# Best dungeon crawl adventure of all time



## Eminence_Grise (Feb 7, 2015)

Hello everyone,

After my last campaign, my players asked me to prepare a dungeon crawl heavy new campaign. I'm curious as to know which dungeon crawls are considered to be the best of all time.

Surprisingly, I didn't find any lists out there.


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## Celebrim (Feb 7, 2015)

Depends on what you want.

In my opinion the best published dungeon crawling campaign is Deserts of Desolation (I3-I5).   Chronicles of the Dragonlance is arguably as good, but requires a very sophisticated DM capable of generating creative content that supports the game when the players inevitably at some point get off the rails and making the game their own.  The railroading techniques provided by the modules are simply too primitive, but probably necessary given the constraints of publishing.

The single best dungeon focused module is Ravenloft (I6).

The best pure dungeon crawl as game is Judges Guild's Caverns of Thracia.

I don't think there has ever been a great published megadungeon, but either Poltus (taken as a whole) or Castle Whiterock would be my recommendation.  You could probably do about as well riffing off the old random dungeon generator in the back of the 1e DMG (expanding and theming the random monster lists for more variety and new level themes).  Runner up here would be 'Axe of the Dwarven Lords', but its crippled by an over focus on goblins and a belief that Tucker's Kobold techniques represent good DMing.  If you do run it, run the goblins until the PC's get tired of your crap, then have the surviving goblins run away rather than grinding it out with PC's well above your level.  

In terms of challenging PC grinders, I6 Ravenloft, S2 White Plume Mountain, C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, Mud Sorcerer's Tomb, S1 Tomb of Horrors and it's sequel Return to the Tomb of Horrors all come to mind.  In the hands of a ruthless DM, you ought be able to kill scores of PC's with such tools.


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## GrahamWills (Feb 7, 2015)

A new contender is Eyes of The Stone Thief, a seriously cool *living dungeon*. This dungeon doesn't just sit there waiting to be looted. It comes after you, you loved ones, and most importantly, your home. 

If your players are a bit complacent in their ability to conquer stuff, see how they feel when they find their home town has become part of the dungeon ....

My players jumped in (well, actually, "fell" might be more accurate) at mid-tier, skipping some of the earlier stuff, but we've been very much enjoying the areas we have explored so far ... and the various backlots can be adapted for my ongoing campaign with ease, which is helpful.


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## Eminence_Grise (Feb 8, 2015)

I adapted the Mud Sorcerer's Tomb to fit in Numenera. Surprisingly, it was somewhat easy and quite enjoyable! Can't wait for my players to get their hands on the Uzrivoy.

My interested in this thread is two-fold: 
1. I'm curious to know which dungeon crawls are perceived as the best.
2. Finding which one could be adapted in my on-going Numenera campaign.

I will read up on Deserts of Desolution, which I have to admit I have never heard of it before.

Concerning the Eyes of the Stone Thief, that would fit perfectly in Numenera! Since it is a super-dungeon and not just a dungeon, I would probably put it at the end of the campaign, if we ever get there.


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## Gilladian (Feb 8, 2015)

I think Castle Whiterock is a pretty good megadungeon; it has a nice feel to it, but has some "gnome tech" stuff that some folks might not like. Ptolus is a neat city and dungeon combo, but has a LOT of built-in conceits that make it hard to add to another campaign setting.

If you can get hold of it, there was the dungeon-a-day project "Dragon's Delve". I guess you can theoretically still join it, but it isn't active anymore. It was a great dungeon - I ran the first five or six levels for a campaign, mixed with a lot of Kingmaker stuff for the sandbox "world" around it.


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## Ranes (Feb 8, 2015)

GrahamWills said:


> This dungeon doesn't just sit there waiting to be looted. It comes after you, you loved ones, and most importantly, your home.




I love your priorities.

EG, if you're adapting to Numenera, is S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks too obvious a candidate? It has a science-fantasy theme that would lend itself readily to adaptation.

Otherwise, you've already been given some good choices in the replies above. I'd just advise steering clear of the so-called mega-dungeons. I've never found one of these to be superior to a selection of smaller stand-alone dungeons, but it already sounds like you're thinking in these terms.


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## Imperialus (Feb 8, 2015)

I've been really enjoying Dwimmermount personally.


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## SirAntoine (Feb 8, 2015)

I3-5 and I6 are great, but T1-4:  The Temple of Elemental Evil is what I've heard most to be the best dungeon crawl.  It's in the mega category.  I'd recommend Prism Keep, by Rich Baker, from the pages of Dungeon magazine, and Thunder Under Needlespire by James Jacobs if memory serves.


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## Scrivener of Doom (Feb 8, 2015)

_Caverns of Thracia_.

It may be one of the very first published large dungeons but it's still outstanding despite the passage of decades.


