I am a sandbox sort of person, shorter adventures are much easier to plug and play most of the time in a sand box. I prefer short and tight adventures that can be in any campaign/setting.

Quote from: Omega on October 21, 2022, 04:27:15 PM
Try BX and some BECMI modules. They tend to have better cohesion.

Examples like Keep on the Borderland. The areas of the caves are laid out in a certain progression and the areas have some interaction and backstory even. Same for Isle of dread.

Oddly it feels like while BX/CMI was the lesser of the two D&D lines. It got the better of the two lines modules by far for overall quality. AD&D has its gems. But it has alot of so-so modules too.

Thanks, will check, maybe Isle of Dread. Keep on the Borderland seems to have the same faults: "The Caves of Chaos themselves showed off the introductory nature of B2 in another way: They're pretty much a who's who of the humanoids you could meet in Basic D&D, with separate caverns inhabited by kobolds, orcs, goblins, ogres, hobgoblins, bugbears, gnolls, and even a minotaur. Gygax later admitted that the result wasn't "ecologically correct," but that wasn't really the point.".

It works within the context of "evil races drawn to site of evil cult."

Ecology has nothing to do with it. They ended up there and are rather obviously not getting along past the most tenuous of arrangements. The rest have more or less learned to not bother the weird things that cant be negotiated with,

Quote from: Eric Diaz on October 21, 2022, 03:35:23 PM
I've been looking for good OSR adventures but TBH all I could find is rooms and rooms full of orcs, skeletons and giant bees in succession, with little rime or reason (yes, I'd like recommendations, especially if free).

Halls of Arden Vul for OSRIC is very good, a bit too verbose, and very very big. Excellent maps. Running it with 2 groups.
Stonehell for LL is very good, huge dungeon but very concise presentation. Maps are cruder than AV but it's much cheaper. Running it with 1 group.
Dyson Logos has some good free dungeons & adventures on his map site. Nice maps obviously! His first Dyson's Delves compilation book is excellent https://dysonlogos.blog/zerobarrier/dysons-delves-books/
Barrowmaze is good, I'm currently running the 5e version with two different (friendly) adventurer/player groups.

I notice it's mostly the OSR megadungeons that stand out in my mind. For short adventures I mostly use Kobold Press 5e stuff; Twelve Peculiar Towers was notably good. Monster stats for 5e are all OGL and free online.

Greetings!

I don't suppose I really favour either short adventure modules, or larger, huge modules. Generally, I make good use of them all. Perhaps surprisingly, even some of the modules that at first glance seem retarded or stupid, sometimes have hidden gems of inspiration in them. Beyond that, I am a competent enough writer and DM that I can usually take even the mediocre modules and transform them into something useful and entertaining. As a side commentary, however, it is pretty sad to observe how so many "professional writers and game designers" are pathetically incompetent, and through a perhaps deeper analysis, are often poor writers. More than a few times I have wondered how so many mediocre-skilled hacks get hired and celebrated as "Professional Game Designers".

I often prefer the old school modules, because they provide a useful skeleton, and intentionally leave the rest for me to figure out, or embellish. I don't consider that aspect to be a *flaw*--but a strong asset. One of my all-time favourites for years has been the huge mega-dungeon/adventure module, "NIGHT BELOW". That is a beast of a module, bubbling with inspiration, solid plot hooks, numerous side adventures, a cool main theme, and endless hours of game play, reaching a fantastic series of fights in an ancient Aboleth city, deep beneath the earth, on the shores of a vast, subterranean sea. I highly recommend it!

I have also used dozens of adventures from DUNGEON MAGAZINE. I have a pretty complete magazine collection, so I have literally hundreds of issues that I can use, each having a half dozen adventures or so. It's funny, too. Maor Domo Chris Perkins got his start as some nobody writing for DUNGEON MAGAZINE, first just as a contributing author, then being officially hired by DUNGEON MAGAZINE. Interesting stuff!

I also make greedy use of modules from Ars Magica, Pendragon, Melnibone!, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, MERP, and ROLEMASTER.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Since I like both one shots and usually 6-12 month campaigns, I tend not to enjoy longer campaigns books.  These days I just have less time to play, even though I think about gaming a lot, and am hoping to publish my first shorter adventure on DrivThru late winter.

I've seen a few good larger modules, but generally like the smaller ones.  Dungeon magazine had a lot that I adored.

