# 15 Best D&D Modules Of All Time



## Random Bystander

> By Dave J. Browne and Don Turnbull. The frst D&D adventure from the UK. Published in *2981* for AD&D 1st Edition.



The difficult question being then, when did you patent your time machine, and for how long?


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## Zaran

I would have put Dragon Mountain in there somewhere.  

Interesting how Gary Gygax made many of these.


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## Morrus

Random Bystander said:


> The difficult question being then, when did you patent your time machine, and for how long?




I patented my time machine in April 3248, August 1242, and "the day when the sun came up" in 32,000 BC.


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## Deuce Traveler

I loved all these modules, so this list is pretty solid.  However, polls are often slanted by people voting for what they know and therefore to adventures with wide distribution.  I wonder about all the excellent, hardly known adventures in Dungeon Magazine and by 3rd party publishers that are superior but lack the large fan base support to get their names out there.


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## Random Bystander

Deuce Traveler said:


> I loved all these modules, so this list is pretty solid.  However, polls are often slanted by people voting for what they know and therefore to adventures with wide distribution.  I wonder about all the excellent, hardly known adventures in Dungeon Magazine and by 3rd party publishers that are superior but lack the large fan base support to get their names out there.



If you have one or more candidates, why not start a thread for them on the forum? If they are well-done and little known, it would be difficult for more notability to hurt them.


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## Hand of Evil

My copy of Queen of the Spiders is signed by Gary Gygax


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## iwarrior-poet

Lord, I miss good modules. Reading them alone was inspiring---playing them was divine. My group started 'Against the Giants' and wanted to move on to the Underdark--->Queen of the Demonweb Pits, but we never got to them.
My most recent group got through a good chunk of the 'Red Hand of Doom'---excellent module.

Interesting that none of the modules mentioned, nor none of the my favorites---incorporate a Dragon as the end-game monster. (Aside from the Dragonlance campaign modules that is)


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## ExploderWizard

I don't know why Temple of Elemental Evil ranked so high. It is a huge dungeon but a lot of it is kind of generic & ponderous. I would have put Dwellers of the Forbidden City in its place.


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## iwarrior-poet

Also---'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.


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## delericho

Odd to see both "Queen of Spiders" and "Against the Giants" on the list (and at #8 and #7 no less), given that the former contains the latter!


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## marroon69

It seem that "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks" should be in the top 15...also Ravenloft as #1?  Not sure that makes much sense to me but that is just my tastes. I would have put Ravenloft and Temple of Elemental Evil lower then 1 and 2 personally.


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## Deuce Traveler

Random Bystander said:


> If you have one or more candidates, why not start a thread for them on the forum? If they are well-done and little known, it would be difficult for more notability to hurt them.




Took your advice, but didn't have to.  Check it: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?33708-Best-Dungeon-Magazine-Adventure(s)


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## Deuce Traveler

ExploderWizard said:


> I don't know why Temple of Elemental Evil ranked so high. It is a huge dungeon but a lot of it is kind of generic & ponderous. I would have put Dwellers of the Forbidden City in its place.




The first part is quite excellent with the Village of Hommlet.  The rest varies in quality.


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## Random Bystander

Deuce Traveler said:


> Took your advice, but didn't have to.  Check it: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?33708-Best-Dungeon-Magazine-Adventure(s)



Thank you. That looks like a nice resource.


Deuce Traveler said:


> The first part is quite excellent with the  Village of Hommlet.  The rest varies in quality.



You mean it...Varies from person to person?


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## ExploderWizard

Deuce Traveler said:


> The first part is quite excellent with the Village of Hommlet.  The rest varies in quality.




I don't count that as part of Temple because it was previously available as a standalone module.


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## koga305

Personally, I'd consider including Lost Mine of Phandelver. It may be new, but I think it's 5E's Keep on the Borderlands.


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## Nebulous

I really wish I had run more of these.  For some reason I leaned toward heavy homebrew when I was younger.


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## Nebulous

koga305 said:


> Personally, I'd consider including Lost Mine of Phandelver. It may be new, but I think it's 5E's Keep on the Borderlands.




Yup.  It's a modern classic IMHO.


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## Holy Bovine

ExploderWizard said:


> I don't know why Temple of Elemental Evil ranked so high. It is a huge dungeon but a lot of it is kind of generic & ponderous. I would have put Dwellers of the Forbidden City in its place.




