Favorite dungeons and modules?

[ColbyMunro]

Hi guys, I'm trying my hand at my first open world campaign setting in a few weeks here and I'd love to lighten the load a little and sprinkle some good dungeons and modules around while still being able to build it all around my story. I don't really know the first place to look into this kind of thing so if there are threads you can link me to, go ahead and do that.

But I would like to know the dungeons and modules you guys have run that are your personal favorites, and any advice you can give me on executing them. Bonus points if you've run them more than once.

I don't mind if you pull from non pathfinder tabletop rpg's either, as a little conversion doesn't scare me too much (I'm thinking about throwing Hommlet and Against the Cult of the Reptile God because of Matt Colville's endorsement) I'm using these mostly as a basis to build off of, rather than trying to strictly replicate someone else's vision.

Additionally, these are players who aren't necessarily beginners, we've been playing as a group trading off DM's for about a year now.

Anyway you guys are the experts, I've only really run two campaigns and haven't gotten more than 5 sessions in on either so I don't really have any experience here.

[Xot]

PFS scenarios should be a breeze to drop in here and there. Some of them have some excellent non-combat encounters, or feature subsystems that can be interesting.

I'm a big fan of the modules "The Harrowing" and "From Shore to Sea".

[BeefSupreme]

The best I ever ran (3 times) was the 2e box game The Return to the Tomb of Horrors. I am currently trying to convert it to PF.
It's beautiful because it makes the players realize that death is everywhere & you can't rely on anything you previously felt safe with in other games. In one room just saying a number from 1 to 8 out loud can mean your death. And even something as simple as casting healing spells couldn't be certain.
I think I will take out some of the save or die situations but not too much. The fact that they were always in danger & had to really think about things was the best thing about it.
The main issues I have with converting it to PF is that some of the creatures you fight were in the 3e Epic level Handbook so of course they will have to be trimmed down some. I did see the Winter Wight in one of the Bestiaries so that helps. I think the main problem will be the Undead dream creature (whose name escapes me now) that was in the Epic Level Handbook. I want it to be a little harder than it was in 2e but not as hard as 3e. I will have to find the middle somewhere. But the campaign I am writing has a lot to do with this dungeon & I hope it works out.
Hope I was helpful. I kinda when long. Sorry.

[Tinalles]

I very much enjoyed running The Harrowing. Very imaginative writing.

I've never actually run it, but The Ghost of Mistmoor from Dungeon #35 struck me as a very clever adventure. You'll need to look for a copy on EBay if you want to read it.

[ColbyMunro]

BeefSupreme wrote:

The best I ever ran (3 times) was the 2e box game The Return to the Tomb of Horrors.

Isn't this the dungeon Gygax created to prove he could kill off anybody's character? I dont know if I want to run something so arbitrary as part of a larger story.

Is there anything I should know about running "The Harrowing"?

[Cole Deschain]

Skeletons of Scarwall from the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adeventure Path is a lot of fun- and easily tailored to fit new narrative needs.

[Tinalles]

Spoilers for The Harrowing:

The first thing that happens is the party gets sucked into a demiplane and trapped there until they deal with the adventure. This means that there's generally no direct interaction with other storylines, which makes it easy to drop into an existing campaign without having to modify the adventure. It also makes it easy for someone other than the regular GM to play.

It's helpful to have a physical Harrow deck. The PCs get the deck that they're first sucked in, and pulling specific cards from it give them benefits in specific encounters. Every card in the Harrow deck is tied to a specific moment in the module. As the players identify and use cards, they can hand them back to you. It's possible to do it with a regular deck of cards -- there's a key in the adventure -- but it's way easier with a proper copy.

The isolation of the PCs within the Harrowed Realm means that they cannot just go back to town and pay for healing/resurrection. When I ran it, my players had a PC capable of casting Raise Dead, but suitable material components for the spell, so I wound up inventing a diamond mine in the desert after killing half the party in one encounter. If your party lacks anyone capable of raising the dead, you may need to invent or adjust a friendly NPC who can do so, perhaps Marzalee the Weaver in the Manmolds. Though she usually works with storykin souls, not mortals.

