Search This Blog

Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Best D&D Modules of all time (up to but not including 2014's 5e)

UPDATE CONCLUSION: After the DROW, probably should do this for our campaign:

  • The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb... either the original from Dungeon #37 or  the remake below. By Mike Shel. And he wrote some recent super good novels and many Pathfinder adventures, too. 
  • Dungeon Issue #138
     (based on 5 reviews)

    ...by Mike Shel ... Brave the notorious traps and harrowing monsters of the Mud Sorcerer’s Tomb! Fully updated, this classic Dungeon D&D adventure is for 14th-level characters. ... Challenge of Champions VI ... by Jonathan Richards ... The annual adventurers’ guild competition returns to the pages of Dungeon. A D&D adventure for all characer levels. ... Plus! ... An extensive Savage...


I need to play some of these, etc. 

https://www.enworld.org/threads/15-best-d-d-modules-of-all-time.662734/


BEFORE FIRST, don't forget 10footpole's rankings:


FIRST we'll do just the D&D brand.


15: Night Below - Underdark. Well we're about to do Underdark so I need to look at this! Quote: it was described as "bursting and the seams with nasty, slimy, ugly things" by Cliff Ramshaw.

14: Desert of Desolation - Egyptian themed. This one the Goodman Games guys like a lot. By Tracy & Laura Hickman.

13: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth - by Gygax. "A monster filled labyrinth in the classic mode" said Lawrence Schick.

12: The Lost City - B4
By Tom Moldvay. A module designed by Moldvay to give new DMs experience fleshing out adventures and the inspiration for a 3rd-edition D&D adventure, Masque of Dreams.




11: The Whispering Cairn
By Erik Mona. From DUNGEON magazine, the first adventure in the Age of Worms adventure path. An adventure by Erik Mona for D&D 3rd Edition. [The Age of Worms AP began in Dungeon Magazine 124, July 2005.] It was in DUNGEON back when lots of people subscribed to DUNGEON. And Age of Worms as a whole was pretty high profile.

10: The Isle of Dread
By David Cook and Tom Moldvay. The first module to focus on wilderness exploration


#9: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
By Dave J. Browne and Don Turnbull. The first D&D adventure from the UK. Published in 1981 for AD&D 1st Edition. The abandoned, dilapidated mansion of an evil alchemist. The introduction to an underwater campaign. Ken Denmead of Wired called it "the Scooby Doo episode of D&D modules".

8: Queen of the Spiders
By Gary Gygax. A compilation of 7 modules - G1-G3, plus ... Underdark plus Demonwebpits.


7: Against the Giants
By Gary Gygax. The "G" series ... Wired's Ken Denmead said that [the third is] "the end-all, be-all of hack-fests".

6: Castle Amber
By Tom Moldvay. A haunted mansion, the all-new brain collector, and demented members of the d'Amberville family. "A decidedly Edgar Allen Poe feel" said Game Examiner's Daniel Nations. Jim Bambra of White Dwarf described it as "an attempt to bring randomness back into D&D."

5: Red Hand of Doom (((??? which module has the cool Hobgoblin cover, was that not 2e????)))
By James Jacobs and Richard Baker. The second 3rd Edition [edit: 3.5e] adventure on this list. A hobgoblin hoard devoted to Tiamat. Released in 2006, WotC's first D&D adventure for four years since 2002. A massive 128-page adventure and the first D&D adventure to include Designer Notes.

4: Tomb of Horrors 
By Gary Gygax - super duper hard.

3: The Keep on the Borderlands
By Gary Gygax. Explore the Caves of Chaos

2: The Temple of Elemental Evil 
By Gary Gygax and Frank Mentzer. An expansion of The Village of Hommlet and a 128-page classic which inspired a novel, a computer game, and a return 25-years later. "Of huge, classic dungeon crawls, this is probably the best" said Lawrence Schick. Even Dungeon Master for Dummies called it "the grandfather of all huge dungeon crawls".

1: Ravenloft
By Tracy & Laura Hickman.



