Uh … Hello all you new people, whoever you are. While these are my favs there are a lot of good adventures not mentioned here. Ask away and I can point you at a few specific to your interests.
I’ve been a bit lax in updating my list of favorite modules. I’ve linked to my RPGGEEK entry where you can get all of the my reviews, archived, rated, and ready to sort, but I should do something on the blog also.
So, here’s my list of my favorite adventures from the OSR:
| Anomalous Subsurface Environment | 1-3 | Gonzo City & Dungeon with a bit of Gamma World thrown in. | |
| Stonehell | 1-7 | One of the few good megadungeons in existence, in the innovative 1–page format. | |
| F3 – Many Gates of the Gann | 5-6 | A weird dungeoncrawl, like days of old! | |
| Rappan Athuk | 1-99 | The closest thing to the platonic ideal of a megadungeon. | |
| Demonspore | 3-6 | A damn fine example of an OD&D feel. Everything seems fresh & new again. Matt Finch is one of maybe three people in the OSR who I trust to consistently turn out good adventures (Bowman, Gabor Lux, Finch.) | |
| Beneath the Ruins | 1-3 | A great ODD feel in a small package. WMLP has the next two levels. | |
| The Shadowed Keep | 1-3 | Kramers take on an evil overlord fortress. Kramer is very good. | |
| Ychyrn The Tyrant | 1-3 | Kobolds in a cave, Kramer style. | |
| Arachnophobia | 3-5 | Bug infestation under a church, ala Aliens. | |
| The Shattered Skull | 2-4 | Orcs tribe in a cave. Kramer is good at everything he does. | |
| Shadowbrook Manor | 1-3 | A haunted house, a bit on on the goofy side. | |
| Tower of the Stargazer | 1-3 | Slow paced exploration of a wizards tower. | |
| Death Frost Doom. | 1-3 | A great, if slow, crawl in a cult temple. Then your campaign ends | |
| Barrowmaze | 1- | Megadungeon features lots and LOTS of undead. | |
| Wheel of Evil | 3-5 | Fungas men always deliver an OD&D feel. | |
| The Thing in the Valley | 3-5 | A nice pace and and an evocative environment for a horror like adventure. | |
| Voyage to Plague Island | 4-6 | A Weird and wonderfully idiosyncratic adventure. | |
| Tomb of the Iron God | 1-3 | There’s two gods and like 500+ monsters in this FIRST level adventure. Good Stuff! | |
| Gone Fishin’ | 3-5 | Great folk tale feel and free to boot! | |
| Monastery of the Order of Crimson Monks | 5-9 | Good expansion of the sample dungeon in the 1E DMG. | |
| The Inn of Lost Heroes | 3-5 | Very evocative. Very horror. Some of Spahns best | |
| Ironwood Gorge. | 2-5 | Better than B2, despite what Benoist says. | |
| The Ruined Hamlet/Terror in the Gloaming. | 1-3 | Interesting situations and evocative detail. | |
| A2 – The Slag Heap | 2-4 | Three examples of failed villages. A nice look at a borderlands village environment. | |
| AA#12 – The Barrow Mound of Gravemoor | 5-7 | Barrow. Atmosphere. Weird. | |
| The Bonegarden | 12-14 | Subplots galore, but suffers from major bloat. | |
| Red Tam’s Bones | 3-5 | Fey, for a more civilized time. | |
| Challenge of the Frog Idol | 3-5 | It’s free. Why haven’t you downloaded it yet? | |
| The Melford Murder. | 1 | A mystery that doesn’t suck and a good adventure to plunder for ideas. | |
| Systema Tartarobasis. | 3-5 | An evocative journey through a hellish Orwellian society. | |
| The Maze of Nuroman. | 1 | Classic tropes. Best for n00b players but could use some gonzo or OD&D weirdness. On the cusp on not making by B cutoff. | |
| Tomb of the Bull King. | 3+ | It does Greek Epic right. | |
| Tempus Gelidum | 3-5 | A small gonzo lair in which all of the elements work together. | |
