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Post by vladtolenkov on Feb 20, 2013 22:44:10 GMT -6
Hey, I'm trying to decide what AD&D Module I should run for an upcoming gamenight I'm organizing. The players include both experienced players and players who haven't played in years.
I'm thinking of running either something for levels 1-3 or possible something in the 5-7 range.
Thoughts? What AD&D adventure would rock their socks off?
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Post by aher on Feb 20, 2013 23:14:17 GMT -6
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Post by vladtolenkov on Feb 21, 2013 0:10:42 GMT -6
aher: those are fine suggestions, but I'm trying to narrow the field a bit. I'll take a look at the Dragonsfoot adventures for sure. Can anybody else recommend one from Dragonsfoot, ERP, or Oone?
I've got a fair number of AD&D modules in pdf and some physical copies as well. I'm just looking for suggestions as I haven't run a module since I was 13. I've always just made up my own stuff for D&D, but I want to try to dig into some really good modules.
sirravd: I don't happen to own Carcosa although I do like bizarre stuff (and my players would like it to).
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Post by scottenkainen on Feb 21, 2013 9:26:49 GMT -6
From my blog's list of my top 55 favorite modules: 1. A3 Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords (levels 4-7) 2. T1 Village of Hommlet (levels 1-3) 3. I6 Ravenloft (levels 5-7) 4. T2-4 Temple of Elemental Evil (levels 3+) 5. A2 Secret of the Slavers Stockade (levels 4-7) 6. DL1 Dragons of Despair (levels 4-6) 7. UK6 All That Glitters… (levels 4-7) 8. “The Twofold Talisman: Part 1″ (Dragon, levels 3-5) 9. “Citadel by the Sea” (Dragon, levels 1-3) 10. I3 Pharaoh (levels 4-7) Scott ( scottenkainenland.blogspot.com/2007/08/top-55-tsr-d-modules.html) Casper |
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Post by makofan on Feb 21, 2013 9:30:25 GMT -6
Under Xylarthen's Tower is written for classic D&D, but can support a wide range of levels. It can be found here jrients.tripod.com/xylarthen/uxt.pdfi successfully ran it with players from levels 2-5 one night (using Swords & Wizardry) |
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Post by Falconer on Feb 21, 2013 10:44:29 GMT -6
Hey, I'm trying to decide what AD&D Module I should run for an upcoming gamenight I'm organizing. The players include both experienced players and players who haven't played in years. I'm thinking of running either something for levels 1-3 or possible something in the 5-7 range. Thoughts? What AD&D adventure would rock their socks off? S2 WHITE PLUME MOUNTAIN. No contest. |
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Post by vladtolenkov on Feb 21, 2013 11:04:12 GMT -6
Scottenkainen: Hey! I just happen to have a nice copy of A3--what is it you like about it? Why is it top of your list? I've always felt ambivalent about it, but I really haven't looked at it closely twenty years.
Falconer: I've been seriously considering White Plume Mountain!
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Post by vladtolenkov on Feb 21, 2013 11:12:42 GMT -6
Keep the suggestions coming.
Right now my list is:
A3 Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords
C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tomoachan
S2 White Plume Mountain
I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City (the first AD&D module I bought!)
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Post by scottenkainen on Feb 21, 2013 11:13:06 GMT -6
A3 Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords
Good points:
1. An ankylosaur and Yeenogho.
2. Suderham, with all its delightful wickedness. Of course you need to check the brothels for information!
3. Two dungeons for the price of one.
4. The minotaur with the crossbow and the hit-and-run tactics.
5. The classic, climactic battle with the Slave Lords themselves!
~Scott "-enkainen" Casper
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Post by vladtolenkov on Feb 21, 2013 11:17:30 GMT -6
Those are some pretty good points!
Also--my copy of A3 is in really good shape--unlike my beat up copy of I1 which has seen better days.
One advantage: I won't have to kill my printer printing out a whole module!
