As I have said many times before, I started playing D&D with 3.5, and with the recent PDF downloads of old supplements and adventures available on paizo I have been wondering if I should get some and if so,which ones I should get. Also, it would be nice to know the merits of each of the good ones, and how easy it would be to convert to 3.5. If anybody could help me on this, I would be very, very grateful.
Thanks,
WaterdhavianFlapjack
WaterdhavianFlapjack,
Dungeon # 116 names the "30 greatest adentures" -- 90% of which are pre-3rd edition adventures. Their choices are good ones.
A few particularly awesome classic adventures:
* T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil (a huge hack-fest, but great)
* Hidden Shrime of Tamoachan (great mid-level romp, strongly Aztec-themed and creative, an oft-overlooked masterpiece)
* The Saltmarsh trio (U1-U2-U3; a good low-level mystery series)
* The "Giants" and "Slavers" series are also classic for a reason -- speak to any player with 1st edition experience and you're bound to hear a good tale about these.
I could go on forever about this stuff.
Note that some modules are combinations of others (read the call-letters carefully -- the "Against the Giants" module incorporates G1 + G2 + G3, for instance) and that a few modules (such as Gygax's Dungeonland pair) are available for free download via Wizards' site (not sure if the scan quality is the same however).
Translations of many great 1st edition modules can be found in the EN World downloads section.
They have, among othe things, 3d/3,5e translations of the following:
B1: In Search of the Unknown
B2: The Keep on the Borderlands
B3: The Palace of the Silver Princess
B4: The Lost City
S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
X2: Castle Amber
A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity
A2: Secret of the Slavers Stockade
A3 Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords
A4: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords
FRQ1: Haunted Halls of Eveningstar
EX1: Dungeonland
EX2: Land Beyond the Magic Mirror
G1: Steading of the Hill Giant Chief
G2: Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl
G3: Hall of the Fire Giant King
O1: The Gem and the Staff
S1: Tomb of Horrors
Return to the Tomb of Horrors
T1-4: Temple of Elemental Evil
U1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
U2: Danger at Dunwater
U3: Final Enemy
S2: White Plume Mountain
Note translation quality can vary, depending on author. These are not "official" translations and sometimes it shows.
If worst comes to worst, grab an old 1st edition PHB and play these the way they were meant to be played ... you might find yourself having a surprisingly good time.
I envy you -- I'd love to read/play some of these babies for the first time. Just re-reading some of the Gygaxian gems really brings back memories. (There's a reason folks are begging these old designers to spit out "just one more adventure"!)
As I have said many times before, I started playing D&D with 3.5, and with the recent PDF downloads of old supplements and adventures available on paizo I have been wondering if I should get some and if so,which ones I should get. Also, it would be nice to know the merits of each of the good ones, and how easy it would be to convert to 3.5. If anybody could help me on this, I would be very, very grateful.
Thanks,
WaterdhavianFlapjack
For me, the very best 1st edition adventure was Vault of the Drow, and that whole spider queen series (the sequel to which a cad called Greg Vaughan snatched from my grasp and infuriatingly did a fantastic job on) was given the accolade of best adventure ever in dungeon #116 (which if you haven't got it would be well worth investing in as it has a top 30 that is very good). Ravenloft, Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan and, as many people will doubtless say, Tomb of Horrors are classics well worth getting hold of. Many of the old dungeon adventures are also great (a willie walsh adventure is always worth a check on IMHO).
I've come across conversions of stats for these modules on the web, and I'm sure some of the erstwhile visitors to these boards will be able to point you in the right direction.
Hope this is helpful!
Rich
I really love the old "Tomb of the Lizard King" - module I2.
And no, it's not about Jim Morrison....
I'd also recommend the "Desert of Desolation" series - originally
published as 3 modules (I3, I4, and I5), then later combined into a "super module" with the background info changed to make it a "Forgotten Realms" adventure (it was originally generic). This series has a great Egyptian/desert theme, and was written by Tracy Hickman - before he became famous of Ravenloft (I6) and DragonLance.
Ravenloft, Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan and, as many people will doubtless say, Tomb of Horrors are classics well worth getting hold of. Many of the old dungeon adventures are also great (a willie walsh adventure is always worth a check on IMHO).
All good recommendations!
The Tomb is the acknowledged all-time, hands-down killer dungeon, oft-hated but always memorable. Insanity perhaps, but I used to run all new groups through it as their first adventure, particularly those new to D&D. (I ran it in a somewhat forgiving fashion.) It was often easier for these new players to concentrate on puzzle-solving & trap-avoiding than open-ended roleplaying, and even those who lost PCs always came back for more D&D. Always.It was also the first module I ever explored as a PC, so perhaps that warped my mindset...
I should be clearer, by "translations" in my earlier post I meant stat translations only.