| Obelisk of Forgotten Memories | 1-3 | ASE1 graveyard with factions. | |
| Garden of the Hag Queen | 2-5 | A mini-setting with a outpost of an evil kingdom. | |
| Prison of the Hated Pretender | 0-1 | A nice quiet little intro scenario. | |
| The Red Demon of the Vile Fens | 3-4 | Gonzo ASE1 adventure in an old giant tank. | |
| Fight On! | – | Magazine. Generally very good. | |
| Nod Magazine | – | Great Stater hex crawls. | |
| Hex Crawl Classics | – | Line. More great Stater hex crawls. | |
| Blood of the Dragon | 1-3 | This is Swords & Sorcery done right. | |
| The Spire of Iron & Crystal | 5-6 | A classic Finch work. | |
| The Purple Worm Graveyard | 1-3 | ! Bryce luvs monster guts! | |
| My Design Contest! | – | The Six Thousand Steps, Hive of Giant Bees, To Rob a Witch! | |
| Tomb of the Sea Kings | 5+ | is all about the players. | |
| Valley of the Five Fires | 4-9 | gives you a nice mongol environment and adventure. | |
| Beneath is Windowless Tower | 5-8 | And it’s free! | |
| MCMLCXX | 1-4 | … or whatever. I think it’s charming. | |
| The Hidden Tomb of Sloggoth the Necromancer | Low | is a nice baseline for “decent adventure.” | |
| Tower of the Scarlet Wizard | Any | is one of the new old things from Jim Ward. | |
| Blood on the Snow | 8-10 | is some kind of Viking mayhem. | |
| SlaughterGrid | 2? | A great example of dynamic encounters. | |
| Deep Carbon Observatory | Mid | is a master-class example of a good OSR adventure. This is a fine example of the best of the OSR dwarfing older material. | |
| Maze of the Blue Medusa | 1-4/5-10 | is what classic D&D is meant to be. One of the best dungeons, IMO. | |
| The Gnomes of Levnec & A Thousand Dead Babies | 1 | both provide nice little mini-regions with a TON going on. | |
| Sleeping Place of the Feathered Swine | 1 | is horror-ish and evocative without being grim. | |
| Lapis Observatory | ? | kicks so much ass! | |
| Broodmother Skyfortres | ? | is a great tutorial on how to be a DM. | |
| Stealer of Children | 1 | is another great Peter Spahn adventure. | |
| No Salvation for Witches | ? | is a great little LotFP-oriented thing. | |
| Towers Two | 4-6 | channels GWAR, in both a good and bad way | |
| The Marionette | 1-4 | is that rarest of things: A decent Adventurers League adventure. | |
| The Globe | 4-5 | is a nice little self-contained thing inside of a snow globe. | |
| Curse of the Shrine Goddess | 1-3 | (Content Partner) is a great little adventure with nice imagery and a player focus. | |
| An Overwhelming Sense of Loss | 1-3 | is a great little dungeon. | |
| Mines, Claws, and Princesses | 2-4 | cements Oswald as a master of the dungeon design craft. | |
| Echoes from Fomalhaut #1 | 2-4 | has a great 2-level cave from a master. | |
| The Red Prophet Rises | 3-5 | engages in some serious Conan-warrior cult fun. | |
| Kidnap the Archpriest | Low | (content partner service) is a great city/caper sandbox. | |
| Operation Unfathomable | 1 | is a underground system that is one of the most imaginative ever written. | |
| Hyqueous Vaults | 3 | proves that the old ‘standard’ adventure styles are great when done well, and it does it very VERY well. | |
| Grave of the Heartless, Dragons Heart | 1-4 | are good mini-campaign things. | |
| Statues | 1-4 | (content partner service) is a great urban caper/mad mad mad mad world adventure. | |
| Dungeon Full of Monsters | 1- | is a decent dungeon in spite of some hipsterism rando stuff. | |
| Fever Swamp | ? | comes from the always great Melsonian’s … and is set in a swamp. | |
