM did a great job.
Then I remember "Ghost Tower of Inverness" was exciting.
Then OD's choices were really good:
Osmund-Davizid wrote:
GDQ1-7: Queen of the Spiders Supermodule - another example of a snowballing, ever escalating in danger plotline. Classic old school monster thumping that ends up being an adventure to literally save the world.
WGR6: The City of Skulls - Great one shot hit and run rescue mission set right in Iuz's hometown. Good method to keep track of how much notice the player's actions garner from the prison guards (called the Noteriety system, a good method to incorporate into other modules).
enjoy tz _________________ "It is easier to milk a cow that stands still." Tzeliobas-Aristomenes, General Cleaning, Greyhawk Construction Company.
My favorite is S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojacath. It has lots of tie ins to the WoG at large. But I just like it. A Dungeon Crawl, one that puts the crawl in the name. Derro, Demonlords, wall crawling vampires! Send in a party, let'em die an anonymous death and start again! (Do not use characters you are fond of.) Plus numerous Artifacts, unique items, and Demon Lords! I think this was the introduction of Grazzt and Fraz'Urb'Lu.
Just behind this was the Ghost Tower of Inverness. Traps and tricks and antigravity.
Even if I was not a GH fan, these would be my favorite of all time.
OH! And how could I forget! Land Beyond The Magic Mirror and Through the Looking Glass. The shear wackiness! I think they are free at WOTC.
Oh yeah I love those mods! But my alltime favorite is Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure. Tomorast rules! I too like Gates of Firestorm Peak and wish Cordell had been on GH back in the day.
T1 Village of Hommlet
S2 White Plume Mountain
S3 Ex to Barrier Peaks ( Veggy Pygmys are vile little things)
U1-3 One of the best and underated series
Original slavers A1-4 after a our DM fleshed them out
Still reading the WG ones Ive recently bought so havent formed an opinion on them yet.
U1. Period. I have run this module a few times, once recently (albeit a bit modified to fit my campaign). Every time I have run it, the level of useless chatter among the players drops to virtually nil.
The subsequent adventures are nice, too. Nothing brings the table to a halt like the mystery of U1. Next time I run it, the room will be dark, and the table lit by candles.
That, and introducing 3.5 players to Rot Grubs is always a treat:
DM: "You feel something on your forearm. When you look, it's under your skin, crawling up your arm. It seems to be a worm or other parasite."
Redshirt the Rogue: "No way! Quick, someone cast a healing spell on me!"
(dice rolls)
RtR: "Okay, is it gone?"
DM: "The spells seemed to have no effect on the parasite. It's now up to (dice rolls) your bicep, and seems to be headed for your torso."
RtR: "What the hell is this thing? It's not in ANY of the Monster Manuals!! Okay, could I um, cut it out or something?"
DM: "Probably, but you'd have to be fast. Make a healing check to see if you can reduce the damage to yourself. Say, did you bring a backup character?" (evil smile, dice rolls)
RtR: (dice rolls) "Okay, I cut it out. Crap, but that's gotta hurt. Did I get it?"
DM: "Yes, you cut it out. It seems to be a worm or grub about the size of the Gnome's pinkie finger. Roll your own damage to yourself. That's a d6. And make a Wisdom check to see if you detect any more."
RtR: "More? Oh, man.... I min-maxed my Wisdom for more Dex.... I am so dead."
DM: "Well, there was that body on the floor... perhaps that was a hint?"
Well... Seeing as how I got into D&D in the 3.0 days, this list is going to be a bit different from the others.
1. The Banewarrens - Combined city adventure, dungeon and politics? Gotta have it!
2. Life's Bazaar - Good city adventure, but a bit light on the politics.
3. The Swarm - Surprisingly good combination of monsters... Mmm... Blind goblin kamikaze cleric...
And that's about it. In these days, most adventures are written by hand, and if not, they're from Dungeon or Malhavoc or Necromancer Games.
I have read through a few of the old great ones, though. (T1-4, Queen Of The Spiders)
I saw a couple of entries for White Plume Mountain. That was my personal fav to DM. It did leave a big problem of what to do with Wave, Whelm and Blackrazor afterward, though. Cant have characters with THOSE kinds of weapons running around.
Queen of the Demonweb Pits was awesome too. You could literally do a whole campaign based on that module. For schticks and giggles, I actually STARTED a high-level party there, making them find their way off of the plane. That module is only limited by your own creativity.
D1-D3, the Drow Series was amazing too. Again, tons of options besides what were laid out for you. Though I have never done it, adding in the lost city of the aboleth to that module would be a fun undertaking. In fact....I think I will do that this weekend!
T1 The Village of Hommlet - This is one of the best modules I ever played. There is a lot of mystery, action and opportunity for roleplaying. Although I like the rest of the Temple (T2-4), I don't think they keep with this high quality starter.
U1-3 The Salmarsh Series - Probably the best series of adventures published for D&D. Mystery, action, and roleplaying from the start to the end.
I6 Ravenloft - One of the first and still the best horror adventure available to D&D.
G1-3 Against the Giants - Great action oriented adventure. I love the drow (at the time a force unknow) connection close to the end. Again, the sequels (D1-3, Q1) are kind of disapointing, especially the last one.
Gotta be Hommlet for openers, running the series <T / A / G / D/ Q> was the best series campaign I ever remember playing. Took us most of a years worth of games, but it still lingers in memory as some of the best times ever spent at a table.