Probably the hardest part about translating old adventures to new is updating the monsters. They will need skill point and feat allocation, and some might have to be created from scratch.
Some creatures also changed between editions. Giants and dragons, for instance, were bumped up in power (around the time of the 2nd edition drop of evils/demons, if memory serves) and so translating G3 Hall of the Giant King using similar numbers of fire giants will NOT give a similar level adventure but a harder one.
You'll also have to add skill checks (particularly Spot and Search) but that is fairly easy.
A1-A4--the Slaver series is my personal favorite. I ran it or a variation thereof for every AD&D campaign that I've ever DMed. The players start off in an orc-overrun City assaulting a temple where slaves are held by orcs, dopplegangers and insect-men. They then follow a series of clues along the Wild Coast of Greyhawk, taking out slaver strongholds along the way before ending up in the Slavelords own City, as prisoners...unarmed and naked, in a dungeon. They must escape and bring the slavelords to justice while racing a volcano and earthquake.
Just thinking about it makes me want to run it again. If I did, several of my veteran players would dance a jig, as they had some of the best D&D times ever had going through those adventures.
B4: The Lost City was absolutely awesome...
UK2 & UK3: The Sentinel & the Gauntlet were very well written, had superb maps and intelligently designed NPC's....really liked those two adventures as well.
D'oh!! Forgot about #116!
Anyway, thanks guys.
I'll have to check the paizo store for these!
*groans as he gets his credit card*
WaterdhavianFlapjack
Guys, how good is X1: The Isle of Dread?
Thanks,
WaterdhavianFlapjack
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Isle of Dread was my first "real" campaign. Everything before was just one shot adventures run in sucession. I have awesome memories of this module/adventure. It was very long and extemely enjoyable. They threw a remake into one of the more recent Dungeon mags that brought back great memories. Can't remember which Dungeon though. First run in with dinos and Koa-Toa. Good times....
FH
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Isle of Dread is an absolute treasure! That would be one of the first I would encourage you to buy, especially if you like 'lost world' type scenarios. Lots of great encounters (a deranged ankylosaurus, the kopru, phanatons (flyingsquirrel, raccoon, monkey critters), and pirates). Lots and lots of fun.
Fake Healer is correct, the afore-mentioned and praise-worthy Greg Vaughn brought Isle of Dread back in Dungeon #114.
Here's my plug for X4/X5 - another desert based set, but absolutely fantastic.
I want to say the title was Master of the Desert Nomads, the sequel was Temple of Death.
very cool.
- Ashavan
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Ah yes, X4 and X5 were excellent. The origin of the bhut. Unfortunately I kept pronouncing the word like buttocks, and not ba-hoot. Funny how the players wouldn't take the beasties seriously... Still, good choices for an easy conversion. I had converted the D&D rules to 2E AD&D for my Dragonlance game of...egads, 12 years ago. ::pout:: Where have the years gone?
HOLY TOTAL RECALL!!!
This must be the best thread ever! A trip down memory lane was just what I needed (Thanks!). I have kept everything I've ever bought about D&D material. I've read all of them, played with most of them. It's nice to have them around when you need a map or a villain of some sort.
The old 1st Edition DM's Guide still works for me... I still use the random encounter tables found inside, as well as many interesting chapters like gambling ideas, random dungeon generator, etc...
The old Deities and Demigods (1980) also still works for me. Apart from having tons of stuff that was never seen again in other "Deity" books, it has that egyptian heroglyphs page that you could use to write in egiptian with (very cool!).
In the old adventures, the first Dragonlance module, Dragons of Something Something (I forget the name) has on of the best maps for an old burried temple/city. I agree with what has been said above about adventures mentioned... They're all great, specialy the Tomb of Horrors. D1-D2, Descent into the Depths of the Earth and Shrine of the Kuo-Toa was also nice; The Kuo-Toan city was a blast to move around in.
There's the Bloodstone series (H1-H4) wich I found to be quite fun. Dungeon module X10 (I think) called Crown of ancient Glory was very exiting, as the PCs trace the path of the presumed dead heir to the throne of Norvik to retrieve his crown. There's also the Legacy of the Shadow Lord that comes to mind as an awesome quest to rid a small kingdom of it's evil.
The famous Ruins of Undermountain... Although lacking in detail, was a real gem. I used it about two years back to simulate The Moria Mines in Lord of the Rings. The players had to traverse a mountain from one side to the other while passing through "an ancient dwarven city".
Ah, man... I could type all day about the artifacts in my D&D room. SO MANY pleasant memories.
Ultradan
...UK2 & UK3: The Sentinel & the Gauntlet were very well written, had superb maps and intelligently designed NPC's....really liked those two adventures as well.
I can also heartily recommend UK2 and UK3, the Sentinel and the Gauntlet! These were rather like a short adventure path, had a lot of opportunity for roleplaying in addition to "crunchy bits" like fighting, and had well-designed maps.