| The Submerged Spire of Sarpedon the Shaper | 4 | does a great bringing brining the OD&D vibe of an underwater/alien environment. | |
| Tower of the Weretoads | 1 | is just … well … ooky! | |
| Wyrd Ways of Walstock | 1-3 | is about a cult taking over a town. | |
| Fall of Whitecliff | 1- | (content partner service) is a great collection of one-pagers that link to form a campaign. | |
| The Ruinous Palace of the Metegorgos | 1-3 | is … well … mythic? It FEELS Like a place of legend, forgotten. | |
| Sacrebleu! | 1-3 | Goblins with world war one gear. | |
| The Beholder Contracts | 3 | A formatting nightmare with good Stick | |
| To Bring Down the Sky | 4 | Everything for a night of adventure! | |
| The Vanilla Adventure | 1 | Vanilla don’t mean generic. | |
| The Dark of Hot Springs Island | ? | Mega adventure on a weirdo island. | |
| The Barbarian King | 4-6 | More fun from Melan! | |
| Writing with Style … advice for RPG Writers | – | The only design guide approved by Bryce. | |
| (5) Saving Saxham | 3-5 | Social aspects in an adventure?!?! GASP! | |
| The Dragons Secret | 1-7 | Jennell reenters the fray with a new adventure! | |
| (5e) Rats of Waterdeep | 1 | Madcap detectives! | |
| Kellerin’s Rumble | 3-5 | You inherited a warehouse! | |
| The Sunken Fort | 1-4 | Funhouse! | |
| (5e) A Night in Seyvoth Manor | 6 | – | |
| Through Ultans Door #1 | ? | I thought opium was illegal in the US? | |
| The Castle that Fell from the Sky | 3-5 | Funhouse! | |
| DAMN Magazine Spring/Summer 2018 | Low | DCC weirdness with a 3e flavor! | |
| Pollute the Elfen Memory Waters | 4 | Sandy in a fucked up city. | |
| Dead Planet | – | Just what are you willing to do in order to break orbit in this spaceman adventure? | |
| Welcome to Mortiston. | – | Modern zombies, not OSR, but a perfect example of how to set up a social environment in which adventures can take place. | |
| Fever Dreaming Marlinko & Slumbering Ursine Dunes & Misty Isles of the Eld | – | All great places to use to add to your own devices. You need a city, or a region? Use one of these! | |
| The Fungus that Came to Blackeswell | 3 | Why is the village abandoned? | |
| The Harvester from outer Space | 4 | Abducted to another world! | |
| Dreams of the Lurid Sac | – | A truly alien environment. | |
| Fight On!2, 3, 5 and 6 | – | Anything by David Bowman, but these from Fight On! stand out. | |
| Peril on the Purple Planet! | 4 | DCC-Invade another planet! | |
| People of the Pit | 1 | DCC-Invade an ancient pit/cult/monster! | |
| Blades Against Death | 4 | DCC-Invade the afterlife to save a comrade! | |
| The Emerald Enchanter | 2 | DCC-Invade the wizards tower! | |
| Well of the Worm | 1 | DCC-Invade the well to stop the mother worm! | |
| The One Who Watches From Below | 1 | DCC-Invade the gods cave! | |
| Intrigue at the Court of Chaos, | 1 | DCC-In Courts of Chaos YOU are invaded! | |
| The Chained Coffin | 1 | DCC-A more folklore based adventuring environment! | |
| Bride of the Black Manse | 3 | DCC-Save the bride from the demons that carried her away! | |
| Dead Planet | Your spaceship is Stranded! Also, this place is crazy … | ||
| The Keep of the Broken Saint | 9 | Non-simulationist! Still FEELS real! | |
| Witchburner | ? | Its every witch burning adventure evar | |
| Trollback Keep | 5 | Well rounded place to get in to trouble. IE: What every D&D adventure should be. | |
| Winters Daughter | 2 | Fey themed solid effort with playful formatting | |
| Book of Terniel | 1 | Pathfinder! Easily one of the best for that system | |
| Beneath Dark Elms | 2 | A dark forest with T&T charm of old | |