Larger:

1. The Wild Beyond the Witchlight is fantastic.  It's definitely different and you have to be willing to embrace the whimsy and have a good laugh.  Very fairy tale like, that also turns darker as it progresses.  The starting hook really gets the players invested . . . . something (not necessarily a tangible item) was taken from you at the carnival.  You are going there to get it back.  Of course the players find that all is not what it seems and there are larger forces at play.  Really well executed.

The other two I really like are non-D&D:
2. Harlequin (Shadowrun 1e) - This involved the players as pawns to do the bidding of two more powerful elvish entities.  Players were basically used to run dirty tricks by one against the other.

3. Pirates of Drinax (Mongoose Traveller 2e) - Well thought out sandbox with lots of potential side quests as well as what seems like a great story - haven't finished reading all of it yet.

Smaller
1. The Black Wyrm of Brandonsville (OSRish) This is a great fairy tale like adventure where first/second level characters have to deal with a dragon.  Very flavorful and concisely written.

2 & 3 Back to the Beach (Dragon Magazine #50) Potentially low on combat and higher on exploration and diplomacy.  Players try to solve a mystery - involving giant peaceful, misunderstood crabmen.  The Wolves of Welton is in a similar vein.

4. I6 Ravenloft

5. Felcovic's Cat - Another defeat the vampire story, but with a great twist and a built in revenge story.

6. Against the Cult of the Reptile Gods - a classic written about here a lot, I think.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I'm not really interested in megadungeons, or small successions of rooms and caves with random monsters.

Bought Dyson's Delves , will check; also looking at some BFRPG, DCC and Trilemma stuff.

Against the Cult of the Reptile Gods might fit my setting (mostly tropical). Will check.

I tend to prefer shorter modules. And I like for modules to be modular: that is, I want them to plug into my campaign will little fuss, so I like for the "setting" details and such to be pretty basic and generic and easy to adapt. The more difficult it is to prepare the module and plug it into my campaign the less likely I am to use it.

I want a module to save me some time. Consequently, I don't want to spend hours reading, re-reading, and adapting the module. If I have to make a huge time investment just to be familiar enough with the module to run it (and/or adapt it to my campaign world) then I'd rather spend that time creating my own adventure that I would know better and that would fit my campaign like a glove. This is one reason I tend to favor shorter modules. The longer the module the more likely it is that the time and effort to read it and adapt it is simply not worth it.

I tend to avoid modules that try to plot out a set path or story for the adventurers, especially if the modules are very lengthy. I find that this doesn't work well in actual play (at least not with my players). They tend to go "off the path" pretty frequently. And the longer such an "assumed path/plot" is, the worse the problem and the less I'm interested.

I like modules that are mostly "site based" and it's a bonus if they have reusable bits. By reusable bits I mean elements that I might re-purpose elsewhere (a good example of this is the "Sea Ghost" ship plans in The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh).

Y'know, looking through older classic modules I missed out on, like Pool of Radiance, I am going to say differently than I was going to agree with you, jhkim. I liked the D&D 5e Starter Set Lost Mines, but thought it seemed a bit sparse. Later, with Horde of the Dragon Queen and so on, I noticed this sparseness of immediately gamable content continue and more frustrated author narratives about inner-psyche & unseen-history pad page count. Going back to 1e adventures with oodles of tables, brief liner note, and unthreaded patterns of potential hooks and I realize it is more non-linear bang-for-the-buck than anything I've seen of late from WotC or Paizo.

So, I was thinking like you. But upon a trip down memory lane among adventures I missed out on, there is a noticeable drop in usable material quality and quantity in newer stuff. It seems to have traded (re-)playable stuff for readable story. Something was lost in translation over time...

Personal favorites.

The Lost City: Got this from the effects of a DM who passed away. Has a interesting premise and a fair progression. And it can be transplanted from its desert setting to someplace else like a jungle, mountain, etc.

The Veiled Society: Specularum featured alot in my BX campaign so this was a good addition as it is set there. Lots going on and as usual, can be relocated.

Castle Amber: This one is unusual for how it goes about things and theres alot to see and do. Very YMMV this one.

Earthshaker: If only because its such a crazy premise of battling inside the workings of a giant robot.

Day of Al'Akbar: An arabian themed one with a courtly intrigue leaning. I liked it overall. But if arent into a more interaction heavy adventure then this one can be really YMMV.

The Darkness Gathering campaign trilogy: I really enjoyed this one and have DMed it for groups twice and recreated it as a FRUA module even. Some spelljammer elements, but it is set up such that you do not really need the Spelljammer set to play it.