  • S1 tomb horrors
  • S2 white plume mtn
  • B2 keep borderlands
  • X1 isle dread
  • B4 the lost city
  • C1 the hidden shrine of tamoachan - great b&w art. 
  • B1 search unknown
  • D1-2, descent depths earth (rem it comes after g1-3, mostly to lvl up before drow city in d3 )
  • Ravenloft, i6 i think
  • C2 the ghost tower of iverness
  • Sidenote - the forgotten temple of tharizdun, Gygax’s “most haunting and surreal adv” 


HARDEST 10 TSR DnD by AZmountaineer/OldSchoolRules yt, has a lot of overlap. And check these out for old module info- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIoXRWuA4lw

  • The Acaeum (enen knowledge compendium)
  • Heroric Worlds  by Lawrence Schick
  • RPGG
  •  (f@cebook@?)
  • Tome of Treasures

BEST OF DUNGEON MAGAZINE



NOW VOTES BY OTHERS - https://www.enworld.org/threads/15-best-d-d-modules-of-all-time.662734/page-2#posts

  • Dragon Mountain
  • Dwellers of the Forbidden City - huge module
  • Expedition to Undermountain'? It was perhaps a bit overwhelming as a module---but it provided a dearth of material that Forgotten Realms groups could return to again and again.
  • Expedition to the Barrier Peaks - but it's space lasers so I can't.
  • Village of Hommlet - even tho ties into Temple of Elemental Evil later
  • Lost Mine of Phandelver. It may be new, but I think it's 5E's Keep on the Borderlands.
  • A1 Slavepits of the Undercity - by a guy who likes 40 pg big modules, not 100+. 
  • In 1995 they voted here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...R-all-time-favourite-adventures-and-why/page3
    • 1 · G1-2-3 Against the Giants
      2 · B2 Keep on the Borderlands
      3 · T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil
      4 · I6 Ravenloft
      5 · D3 Vault of the Drow
      6 · T1 Village of Hommlet
      7 · S1 Tomb of Horrors
      8 · D1-2 Descent Into the Depths
      9 · X1 Isle of Dread
      10 · S2 White Plume Mountain
      11 · S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
      12 · U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
      13 · I3 Pharaoh
      14 · Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits
      15 · X2 Castle Amber
      16 · S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
      17 · WotC: Sunless Citadel
      18 · WotC: Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil
      19 · I4 Oasis of the White Palm
      20 · WotC:Forge of Fury
      21 · Return to the Tomb of Horrors
      22 · GR: Death in Freeport
      23 · Ruins of Undermountain (Forgotten Realms)
      24 · NG: Rapan Athuk (all)
      25 · GR: Madness in Freeport
      26 · PZ: The Shackled City Adventure Path
      27 · Dead Gods (Planescape)
      28 · Night Below
      29 · GR: Terror in Freeport
      30 · MP:The Banewarrens
      31 · B4 Lost City
      32 · X4 Master of the Desert Nomads
      33 · WotC:City of the Spider Queen
      34 · B1 In Search of the Unknown
      35 · A Paladin in Hell
      36 · B10 Night's Dark Terror
      37 · Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff (Greyhawk)
      38 · Rod of Seven Parts
      39 · X5: Temple of Death
      40 · The Gates of Firestorm Peak
      41 · JG: Tegel Manor
      42 · Dragon Mountain
      43 · Axe of the Dwarvish Lords
      44 · JG: Lost Caverns of Thracia
  • Madness at Gardmore Abbey - wikiped says It was re-released as a PDF on August 4, 2015.[1] On July 4, 2018, Mike Mearls, co-lead designer for the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons, said "Madness at Gardmore Abbey from 4e is a good adventure, well worth finding on the DMs Guild. You know this is an honest opinion because I woke up at 7:30 AM on a holiday to keep reading it"

