Best Adventures Published in the Last 10 Years? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Best Adventures Published in the Last 10 Years? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
PSchirf
07-06-04, 10:50 AM There was a time where I used many published adventures to support my DMing. I have a confession to make. With the exceptions of The Hamlet of Thumble (http://www.openworldpress.com/b.php?p=products), The Village of Oester (http://www.openworldpress.com/b.php?p=products), and Dungeon Magazine I have not purchased any published adventures in many years. I’m now in the market for low level adventures for 3.5 (or 3.0) and, given the many years that have passed since my last purchase, I figure there must be a few high-quality products out there. Even if they’re out of print, I’d be interesting to hear what people believe are the best adventures published in the last 10 years.

When posting on this thread people try to include the name of the adventure and the appropriate target character level range.
The MadStepDad
07-06-04, 11:47 AM Well, may have missed the target date by a year or so, but Night of the Walking Dead for the Ravenloft setting has alwayz been one of my faves. It's lowlevel too, about 1st - 3rd if I remember correctly. It was short so you could customize it as you saw fit, but it also had enough detail that you wouldn't get lost.

Forget all the haters - "Die, Vecna Die" was cool too.

Again on the RL tip, you know the boxed sets for Bleak House: The Death of Dr. van Richten and Castles Forlorn are TOP-NOTCH MASTERPIECES.

With a little effort, I'm sure these adventures could take place outside of the Dread Realms.

Those are some of my pics.

peace,

MSD

(PS - rap muzik rooolez doode!!!)

:angel:
ksbsnowowl
07-06-04, 01:01 PM I thought The Tide of Years (or maybe just Tide of Years) by Penumbra was a good adventure. IIRC, it was for characters of levels 4-6.

It was a good adventure that focused more on exploration and roleplay than fighting (though it did have some of that too).
Shemeska the Marauder
07-06-04, 03:45 PM Both of the following are 2e Planescape adventures:

'Dead Gods' (aka the fall and rise and fall of Orcus/Tenebrous)

'Squaring the Circle' an adventure in 'Hellbound: The Blood War' (aka the Yugoloths 0\/\/nz Ju!. More seriously, it finally detailed the full scope of, and the true role of the involvement of the Yugoloths in the Blood War and in the other fiends (Tanar'ri and Baatezu) creation. First appearance of one of the Baernaloths.)
Lord Crimson
07-06-04, 03:45 PM Personally, if you want a 1st ed. style superdungeon, I would recommend Sword&Sorcery's Rappan Athuk modules (there are three of them). Unfortunately, I don't know if they're still in print.

But, they're only fun if you like dungeon-crawls that don't really have a specific "reason." Really more like ROLL-playing. All ROLE-playing must be brought in by the DM and the PCs.

But certainly fun in their way.
Duke Lupo
07-06-04, 08:11 PM This is out side the time range, but....don't hate me, but hte original "castle greyhawk." I thought is was a bunch of #@%& back when it came out. I was just flipping through it the other day though, and it is pretty funny. Very tongue in cheek, and yet challenging.
PSchirf
07-07-04, 09:49 AM Nothing specifically for low level characters using 3.5?
GSHamster
07-07-04, 03:06 PM Well, it was made for 3.0, but A Lion in the Ropes by Troll Lord Games was a pretty interesting adventure for my low level party.

There's some reviews (including one of mine) over at Enworld.
MinusInnocence
07-07-04, 04:06 PM The Burning Plague was originally released on the WotC website for 3E, but I'm sure it's easily adaptable for v3.5. It's designed for 1st level characters, if memory serves (though I never played it).

Night Below, what essentially amounts to its own campaign setting as a 1-16th level adventure in 2E, is ideal in every way. It has everything: diplomacy, sidequests, horror, adventure, humor, intrigue, damsels to rescue, Evil to vanquish and a world to save. It also includes the Underdark as one of its primary backdrops, and you just can't go wrong there (though I'm basing my next campaign setting off a complete quashing of all stereotypes, so an Underdark-less world may prove challenging for Night Below).

I'm sure you can probably find Night Below somewhere on eBay - it's a boxed set and it even has neat little handouts you can xerox for the players. Hell, there are even three separate sets of charts for random encounters. You just can't go wrong here.

