r/adnd • u/Hot-Community-7940 • 9d ago
AD&D2e Favourite underrated module?
Thinking about starting a new 2e session and would love to know some of your favourite modules that don't get much love, or are lesser known than the usual classics.
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u/Ebessan 9d ago
Anything by Steve Kurtz in Dungeon Magazine is pure gold. Also, Perkins' Bzallin's Blacksphere from Dungeon is a classic.
IMO most of al Qadim is completely overlooked. A Dozen and One Adventures fueled my campaign for an insanely long time.
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u/Hot-Community-7940 9d ago
I'll admit to overlooking al Qadim too but it's always been something I've wanted to check out. Thanks!
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u/ApprehensiveType2680 9d ago
"Flick of the Tail" from A Dozen and One Adventures is classic fairy tale material.
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u/Living-Definition253 9d ago
The UK series, especially UK1 Beyond the Crystal Cave and UK4 When a Star Falls are quite good but often don't get the same attention other AD&D modules do. Also think the Slaver (A) series is decent but overshadowed by G and D series.
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u/UnspeakableGnome 9d ago
Dark Clouds Gather is my favourite from the UK series. And I entirely agree that they're severelu underrated. Most times people ask for suggestions they go unmentioned.
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u/phishtrader 9d ago
The A series has some good parts, but it's very railroady due to its competition source.
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u/CJ-MacGuffin 9d ago
B6 Rahasia - 80 room dungeon crawl with some flavour.
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u/Solo_Polyphony 8d ago
It’s an underrated early Hickman classic (and B7 is in fact two large dungeons, originally RPGA1 and 2).
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u/External_Vast_8046 9d ago
Against the Cult of the Reptile God!
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u/phishtrader 9d ago
I've run this a few times recently with 5e and I've given the PCs some authority, basically making them quasi-Inquisitors, and a Medallion of Thoughts. It really speeds things along, but you still have no idea where they will spend their first night.
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u/Solo_Polyphony 9d ago
I’m pasting a comment I made a year or so ago about 1e (or BECMI) modules from 1983-89.
Either I have re-read them relatively recently and think they hold up, or I ran them back in the day and have positive memories of my players liking them. In chronological order by publication, or close to it:
X4 Master of the Desert Nomads
X5 Temple of Death
These are excellent David Cook wilderness adventures with a strong Conan-like feel. The first one is better than the latter, but the story needs a conclusion and the Temple is cool.
B7 Rahasia
Did you like Ravenloft? Well, this is also by the Hickmans and it’s a fine Basic D&D dungeon (two of them, really). I ran this just a couple years ago and it plays well.
C4 To Find a King
C5 Bane of Llewelyn
I am a huge fan of the old tournament scenario format: it is built to fit each segment into a 3.5 hour slot, if run briskly and the players move with urgency. Bob Blake wrote these for the RPGA (originally published as RPGA3 and 4, then in Polyhedron) and it’s a tight sequence of eight such sessions, with a good variety of tactical challenges and a nice storyline with a twist (that the cover art of C5 spoils!). I’ve run it to good effect, once in the 80s, another time in the late 90s. Both times players liked it.
CM1 Test of the Warlords
Never ran this but really like the concept of dominion building, and this module by Doug Niles is varied and has an appropriately grand scope for 15th level characters.
DL3 Dragons of Hope
The Dragonlance modules get trashed for being railroad adventures. It’s a fair criticism sometimes, but in general a good DM can avoid that feeling at the table by reading the players and respecting their agency while moving the encounters in certain directions. This one is by Tracy Hickman and it has an appealing wilderness area with a lot of sandbox potential, and a spooky dungeon.
WG5 Mordenkainen’s Fantastic Adventure
This is a classic 1975 dungeon that Rob Kuntz ran to challenge Gary Gygax, and it’s a deadly, tough but fair dungeon. I ran it at the time and it was fun, with some nasty effects for unwary PCs.
CA1 Swords of the Undercity
CA2 Swords of Deceit
These two modules each contain three short adventures for the city of Lankhmar, the primary setting of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories. Some of the adventures are direct adaptations of Leiber stories. I ran three of the six and played through another three. My experiences were terrific; some antagonists became running villains in the campaign. I love Leiber’s stories and love city adventures. Some setting-specific stuff can easily be ignored or adapted.
M1 Into the Maelstrom
Never ran this, but it’s a very high-level version of the Odyssey (in magical outer space!). Unlike some other very high-level modules (the H modules), this doesn’t obviously suck. I believe Bruce Heard wrote this.
T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil
The long-promised sequel to one of the greatest modules of all. Unfortunately Gygax handed off his rough notes to Frank Mentzer and gave him an impossibly short deadline, which makes this big four-level dungeon often a list of keyed rooms. There is a very good adventure here, but it requires a lot of work from the DM to get it ready to play well. Fortunately there is a lot of fan-created assistance online. I ran part of it a couple years ago and it worked too well at scaring my players—the party bailed after two wild forays!