OTHERS OTHER

  • 1) Red Hand of Doom - I did some modifications to beef it up, but we had a real blast. As good as anything I can remember.
  • 2) Edge of Anarchy (Curse of the Crimson Throne, Part 1) - sadly the group ended before we concluded the adventure path, but had a blast DMing this game.
  • 3) A1-4 scourge of the slave lords - had a lot of fun with this one as a kid and still remember it well. Again, as DM 
  • 4) G1-3 against the giants - lost several of my best characters to this adventure. Totally brutal!
  • 5) Burnt Offerings (Rise of the Runelords, Part 1, Pathfinder Edition) - absolutely cracking adventure with so much fun my sides still hurt from playing it!
  • 6) The Sunless Citadel - played it, Dm'd it, and Dm'd it again. A great adventure that I've enjoyed more than once.
  • 7) T1 the village of hommlet - village politics, a keep, and a fight with a giant frog. What more do you need?
  • 8) B2 Caves of Chaos - the first adventure I ever played in, way back when, and I can still remember it (just!)
  • 9) Expedition to Castle Ravenloft - okay, I'll admit I loved and loathed this in equal measure. The DM was relentless, and not always in a good way, but it was also where our self appointed hero rolled 1 after 1 after 1, which culminated in a final session against Strahd where he (the player, not Strahd) rolled over 15 1s in a single session. Never to be forgotten.
  • 10) The Forge of Fury - I played in a heavily modified game, so perhaps not a true reflection of the actual module . Nonetheless, I have to place it here as we had a great time.
OTHER MAN BELOW
  • H1: Keep on the Shadowfell - TPKed three or four times against Irontooth on this one, but it was still fun.
  • 8. Wrath of the Immortals - More a campaign than an adventure, the individual adventures in the boxed set weren't that great, but the framing events had a lot of hooks to play with. My group's most memorable moments actually came from the fleshed out framing events - like trying to divert a meteor from crashing into the capital city of Darokin, only to choose to let it hit because otherwise it would decimate the army defending the border.
  • 6. X6: Quagmire - The first published adventure I ever DMed. Hexcrawling for the win.
  • 5. Dark of the Moon - A 2nd Edition Ravenloft adventure. The PCs were created as Dragonlance characters and then the mists pulled them in to Vorostokov. A kender in Ravenloft is...interesting.
  • 4. Heart of Nightfang Spire - Gulthias infuriated the players with his hit and run tactics and continual taunting in this adventure. The half-ogre cleric/fighter spent the last 1/4 of the adventure stalking through the heart of the dungeon bellowing "Gulthias!" at the top of his lungs.
  • 3. Bastion of Broken Souls - Epic battle against a half-fiend great wyrm red dragon for the win. Pretty decent build up to that battle as well.
  • 2. The Red Box adventure - The solo adventure in the Red Box is my first D&D memory and still one of the best, in my opinion.
  • 1. The Sunless Citadel - I have DMed this a dozen times and still enjoy it every time. Meepo forever!

DUNGEON MAG LISTS   https://www.enworld.org/threads/best-dungeon-magazine-adventure-s.33708/


  • Kingdom of the Ghouls in Dungeon #70. Issue #84 was great all around, with "The Harrowing," "The Dying of the Light," and "Dungeon of the Fire Opal.")
  • #1: Deadly Treasure - in the 40s, I believe. It's a horribly hard dungeon crawl in the Tomb of Horrors style. The premise revolves around a wizard, whose tomb is protected by traps made of his own magic items. Nasty. I DMed it thrice and only one party completed it.
  • #2: Asflag's Unintentional Emporium: nice abandoned wizard's tower/house/whatever. I ran two rival parties into it and they ended up killing each other. Great fun.
  • Deadly Treasure, and 
  • Mud Sorcerers Tomb. ISSUE #37 https://tenfootpole.org/ironspike/?p=2487 . The Mud Sorcerers Tomb, is by far one of the best. It's well written, it flows nicely, and requires a GOOD balance of combat, and brain. Its set in a desert atmosphere.
    • Pig and Camel bring thee woe. Hippo shows the way to go...
  • There was another, the name of which escapes me at present: it involved a pair of imps, one of which drops a cube of force over a PC/PC's while a floor fastened Decanter of Eldless Water is examined. Can we say Dispel Magic ?? !!
    • The other imp attempts to flatten the PC's with a Daern's Instant Fortress, a DFA attack. Pesky Imps

  • The Mud Sorcerer’s Tomb ISSUE #37 https://tenfootpole.org/ironspike/?p=2487 
    Mike Shel
    AD&D
    Levels 10-14