| Eyrie of the Dread Eye | 7 | 8 factions. Emergent play. A REAL expedition adventure | |
| The Magician’s House | 2 | Mini-vignettes without reaching set piece territory | |
| Masque of the Worms | 1 | 5e. Evocative. Creepy as fuck. | |
| The Withered Crag | 2 | Compact, efficient, effortless in its support os exploration, roleplay and interactivity. | |
| Bone Marshes | ? | Impishness & usability | |
| Highfell | 1- | Megadungeon! On a floating island in the sky | |
| Acid Metal Howl | 6 | Great layout and organization | |
| Temple of the Blood Moth | 4 | Ripe with unique monsters and treasure and evocative writing and … | |
| Everyone Plows the Graveyard Farm | 2 | Sandbox in a small rural community | |
| Hole in the Oak | 1 | Well supported dungeon with a fanciful air | |
| Spiral Isles | 1 | An adventure for when you die | |
| Saving Throw Fanzine | ? | A bunch of great adventures in this | |
| The Mud King of Stoney Creek | 6 | A lair adventure firing on all cylinders | |
| Temple of Old Faith | 3 | Dungeon with evocative test, interesting situations, and usability | |
| The Tomb of Black Sand | 4 | A GLORIOUS vision of a lich’s lair | |
| The Howling Caverns | 1 | Builds tension well in this small dungeon | |
| The Lost Treasure of Atlantis | 7 | Finally, something that lives up to a Swords and Sorcery promise! | |
| Castle Xyntillan | 1-6 | The best adventure locale ever written. Seriously. An 11 out of 10. | |
| Ragged Hollow Nightmare | 2 | PACKED. FUCKING. FULL. | |
| Chalice of Blood | 5-6 | Interesting dungeon with … BLOOD! | |
| Shield of the Hidden Lord | 3 | I wonder if they will release those undead at the end? | |
| The Ghoul Prince | 3 | Interesting experiment in perspective | |
| The High Moors | 1-9 | Mini-campaign hexcrawlish | |
| Caverns of Slime | High Levels | Not as slime heavy as the name would imply … | |
| The Lair of the Lamb | 0 | The giant hairless cow-thing calls out Father when wounded | |
| The Tombs of the Whispering Worms | 1 | Solid low level dungeon | |
| The Obsidian Keep | 1-32 | Tremble in the presence of Joseph Robert Lewis! | |
| Lorn Song of the Bachelor | 4 | Small asian/jungle region to interact with | |
| Tomb of the Frost-Walker | Mid Levels | Cold themed, as the name would imply | |
| Darkness at Nekemte | 5-6 | Solid serpent-man jungle dungeon region | |
| Bonepicker’s Tower | 2-4 | It FEELS like someplace you want to explore | |
| Desert Angel Fiasco | 2 | PACKED. FUCKING. FULL. | |
| A Shadow Over the Greatwood | 5-7 | Like a MERP region, but fun | |
| From Beneath the Glacier | 5-7 | Unfreezing glacier means unfrozen horrors released | |
| The Secrets of Skyhorn Lighthouse | 5 | Modern D&D dionne right. lol | |
| Xanadu | 2-3 | Lots of creep in this one | |
| Kraken Corpse Delve | 1-3 | Mythic, but not in an epic way | |
| The Seers Sanctum | 1-4 | Chocked full of eyeball monsters! | |
| Colossus Wake | 3 | Gotta fetch quest hem all to stop the colossus! | |
| Hideous Daylight | 2? | Great sandbox example | |
| The Pit in the Forest | 2-3 | to find THE DEAD ZONE | |
| Shadow of the Beakmen | 1 | Harley knows how to write a fucking adventure! | |
| The Palace of Unquiet Repose | 3-5 | Oooozing with baroque evil vibes | |
| Star Spire/The Bruja, The Beast and the Barrow | 1-2 | Evocative, imagined, interactive in the crystal-verse | |
| The Waking of Willowby Hall | 3 | A classic dungeon full of situations | |
| Halls of the Blood King | 3-5 | Factions in the interdimensional vampire-kings palace | |
| The Incandescent Grottos | 1-2 | A more grounded Operation Unfathomable |
Update!
