- Joined
- Apr 24, 2017
- Messages
- 33,181
- Reaction score
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As per the title, from 10 to 1 (best)
My List...
10. The Great Modron March (Planescape)
A fantastic trek across the Planes that serves as a great introduction to the Planescape setting in all it's myraid glories, and presents a fascinating mystery revolving around the always delightful Modrons.
Why It's #10 - While it had to make a top ten list for me because it was one of the best gaming experiences overall I've ever had with a module, a large part of that was me going in and fixing a lot of the issues from the get go (including the most BS railroady start to an adventure that I've ever seen), and adding in/expanding the adventure with elements from Tales From The Infinite Staircase and Well of Worlds, along with quite a few of my own inventions (including a self-contained ending rather than, as written, leading into the metaplot from Dead Gods).
9. One Shots (Unknown Armies)
A great resource for single session, no-prep adventures on the fly that display all the dark and twisted weirdness of the Unknown Armies' setting.
Why It's #9 - Like many collections of adventures, it's uneven, basically. There are some masterpieces in here (especially the quirky system-less "Heads"), though there's also a few that are "meh"
8. The Great Pendragon Campaign (Pendragon)
Greg Stafford's masterpiece; a thoroughly-researched; multi-generational path through the entirety of the Arthurian mythos
Why it's #8 - I've not gotten a chance to run it yet. It seems like it's prone to being very railroady at parts, in it's fidelity to the original stories, and the lack of character profiles/write-ups seems like a serious omission.
7. Horror on the Orient Express (Call of Cthulhu)
A massive Call of Cthulhu campaign set revolving around the legendary Orient Express, containing 19 linked adventures taking the players from London to Constantinople.
Why it's #7 - Again, mainly because I've not gotten a chance to run it through in it's entirety yet, after a sadly aborted attempt that fell apart too soon due partially to IRL circumstances, partly to me misjudging the lethality of the second or third adventure, which ended in a TPK.
6. City of Lies (Legend of the 5 Rings)
A fascinating boxed set by Greg Stoltze that I happened upon accidentally, and instantly fell in love with. Not so much a campaign as a detailed city mini-sandbox where every resident is on the verge of backstabbing everyone else each for their individual reasons.
Why it's #6 - As I haven't played Legend of the 5 Rings, I heavily adapted both the setting and system to fit into my Phaserip campaign, and though it was worth it, I expect most GMs would balk at that amount of work.
5. Tribe 8 Adventure Cycle
Comprising 9 volumes (if you don't do any of the side quests), Tribe 8's proprietary campaign cycle allows the players to completely reshape the setting while uncovering all the secrets lying beneath the game's mythos.
Why it's #5 - Easily the biggest published campaign that I've ever GMed, the early parts are very good at accounting for player freedom, but towards the end it takes some jiggering on the GM's part to prevent the players getting stuck as little more than spectators to some of the bigger events
IV. Wings of the Valkyrie (Champions)
A Time-Travel adventure that presents a classic moral dilemma for the players, questioning the very notion of what it means to be a Superhero
Why it's #4 - though superheroes is perhaps my favourite genre for RPGs (or is at least tied with Horror), despite the numerous great systems over the years, really good adventures are few and far between (one of the reasons I often convert CoC adventures to use in my superhero games). This one from Champions, however (a system I've never owned or played) is in a class by itself. I'm of the opinion, as a longtime supers GM, that part of what makes that genre work best, insofar as gaming, is to put players in situations where they have to make tough moral choices. Sometimes that means the choice between meeting personal obligations to friends and family vs foiling a villain (Spider-man), sometimes it means dealing with social issues that you simply can't punch into submission, like bigotry and racism (X-Men). What this adventure does is cover one of the classic moral conundrums that all of us have considered at least once in our lives: if given the chance to go back in time, would you kill Hitler? The adventure provides the opportunity and then forces the players to deal with the effects of their choices, in this case a rewritten future that is way worse than the one they left behind.