You might consider following it up with Return to the Tomb of Horrors, by Bruce Cordell. As a bonus feature, it includes a reprint of the original classic (this new quest involves trekking through the "golden oldie"). I think it's particularly nostalgic and ironic to meet NPCs who once braved Acererak's resting place and now strongly advise others not to do the same, heh.

And finally, The Apocalypse Stone is a fantastic miniadventure. It's designed for high-level characters, I would say 18th-20th under 3.5 rules. The conclusion is open-ended, and you can certainly rule that the Prime Material Plane was destroyed utterly (even if the players are "victorious").
Lord Crimson
07-07-04, 04:13 PM Originally posted by PSchirf
Nothing specifically for low level characters using 3.5?

Well, Rappan Athuk is a good place for 3rd level PCs... at least at the beginning. It quickly becomes more lethal... On the other hand, so do the PCs once things really get going. And it was designed with 3.0 in mind.

Again, a lot more ROLL-playing, and you'll probably need to do a little conversion on the monsters since they were written before the 3.0 MM had come out (so they just relied on previous edition versions roughly transposed to a 3.0 rules system). But it's not that hard, and, I think, worth the effort if you like old-school style dungeon-crawls.

Keep in mind you asked for "over the last 10 years" and 3.5 has only been out since July 2003. And 3.0 has only been around since 2000. There isn't a whole lot that doesn't belong to third-party publishers.

I would say check out Mongoose Press and Sword&Sorcery Studios/Necromancer Games. There are also a number of other companies out there who tried their hand at d20 adventures... though a lot of them have gone out of business.
primemover003
07-07-04, 07:41 PM I have to 2nd Night Below, Hellbound (Squaring the Circle) and Dead Gods!!!

I will add however, Umbra by Chris Perkins Dungeon #55 & A Paladin in Hell (Emirkol the Chaotic rules)!!!

3E...
Maure castle is really good Dungeon #112
The Shackled City adventure path in Dungeon.
Shemeska the Marauder
07-07-04, 08:58 PM Originally posted by primemover003
I will add however, Umbra by Chris Perkins Dungeon #55 & A Paladin in Hell (Emirkol the Chaotic rules)!!!

I actually finally picked up a copy of Dungeon #55 a few months back and I was surprised at how good 'Umbra' was. Another sigh from my end that I discovered Planescape after it was no longer a standalone product line.
primemover003
07-07-04, 10:02 PM Umbra was probably the most pivotal of all the adventures I ran for my Fiend Slayer group...

Kevden Megdal (pl/m tiefling/Ftr/Fated/CG)
Lucian Bradley (pl/m assimar/Pal/Godsmen/LG)
Deek (pr/m dwarf/Ftr/Ragers/CG)
Draven Nightblade (pr/m drow/ftr/wiz/Indep/CN)
Renqual "the Wild" (pl/m aasimar/wiz(wild)/Xaositects/CN)
Mephisto "Horny" Blutkrieger (pr/m minotaur/Ftr/Outsider/CN)

Needless to say they were Combat beasts! Assaulting Durkayles tower was great! The drow Nightblade (bladesinger equiv.) stayed behind to fight of the Hardhead guards... Unfortunately he was captured and sent to the Vault on Carceri! Was another great adventure finding and rescuing him. Durkayle of course being a corrupt Hardhead, on the outs with the faction (and in with the rebel Amnizu Greptaug) allowed the Paladin to help in the jailbreak!

You shoulda been there when they assaulted the Relentless!!! Oh the good times:)
PSchirf
07-08-04, 08:28 AM I purchased the .pdf of A Lion in the Ropes last night. It's quite a bargain at $3.99 from RPGNow.
Despaxas
07-08-04, 08:49 AM Kevden Megdal (pl/m tiefling/Ftr/Fated/CG)
Lucian Bradley (pl/m assimar/Pal/Godsmen/LG)
Deek (pr/m dwarf/Ftr/Ragers/CG)
Draven Nightblade (pr/m drow/ftr/wiz/Indep/CN)
Renqual "the Wild" (pl/m aasimar/wiz(wild)/Xaositects/CN)
Mephisto "Horny" Blutkrieger (pr/m minotaur/Ftr/Outsider/CN)