Hey, do you have impossibly high standards that make your life a living hell? No? Then maybe you’d also be interested in the ‘C’ rated-adventures! I have always felt a twinge of regret in these. They are good, but just not THE GREATEST THING EVER. So, here’s the list:
Cheers for theses recommendations…..just celebrated my birthday and got ASE1, stonehell and demonspore and am not disapointed.
Bryce you are a godsend and have saved me from parting with my hard earned dosh (well the wifes actually) on the everyday inane crap that passes as an OSR adventure.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks for this great list.
Is there a place where we could easily find other Bowman modules?
RPGGEEK KNOWS ALL!
http://rpggeek.com/rpgdesigner/20618/david-bowman
Why can’t Jaquay publish something else?
@98mph: She hasn’t written anything in 20 years, it seems pretty unlikely.
you need to add dcc harley stroh adventures here :p
You have been away for far too long Bryce. I miss your blunt and honest criticism, and the occasional sweaty rant! Come back soon! 🙂
Damn it , I meant sweary! Bloody auto-correct!
Sweaty rants are good too
No Scourge of the Demon Wolf?
Where’s The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence?
You might check out The Field Guide to Hot Springs Island and The Dark of Hot Springs Island; it’s a hexcrawl sandbox that I blind-bought them at GenCon 2017 because I was so taken with the idea of a player’s guide written in-universe and containing a mix of true and false supposition about the adventuring area. Based on your tastes above, I really think these might be up your alley.
Oh, duh, it’s by the same guy that did The Lapis Observatory! That’s what reminded me in the first place.
this is a great list
Hi Bryce!
Any advice on what to run during an upcoming 3 weeks Holiday (probably playing every other evening)? I was thinking of Many Gates of the Gann or Barrowmaze I.
Cheers!
10 sessions? Maybe Gann and something else mid-sized also, or maybe DCO.
Being that you have so much experience, do you ever edit adventures before they are published?
Bryce gave an edit/critique to Curse of the Shrine Goddess. Especially since that was my first published adventure, I found the critique very helpful.
Uuuuuuh, but I just noticed that the link for that is now missing. Maybe he stopped doing that? Forget I said anything…
“He’s almost certainly the best living adventure writer who has a chance of publishing something else (which eliminates Jaquay.)”
Not anymore! Will you review this, Bryce? https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/247579/The-Dragons-Secret-Dungeons-of-Doom-edition
Hey, public debate time. Anyone want to tell me I’m a POS for including affiliate links to The Best and No Regerts adventures? I’m thinking about something like that because I see occasional forum threads about “whats good on Lulu?” and so on.
Anything that helps support your work. You have guided me through many great game nights based on your recommendations… whatever helps pay the bills.
I mean I could if you really want me to. I wouldn’t think to on my own though. Just don’t start selling herbal Viagra, weight loss tonics and pyramid schemes for colloidal silver vitamins.
As long as you’ve identified the links where you have affiliate connections, it’s good by me.
Hey, I’m placed some in the Best Of list. It’s pretty obvious; the end of the URL is “affiliate=xxx” and I don’t obfuscate the URL’s. _I_ think they are identified, how’s that sit with you?
Honestly, I can see some people not looking at the URLs. And I can see some people not knowing what an affiliate link is.
You might consider having some boilerplate language at the bottom of every review: “The link to the product in this review is an affiliate link. If you follow the link and buy the product, I make some money. Just thought you should know.”
For what it’s worth, I am at the point now where I check your site for a review before I buy any module, even the ones on sale at DriveThru. So it may be worth your time, at some point, to add affiliate links to non-best-seller modules, too. Or at least the ones that show up on the Deal of the Day.
Good point about my own echo chamber. Let me see if I can script up something to add that to the footer and/or update the url’s.