Yeah, I have to go with a lot of other's responses here. Temple of Elemental Evil, Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, the Against the Giants series, Tomb of Horrors (I've killed so many parties in that one! ), and the venerable Keep on the Borderlands. There have been others through the years, but those one were and still are the best, I think.
1. S-1 Tomb of Horrors
2. S-4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
2. Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits
2. T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil
2. N1 Against the Cult to the Reptile God
2. G3 Hall of The Fire Giant King
2. S3 Expedition the The Barrier Peaks
2. S2 White Plums Mountain
2. L1 The Secret of Bone Hill
2. WG6 Isle of the Ape
1.S3 - Expedition to the Barrier Peaks This one was the greatest shock value to my players and they will never, ever forget the vegepygmies!
2.D3 - Vault of the Drow - The characters caused a civil war to get past the city! That was a long, long, long fight...
My all-time favourite is B1 In Search of the Unknown. The design and adaptability is just beautiful.
The best experience (the most fun to DM and for the players) for whatever reason was L2 The Assassins Knot. The players were pretty dense about what was going on though.
Also fond of Greyhawk Ruins and Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth.
I ran quite a few groups through Tomb of Horrors and none survived. One group found the hidden tomb but got wasted by the demilich. Just as well - didn't want to see how they fared getting past the traps back to the start!
Well, easily, the most fun I've ever had playing a module was D1-2 Descent Into The Depths of the Earth. It almost killed my favorite character. A close second comes to the G1-3 series.
Most fun DMing a module ever, has to be U1-U3, the Saltmarsh series. I ran a campaign one summer for my cousins... we had a blast.
Favorite module I never ran is T1 Village of Hommlet. There was so much you could do with it....
I always had a lot of fun both running and playing the original Raveloftt module but the Tomb of horrors also has to be pretty high on the Favorites list
B2 Keep On The Borderlands
T1 Village of Hommlet
T2 Temple of Elemental Evil
U1,2,3 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, et. al.
T4 Lost Caverns
C2 Ghost Tower of Inverness
G1,2,3
And my favorites... Dungeonland and Land Beyond the Magic Mirror
I think the most interesting thing about these lists is that almost everything on the lists would fall on all of our lists. Even those people who play FR would find most of these modules on their list...
1) B2 Keep on the Borderlands
2) A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity
3) S1 Tomb of Horrors
4) S2 White Plume Mountain
5) S3 Expedition tot he Barrier Peaks
6) S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
7) G1,G2,G3
8) D1,D2,D3
9) Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits
10) Die Vecna, Die, Vecna Lives
I hardly know where to begin with a subject like this. Rather than attempting to review and describe a collection of old mods, and rather than try to remember all the mods I've played and enjoyed over the years, I'll summarize thusly:
I highly recommend practically any AD&D adventure published prior to the mid-80s. That was the Golden Age of Gaming, IMO.
Second, I highly recommend about half the mods published during the Paizo era of Dungeon magazine. You'll have to check out the individual issues to see which half.
For someone just beginning to fall in love with Greyhawk, start with the old stuff (you'll have some difficulty converting 1e to 3.5e, but you can handle it), then, when you have some degree of mastery over the rules, move to the Paizo stuff.
What a great thread!
I just have to chime in and mention an adventure that never quite gets its due IMHO:
Thiondar's Legacy!
Published way back in Dungeon #30 (c. 1991) it never makes the "Best of" lists and I couldn't let it languish in obscurity anymore!
Beware the Mushroom King!
Come to think of it, stepping a little farther back in Dungeon's history to issue #20 (c. 1989), there's another gem that never gets any attention called Ancient Blood.
Has anyone else played or DMed either of these two adventures? If not, I'd highly recommend both if you can find them!
Pretty much ANYTHING by Bruce Cordell.
Masterpieces like RttToH and Gates of Firestorm Peak, to be sure! But let us not forget the twisted genius of Return to White Plume Mountain or the low-level nightmare of The Shattered Circle OR the entire trilogy of mind flayer based modules that supported The Illithiad just to name a few other great adventures!
IMO, he's definitely one of the best designers working in gaming today!
Ya know, in my recent hospital stay I had the chance to play several parts of WGR7: Castle Greyhawk...and I liked it! It's really not bad if you can get past the comedy angle and the (obviously) non-canonical, written-as-a-joke angle. I truly enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek feel.
1. G1-3 Against the Giants. I worked it around a bit, took out some of the obvious magic items (flaming swords to fight frost giants, frost sword to fight fire giants, etc) and worked in a few other touches of my own, and ran it with the pre-generated characters - and killed them all off. Had my guys roll new ones and pick up where they left of ~ and they had a blast. Good times.
2. T1 Village of Hommlet
3. I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City
4. S2 White Plume Mountain
5. S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
6. L1 Secret of Bone Hill
7. A2 Secret of the Slavers Stockade
8. WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins
Really, I could pick bits out of each scenario that provided highlights - apart from Gargoyle, which was the worst module I ever read, and refused to run.
Here's my favourites and not in any certain order.
T1-4 ToEE
S4 lost caverns
WG4 Tharizdun
GDQ Series
A1-4 Slavers
B2 The all time classic that hooked me at 12 yrs old
UK The ones with glove & gauntlet
L1-2 Never got to play L3, anybody got a pdf?
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