Creative Director
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I've been an avid reader of Dungeon since issue #1, and there are certain locations that have stuck in my mind over the years as more memorable than others. The city of Cauldron, the Elephant Graveyard, and Granite Mountain Prison all jump immediately to my mind. What about you? What is your favorite adventure site that's appeared in an adventure in Dungeon? I'd like to come up with as large a list of cool adventure sites as possible, so let's hear your nominations!
The Spiral of Manzessine.
Laveth's Chamber from "The Harrowing."
DUNGEON has produced too many great sites to even begin listing them down. I'll let others make those decisions.
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STYES!!!
The Spiral of Manzessine was great, too.
The githyanki city in The lich-queen's beloved - what could be cooler than a massive strucure on a dead god's carcass?
Aaaaaand... the giant city in Kings of the rift.
I also really liked the ruins in City of broken idols - in fact, that whole AP has fantastic locations. Keep 'em coming!
Yeah! I like the Styes too!
Me three!
YOU ROUGE, YOU!
My way back machine is unable to provide names or issue #'s... buuuuuuut... there was a really cool adventure in the way back time that involved a cloud castle full of giants. I think there was a Shakespearean theme (not the epic level adventure that involved an abominiation, though that one was really cool, too).
I also really enjoyed this one that took place on the back of a colossal plus sized turtle.
The elephant graveyard previously mentioned as well as the city of Tunar'ath (spelling?) in The Lich Queen's Beloved were equally awesome. Interesting and gritty places like The Styes and Scuttlecove are also on my very cool list.
I like adventures about unicorns and fairies.
The dungeon from the Dungeons of yesteryear in which I had the most fun was called Beol-Dur, or something like that. I’ve long since lost the magazine (along with my virginity, my innocence, about 40,000 socks, a comparable number of brain cells, quite a few hairs, and half of the years of my life). It was, in retrospect, an atrocious adventure by today’s standards. But we were kids and didn’t know better.
It was my first venture into an active volcano, a road mark on the path of any gamer’s life. We were only a modest-level party, but we met an efreeti and somehow convinced him to grant us three wishes, interpreted as only a teenage DM can, long before there were restrictions on the power of wish spells. Got me a nice +5 vorpal longsword. Then we accidentally summoned the Type VI demon whose name was actually “Balor Etc.” There were only six Type VI demons back then, and they were basically balrogs. He scared the crap out of us, but he ate Alex’s character and left, and nobody liked Alex anyway. And then there was that pit trap filled with darkness (back when darkness meant blackness) with a resetting teleport at the bottom that took you back to just below the top, so you felt like you were falling forever but you were actually going only the same 40 feet over and over again.
So cool.
If you’re a kid.
Chalk up another vote for the Styes. I would love to see more adventures set there.
My way back machine is unable to provide names or issue #'s... buuuuuuut... there was a really cool adventure in the way back time that involved a cloud castle full of giants. I think there was a Shakespearean theme (not the epic level adventure that involved an abominiation, though that one was really cool, too).
Two adventures come to mind here. Either The Plight of Cirria or Lear the Giant King.
Lear the Giant King is really interesting and really cool ... and I can't make it work. I mean I've tried incorporating it into my campaign and it just does not snap in. It essentially comes with a series of problems. #1 it requires a Giant Kingdom. Probably not so hard but once you have your Giant Kingdom the module sets out how the power structure of how this Giant Kingdom works because the leaders of the kingdom are all key characters in the story line. The weak point here is that its to small. You'd think that would be fine - so much the easier to slot in. But if this is some irrelevant minuscule giant Kingdom then one faces a 'why bother' problem. I mean if I'm going to have a Giant kingdom it needs to be more then a tiny Fiefdom of Giants. I can't easily expand the cast of characters because the story will get lost in the clutter. So Fiefdom of Giants is the only way. Well my 15th level players want to do world shaking things and so far I've never been able to throw in a side trek where they fix up a Fiefdom of Giants along the way. Maybe someday.
The other really big problem is that the Giants don't behave like D&D Giants are supposed to behave. We have all these good, neutral and evil Giants all working together in this Fiefdom of Giants - oh sure now the evil ones are being naughty and such but I'm left wondering how the whole political structure hung together before the current crisis. Where the Hill Giants not evil until this whole tragic chain of events suddenly took place?
Brilliant concept and fun to read - but ultimately unusable as an actual adventure in a long running campaign. If I ever run a higher level one off this would be an adventure I'd dive for. We don't need Giants to act like Giants are supposed to in a one off.
Interesting Question - I have a hard time thinking of answers and I'm a little suprised at that.
I guess the environment I enjoyed the most historically was the the whole ecosystem evolved from a house and garden in Chandanther's Bane. It was just so cool how everything evolved into a microcosmic world when everyone was insect sized in a normal cabin and garden. Everything just seemed so epic and yet mundane at the same time.