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terrex
Level 4 Theurgist
Posts: 108 
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Post by terrex on Feb 21, 2013 14:00:45 GMT -6
Hey, I'm trying to decide what AD&D Module I should run for an upcoming gamenight I'm organizing. The players include both experienced players and players who haven't played in years. I'm thinking of running either something for levels 1-3 or possible something in the 5-7 range. Thoughts? What AD&D adventure would rock their socks off? S2 WHITE PLUME MOUNTAIN. No contest. Agreed on this. I think White Plume Mountain is the single-best one-shot module for AD&D 1e. I just DMed it at Winter War 40 and it reminded me of just how great it is. The module is for levels 5 - 10, but DMed properly I'd recommend something more like 7 - 10. As expected, a few of the players had a foggy memory of the module, so I made a couple of changes to the riddles and the map to disorient players, but preserving 100% of the original flavor. |
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Post by kesher on Feb 21, 2013 15:45:18 GMT -6
I know it's too high-level for your purposes, but my all-time favorite AD&D module has to be Expedition to the Barrier Peaks...
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gronkthebold
Level 3 Conjurer
That low level hireling who carries the 10 ft poles...
Posts: 69
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Post by gronkthebold on Feb 21, 2013 15:47:13 GMT -6
Hey, I'm trying to decide what AD&D Module I should run for an upcoming gamenight I'm organizing. The players include both experienced players and players who haven't played in years. I'm thinking of running either something for levels 1-3 or possible something in the 5-7 range. Thoughts? What AD&D adventure would rock their socks off? S2 WHITE PLUME MOUNTAIN. No contest. I agree, White Plume Mountain (in my opinion) is utterly brilliant. It combines several fun and creative rooms and encounters that constantly provide interest to both the players and DM. I (and the players involved) had a lot of enjoyment running this module a few years back, and if you run it I hope you enjoy it as-well. |
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Post by vladtolenkov on Feb 21, 2013 21:40:33 GMT -6
White Plume Mountain is also short! +1
I've got a PDF of it that I could easily print out.
Kesher--I've still got my old copy of Expedition to the Barrier Peaks--my only regret is that I've lost the color insert picture of the Froghemoth!
It is a little more high level than I was thinking of for this (although it IS really tempting to run it sometime down the road).
My ultimate ambition as far as modules go is to someday run the Giants and Drow series as a full blown high level campaign.
After looking a bit at A3 I may have decided that it may be too much for a new group. That module is brutal (and awesome)!!
White Plume Mountain is in the lead right now. What do you guys love about it?
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gronkthebold
Level 3 Conjurer
That low level hireling who carries the 10 ft poles...
Posts: 69
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Post by gronkthebold on Feb 22, 2013 12:28:07 GMT -6
White Plume Mountain has a lot of fun non-combat rooms (E.g. the boiling mud pits) that makes the module both interesting and much more unique.
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Post by aher on Feb 22, 2013 22:43:45 GMT -6
Bill Barsh did a conversion of Wee Warriors, Ltd.'s Palace of the Vampire Queen from OD&D to AD&D 1E for PC levels 3-5. The original PotVQ was OD&D's "DM's Kit - Number One" for levels I-V. Disclaimer: I have not played it myself, but I would be extremely jealous of anyone who did!This thread right here on ODD74 discusses this recent 8th printing. There are many active users here who ordered it, and they said it ships fast. Hopefully, one of them could give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down as a recommendation for your upcoming AD&D game. This forum's very own DungeonDevil wrote an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G review of PotVQ over on Dragonsfoot. The historical importance of this adventure is that it was the first standalone adventure ever published for D&D. Temple of the Frog included in the Blackmoor supplement was certainly the first published scenario. But PotVQ was the first standalone adventure. In fact, it's so old, it wasn't called an "adventure" or "scenario" or "module," instead it was called a "Dungeon Master Kit." Jeff Rients blogged about it, and he has a facsimile of a few of the pages on his web site HERE. Read the background and tell me that isn't totally awesome! The Acaeum has lots more history, of course. The web site for the new 8th printing is HERE.  If you do decide to run this, please keep us in the loop: Post photos, transcripts, video... I will be green with envy! |
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Post by Falconer on Feb 22, 2013 23:45:40 GMT -6
I love S2 because I love modules that are high in puzzle content, loaded with unique and/or original monsters and artifacts, and just full of badass AD&D flavor. S2 is totally dripping with all of the above, pretty much every single aspect of which is justly famous (who hasn’t heard of Blackrazor, or the Sphinx?). It forces the players to THINK, creatively — that is, outside the box, NOT depending on their character sheet — again and again. S2 isn’t the only module like this, and it’s not QUITE the best (The Abduction of the Good King Despot is), but it is great, AND, it’s one of the only ones that isn’t written for high-level characters. (I personally think it’s rather easy to scale to just about any level, but that’s me.) AND it’s short, so it fits your criteria to a T. One more thing: it’s open-ended (you might even say unfinished), and leaves lots of room for expansion and development, so it forces the DM to think, too — a hallmark of good Old School modules. If this doesn’t bowl players over with old school flavor, I don’t know what would. (I mean, I think a campaign is even better, but for a one-shot, I would go for S2 every time.)