    Widely regarded as one of the best Dungeon published. This is a Tomb of Horrors style adventure without some of the arbitrary nature of ToH and with some of the “hidden depth” that makes exploration worthwhile. There’s something like three pages of introduction and background before the 36 room dungeon is launched in to--- KEEP READIN HIS REVIEW, FUN READ> 

  • Mud Sorceror’s Tomb is better than Tomb of Horrors, there I said it. Better backstory, cooler tricks and traps, more imaginative ways to kill you than “You failed your save, you die”. Tomb of Horrors is a classic but MST is a modern classic, possibly the best 2E adventure to come out in all of Dungeon Magazine (until you get to Kingdom of the Ghouls in issue #70, so far away you’ll go mad before then). I’ve used Wizard’s Fate a couple of times as a one-session one off on wilderness crawls, and it’s been favorable received.

  • Their Master’s Voice ISSUE #37 https://tenfootpole.org/ironspike/?p=2487  actually plays quite well. It’s a good and memorable encounter really utilizing the leucrotta’s abilities.
  • Serpents of the sands. ISSUE #37 https://tenfootpole.org/ironspike/?p=2487  I’ve been looking at this recently for a desert-themed campaign I’m preparing, and Serpents of the Sands has an interesting set-up. An NPC kills a bunch of yuan-ti and takes an important amulet off the bodies. After 7 years of searching, the yuan-ti track him down, kill him and a few other people and take the amulet back. Enter the PCs, who (if all goes well) wipe out a settlement’s worth of yuan-ti to recover the amulet again. Better hope these were the only yuan-ti interested in the amulet; otherwise they’ll presumably wipe out the entire town to get it back …
    • (((I like that some Yuan-Ti cast 15' radius darkness. Sticks to Snakes. Etc. )))
  • I like “A Wizard’s Fate” a lot. I’d consider it for a first adventure in a campaign  ISSUE #37. 
  • Depths of Rage (#83) and
  • Eye for an Eye (#82)
New[er] 3E goodies include (by level)....
  • 1)The Raiders Of Galath's Roost (1st level/Dungeon #87) - Skip Williams
  • 2)Gorgoldand's Gauntlet (1st level/Dungeon Magazine CD) - Johnathan Richards
  • 3)Dungeon Of The Fire Opal (3rd level/Dungeon #84) - Johnathan Tweet
  • 4)Tears For Twilight Hollow (7th level/Dungeon #90) - Christopher Perkins/Angel McCoy
  • 5)The Elfwhisper (8th level/Dungeon #90) - J.C. Alvarez
  • 6)Interlopers Of Ruun-Khazai (13th level/Dungeon #92) - David Noonan (excellent Planar adventure)
  • 7)The Harrowing (15th level/Dungon #84) - Monte Cook
  • 8)Glacier Season (15th level/Dungeon #87) - David Eckelberry
  • 9)The Storm Lord's Keep (21st level/Dungeon #93) - James Wyatt (excellent Epic Level)
  • OTHER MAN BELOW
  • Tears For Twilight Hollow (7th level/Dungeon #90) --we spent about 4 months on this one, it was good overall. I removed the weird gizmos (you'll see when you read it) and had to beef it up significantly for a party that was just one level higher (and had 7 members) -- some of the encounters were rather underpowered. But very nice overall!
  • "through the night" and "shades of darkness". both create that creepy feeling and keep the players on their toes
  • "The Forgotten Man" in #75 has to be one of my favorites (to read)... I really need to run that one some time.
  • I really like everything by Ted James Thomas Zuvich. My all time favorite has to be The Siege of Kratyrs Freehold, with A Hot Day in L'trel a close second. In Siege, the characters have to defend an isolated manor house from a small orc army. They have a roster of the NPCs, equipment, and supplies in the house and must organize an effective defense over 2 or 3 days. I ran it as part of my campaign, and built the entire manor house and surrounding area using miniature buildings and terrain in my friend's basement where we gamed. I also bought and painted miniatures for every orc, warrior, and NPC in the manor. We played the siege over a 20 hour span and it has to be one of the best single D&D sessions I've ever run.

    I also like Chris Perkins'[s] work, and the 3e issues have been great. I ran Dungeon of the Fire Opal and had a lot of fun with it.
  • Kingdom of the Ghouls




Now the NON-DnD Brand


at
Labels: , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)