If you love mountain passes with evil monsters, mountainside towers and keeps, this is a great adventure set. Plus, some unique magic items tied to a regional history. If you like T1 of the Temple of Elemental Evil, this is definitely a must-get. Good times, good times!
In the old adventures, the first Dragonlance module, Dragons of Something Something (I forget the name) has on of the best maps for an old burried temple/city.
I suspect your thinking of DL1 Dragons of Despair. The sunken ruins of Xak Taseroth. I've commented before on this board that while I felt that the Dragonlance Modules really fell down as an epic series they had some superb maps.
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S4 - Lost caverns of Tsojcanth. This was a gruesomely difficult module that included a supplemental rule book and bestiary bigger than the module itself!
I've ran this gem for 1ed, 2ed and had an abortive attempt at it in 3rd edition (converted by me).
If you linked it with WG4 Tharizdun you have a mini-campaign of TPK coolness. :)
I can't remember the names of them, but there was an old D&D adventure based on the Lewis Carrol Looking Glass stories... They were very cool and made for some very interesting games.
If you are looking for older Ravenloft adventures, try to find a copy of the Dungeon Magazine adventure "Bane of the Shadowborn". I run this game with EVERY group I start with. That vile evil sword, Ebonbane, has claimed at least one PC every single time... In fact, he/it has become the driving villain in my current Ravenloft arch... Not bad for a 10+ year old Dungeon adventure!
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I can't remember the names of them, but there was an old D&D adventure based on the Lewis Carrol Looking Glass stories... They were very cool and made for some very interesting games.
'Dungeonland' and 'The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror'.
Some people loved them, some hated them. Personally, I thought they were wonderfully cheesy.
I've commented before on this board that while I felt that the Dragonlance Modules really fell down as an epic series they had some superb maps.
Indeed. The High Clerist's Tower was stunning in its complexity and scale. Soooo useful.
I am a slobbering huge fan of the module:
Lost Island of Castantimir, the detail and story is amazing. I have run it 4 times and each the players absolutely loved it! Its not tough to convert to 3.5 ed either.
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I have loved H1-H4 (The Bloodstone Series) as the coolest modules ever created. I missed out on buying them, but had been through the series as a player. So I had a friend buy them for me at a GenCon and they cost me $200 for all 4, but it was well worth it. H-4 is rated for Character Levels 18-100!
In fact, I am in the process of converting them to 3.5 for the monthly group that I run. Great fun!
Some of my favorites were I3, 4, & 5 the Desert of Desolation series. That included the totally awesome "Pharoah", "Oasis of the White Palm", and "Lost Tomb of Martek". They had amazing plots and really difficult puzzles and problems to solve. They were written by Tracey and Laura Hickman. How can you go wrong?
I can't remember the names of them, but there was an old D&D adventure based on the Lewis Carrol Looking Glass stories... They were very cool and made for some very interesting games.'Dungeonland' and 'The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror'.
Some people loved them, some hated them. Personally, I thought they were wonderfully cheesy.
I did not much care for them but if one ever chooses to run the excellent Chandranther's Bane then I would look at these again in order to turn the adventure into a kind of mini-campaign.
I've commented before on this board that while I felt that the Dragonlance Modules really fell down as an epic series they had some superb maps.Indeed. The High Clerist's Tower was stunning in its complexity and scale. Soooo useful.
The Fortess of Pax Tharkas was really nice as well and the city of Sanction makes a nice and fairly well detailed 'city occupied by evil' in pretty much any campaign with a little tweaking here and there.
Holy Nostalgia Batman!
I take a few weeks off from looking up stuff here on the website and they pull this one on me! My wife and my credit card will never be the same!
Great stuff in the pdf's that I looked at. I have always had fond memories of the first, second and third time I got killed in Temple of Elemental Evil. Definitly a must have for all DM's. The "Slavers series" was always one I wanted to do in its whole form, but only ever had the second two modules. Plan to buy them and recomend the series to everyone who enjoys whupping up on really really evil humans. (One of my favorite types of bad guys)
Some great adventures picked by all. I just wanted to tip my hat to a favorite of mine that hardly ever gets mentioned.
My group of gaming buddies have had more fun with the Greyhawk Ruins adventure (I can't remeber the call letters and number). It is a massive twenty six level dungeon crawl for characters 2nd-level to 15th-level.
I have so many classic memeories attached to this one I wouldn't know which stories to begin to tell.
I have ran it three times and have yet to finish it and several buddies have borrowed it to run their groups through and they have not finished it either. Still I find myself toying with the idea of running it as a 3rd Ed. campaign.
In Search of the Unknown, B1. Fill it in yourself. A great start for a new DM.