Nol-Daer is iconic in my campaigns as well. It always plays some role in the campaign. There is always some lost clue to whatever the campaign is about tied up into its back story. Its begining to look a little worn (I mean more worn then it was when first presented) in my campaign as parts of it have been engulfed in Dragon Fire and such. But my players will definitly be back there again this campaign. What the Demons sang about beneath the Keep - before they died - is an important clue in my current campaign.
Also I'm featuring Maure Castle in my current campaign but I hope to do the same thing with it for all future campaigns. I'd like to see if I can make it iconic so that the players always find themselves in its halls in every campaign for one reason or another. However whether that works out or not depends on how the first adventure goes. It might be too big to really work. Nol-Daer is really almost the perfect size for a 'Dungeon' the players find themselves visiting again and again with different characters at different times. Big enough that they get a chance to remember parts of it and its layout yet small enough that they don't have a chance to get bored with essentially exploring the same place all over again.
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It's really hard to separate out the site of an adventure from the adventure itself. I'd probably have to go with the Styes as well.
I got a site for you. How bout my foot up site your head? Unicorns and faeries... ;)
Good sites:
Styes, of course.
Sasserine; it's fully ready for more stuff to go in there.
Cauldron; of course; not one but TWO well-developed cities next to eachother
That perspective map of that swamp in Steve Greer's adventure in the issue with Iggwilv on the cover...that map is just the bomb.
I'll think up more as I go along.
Since I am currently playing the SCAP my current favorite location has to be Cauldron. And the thing that makes that city tick with me is all the interesting NPC's that preside in the city like the shop owners, priests, mayor, etc... that my party has met and we just started "Zenith Trajectory".
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but the (takes a deep breath) Wizard's Keepinside a Giant Diamond that is floating over an Active Volcano... oh, and its now inhabited by a Red Dragon and Kamikaze Kobolds Suicide Squads armed with one-shot Necklace of Missiles and typical Kobold ingenuity... and you get to play a deadly game of magical rollerball to get inside the treasure vault...
I was still a kid when I first read/played through that adventure, but I think it still stands the test of time, although I haven't actually had a chance to work it into a campaign since 2nd edition. I still remember the feeling we got when 12th level adventurers got worked over by the Kobold Suicide Squad swinging down on ropes Ewok-style to try and knock us off an invisible force bridge while crossing a giant chasm/flaw in the diamond, and fireballs going off everywhere...
The adventure was Out of the Ashes by Grant Boucher, and it was from Dungeon #17. (It has a close up pic of Red Dragon holding up a double clawful of diamonds on the cover)
And now that I've talked about it, I'm going to have to go and dig out that issue from its box and read through it to get the nostalgia out of my system ;-)
That perspective map of that swamp in Steve Greer's adventure in the issue with Iggwilv on the cover...that map is just the bomb.
Hey, cool, thanks Heathansson! That was one of mine.
My favourite was the inside of that massive statue's head in "Tears of twilight hollow" (dungeon #90). There was a fight against a gargantuan centipede as I recall and it was very dramatic.
Two adventures come to mind here. Either The Plight of Cirria or Lear the Giant King.
I'm pretty sure it was Lear of the Giant King, but almost positive my DM at the time (Frank Myers, who taught me the finer arts of Evil DMery) was running it with a lot of changes. Its the location that sticks out, though. It was very cool (unless he changed that, too).
I really like Diamond Lake. It's got the feel of a Wild West frontier town gone to seed, and lots of interesting NPC interactions. I'm sad the Age of Worms AP moves away from the town so quickly.
I've always been kind of partial to the map of Restenford in Dungeon # 71, Priestly Secrets, but my absolute favorite is Ulmade Castle in Dungeon # 75, The Forgotten Man.
I must admit, the reason I'm so fond of those sites, is because I really liked the adventures.
And of course, it has to be said, the quality of sites, maps and adventures over the last couple of years has been to a very high standard. If we're focusing on sites in particular, there are different reasons why certain places stand out:
- some places are intriguing in themselves, because we haven't seen anything quite like it, like the forsaken arch in # 120;
- other places are nice because they offer a special role-playing experience. Blackwal Keep for example (# 126) is a very simple site as such, but playing the siege of the place offers an welcome alternative to normal battles. The same goes for the leaning lighthouse in the lashing storm and the ship in full storm (Strike on Rabid Dawn in # 111). Both are very cinematic sites and the stormy circumstances actually play a role in the game.
My Top 5 of recent years:
1. Ehlonna's Scar.
2. Diamond Lake / Whispering Cairn / Filge's Observatory
3. Maure Castle.
4. Rift Canyon
5. Firewatch Island
and if you count Polyhedron ...