There are similar difficulties in introducing new PCs. The only way in is through the Deck of Tales, which winds up inside the demiplane in the possession of the PCs. So if you're adding a new PC to the party, they need some excuse for showing up out of nowhere -- I had to introduce two new NPCs during the course of running this. One showed up out of thin air as the result of meddling with an ancient Thassilonian artifact she didn't understand. The other was a prisoner in the Striding Castle. You could also introduce a storykin PC -- but that would likely be a temporary fix, because storykin cannot exist outside of the Harrowed Realm. If the player wanted to keep the PC after the module you would need to invent some reason they don't melt upon leaving the realm.

If your party has crappy Will saves, be cautious with the three succubi in the Striding Castle. In my campaign the entire party got dominated and/or charmed, and getting them through that required some serious tap-dancing on my part. It worked out and the party was victorious, but it was a costly victory. Consider giving them a hint -- a communal Protection from Evil spell would have trivialized that encounter, but none of them had any idea to expect mind-control magic.

And those #@!$!ing succubi were a pain in our sides for AGES. They weren't storykin, and managed to get out of the Harrowed Realm. It took 3 real-world years and two campaigns to finally finish them off.

[SorrySleeping]

I recently ran the Emerald Spire for a few sessions. I enjoyed the unique feel of the dungeon and the interesting elements each level brings.

You can easily just make each floor into a dungeon.

[Daw]

Yes, the original Tomb of Horrors was a Gygaxian ego trip. It was deadly, not by any real cleverness, but just because it self-defined itself to be unbeatable. I've heard that the second incarnation may have been better, but no personal or trusted experience to back that up.

Since old stuff was brought up:

Since I never left any simple modules alone, my tables had a lot of fun with the Giant Series, G1-3.

Best Thematics, Judges Guild did Paul Jaquays, Caverns of Thracia. It was a well done Grecian flavored dungeon.

I think my favorite plug-in was Dave Hargrave's Citidel of Thunder, mostly because I really enjoyed Grey Goblin "Knights" riding in on Air-Sharks, and had enough background in Arduin to know how and where to fill in all the holes Dave left in the product when he pulled out the really campaign specific stuff. An awful lot of the filled rooms were really just interesting encroachments on whatever campaign theme stuff you stocked your dungeons with. Dave was big on dungeons being places that the out-of-power/favor hid their bases in. During the Mad Queen's terrible reign, a lot of characters operated out of dungeons.

[Scrapper]

My absolute Favorit, Night's Dark Terror, B10 Mod from the old basic set D&D, originally for a party with an average of 4000-5000xp, but completely doable with a lvl 1 party given feats and skills didn't exist back then, and on average, party members should have about as much HP at lvl 1 as a lvl 2-3 did in basic set!
But more to the point, the adventure starts out as a simple work for hire that evolves into an adventure, area's and NPC personalities develop around at a good pace as the world and story come to life.

[ColbyMunro]

Daw wrote:

Best Thematics, Judges Guild did Paul Jaquays, Caverns of Thracia. It was a well done Grecian flavored dungeon.

The campaign is going to be grecian themed so that's an excellent pull! thank you!

It seems by popularity, I should absolutely include the harrowing. Is a harrow deck a Tarot Deck cause I bought one for my last campaign to do a sort of Court Of Swords style fortune telling.

[Daw]

Paizo sells a Harrow Deck, it is very much designed to work as part of the rule system.
It can also be very difficult to find, as storefronts have difficulty keeping it in stock.

[Bard of Ages]

my favorite, and easy to throw into a world as long as you have a mountain, and a forest, and a small town of loggers, is Hollow's Last Hope and it's sequel, Crown of the Kobold King.

Another one I loved was a 3.5 starter module called The Burning Plague.

And finally, my favorite first chapter of an AP was Rise of The Runelords part one.

My favorite dungeon was from The Sunless Citadel.

[ColbyMunro]

Bard of Ages wrote:

And finally, my favorite first chapter of an AP was Rise of The Runelords part one.

Oh good! I was already considering kicking things off with Burnt Offerings. Any advice on running it?

[Sissyl]

Two of my favourite modules are When a Star Falls and Eye of the Serpent, of the old UK series of adventures for AD&D 1st. They are pretty early stuff that feel distinctly more modern. They experiment with the forms. Above all, they have absolutely amazing maps. Maybe you'd want to take a look.