I couldn't agree with this more even if I had a nuclear powered agreeing machine.  Dwellers was a campaign setting in 32 pages.  Temple was a 32 page dungeon delve dragged out to 128 pages.

The only other one I would have liked to see on the list somewhere was A1 Slavepits of the Undercity.


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## TerraDave

I did a similar exercise here almost 10 years ago:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...R-all-time-favourite-adventures-and-why/page3

This was an elaborate multi-thread thing that finally culminated in...the usual suspects at the top. 

At that time there was no Red-Hand of Doom, or, I think, Age or Worms. Shackled City somehow made the list, a ways down. 

Otherwise, very familiar at the top. I have included all 44 I put in the final pole. 

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


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## canudig

How could you not include S3 - Expedition to Barrier Peaks? So much awesome! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expedition_to_the_Barrier_Peaks


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## Lanefan

koga305 said:


> Personally, I'd consider including Lost Mine of Phandelver. It may be new, but I think it's 5E's Keep on the Borderlands.



To do that he *would* need a time machine, as the survey that generated this list was done in 2013. 

Lan-"never have quite understood all the Ravenloft love"-efan


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## Random Bystander

Lanefan said:


> To do that he *would* need a time machine, as the survey that generated this list was done in 2013.
> 
> Lan-"never have quite understood all the Ravenloft love"-efan



Straud is a vampire in the classic mold, and in these days of "twipires", such a thing is sorely needed.


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## jaycrockett

I have a soft spot for those former tournament modules like Ghost Tower of Inverness, White Plume Mountain, and the Slavers series.  Otherwise, no complaints.


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## Quartz

Not a single 4E adventure. That speaks volumes.


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## Random Bystander

Quartz said:


> Not a single 4E adventure. That speaks volumes.



Most of the adventures are for AD&D. One is for 3.0e. None are for 3.5e. WotC does not know how to write a good adventure. This fact is probably why they offloaded adventure writing to third-party publishers for fifth edition.

However, let us not engage in edition warring.


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## Mavkatzer

So many great memories from the first (and subsequent) times around!  But now quick, someone convert them all into 5E for me!


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## Rabulias

Random Bystander said:


> One is for 3.0e. None are for 3.5e.




Actually, _Red Hand of Doom_, released in 2006, is solidly 3.5e, and _The Whispering Cairn_ was also for 3.5e.


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## Morrus

Random Bystander said:


> Most of the adventures are for AD&D. One is for 3.0e. None are for 3.5e. WotC does not know how to write a good adventure. This fact is probably why they offloaded adventure writing to third-party publishers for fifth edition.
> 
> However, let us not engage in edition warring.




Basic statistics is a large part of that. There were many times more 1E modules, for example, than 4E adventures. And 1E also had its share of Forest Oracles.


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## Random Bystander

Rabulias said:


> Actually, _Red Hand of Doom_, released in 2006, is solidly 3.5e, and _The Whispering Cairn_ was also for 3.5e.




Really? I was going by http://www.dndclassics.com/product/28797/Red-Hand-of-Doom-3e?it=1 which lists it as 3e, not 3.5e, and the poll list, which listed "The Whispering Cairn" as "for D&D 3rd Edition".


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## KirayaTiDrekan

Random Bystander said:


> Really? I was going by http://www.dndclassics.com/product/28797/Red-Hand-of-Doom-3e?it=1 which lists it as 3e, not 3.5e, and the poll list, which listed "The Whispering Cairn" as "for D&D 3rd Edition".




Anything D&D released after July 2003 until early 2008 when 4E came out was 3.5.


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## Random Bystander

Kiraya_TiDrekan said:


> Anything D&D released after July 2003 until early 2008 when 4E came out was 3.5.



...And the Red Hand of Doom is listed as 2006. However, I cannot read the date on the blurry magazine cover picture given for "The Whispering Cairn". I could have taken a bit more time to look up exact dates, rather than doing a rough estimate.

I simply didn't bother, which makes the error my fault.


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## Nebulous

I6 Ravenloft is the next one i'm running after Lost Mine.  So excited!


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## Gladius Legis

Cloak and Dagger doesn't get enough love.


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## Rabulias

Random Bystander said:


> However, I cannot read the date on the blurry magazine cover picture given for "The Whispering Cairn". I could have taken a bit more time to look up exact dates, rather than doing a rough estimate.




The Age of Worms AP began in Dungeon Magazine 124, July 2005.



Random Bystander said:


> I simply didn't bother, which makes the error my fault.