Is the worry that people might think you are just pushing products so that they will click the link so you make a little money? Is the worry that people that visit here may start to think you are biased? Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about it. I think people know you are a hard ass…and that’s why people come to your site to see the reviews. If you start getting soft (i.e. trying to push links), people are going to notice by buying the product, hating it…then after awhile may think your reviews are BS.
You got the ‘thankless’ job of being the guinea pig and buying all the random stuff…..which saves us all money. And that’s just it–you are buying the product to review it….I can’t picture you saying nice stuff about a product if you feel ripped off. So may as well try to make a little back so you can continue to get more things to review.
Bryce, I seem to recall an adventure or encounter, I think it was in a magazine, that featured some sort of sleeping/meditating monk, that if disturbed, produced some sort of field that slowly brought about the end of the world, unless the PCs found someone to take his place. It sounds like something Raggi would do but I don’t think it was in any of the LotFP modules.
Does this sound familiar? I thought you had recommended it, but I couldn’t find it in No Regrets or The Best.
This is in one of the issues of Fight On! Not sure which one.
Do you ever review campaign sourcebooks?
And, do you have a favorite campaign setting?
Ooh! I like the new formatting. Seriously.
Hey, Bryce, you know what would be a great addition to this page? A top-five or top-ten list of your favorite adventures purely in terms of LAYOUT/FORMATTING. And maybe another top-five in terms of descriptive language. That would be a real resource for aspiring authors. I’d be real curious to see who’s gotten closest to the Brycean user-friendly ideal.
I can no longer find Gone Fishin’ anywhere. Even your review is gone! Can you give any insight to what happened to it?
I’m glad I managed to download it – even run it once – while it still was available…
The review is here, dude/ss: https://tenfootpole.org/ironspike/?p=5146
Look at the comments for a link to Gone Fishin’ too.
Oh, thanks. The one on this site no longer works.
My personal favorites, in no particular order:
AA1 Pod Caverns of the Sinister Shroom (OSRIC)
ASE1 Anomalous Subsurface Environment
Barrowmaze Complete (LL)
The Lost City of Barakus (S&W)
The Northlands Saga Complete (S&W)
The Black Monastery (S&W)
The Anthropophagi of Xambaala (AS&SH)
Jesus, I’m two years behind in updating this list? Seriously? Why do you people put up with me?
Because you listen to Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
It’s not loud enough. I can still hear my soul.
I suppose you could always try death metal then. Or maybe shoegaze? I’d go for shoegaze. Me? I tend to listen to proto-goth/post-punk like Joy Division or the Cure. I don’t think that would help. I can think of a few Joy Division songs that would remind you that you have a soul, and it’s been argumentative with you.
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Great list just like your list of the best Dungeon magazine modules! Do you think you could whittle it down to a best 20 that you have run? Also, which modules do you think have the most 1) player agency, 2) best hexcrawl, or 3) innovative structure?
I’m running a Gamma World campaign and have been searching for some great modules with themes that are easily converted to the weird super-science filled setting. Operation Unfathomable is perfect for this and I have been making my way through reading reviews looking for other ones with a similar wacky superscience vibe. We just finished the old school Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.
Any adventures that come to mind that you could steer me in the direction of?
ASE 1
The Many Gates of the Gann
Deep Carbon Observatory
Are all great quality, full length modules.
There’s a couple of free, shorty adventures which are cool on this guys blog too
http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/
Thank you I bought the PDFs!
Irradiated Paradox of Volatile Skies would probably work as well.
If you just finished Barrier Peaks I’m thinking the party is higher levels? If so, I’d suggest Temple if the Frog.
Temple OF the Frog…
More old school, I like it!
Temple If The Frog sounds more poetic. It’s almost asking a question that begs to be answered.
Any suggestions for a Christmas themed adventure? Just ran Seyvoth Manor for Halloween and it was solid and the 5e kids had a great time. Thanks Bryce!
Jimm Johnson does fine work and has been well-reviewed here and elsewhere. I would check out The Kringle Castle Invaders.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/200218/HG1-The-Kringle-Castle-Invaders
Thanks Chainsaw! I will take a look. BTW, played in your Lost Treasures/Atlantis game at North Texas RPG in ’19. Had a great time and always appreciated how kind and inclusive you were. Take care man!