Poor Paladin ... all those chaotics, how did he not go insane? lol

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
PSchirf 07-06-04, 10:50 AM	There was a time where I used many published adventures to support my DMing. I have a confession to make. With the exceptions of The Hamlet of Thumble (http://www.openworldpress.com/b.php?p=products), The Village of Oester (http://www.openworldpress.com/b.php?p=products), and Dungeon Magazine I have not purchased any published adventures in many years. I’m now in the market for low level adventures for 3.5 (or 3.0) and, given the many years that have passed since my last purchase, I figure there must be a few high-quality products out there. Even if they’re out of print, I’d be interesting to hear what people believe are the best adventures published in the last 10 years. When posting on this thread people try to include the name of the adventure and the appropriate target character level range.
The MadStepDad 07-06-04, 11:47 AM	Well, may have missed the target date by a year or so, but Night of the Walking Dead for the Ravenloft setting has alwayz been one of my faves. It's lowlevel too, about 1st - 3rd if I remember correctly. It was short so you could customize it as you saw fit, but it also had enough detail that you wouldn't get lost. Forget all the haters - "Die, Vecna Die" was cool too. Again on the RL tip, you know the boxed sets for Bleak House: The Death of Dr. van Richten and Castles Forlorn are TOP-NOTCH MASTERPIECES. With a little effort, I'm sure these adventures could take place outside of the Dread Realms. Those are some of my pics. peace, MSD (PS - rap muzik rooolez doode!!!) :angel:
ksbsnowowl 07-06-04, 01:01 PM	I thought The Tide of Years (or maybe just Tide of Years) by Penumbra was a good adventure. IIRC, it was for characters of levels 4-6. It was a good adventure that focused more on exploration and roleplay than fighting (though it did have some of that too).
Shemeska the Marauder 07-06-04, 03:45 PM	Both of the following are 2e Planescape adventures: 'Dead Gods' (aka the fall and rise and fall of Orcus/Tenebrous) 'Squaring the Circle' an adventure in 'Hellbound: The Blood War' (aka the Yugoloths 0\/\/nz Ju!. More seriously, it finally detailed the full scope of, and the true role of the involvement of the Yugoloths in the Blood War and in the other fiends (Tanar'ri and Baatezu) creation. First appearance of one of the Baernaloths.)
Lord Crimson 07-06-04, 03:45 PM	Personally, if you want a 1st ed. style superdungeon, I would recommend Sword&Sorcery's Rappan Athuk modules (there are three of them). Unfortunately, I don't know if they're still in print. But, they're only fun if you like dungeon-crawls that don't really have a specific "reason." Really more like ROLL-playing. All ROLE-playing must be brought in by the DM and the PCs. But certainly fun in their way.
Duke Lupo 07-06-04, 08:11 PM	This is out side the time range, but....don't hate me, but hte original "castle greyhawk." I thought is was a bunch of #@%& back when it came out. I was just flipping through it the other day though, and it is pretty funny. Very tongue in cheek, and yet challenging.
PSchirf 07-07-04, 09:49 AM	Nothing specifically for low level characters using 3.5?
GSHamster 07-07-04, 03:06 PM	Well, it was made for 3.0, but A Lion in the Ropes by Troll Lord Games was a pretty interesting adventure for my low level party. There's some reviews (including one of mine) over at Enworld.
MinusInnocence 07-07-04, 04:06 PM	The Burning Plague was originally released on the WotC website for 3E, but I'm sure it's easily adaptable for v3.5. It's designed for 1st level characters, if memory serves (though I never played it). Night Below, what essentially amounts to its own campaign setting as a 1-16th level adventure in 2E, is ideal in every way. It has everything: diplomacy, sidequests, horror, adventure, humor, intrigue, damsels to rescue, Evil to vanquish and a world to save. It also includes the Underdark as one of its primary backdrops, and you just can't go wrong there (though I'm basing my next campaign setting off a complete quashing of all stereotypes, so an Underdark-less world may prove challenging