Not trying to place fault; just indulging my OCD behavior.


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## machineelf

Madness at Gardmore Abbey is a fantastic adventure, and in my mind deserves to be in any list of Top 10. But it seems few people are familiar with it and its genius.


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## machineelf

Quartz said:


> Not a single 4E adventure. That speaks volumes.




As I posted above, Madness at Gardmore Abbey is a great adventure, and is 4th ed. The only one I know of that is really, really good from 4th ed.


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## jeffh

Thanks for doing it as an article rather than a video this time around. I'd much rather read something like this than watch it.


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## Random Bystander

Rabulias said:


> The Age of Worms AP began in Dungeon Magazine 124, July 2005.
> 
> 
> 
> Not trying to place fault; just indulging my CDO behavior.



IFIFY. 

[sblock]CDO? No idea what you mean.[/sblock]


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## FitzTheRuke

secondhander said:


> As I posted above, Madness at Gardmore Abbey is a great adventure, and is 4th ed. The only one I know of that is really, really good from 4th ed.




I missed that one.  I've played nearly every 4e adventure (aside from the Dungeon ones) and (though our DMs made them workable) I didn't think any of them were very good as written.

I think it had to do with most of them trying so hard to cram 30 encounters worth of fights (3 levels of play) into only enough story for 8-10 encounters.  In other words, they should have had less encounters per story beat.

It's too bad I didn't get to see what Gardmore Abbey was like.  Of course, 5e is very easy to translate to, and one of our group already owns it, so it's still possible to get to it in the future...


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## TarionzCousin

FitzTheRuke said:


> It's too bad I didn't get to see what Gardmore Abbey was like.  Of course, 5e is very easy to translate to, and one of our group already owns it, so it's still possible to get to it in the future...



I'm running a modified version of this for my Pathfinder group. They have just arrived in the nearby town and had dinner with the mayor.


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## delericho

Quartz said:


> Not a single 4E adventure. That speaks volumes.




Not really - it's a familiarity thing. The 4e adventures got a bad rep after the first few were... poorly received. After that, a lot of people stopped even looking at them. (Not to mention, of course, that lots of people had either avoided 4e entirely and/or dropped it by then.)

So even if there were good adventures later on (and Gardmore Abbey does get good reviews), they're unlikely to ever make a publicly-voted "best of..." list simply because most people have simply never read/run/played them.

(For the same reason, it's a real surprise "The Whispering Cairn" is on this list - it's a good adventure, but I wouldn't have expected it to be so well known.)


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## GregoryOatmeal

koga305 said:


> Personally, I'd consider including Lost Mine of Phandelver. It may be new, but I think it's 5E's Keep on the Borderlands.




I'm playing Keep now while running Lost Mine. I played Lost Mine a few months ago.

Pound for pound I'd say Lost Mine plays a little better than Keep. I know it's new, but it's top five at least. It's quintessential D&D.


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## GregoryOatmeal

Nebulous said:


> I6 Ravenloft is the next one i'm running after Lost Mine.  So excited!




Hey! I'm doing the same thing!

Leilon is now Saltmarsh. The bandits that were running Phandalin were basing operations out of the abandoned Saltmarsh mansion. Mount Hotenow may be overrun by fire giants (from Against The Giants - I haven't read that one yet). I'm trying to decide what comes after Ravenloft and before Giants.

I like to give players that sense of history by running the classics.


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## Mad Zagyg

White Plume Mountain is better than at least four of the modules on this list.


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## GregoryOatmeal

Mavkatzer said:


> So many great memories from the first (and subsequent) times around!  But now quick, someone convert them all into 5E for me!




You know it's so much effort to convert things. It really works if you just run em as is. Keep on the Borderlands is a perfect example of this. Just sub out the monsters. I did Ravenloft too (with the beta) and only had to rebuild Strahd the Sunsword. I think I buffed the zombies and skeletons on the fly.

As a rule I'd skim the module, ID monsters that aren't in 5E, and try to find some analogue or sub. You may need to remake boss monsters. Skill DCs you can do while you're gaming. Magic items too. Don't spend too much time - you'll be fine.


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## Morrus

delericho said:


> (For the same reason, it's a real surprise "The Whispering Cairn" is on this list - it's a good adventure, but I wouldn't have expected it to be so well known.)




It was in DUNGEON back when lots of people subscribed to DUNGEON.  And Age of Worms as a whole was pretty high profile.