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2013 23:46:44 GMT -6
By the way, where can you get a copy of Good King Despot?
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Post by aher on Feb 23, 2013 1:54:30 GMT -6
By the way, where can you get a copy of Good King Despot? Not sure how to get this, but back in February 1988, Don Turnbull DM'ed it, and there is a 15-page blow-by-blow of that session HERE. Also, rpggeek has an entry for it that includes images of the front and back covers and the table of contents. |
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Chainsaw
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 303
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Post by Chainsaw on Feb 23, 2013 6:55:31 GMT -6
I would use Matt's Pod Caverns of the Sinister Shroom. The adventure has interesting features and monsters that would be entertaining for experienced players but not too intimidating for rusty players. If you're doing a one-shot, I'd probably set it up with 3rd-4th level pregens. Also, you're unlikely to get through any of these modules in one sitting and I think Pod Caverns has a good balance to it - the cool stuff is not back-end weighted. Looks like the print copies are sold out, but you can still buy the PDF. www.xrpshop.citymax.com/catalog/item/3906568/3605787.htm |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2013 16:51:48 GMT -6
White Plume Mountain is also my favorite old school module. For a mid level adventure it's hard to top. For a group of newcomers at lower level, I've had very good results with Insidious by Die-Cast Games. It's short with simple plot hooks, some challenging encounters and great atmosphere. Highly recommended. Also check out Bill Barsh's Q2 Eruptor's Vengeance. Another short, simple introductory module with lots of room for the DM to expand upon if desired.
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Post by vladtolenkov on Feb 25, 2013 17:36:35 GMT -6
Awesome suggestion throughout you guys!
Okay. . .anybody got any advice about the D series as I'm eventually looking to do a high level Underdark game down the road.
We plunged through those modules as kids, and I distinctly remember an afternoon where my players killed quite a few Kuo-Toas, but I'd like to run them properly for some iteration of my current group.
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Post by Falconer on Feb 25, 2013 22:51:35 GMT -6
I ran G1-G2-G3-D2 in sequence and loved it. I sort of thought of it as a sequel to ToEE – note the earth-air-fire-water themes.
D1 is a whole different beast, and if I were so inclined (as you seem to be), it could be the basis for a great sandbox Underdark wilderness campaign. I didn’t have the time with that group in that time to really give it the chance it deserved, so I basically skipped it. Frankly, I learned from G3 that handling Drow combats is extremely difficult for me, and I did not relish the idea of doing more and more difficult ones.
I’d love to try D3 someday despite my misgivings about D1, which I think would be largely applicable.
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Post by scottenkainen on Feb 26, 2013 8:11:14 GMT -6
For what it's worth...
I found D1 and D2 to be cake walks for their recommended levels.
I've never had a good experience running or playing S2. Too many "save or die" moments.
~Scott "-enkainen" Casper
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Post by doublejig2 on Dec 11, 2018 21:24:20 GMT -6
N1-Cult of the Reptile God is good for players that have been away from the table. It's well conceived, interesting, with a little hand holding that's heavy handed but suited to returnees.
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