for Night Below). I'm sure you can probably find Night Below somewhere on eBay - it's a boxed set and it even has neat little handouts you can xerox for the players. Hell, there are even three separate sets of charts for random encounters. You just can't go wrong here. You might consider following it up with Return to the Tomb of Horrors, by Bruce Cordell. As a bonus feature, it includes a reprint of the original classic (this new quest involves trekking through the "golden oldie"). I think it's particularly nostalgic and ironic to meet NPCs who once braved Acererak's resting place and now strongly advise others not to do the same, heh. And finally, The Apocalypse Stone is a fantastic miniadventure. It's designed for high-level characters, I would say 18th-20th under 3.5 rules. The conclusion is open-ended, and you can certainly rule that the Prime Material Plane was destroyed utterly (even if the players are "victorious").
Lord Crimson 07-07-04, 04:13 PM	Originally posted by PSchirf Nothing specifically for low level characters using 3.5? Well, Rappan Athuk is a good place for 3rd level PCs... at least at the beginning. It quickly becomes more lethal... On the other hand, so do the PCs once things really get going. And it was designed with 3.0 in mind. Again, a lot more ROLL-playing, and you'll probably need to do a little conversion on the monsters since they were written before the 3.0 MM had come out (so they just relied on previous edition versions roughly transposed to a 3.0 rules system). But it's not that hard, and, I think, worth the effort if you like old-school style dungeon-crawls. Keep in mind you asked for "over the last 10 years" and 3.5 has only been out since July 2003. And 3.0 has only been around since 2000. There isn't a whole lot that doesn't belong to third-party publishers. I would say check out Mongoose Press and Sword&Sorcery Studios/Necromancer Games. There are also a number of other companies out there who tried their hand at d20 adventures... though a lot of them have gone out of business.
primemover003 07-07-04, 07:41 PM	I have to 2nd Night Below, Hellbound (Squaring the Circle) and Dead Gods!!! I will add however, Umbra by Chris Perkins Dungeon #55 & A Paladin in Hell (Emirkol the Chaotic rules)!!! 3E... Maure castle is really good Dungeon #112 The Shackled City adventure path in Dungeon.
Shemeska the Marauder 07-07-04, 08:58 PM	Originally posted by primemover003 I will add however, Umbra by Chris Perkins Dungeon #55 & A Paladin in Hell (Emirkol the Chaotic rules)!!! I actually finally picked up a copy of Dungeon #55 a few months back and I was surprised at how good 'Umbra' was. Another sigh from my end that I discovered Planescape after it was no longer a standalone product line.
primemover003 07-07-04, 10:02 PM	Umbra was probably the most pivotal of all the adventures I ran for my Fiend Slayer group... Kevden Megdal (pl/m tiefling/Ftr/Fated/CG) Lucian Bradley (pl/m assimar/Pal/Godsmen/LG) Deek (pr/m dwarf/Ftr/Ragers/CG) Draven Nightblade (pr/m drow/ftr/wiz/Indep/CN) Renqual "the Wild" (pl/m aasimar/wiz(wild)/Xaositects/CN) Mephisto "Horny" Blutkrieger (pr/m minotaur/Ftr/Outsider/CN) Needless to say they were Combat beasts! Assaulting Durkayles tower was great! The drow Nightblade (bladesinger equiv.) stayed behind to fight of the Hardhead guards... Unfortunately he was captured and sent to the Vault on Carceri! Was another great adventure finding and rescuing him. Durkayle of course being a corrupt Hardhead, on the outs with the faction (and in with the rebel Amnizu Greptaug) allowed the Paladin to help in the jailbreak! You shoulda been there when they assaulted the Relentless!!! Oh the good times:)
PSchirf 07-08-04, 08:28 AM	I purchased the .pdf of A Lion in the Ropes last night. It's quite a bargain at $3.99 from RPGNow.
Despaxas 07-08-04, 08:49 AM	Kevden Megdal (pl/m tiefling/Ftr/Fated/CG) Lucian Bradley (pl/m assimar/Pal/Godsmen/LG) Deek (pr/m dwarf/Ftr/Ragers/CG) Draven Nightblade (pr/m drow/ftr/wiz/Indep/CN) Renqual "the Wild" (pl/m aasimar/wiz(wild)/Xaositects/CN) Mephisto "Horny" Blutkrieger (pr/m minotaur/Ftr/Outsider/CN) Poor Paladin ... all those chaotics, how did he not go insane? lol