Thanks so much, Rudy. We had a large group that game, which can be especially challenging at a convention. I taught high school Latin and English for a while though, so I always try to bring some of those classroom management skills to the game table. Anyway, super glad you had a great time. Again, thanks! Good luck with Kringle Castle.
Any of these adventures you would bump off the best in hindsight Bryce?
Or maybe ones that would move up to the best? From no regrets or otherwise?
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The short description for each modules quickly descend into… YOLO
People are still reading this in 2022. I’d add The Lost City of Barakus.
I think this is an excellent suggestion! But maybe it’s on purpose.
I feel like Larin Karr and Barakus are referenced without actual reviews. Maybe they’re like the “you must be this high” sign of this community. You should just have run and played them once before you can participate.
Everyone is just too cool to talk about them? It’s just assumed you’re in the know.
I have a pet theory that Phandelver is just a rewrite (homage I guess) of Larin Karr.
(Or maybe I’m just and idiot and I missed the reviews somewhere)
I think Barakus was suggested many moons ago but Bryce never did it.
I know categorization is so boring arnold k became infrequent but i do turn to this list for the pretty short descriptions
I like them and luke you
Are any of these one shots?
Death Frost Doom, in a couple of senses.
Any of the shorter ones could be, so that’s Tempus Gelidum, Prison of the Hated Pretender, The Hole in the Oak, and Red Demon in the Vile Fens just out of the ones I know, I’m sure there are others.
Anything that says DCC might be, that line has a lot of adventure funnels. But I don’t know it well enough to make recommendations, so I’ll leave you to go through them.
Kidnap the Archpriest if your players are proactive and you’re willing to prep for it, but I wouldn’t run it cold out of the book for brand new players and count on finishing in one session. Try The Boswitch Bathhouse for an alternate D&D heist that’s a little simpler (doesn’t make The Best, but still pretty good).
I’m a brand new GM who has never ran a game before. I’m looking for an adventure to run for brand new players. Which of these would be best for us?
Try skerples’s Tomb of the Serpent Kings, Hydra Cooperative’s Prison of the Hated Pretender, or Gavin Norman’s Winter’s Daughter. If ypur players would be into something a little more horror-flavored, maybe Arnold Kemp’s Lair of thr Lamb.
T1 Village of Homlett
Iconic, but if it were released today it would be correctly judged as middle of the pack. Neither Worst Evar nor The Best.
Out of Kyle’s list I like Prison of the Hated Pretender the best, but any of those work. If you’re looking for a multi-session dungeon I’d also consider Tomb of the Iron God.
I dunno about that; that’s the same mindset that forgets just how good it is. Same with G1. Re-read if you’re not familiar with it. A challenging high-level strategy-rewarding adventure with factions, The Weird, multiple levels, excellent writing and it clocks in at 8 damn pages. T1 is only slightly less perfect than G1. Give it another look.
T1 is far superior to PotHP, to say nothing of Tomb of the Serpent Kings (mediocre with video game trappings) and Winter’s Daughter (great atmosphere but very standard).
It’s fine to like apples more then oranges, but it doesn’t help giving someone advice about apples. These adventures all do different things.
T1 is an intro to a larger adventure, a teaser with excessively detailed village. It is not a one-shot. Prison is a tiny location designed to teach new players and referees about OSR encounters. Winter’s Daughter is a small intro adventure to a setting. ToSK has bland keying but it’s a full dungeon.
Only Winter’s Daughter and Prison are potential one-shots.
The demand was for starter adventures, not one shots my boy. Apples to apples indeed.
Time to update this list Bryce, it’s getting close to 2 years out-of-date
An update would be really helpful for everyone coming into the scene now.
Bryce I think you would really like this.
https://micah-anderson.itch.io/the-black-manse
Doctor Lynch,
I implore you to cease this slumming into the sewers of itch.io and review something worth running.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/431258/Baphomets-Son