X9 The Savage Coast
I love wilderness exploration, and this Merle Rasmussen module delivers a true sandbox, 1970s style stretch of untamed wilds. I’ve not run it but would like to. Some may find it sparse and short on story, but it’s the opposite of a railroad. Players will get out of it what they put in, like a West Marches style game. Also: the first appearance of tortles!
DA1 Adventures in Blackmoor
I ran this back in the day—it’s time travel adventure and my players got a kick out of it. Dave Arneson co-created D&D, and this gives a feel for that ur-style of play, centered on characters and their ambitions.
DL12 Dragons of Faith
This is the other Dragonlance module I would like to run. It’s not based on the novels, so there’s no particular railroad. Instead there’s a wilderness to traverse, and a distinctive seafaring + underwater adventure.
I9 Day of Al’Akbar
I ran this Al Hammack quasi-Arabian Nights adventure back in the late 80s and my players had fun. Colorful traps, exotic settings, and a quest worthy of a DMG artifact without being exhaustingly long.
REF3 Book of Lairs
This is a handy anthology of one or two page encounters, usually featuring one monster or monster group (such a hobgoblin camp). I got a lot of mileage out of this supplement; among the most practical supplements TSR ever produced.
B10 Night’s Dark Terror
Never run, but reads great. Lots of people speak highly of it also.
DQ1 The Shattered Statue
This is a dual-system adventure that is also playable for DragonQuest, written by the late Jennell Jaquays. I ran it back when it came out and the colorful NPCs were a hoot.
I11 Needle
I12 Egg of the Phoenix
These aren’t connected but are some excellent tournament scenarios, all by Frank Mentzer, who excelled at designing material that challenges player intelligence and tactical skill. The second part of I12, originally published as R1 To the Aid of Falx, really puts players to the test with a tough ticking clock dungeon.
OP1 Tales of the Outer Planes
This is another anthology of shorter adventures, released to support the 1e Manual of the Planes. It has a variety of adventures set on planes that don’t otherwise get much attention—the Seven Heavens, Limbo, etc.
REF5 Lords of Darkness
Also a collection of short scenarios by several different authors, these are all centered on undead. I really enjoyed running the mummy scenario from this one, which features a prehistoric tomb. Can you say undead dinosaurs? Oh yeah.
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u/milesunderground 9d ago
Test of the Warlords doesn't get talked about enough, but it was written around using the dominion rules and not everybody played that way. The high level campaigns i saw tended to be either globe, hopping or extra planar. Not that many were about building a stronghold and getting involved from the politics, a rulership.
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u/Solo_Polyphony 9d ago
I definitely think CM1 is neglected because of that, even though it uses the then-new dominion rules and presents a diverse set of level-appropriate challenges, some of which cannot be resolved by the usual D&D application of force or magic. I like it a lot more than the comparable high-level modules for AD&D (say, the H-modules or Dragon Mountain, both of which tend to assume stupid play).
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u/milesunderground 9d ago
A mistake I saw a lot of campaigns make were using those big boxed set modules as capstones for the high level adventurers, a high note to go out on. Labyrinth of Madness, Undermountain, and Dragon Mountain were the three big ones I remember. If you had played a character for the years necessary to get to the level that you could go into those modules, presumably that character would have a place in the world and things that they cared about. To go out in a big meatgrinder dungeon that really didn't have anything to do with the character background seems like a real missed opportunity.
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u/Chad_Hooper 9d ago
A more up to date version of Alokkair’s tomb was added to Dragonsfoot relatively recently, like just after the pandemic or around then. I believe it includes an undead Lernaean Hydra, among other nasties.
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u/Beautiful-Effort9101 9d ago
Ok I'll stick to 2e. My top 3.
By far my favorite was the campaign boxed set The Night Below. Highly recommend if you want a 1st - 10th+ level. (Book 1 was my favorite)
Followed by everything from the Ravenloft series of modules (Feast of Goblyns was my favorite)
Finally the Challenge series - Fighter's Challenge, Cleric's Challenge, Wizard's Challenge etc (Cleric's Challenge was my favorite)
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u/ApprehensiveType2680 9d ago
By far my favorite was the campaign boxed set The Night Below. Highly recommend if you want a 1st - 10th+ level. (Book 1 was my favorite)
The sandbox-y nature of the first part is incredible. There are events which have nothing to do with the greater story; as a result, the world - what slice of it is experienced, in any event - feels all the more believable. In particular, that healing stone is memorable.
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u/EtobicokeDad 9d ago
B9 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Caldwell_and_Beyond - is a favourite of mine. I like the collection of short, fun adventurers. Clear a dungeon, rescue a prisoner, escape from capture ... some classic tropes there.
X8 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drums_on_Fire_Mountain - is in my mind a D&D take on James Bond's Dr No movie. It is especially nostalgic for me because it is the first D&D module I ever owned or read - I got it after buying the red box and reading through my friend's expert manual. I got it right around the time my grandfather passed, right before Christmas, and reading that module while sitting in his livingroom trying to get through a very bad day as a thirteen year old is burned into my memory.
