At the risk of accidentally irritating a moderator or admin here, I'm tooting my own horn by promoting a piece I wrote for my website last summer:

Six Absurdly Difficult D&D Adventures (That Are Not 'Tomb of Horrors').

I'd love any feedback you have on the piece itself, not to mention suggestions for other avenues to go for RPG-themed pieces like this. Compared to most of you, I'm a rank novice when it comes to RPG collecting (video gaming is my primary hobby) and I only really go after 1st and 2nd edition TSR materials, so opportunities to research new offerings is always welcome.

What did I leave out? What should appear in a sequel? Educate me, O peerless connoisseurs of classic RPG grognardia!

MichaelC wrote in Six Difficult D&D Adventures:What did I leave out? What should appear in a sequel?

I have always heard that the Rappan Athuk series (R1, R2 & R3 or the Rappan Athuk Reloaded box set) is the most difficult "dungeon" ever written.  In 2012, Frog God Games published versions for Pathfinder and Swords & Wizardry as it was originally 3rd Edition.  The adventure was hailed for its lethality and features Orcus as an end-boss.  It has the slogan "This dungeon may not be the world's largest, but it's certainly the deadliest!"  It is not only deadly, it's lengthy encompassing three modules, and I think I remember something about additional "secret levels" for sale.  It's old-school, where death is cheap and the crux of the game is go exploring underground passages in search of gold and treasure.  Finally, it used to be expensive, but the cost of this series has dropped considerably over the years.  R1 and R2 can be bought for about $10 each and R3 is $20 to $30, or something like that.  

"Temple of Poseidon" in Dragon Magazine #46 always struck me as difficult, but it's mainly because of the end boss.  

Ditto on Night Below. My group played it for about 2 years, got down to the Sunless Sea, then group dynamics broke them apart while battling undead and they never finished. Frankly I didn't know how they were going to get it done even as high level as they were.

WGR6 City of Skulls....characters must seek into the capital city of Iuz to rescue a general, and try to avoid some really powerful foes. Some of the encounters are really nasty, and the noterieity system (where the more noise, fighting and trouble you bring, the more nastier foes you scare up) is quite cool, and can have you up against some really tough baddies in the final encounters (demons and more). The fact you WILL die if you try to fight your way in and out of the Boneheart Citadel makes this a deadly adventure.

Kingdom of the Ghouls (Dungeon #70). This adventure has the party invading the underdark to find an army of uber-ghouls (some spellcasting) have taken over the underdark. The characters build an army against the ghouls and finally have to attack them in their kingdom, which btw also has something like a bazillion Cloakers on the roof of the cavern where it's based. The fact you really need an army for the finally encounter (as opposed to taking on the ghoul kingdom with just the party of adventurers) brings home how tough it is.

Mike B.

Badmike wrote in Six Difficult D&D Adventures:Ditto on Night Below. My group played it for about 2 years, got down to the Sunless Sea, then group dynamics broke them apart while battling undead and they never finished. Frankly I didn't know how they were going to get it done even as high level as they were.


Mike B.

Anyone know why Night Below is not available in .pdf at drivethrurpg?  I'd love to read through this again but I don't really want my slimy fingers pawing over my well kept set.

Agent Cooper wrote in Six Difficult D&D Adventures:You left out "Tomb of Horrors."   ...rimshot   


Seriously though, Temple of Elemental Evil is no cake walk once when you get to the elemental nodes.

From what I have heard, everyone gets bored long before then. Surviving the boredom may be the most challenging part!  

MichaelC wrote in Six Difficult D&D Adventures:What did I leave out? What should appear in a sequel? Educate me, O peerless connoisseurs of classic RPG grognardia!

Some other meatgrinders worth consideration:

TSR modules:
- G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King
- Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits
- S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
- T1 Village of Hommlet
- WG4 Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun
- WG6 Isle of the Ape

Dungeon Magazine modules:
- "Into the Fire" and "Out of the Ashes" by Grant and David Boucher (all of their adventures are quite good)
- "The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb" by Mike Shel

Thank you to everyone who read the original and offered suggestions for a follow-up! More research, more reading, more collection-delving, and a LOT more keyboard-banging led to part two:

 Six More Absurdly Difficult D&D Adventures (That Are Not Tomb of Horrors) | Retro Gaming Magazine

Comments/critiques always welcome!

Tarmogoyf wrote in Six Difficult D&D Adventures:Any modules feature tarrasque as the end boss? Fanboy favorite.

Not as the end boss, but "The Apocalypse Stone" for 2E will sic one on players who are hell-bent on a "fight everything that moves" mentality. Slaying it isn't a requirement for completing the adventure, or even the point of a quest. It's just woken up because the world's completely out of alignment, and it's eating everything that crosses its path. If that includes the players, then so be it and they'll have no one to blame but themselves.

"H4: The Throne of Bloodstone" (which has a level range of 18 - 100, and that is not a misprint) also includes the chance to fight the Tarrasque. Not as an end boss, mind you, but given the goal of the entire Bloodstone series is to fight Orcus, steal his wand, and destroy it, having the Tarrasque show up is sort of a "because of COURSE it does!" deal.

aia wrote in Six Difficult D&D Adventures:What about the apocaliptic "Wrath of the Immortals"?

Oh man, good call. That one's a fantastic way to close out a classic D&D campaign and move a group into AD&D for sure.