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## Nebulous

GregoryOatmeal said:


> Hey! I'm doing the same thing!
> 
> Leilon is now Saltmarsh. The bandits that were running Phandalin were basing operations out of the abandoned Saltmarsh mansion. Mount Hotenow may be overrun by fire giants (from Against The Giants - I haven't read that one yet). I'm trying to decide what comes after Ravenloft and before Giants.
> 
> I like to give players that sense of history by running the classics.




I was just going to wrap up Lost Mine and then start a whole new campaign set in the demiplane of Dread.  I hadn't considered linking them together, but that's a good idea.  There's so many classic modules I missed out on, I'd really like to just bulldoze through them. Impossible, but I can do a few


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## messy

how can keep on the borderlands and temple of elemental evil possibly be ahead of tomb of horrors?


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## TerraDave

Morrus said:


> Basic statistics is a large part of that. There were many times more 1E modules, for example, than 4E adventures. And 1E also had its share of Forest Oracles.




Hmm, the funny thing is, if you focus on the early modules, before the flood doors where opened (or up till they where just being opened) they include a disproportionate number of ranked ones. This gets worse when you factor in 2E or 3E, lots and lots of adventures. In spite of attempts (like mine) to get modules from those eras included, you just don't see lots of votes for them. A few...but not too many.

Lets say you spent way too much time making a table of all the adventures published by TSR through 83:

View attachment 66066

You'll see that they include 12 of the countdown ones, a bunch of the ones from the Dungeon magazine ranking from about 10 years ago, and many from the polls I also did about 10 years ago. 

(* Indicates that it was ranked as part of a compilation, T 1-4 included as it has T1, and was supposed to come out earlier...)


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## Koloth

I find it rather sad that with all the love being given old modules, the latest poll asking about new WOTC products didn't include a selection for New Modules.  I don't consider adventure paths interchangeable with modules.


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## Morrus

Koloth said:


> I find it rather sad that with all the love being given old modules, the latest poll asking about new WOTC products didn't include a selection for New Modules.  I don't consider adventure paths interchangeable with modules.




Don't be sad. 

It was just a poll of some things I thought of.  It's not important or anything.


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## Keith Robinson

It is interesting that so many of the adventures are from AD&D or around that period.  Perhaps that tells us something about the ageing demographic of modern role players, or simply that the majority of what has come since then has simply not been as good?

On a personal level, I'd find more room for modern stuff   Here's my my top 10, based on either having DM'd or played in them...

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.


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## KirayaTiDrekan

My personal Top 10 reflects the fact that I didn't really start using published adventures until 3rd Edition and then recently started going "retro" and DMing the classics.

10. X1: The Isle of Dread - Played through it as a kid and then DMed it during the D&D Next playtest.  I changed it a bit when I DMed it but it was still a lot of fun.  

10. T1: Village of Hommlet - Tied with X1, I love the village and the moathouse, though my experience with them is influenced by the computer game.

9. 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.

7. The Forge of Fury - My group had a lot of fun with this one and managed to actually beat the roper.

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!


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## John Enfield

I've never had a chance to play 'Temple of Elemental Evil' in a table-top campaign yet, but it was a kick-butt computer RPG that I still play from time to time in the D&D Anthology Master Collection set I have.    Some of my favorite D&D minis are based on the Against the Giants and Desert of Desolation modules. The gelatinous cube, for example, proudly guards my computer desk between uses in games.


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## messy

6. the razing of redshore- considering how much time i've spent thinking about the amazing story and characters, this has to be on my list.
5. in the dungeons of the slave lords- great plot, great challenges, and great npcs (the erol otus portrait of the slave lords is amazing).
4. the quicksilver hourglass- absolutely insane plot, epic-level challenges, and many npcs with unpronounceable names.
3. the dancing hut- wildly creative location, impossible layout, and one of the most interesting npcs ever created.
2. maure castle- amazing plot, amazing mystery, amazing let-down that it hasn't been finished.
1. tomb of horrors- could be perfect.


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## Quartz

messy said:


> 4. the quicksilver hourglass- absolutely insane plot, epic-level challenges, and many npcs with unpronounceable names.




The plot was great, but the implementation was well off. Each encounter was just an excuse for another entry from the ELH lists of monsters and templates.


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## CoreyHaim8myDog

Random Bystander said:


> The difficult question being then, when did you patent your time machine, and for how long?




2981 was a very good year for me.


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