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## Eminence_Grise (Feb 10, 2015)

How could I forget Banewarrens by Monte Cook!

I'll take a look at the suggestions above, especially Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.  I started collected old out-of-print adventure (such as White Plume Mountain and Keep on the Borderlands) and I'll add it to my buy list.


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## Celebrim (Feb 10, 2015)

GrahamWills said:


> A new contender is Eyes of The Stone Thief, a seriously cool *living dungeon*. This dungeon doesn't just sit there waiting to be looted. It comes after you, you loved ones, and most importantly, your home.




This one sounds potentially good if the execution is as good as the concept, but is this one even in print yet?


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## Walter_J (Feb 14, 2015)

There's so many good ones to choose from.  T1 is probably the one I used the most, with or without Homlet.  Anything from the B's could be good.  A1 is always a good play and X2 can be a real trip and is hugely expandable.  The Ghost Tower of Inverness and White Plume Mountain are good for quest-type adventures.  Then of course, there is the GDQ series, in part or whole.  L1 and N1 can be fun, even if you drop the dungeons in someplace else.


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## Eminence_Grise (Feb 15, 2015)

I bought a bunch of old game D&D adventures as a christmas gift for myself. Amongst them is Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. My god! What a module that is! I don't remember the last time an adventure left me speechless.


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## Scrivener of Doom (Feb 15, 2015)

Eminence_Grise said:


> I bought a bunch of old game D&D adventures as a christmas gift for myself. Amongst them is Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. My god! What a module that is! I don't remember the last time an adventure left me speechless.




Me too.

I also had the same reaction on a recent re-reading of _D3 Vault of the Drow_. It's a stunning piece of work even if it requires some work to work, if that makes sense.

It also makes me wonder how good _T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil_ could have been if Gary had actually finished it before it was published. Sadly, we will never know.


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## GrahamWills (Feb 16, 2015)

Celebrim said:


> This one sounds potentially good if the execution is as good as the concept, but is this one even in print yet?




As is pretty (non-WOTC) common, the PDF is available. I confess that since I pretty much read most stuff on my iPad, although I do order the physical copy, it often sees little use. So ... yes, it's both available and not in print!

And the execution is really, really good. Frankly, I have very little interest in mega-dungeons and found the concept of living ones a little silly. So despite being a big fan of 13th Age, I didn't jump at this. In fact, the only reason I got it was that it was Sunday night, and I had a game to run Tuesday and was desperate for runnable ideas, and the writer,  Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan has done kick-ass work on numerous other products and systems. So, having some free cash and being lazy I bought it and had a quick look for stuff to run. 

Six hours later, at about 3am, I dragged myself off to bed and spent the next day trying not to completely convert my campaign to be just running this module. I think I've mostly succeeded, but it was close. What works best, to me, are the numerous hooks and adaptations. Not just the overall plot but most of the subplots have sets of variations for different ways to run and present things (and overall villains). There is an extensive set of non-dungeon adventures to tie into the dungeon, and even the dungeon is modular, with entire bits you can run / leave out / add to / re-purpose.

http://www.pelgranepress.com/?p=13408


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## Lanefan (Feb 16, 2015)

What edition are you running and-or how much conversion are you willing to do?

Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun are both grand 1e crawls for mid-levels, and somewhat intended to be run one after the other though this is by no means required.  Tomb of the Lizard King is another such.  Bone Hill is a fine lower-level 1e crawl-with-extras.  Maltese Clue by Judges' Guild is another good one for mid-levels.

For 3e and equivalent you can't go wrong with Forge of Fury for low-mid levels, and Rappan Athuk is excellent if you like your meat well-ground at all levels.

Lanefan


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## Schmoe (Feb 20, 2015)

I'll echo the Caverns of Thracia as an excellent mega-dungeon. Also, I'm surprised no one has mentioned World's Largest Dungeon. There were quite a few play reports here on ENWorld a while back, and it sounded like people really enjoyed it.


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## S'mon (Feb 22, 2015)

Just want to mention that Paizo's Rise of the Runelords has a lot of very nicely designed dungeons, the hardback version is well worth it. Written for 3.5 then converted to PF, it's easy to convert to other versions of D&D.

Lost City of Barakus is very solid, but the maps are a little pedestrin compared to eg Thracia. 

One pretty obscure one - Gamemaster Publications 4: The Awakening is an awesome massive megadungeon crawl in a fallen dwarf fortress, with added war vs an entire duergar army! For 1e PCs around 7th-8th level, I think the best megadungeon I've ever seen. If you see it on Ebay snap it up! Someone sold one in January -   http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Awakeni.../261743717599?pt=Games_US&hash=item3cf1242cdf

Edit: Found it here, a bit pricy though: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GM-Pubs-G...382?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item19fba14c0e


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