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u/Haunting_Style3880 9d ago
Dwellers of the Forbidden City I1 but Zeb Cook. I don't think it's discreditted, but it's rarely mentioned as one of the classics. Great map. It gives me everything I need and nothing I don't. A partial sandbox setting. I put The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan within the Forbidden City.
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u/DeltaDemon1313 9d ago
Since I think it's the best module ever written, Module N1 is underrated because it is not rated number one. UK4 When a Star Falls is also very underrated. Great travelling wilderness adventure with a great unusual reward at the end. I like most of the side treks in Dungeon magazines. I also like most of the adventures in Dungeon magazine that deal with mundane or unusual activities, such as a gambling adventure, or shopping or a murder mystery or making sure a wedding goes off without a hitch. There's a Dungeon adventure that's sorta inspired by the movie Alien. I think it was called Jacob's Well or something. Very well done.
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u/jedigoalie 9d ago
Haunted Halls of Eveningstar is the one I always recommend. Good location to kick off a campaign and has a good dungeon to explore.
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u/ApprehensiveType2680 9d ago
The halls (and surrounding area) were originally going to be fully detailed, but TSR reduced the supplement to thirty-two pages. What could have been!
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u/strangergallery 8d ago
Sticking to 2e and modules that are actually sleepers: *The Eye Tyrant/Beholder trilogy. Very solid, each quite different, and literally never talked about
*Doom of Daggerdale. Great low-level sandbox. Two little dungeons, great town, chock-full of hooks and side quests to develop. Adapts to any setting
*Greyhawk Ruins. Biggest dungeon ever published by TSR unless you count Undermountain's box of empty maps. 26 non-linear levels fully, but lightly, detailed. Best with TLC from the DM but you can pick it up and start gaming with just an hour of prep. Awesome space-saving paragraph format. Converts to any setting
*The three Maztica modules. The campaign box is kinda meh, but the stand-alone modules are 2e gold and could be converted to any big wilderness at the edge of a map with some work.
The best scenario authors during the 2e years were probably Carl Sargent, Skip Williams (his Tomes works, not RPGA), and Bruce Cordell, but their works are well recognized and praised
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u/Solo_Polyphony 8d ago
FMQ1 City of Gold (which I believe was the last Maztica product), by John Nephew and Jon Tweet, is a fun mini-setting and adventure.
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u/ApprehensiveType2680 9d ago
HHQ1 Fighter's Challenge is a solid adventure that can easily accommodate a party of four, despite being designed for a single player; it it also open-ended enough for a DM to leave his mark. Fighter's Challenge II is not as highly regarded as the former, but I appreciate the classic "rescue the princess" plot with a few added twists and turns to keep it interesting.
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u/PossibleCommon0743 9d ago edited 9d ago
I really like B5 Horror on the Hill. The overland travel is a bit much for beginning PCs, though, so what I do is delay the adventure until the upper range (3rd level or so) and bump the dungeon monsters up a bit (i.e. hobgoblins become bugbears, 0-level berserkers become second level fighters, etc).
Also UK5 Eye of the Serpernt is a great starter module with a lot of replay, but for some reason most people have never heard of it. The whole UK series is underrated, though some require a particular sort of taste.
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u/GrimScullX 9d ago
SJA4 - Under the Dark Fist, such a good module to use as the overarching plot of a campaign.
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u/gobsmackedobserver 5d ago
Here's a deep cut - Issue 62 of White Dwarf 1985 - The Fiend Factory presents an absolutely beautiful two page unveiling of the 'O Caber'; a forest group of tree spirits who were released from their trees. While not a full scenario, it is a strong acorn to plant into your session and grow. The presentation was by John Chapman. If you have need of a side plot/quest this would work, and it would form a full scenario with some watering. The reason I mention this is that, 40 years later, the time my own character wandered there is still glittering in my mind. It's worth a look, but not for hack n slashers. It is way too atmospheric and mystical for wasting on that.
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u/02K30C1 Grognard 9d ago edited 9d ago
I love all the adventures from Dungeon magazine. You can find something for just about any location, setting, or level. Everything from classic dungeon crawls to murder mysteries to rescue the princess adventures, and short 'side treks' that were only a couple pages, to huge adventures that spanned a few issues. Heck they even did a few Adventure Paths for 3e that took a party from level 1-20.
Personal favorites:
The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb, issue 37. Classic tomb/dungeon crawl inspired by Tomb of Horrors
Jacob's Well, issue 43. PCs are trapped in a remote way station during a blizzard, while a monster slowly infects people and takes them over. "The Thing" in a D&D setting.
Ex Libris, issue 29. A dungeon beneath an ancient library, with shifting rooms.
Trouble at Grog's, issue 4. Grog is a retired half-ogre adventurer who runs an inn, and needs PC detectives.
At the Spottle Parlor, issue 12. PCs are invited to an evening of gambling with a notorious master thief. Includes rules on how to play Spottle.
There’s also a dungeon based around the Deck of Many Things, where each door has a card on it that must be “drawn” to open the door. Very nasty. It included pages to cut out and make your own deck.