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A Favorite or Worst Module Adventure Either As Player or DM
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Post Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:19 am 
 

As a DM, it would have to be G1 all the way through to Q1.

As a player. Hmmmm. Maybe the U series or A series.

  

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Post Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:46 am 
 

Hi all,

As for my better experiences, let's see...

I have fond memories of DMing the A series, N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God, U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, UK2 The Sentinel / UK3 The Gauntlet, I2 Tomb of the Lizard King, X2 Castle Amber, and various adventures from DUNGEON magazine, including "The Crypt of Istaris," "The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb," and a couple whose names I forget -- one involved the apparition of a frost giant chief and was set in frozen tundra, and the other involved the tomb of a wizard who used up his magic items as traps for high-level adventurers seeking to plunder his riches. (I remember modifying the breaking mirror of life trapping trap so it released a horde of velociraptors upon the party...  :twisted: )

My former DM was fond of running adventures from old issues of DRAGON magazine that none of us had access to, like "The Garden of Nefaron" and "The Halls of Beoll-Dur" -- fun times.

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Post Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 10:05 am 
 

When I ran TSR modules, I would never let the players know what they were doing. It was easier back then because I a bought the modules as they came out, so the players had zero knowledge of the adventure. I would also write my homebrews in the same style - boxed text, etc.

This way they didn't have any idea what to expect. After a few encounters or whatever, I would let them know. 8)


And I could've bought these damn modules off the 1$ rack!!!

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Post Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 10:22 am 
 

Hi,

hardly ever ran modules - always used homebrews.

I remember playing a module that involved some Paladins who were doing evil deeds. We all died early on. Lost interest and never found out what was happening :(

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Post Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 10:48 am 
 

Hi all,

I've just had a flashback to an absolutely horrible experience I had trying to DM I10 Ravenloft II.

It just didn't work, and the few players I had were so not into it.  I only half-understood the module myself, which didn't help.

Many years later I DM'ed the Ravenloft Dungeon adventure "Bane of the Shadowborn," but that wasn't a huge success either -- these were all players older than me, and some were openly contemptuous of the vivid boxed text descriptions I was obliged to read out... [sigh]

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Post Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:59 am 
 

Favorite modules:

As a DM, two come to mind:
1) A1 (Slavers... or it might have been A2...) But the specific moment in the campaign, a cloaker dropped down on the poor wizard. His friend the half-giant kept repeatedly beating on the cloaker saying "Let my friend go!". *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM*   :lol:

2) As far as a challenging module (for my PC's), it was the high-level modules in Dungeon Magazine #1 (I am bad with names...). There was an exploration of a wizards tower for level 9-12th level characters.

As a player:

1) The G1-2-3 Series. Challenging as all hell... and worth it. I think every player should experience this module.

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Post Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:01 pm 
 

I bought and ran I6 Ravenloft the year it came out on Halloween night. We started at around 5 p.m. and played all freaking night. It was an absolule blast.

However, Ravenloft went all down hill from there...


And I could've bought these damn modules off the 1$ rack!!!

New modules for your Old School game http://pacesettergames.com/

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Post Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:02 pm 
 

Invincible Overlord wrote:
As a DM, two come to mind:
1) A1 (Slavers... or it might have been A2...) But the specific moment in the campaign, a cloaker dropped down on the poor wizard. His friend the half-giant kept repeatedly beating on the cloaker saying "Let my friend go!". *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM*   :lol:


A2 - one of the best modules of all time (imho).


And I could've bought these damn modules off the 1$ rack!!!

New modules for your Old School game http://pacesettergames.com/

Everything Pacesetter at http://pacesettergames.blog.com/

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Post Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:32 pm 
 

Wandering Monster wrote: these were all players older than me, and some were openly contemptuous of the vivid boxed text descriptions I was obliged to read out... [sigh]

See, now those are the people I wouldn't be keen to play with, we always have a good laugh with the boxed text. We went through a recent Eberron game and I can't recall the module, but every description used the term 'cyclopian' so we (the PCs) picked up on that and started calling everything cyclopian, too.

It's all about fun, and I don't think I could play with people who took the game that seriously.

  


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Post Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:35 pm 
 

I've been a DM almost exclusively in the 25+ years I've been gaming, so my favorite module to run is T1-4.  Always enjoyable and never dull regardless of how many parties I've put through it.