5 (tie). City of Northport for Pulp Heroes
Deepwatch town - #103 Map of Mystery
Oi! How could I forget that one. I ran a great mini-campaign there once.
Add Deepwatch to my list.
Thanks for reminding me Rezdave.
The only dungeon adventure I have run more then once...
It is a simple inn and I cannot even remember the name of it.
But back in the garden rests the item known as Chadranthar's Bane (I hope I spelt that correctly)
In no particular order...
The Wormcrawl Fissure
The aboleth ruins in "The Lightless Depths"
Kuluth-Mar
The Quicksilver Hourglass
The Styes
Sharn, of Chimes at Midnight, Steel Shadows and Murder at Oakbridge
I think the Wormcrawl Fissure tops my list, though my collection is spotty before the first AoW issue.
Other cool sites:
I too liked the Storm Lord's cloud castle--my imagination was captured by this idea in 1e, and I was pleased to see it put into effect with such excellence here.
Diamond Lake--this, to my mind, has become the 3.5e Village of Hommlet (only much better). A fully fledged out small community where nearly every resident has a backstory and an agenda, which works great as the start for AoW or any other campaign for that matter. (Sasserine, Alhaster, Cauldron, the Styes, Istivin, and Hardby are all, I think quite well done, each with its own flavor, but Diamond Lake was somehow very special).
Malgarius (#122)--this is a really unique and interesting adventure site.
The dead dragon's lair in Ill-Made Graves (#133).
The Palace of Plenty, and the temple in the Rising Storm were also cool, as well, with an other-worldly flavor that made them very interesting.
Several of the sites in AoW deserve mention as well--the Vecna temple in TFOE, Kuluth-Mar, and Kongen-Thulnir in particular. STAP has been less site-based, but I think the big sargasso patch and the whole journey down the east coast of the Isle of Dread have a really cool flavor, as do several sites in the underdark beneath the island. (The overhead sketch showing the PCs walking on the half flooded bridge with the Aboleth swimming underneath totally hooked me in!)
House of Cards
Tallows Deep
The dungeon in Ex Libris
Not really sites... but my favorite structures
MistaRyte
The back of some massive other-dimensional critter in "Beast of Burden." It's basically a walking encampment with a bunch of Gnolls using it as a mobile base of operations.
A lot of great ones in AoW (where I got my resurrection at the DM's seat), what with Midnight's Muddle (in Free City of Greyhawk), the Demiplane of Last Resort, and more. But my all-time published favorite is Alhaster (before and after). Zeech is such a jerk, and the city is so wholly dominated, that my players wanted to rise to heroics after a few brief descriptions of the place. Definitely my favorite backdrop and adventure site.
House of Cards
Tallows Deep
The dungeon in Ex Libris
Ohh - excellent choices. Especially Ex Libris, though personally I never much went for the actual adventure - bunch of Abashi IIRC which really did not do much for me. But I certainly have a hard time thinking of an environment that tops that. Definitely have to convert that over to 3.5 but with more interesting monsters. Maybe start cherry picking from Hordes of the Abyss and Tyrants of Hell - redo the plot line to hook into the Blood War or some such.
Interestingly I'm just trying to get a version of Tallow's Deep up to snuff for next weeks game. In this case beefed up with more powerful monsters. Man this thing is a nightmare to convert to 3.5. In 1st and 2nd Ed. most mechanics where essentially explained in the text of an adventure and this is perfectly true for Tallow's Deep. Things loaded with encounters in which the adventure spells out how the mechanic will work. The majority of them have nothing to do with anything that resembles a 3.5 mechanic. In some cases mechanics have simply vanished (concealed doors) while in others a whole new set of mechanics have been introduced (most traps, how water works). Also space issues are a big deal in 3.5 - the monsters need to actually be able to 'fit' in their dungeon home. Tallow's Deep is to friggen small for all the creatures living in it – there is no room, their overflowing out into the halls and stuff. Really a bit of a nightmare but hopefully all worth it in the end. I mean I'd not have even bothered if I did not think that Tallow's Deep ranked high among the very best that Dungeon had ever done.
Though of another excellent location - though its more of a series of links to locations; The Secret of the Towers.
In no particular order-
House of Cards
Ex Libris
The Forgotten Man
Out of the Ashes
Kings of the Rift
I've been an avid reader of Dungeon since issue #1, and there are certain locations that have stuck in my mind over the years as more memorable than others. The city of Cauldron, the Elephant Graveyard, and Granite Mountain Prison all jump immediately to my mind. What about you? What is your favorite adventure site that's appeared in an adventure in Dungeon? I'd like to come up with as large a list of cool adventure sites as possible, so let's hear your nominations!
James, how about having a poll for this?
James, how about having a poll for this?That would be step 2 of my plan. We're still on step one for a bit.
