This is a quick post. It’s very hot in my room, and it’ll be hotter tomorrow. (And I’ve been incredibly busy at work).

What are the adventures I like the most in Dungeons & Dragons? Here they are…

Tyranny of Dragons. Incredible story. Incredible scope. The early sections allow you to explore the threat of the Cult of the Dragon, and the later sections expand the threat to make it feel epic. And, by the end, you’re commanding the combined army of the Harpers, Order of the Gauntlet, Lords Alliance, Emerald Enclave and Zhentarim. There’s politics, dungeon crawling, role-playing, exploration and pretty much everything you’d want from such a story. It suffers a bit from when it was released – at the very beginning of 5E, when the monster statistics changed MASSIVELY from the playtest. And the ending requires a lot of improvisation from the DM.

But I’ve run it three times. It’s great. Go get it – in the new special edition if possible!

Basic summary: The Cult of the Dragon want to summon Tiamat to the realms, so they raid the Sword Coast to amass all the treasure they can (because a wealthy Queen of Dragons is a happy Queen of Dragons and perhaps will listen to them), and you are brought in to discover what’s going on and eventually rise to leading the fight against the Cult. Involves all the factions in their most meaningful adventure.

Pharaoh. This is the old adventure that really made me fall in love with D&D. It’s got its flaws, but it shows that Tracy and Laura Hickman understood the impact of story (and morals) on the game of D&D better than about anyone else. You could play it as “let’s rob the pyramid”, but the curse of the last pharaoh on the land is brilliant, and you get to break it when you take his items of power. There are encounters that are terrifying, and some that are whimsical. Lots of exploration, combat and a fair amount of role-playing as well. For a long time, it was my favourite adventure of all – it’s been displaced by Tyranny of Dragons now – but it’s up there.

The wilderness is the bit of the adventure that doesn’t quite work, due to the way that the series expects certain things to happen even if you don’t go to the places to trigger them. But the pyramid itself is brilliant.

Basic summary: The ghost of a Pharaoh contracts you to loot his theft-proof tomb so you might lift his curse on the land.

Curse of Strahd. You’ll likely find this at the top of many lists. I think it’s brilliant. It’s based on another Tracy and Laura Hickman design, but it isn’t their original adventure that is the best bit. Castle Ravenloft itself feels a bit dated and out of place. No, it’s the expansion of the wilderness and the people living there that make this brilliant.

Curse of Strahd is a heroic tale. Forget all the nonsense about the “Domain of Dread” and just put it in a valley nation in your own campaign world. It’s ruled by a despotic vampire lord, and he’s made the people miserable, many of which have caused their own torment. The adventurers are the heroes who can put things right. This is the heart of the original Ravenloft adventure, and it’s how I play it.

Good can’t win? Not a chance! It might not be easy, but good has the chance to triumph!

Basic summary: You come to the land of Barovia, where misery is everywhere and a vampire rules. You must find the items that allow you to slay the evil Count Strahd.

White Plume Mountain. There’s a side of me that loves whimsical play, and that’s White Plume Mountain. It’s also serious, deadly play – the traps don’t pull any punches. Save versus poison at a penalty or die? Ouch! This is an adventure that has been reprinted several times, most recently in Tales from the Yawning Portal, but I’m dubious about most of the conversions. AD&D had a different feel to its dungeon crawls and adding mechanics like Perception tend to reduce the impact of the game.

We like to think that D&D isn’t about player skill, but in fact it’s all about player skill. It’s just some versions of the game help the players a little more than others! (Running Tomb of Horrors in a 5E conversion is a dreadful experience. Go to the original!)

It’s the sheer variety of invention that makes me rate this so highly. There’s not that much roleplaying, but there’s a lot of exploration and combat, and a LOT of that sense of wonder – you keep encountering things you haven’t seen before. A stream flowing in mid-air. A frictionless floor. Magic weapons so incredible in power, you have to get them out of the hands of the players to continue the campaign!

Basic summary: Three powerful weapons have been stolen, and you need to recover them from a dangerous dungeon of many challenges built by the wizard Keraptis.

Sly Flourish’s Fantastic Adventures. I’d like to consider Mike Shea a friend. And I did some consulting work on the latest on this line of products, which will be available soon. So, I’m not really unbiased on this. But this is one of the recent adventure products I’ve seen that I’ve got a LOT of use from. Each time I didn’t have a scenario ready to go, I grabbed this book and ran one of the adventures it presented. And that kept happening, until I’d ran almost all the book.

Mike gets how I like short adventures presented – hooks, NPCs, interesting situations, and playable in a session. They’re also good to modify, which is what I did in most cases to make them fit my campaign.

If you’re interested in a low-level campaign in a sandbox setting around a small town, this is the adventure product for you. (Some of the material is very Mike, which I tended to modify to make it more Merric).

Basic summary: A collection of short 2-4 hour scenarios set around a small village, most for low-level characters (1-4). They tend to be fairly basic, but with opportunities for adding to them.

Are there other adventures I really like? There certainly are! But that’s 1000 words, it’s 11 pm, and I’m off to bed. More later!