The worst is WG11 hands down.  A stupid concept for an adventure, and an glaring example of everything that was wrong with TSR in the 1990's.

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Post Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:02 pm 
 

Egg of Coot wrote:I've been a DM almost exclusively in the 25+ years I've been gaming, so my favorite module to run is T1-4.  Always enjoyable and never dull regardless of how many parties I've put through it.

The worst is WG11 hands down.  A stupid concept for an adventure, and an glaring example of everything that was wrong with TSR in the 1990's.

The Egg


Forgot to list the ones I didn't like DMing, or my players didn't like. C2 Ghost Tower was one, don't remember the reason, but I do remember my players gave it the big "thumbs down" after and I've never run it again since.  Other not so memorable DMing occasions were FA1 Halls of the High King and I8 Ravager of Time.  One of the oddest gaming sessions was running the Forgoten Realms adventure FRC1 Ruins of ADventure which is basically an exact redo of the computer game.  I was thoroughly un-excited by the prospect as it's not a very well written adventure (just rehashing the computer game scenarios) but my brothers were keen to go as they had enjoyed the computer game. Well despite my total lack of enthusiasm (and I was not doing my DMing best at first) we had an absolute blast and the campaign included some stories that are retold to this day.  The oddball directions my brothers took the adventure in (basically, they completely ignored the railroad plot and ended up having their characters take over the entire city by placing themselves in the town council and killing all the baddies AND their rivals) was a great example of the expertise of play elevating very ho-hum material.

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Post Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:17 pm 
 

hey guys :)

wow as a DM...quite honestly, i have enjoyed DMing everything i have ever DMd...cant really say i have ever had a bad game or anything....whatever module i had that i decided to have a go at, i was able to nudge it in a direction that worked for me and the group.

but i think if i was pushed for certain ones....I6, Q1 and Tegel would prb stand out more than any other, especially Tegel at the last 2 GenCons....

if i seriously had to pick a bad one....DL2 and DL3 back to back.

Al


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Post Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:18 pm 
 

Yay! Welcome back Al!


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Post Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:42 pm 
 

serleran wrote:Yay! Welcome back Al!

+1 wb Al :) :) and no surprise tegel on list ;) ;)

  

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Post Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:33 pm 
 

Yes!  Welcome back indeed! :)


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Post Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:40 pm 
 

benjoshua wrote:Yes!  Welcome back indeed! :)

Thread resurrection and user resurrection combined!

  

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Post Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:41 pm 
 

hey guys. thanks for the welcome :) i hadnt really gone, just finding it hard to find the time to dedicate to anything substantial right now.....

but i will add (back onto topic), that if you enjoy DMing or want to have a go - try out Tegel Manor, seriously. its very easy to DM and you just have to apply your own taste/style at DMing to it to make it what you want.

its basically a dungeon crawl and its basic enough in its design that you can do what you want with it. my last bash at it i enjoyed immensely. the things i wanted to happen, certainly did, almost to the point of Frank almost wiping out the group...he was damn close let me tell you :)

but a real hoot anyway, even if you stay to what is written in the original module.

first time i DMd it, there was a thief in the group that had the militia chasing him all over the countryside and it threatened to end the game even before they got to the Manor :D as i said, anything can happen with it.

and one day, i will DM Q1 for the acaeum guys. trust me, you will never view the module the same again :D (very very very evil grin)

best

Al


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Post Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:16 pm 
 

killjoy32 wrote:hey guys. thanks for the welcome :) i hadnt really gone, just finding it hard to find the time to dedicate to anything substantial right now.....

but i will add (back onto topic), that if you enjoy DMing or want to have a go - try out Tegel Manor, seriously. its very easy to DM and you just have to apply your own taste/style at DMing to it to make it what you want.

its basically a dungeon crawl and its basic enough in its design that you can do what you want with it. my last bash at it i enjoyed immensely. the things i wanted to happen, certainly did, almost to the point of Frank almost wiping out the group...he was damn close let me tell you :)

but a real hoot anyway, even if you stay to what is written in the original module.

first time i DMd it, there was a thief in the group that had the militia chasing him all over the countryside and it threatened to end the game even before they got to the Manor :D as i said, anything can happen with it.

and one day, i will DM Q1 for the acaeum guys. trust me, you will never view the module the same again :D (very very very evil grin)

best

Al


Great to see you posting Again :)


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