Hmm... not that I'm planning on stuff the ballot box for Out of the Ashes ... but how are polls and the new multiple aliases on the site going to interact?
Could I use my alias to throw an extra vote in? Or is it one vote per account?
My Top 5 of recent years:
1. Ehlonna's Scar.
Wooo!
My way back machine is unable to provide names or issue #'s... buuuuuuut... there was a really cool adventure in the way back time that involved a cloud castle full of giants. I think there was a Shakespearean theme (not the epic level adventure that involved an abominiation, though that one was really cool, too).Lear the Giant King is really interesting and really cool ... and I can't make it work. I mean I've tried incorporating it into my campaign and it just does not snap in. It essentially comes with a series of problems. #1 it requires a Giant Kingdom. Probably not so hard but once you have your Giant Kingdom the module sets out how the power structure of how this Giant Kingdom works because the leaders of the kingdom are all key characters in the story line. The weak point here is that its to small. You'd think that would be fine - so much the easier to slot in. But if this is some irrelevant minuscule giant Kingdom then one faces a 'why bother' problem. I mean if I'm going to have a Giant kingdom it needs to be more then a tiny Fiefdom of Giants. I can't easily expand the cast of characters because the story will get lost in the clutter. So Fiefdom of Giants is the only way. Well my 15th level players want to do world shaking things and so far I've never been able to throw in a side trek where they fix up a Fiefdom of Giants along the way. Maybe someday.
The other really big problem is that the Giants don't behave like D&D Giants are supposed to behave. We have all these good, neutral and evil Giants all working together in this Fiefdom of Giants - oh sure now the evil ones are being naughty and such but I'm left wondering how the whole political structure hung together before the current crisis. Where the Hill Giants not evil until this whole tragic chain of events suddenly took place?
Brilliant concept and fun to read - but ultimately unusable as an actual adventure in a long running campaign. If I ever run a higher level one off this would be an adventure I'd dive for. We don't need Giants to act like Giants are supposed to in a one off.
Used it. And you illustrate one of the many reasons I hate the Good-Evil alignment axis in regards to human-like beings. How exactly are giant's suposed to act? Apparently all hill, fire, and frost are evil so lets kill them all with no negotiation, we will be saving ourselves time and heartache in the future. Every paladin agrees with me I'm sure.
I don't know that I like the physical setting as much as I like the story (it is Shakespeare after all).
GGG
The Isle of Dread (in all it's various adventures), the Anvil of Time (86), Rana Mor (86), the Palace of Plenty (130), Redhand (131), Muffin's Honor (Devil Box, 109), The Rift in Kings of the Rift (??), The Room of 10,000 Blades (Winding Way, ??) Mellorn (Mellorn Hospitality, 107), Deepwatch (103), The Lucky Monkey (Flood Season, 98), Skullrot (Asylum, 116), The Styes (121), The Storm Lord's Keep (93), Twilight Hollow (90), Lolth's Daughter's lair (Harrowing, ??), The Beasty (Beast of Burden 100), inside Malgarius (Root of Evil, 122), Jmondar's Mansion (Winter Tapestry, 78), Silverhawk's mountain retreat (Threshold of Evil, 10), The teleporting towers (Secret of the Towers, 10), the setting for Natural Selection (??), Baba Yaga's Dancing Hut (Dragon 83), London (Dragon 100), and of course Exag (145). These are just the one's I remember or have handy - I'm sure there are more. I will note though that a lot of these places I like more for the little odds and ends used to decorate them and the characters who populate them rather than the place itself. Beyond description maps and fun or cool drawings also influence my choices.
-GGG
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Interestingly I'm just trying to get a version of Tallow's Deep up to snuff for next weeks game. In this case beefed up with more powerful monsters. Man this thing is a nightmare to convert to 3.5. In 1st and 2nd Ed. most mechanics where essentially explained in the text of an adventure and this is perfectly true for Tallow's Deep. Things loaded with encounters in which the adventure spells out how the mechanic will work. The majority of them have nothing to do with anything that resembles a 3.5 mechanic. In some cases mechanics have simply vanished (concealed doors) while in others a whole new set of mechanics have been introduced (most traps, how water works). Also space issues are a big deal in 3.5 - the monsters need to actually be able to 'fit' in their dungeon home. Tallow's Deep is to friggen small for all the creatures living in it – there is no room, their overflowing out into the halls and stuff. Really a bit of a nightmare but hopefully all worth it in the end. I mean I'd not have even bothered if I did not think that Tallow's Deep ranked high among the very best that Dungeon had ever done.
Jeremy, I'm hoping to run a modified Tallow's Deep in the future as well. (Teach those players a lesson not to take goblinoids for granted!) Would you be interested in sharing any of that mechanical conversion you're working on?