2nd Ed
Blood Enemies for Birthright. A great book for background and histroy of that setting.
Hellbound. AWESOME AS HELL
Greyhawk Ruins converts well into 3.x. It takes some work, but it's fun, creative work. I also never finished it, but oh the tales we still tell about the many near TPKs. Take some time to integrate the NPC villains into the outside world and it really shines. (i.e. One the Wizards running solo in the middle tower was the alchemist from the Wizard's Guild that was working with the Shapechangers from Greyhawk. Uncovered by the PCs, he fled... To become that particular wizard down below. One of the Wizards in the Tower of Power, the NG one, had its position filled by a long-time party NPC that was recruited into the group. Doh. Does the Fighter just kill his ex-girlfriend whom he knows is good, but is down here in the dungeons hanging out with dubious folk?)
Very ly, but I gave my group a synopsis of the campaigns I'd like to run and they voted for the one where "the party will likely all die multiple times." (The only TPK occurred just after some of the PCs retired. They came back to retrieve the parts, ick, and Resurrect their fellows. So much for experimenting with new PCs.)
Anyone heard of Escape from Igors Lair? That is one of the first I run new players through. Its really fun and the only know person who can beat it is my own dad.
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I can't beleive that no one has mentioned CASTLE AMBER. It is by far, the coolest old D&D Module ever!
I found my old copy and coverted it to 3E a few years ago and ran my players through it once they reached 3rd level. They loved every moment of it, and raved about it for months and months after we had finished it.
Wizards (or PAIZO) would do well to revive that one.
I just thought of this....but I've always had a special place in my heart for Horror On The Hill. Killer mod. We must have run that 3 or 4 times and actually converted it to 3.5E. Man, what am I doing! I should be gaming right now, haha.
I can't beleive that no one has mentioned CASTLE AMBER. It is by far, the coolest old D&D Module ever!
I found my old copy and coverted it to 3E a few years ago and ran my players through it once they reached 3rd level. They loved every moment of it, and raved about it for months and months after we had finished it.
Wizards (or PAIZO) would do well to revive that one.
Yeah, that is a cool module. I´ve found a 3e conversion somewhere online a while ago, and of course sent my group into it. They were in for wild ride, for sure! But take care, its waay unbalanced. Catherine nearly killed my group. The magic items can be troubling, some are quite powerful.
If you can get the additional information from D&D Glantri Gazetteer or the Mystara AD&D2 Glantri:Kingdom of Magic and Mark of Amber boxed sets, the family members get more depth. (Just scrap those CDs...) Mark of Amber has a better floor plan for the chateau. And look for the Clark Asthon Smith stories that Averoigne is based on, they make a good read.Stefan
Come to think of it, the old D&D Gazetteer series had its charms. The authors took real-world clichés and made them into playable backgrounds for D&D. GAZ 1 was the base for PCs, taken from the expert set. Most of them are well done. Ierendi is probably the worst. The Atruaghin Clans are not that good, either.
Stefan
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Yeah, that is a cool module. I´ve found a 3e conversion somewhere online a while ago, and of course sent my group into it. They were in for wild ride, for sure! But take care, its waay unbalanced. Catherine nearly killed my group.
Stefan
My group had a hard time with Catherine, too. One of the characters (half-orc barbarian) was possessed by her and started flinging the spells about with wild abandon. The dwarf wizard was saved only by his Cloak of Resistance +1 from an early demise via Finger of Death. Another dwarf (cleric) was foolish enough to partake in the ghostly banquet down the hall...he won't be leaving. Another character, half-elf rogue was driven insane by the magic letter squares, and the elf wizard/rogue was nearly killed by the crazy painter. Oh yes, and the halfling monk was nearly bitten in two by the Bronze Lion and the only character to fail a Will Save against the Magen's charm effect; the wizard's pet pseudodragon was grand-slammed by a tree-weilding colossus...I could go on and on...
Sometimes it's great fun being the DM.
Some great adventures picked by all. I just wanted to tip my hat to a favorite of mine that hardly ever gets mentioned.
My group of gaming buddies have had more fun with the Greyhawk Ruins adventure (I can't remeber the call letters and number). It is a massive twenty six level dungeon crawl for characters 2nd-level to 15th-level.
I have so many classic memeories attached to this one I wouldn't know which stories to begin to tell.
I have ran it three times and have yet to finish it and several buddies have borrowed it to run their groups through and they have not finished it either. Still I find myself toying with the idea of running it as a 3rd Ed. campaign.
If you liked this you might consider looking up Kurtz and Gygax's version of this module. The 2nd Edition version was pretty much just some of the players memories of what they bumped into in Gygax and Kurtz epic (Gygax was no longer part of TSR by the time they made this module) but Kurtz and Gygax are using their actual notes to (re)make this epic in all its glory.
Check it out here