From 5e

Curse of Strahd: Problems aside it is still well done and its easy enough to change or jettison anything that you find bothersome.

The Wyld beyond the Witchlight: I really like the travelling magical carnival theme, and the appearance of the old D&D action figure characters like Warduke, Kelek and all the rest. Theres some writing choices and drastic character changes I did not like. But Im the DM so poof, gone, changed, ta-ta!

Not modules, but shortly before Covid shut it down, and it sadly didn't recover, I was running a Starfinder campaign where my goal was to have multiple bite-sized chunks of content instead of single, long adventures.
The framing mechanism was a mercenary network that provided contracts for adventurer types. They could complete a couple of missions per session. Eventually, the missions would have been longer and more elaborate, but as I said, the campaign got Covid-ed.

The players seemed to enjoy it. My brother in particular noted that the multiple short adventures format was a nice change of pace.

FWIW, here is the part I of my quest for modules to fit in my sandbox.

https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2022/10/sandbox-quest.html

Maybe I should start a new thread? Anyway. You'll find a longer explanation and all the link in the post above.

* Qelong: this module is pretty cool, it has everything I wanted - coherence, creativity, a sandbox aspect, terseness, a decent size... and some jungles. Alas, we've already played it. If you haven't, it is worth checking out. So, nope, but maybe check for unused encounters.

* Monkey Business - a jungle hexcrawl by my friend Jens (The Disoriented Ranger). This is more "toolbox" (lots of procedures, random tables, etc.) than a finished piece that I can add to my setting. It is full of interesting ideas and weird encounters, however. It has a very gonzo vice and relies mostly on intelligent monkeys - which I'm not sure I want to add to my setting. But I can certainly use some jungle encounters and tables (not to mention mushrooms, aliens, villages, tribes, etc.)... Yes!

* B2 The Keep on the Borderlands - A classic. Decided to skip for now because of the description: "The Caves of Chaos themselves showed off the introductory nature of B2 in another way: They're pretty much a who's who of the humanoids you could meet in Basic D&D, with separate caverns inhabited by kobolds, orcs, goblins, ogres, hobgoblins, bugbears, gnolls, and even a minotaur. Gygax later admitted that the result wasn't "ecologically correct," but that wasn't really the point.".". No, not what I'm looking for right now. Nope.

*  The Towers of the Weretoads - A very small location, very terse, PWYW, cool monsters, no orcs... It is free and could fit anywhere. Yes!

* Wreck on the Reef - A blog post (from https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/search/label/maps and adventures) describing a wrecked ship. It has some authentic "wrecked ship" feel - with a decent amount of empty space, which I like. Too many monsters (although they are fitting - sharks, giant crabs, etc.), which I can edit out. Fits my theme perfectly (the PCs are currently on a ship and the campaign is partly coastal). Yes!

* N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God - this one seems perfect. Theme, size... also a classic. I haven't bought and I have hundreds of unread modules... but it looks enticing and not expensive, so... Maybe?

I don't know if this deserves its own thread - but I think there should be an active effort for game companies to use a taxonomy of "adventure/dungeon" product for the purpose of ushering new people into GMing, and giving new GM's content that gradually funnels them into larger and more complex types of games (if they're so inclined).

Dungeon Crawls>Mini-Sandbox Adventure hubs>Sandbox regional Adventures/Plot-Point Campaigns.

I think this would help the overall hobby by creating a handhold for GM's to continually hone their skills and settle in the style they feel comfortable with, while giving them options for more if they so choose.

Quote from: tenbones on October 27, 2022, 10:44:02 AM
I don't know if this deserves its own thread - but I think there should be an active effort for game companies to use a taxonomy of "adventure/dungeon" product for the purpose of ushering new people into GMing, and giving new GM's content that gradually funnels them into larger and more complex types of games (if they're so inclined).

Dungeon Crawls>Mini-Sandbox Adventure hubs>Sandbox regional Adventures/Plot-Point Campaigns.

I think this would help the overall hobby by creating a handhold for GM's to continually hone their skills and settle in the style they feel comfortable with, while giving them options for more if they so choose.

Never gonna work. Within a week they'd be slapping "Sandbox!" on railroads and "Campaign Adventure!" on a one and done 30 page dungeon crawl with one level.

Recent low seen was "Deckbuilder!" for a game about managing inventory... No. I kid you not. THAT children is a really real deckbuilder.
Second place being "RPG!" for an... IDLE GAME! But that ones an official WOTC licensed game so is it a surprise to anyone?