3. Beyond The Mountains of Madness (Call of Cthulhu)
A masterful adaption of one of Lovecraft's very few novel length works
Why it's #3 - Beyond the Mountains of Madness is very different from other classic CoC big adventures like Masks of Nyarlothotep or Day of the Beast, in that it's not really a series of interconnected adventures, it's more of one long adventure, and it's a slow burn until the final crescendo. It starts in New York, and rather than cultists or strange artifacts, you're dealing with reporters and gangsters, and...shopping. And then there's the trip to Antarctica, and from there stuff starts to snowball, but up until the very end it's all pretty much realistic perils and more grounded in psychological and survival horror. It's a massive adventure. The older edition I have is easiy over 400 pages. I think it's a masterpiece, but it requires the right group and a solidly experienceed GM. It's probably the last module I'd recommend to a group new to Call of Cthulhu.
2. The Enemy Within (Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play)
The epic campaign that defined the Warhammer Fantasy world, thrusting a band of lowly peasants into a conspiracy that threatens the Empire not from without, but within, gradually revealing the larger stage of the Warhammer World and the eternal conflict between civilization and Chaos manifest.
Why it's #2 - published in six parts (The Enemy Within, Shadows Over Bögenhafen, Death on the Reik, Power Behind the Throne, Something Rotten in Kislev, and Empire in Flames) between 1986 and 1989, the first parts were written when the Warhammer world was just starting to take shape, and more than half of the first book is devoted just to worldbuilding for the Empire, everything from calendars to forms of communication, geography to the political and economic structure. The adventure starts with a strong premise, but throws in a nice amount of twists, a healthy amount of black humour, and a larger focus on travel and social interactions than atypical dungeon crawls of the day. Unfortunately, the last two books aren't anywhere near as strong as the first three parts, with Kislev in particular seeming more like an unrelated adventure shoehorned in to expand the runtime. Hopefully the newly remastered version by Cubicle 7 will fix this, as the original trilogy is a masterpiece of adventure design that deserves an equally ingenious finale.
1. The Masks of Nyarlothotep (Call of Cthulhu)
Investigators travel around the world fighting a global network of cultists devoted to the titular Elder God.
Why it's #1 - Both an epic overall campaign that can take years of gameplay to complete, and a series of interconnected mini-campaigns, each of which could stand on it's own as examples of the highest quality of Call of Cthulhu adventures. Each new location offers an engaging new cast of unique characters to interact with, mysteries to solve, and the potential for a pulp action climax that can range from dogfights in bi-planes to interrupting a ceremony in a secret chamber beneath the Egyptian Pyramids. And though the basic structure is retained, so players are never at a loss for how to proceed, what really elevates the campaign is just how different each chapter is in atmosphere and mood., so that players always have something new to look forward to, and the campaign never feels repetitive. Likewise, the majority of adventures can be played in any order, presenting the entire world as a sandbox for players that provides the satisfaction of individual victories and the solving of individual mysteries while the larger plot is gradually revealed. If there's one criticism I can dig up, it's only that the campaign is not exactly "Lovecraftian" in the literary sense, but I imagine players will be having too much fun to ever notice.
My List...
10. The Great Modron March (Planescape)

A fantastic trek across the Planes that serves as a great introduction to the Planescape setting in all it's myraid glories, and presents a fascinating mystery revolving around the always delightful Modrons.
Why It's #10 - While it had to make a top ten list for me because it was one of the best gaming experiences overall I've ever had with a module, a large part of that was me going in and fixing a lot of the issues from the get go (including the most BS railroady start to an adventure that I've ever seen), and adding in/expanding the adventure with elements from Tales From The Infinite Staircase and Well of Worlds, along with quite a few of my own inventions (including a self-contained ending rather than, as written, leading into the metaplot from Dead Gods).
9. One Shots (Unknown Armies)

A great resource for single session, no-prep adventures on the fly that display all the dark and twisted weirdness of the Unknown Armies' setting.
Why It's #9 - Like many collections of adventures, it's uneven, basically. There are some masterpieces in here (especially the quirky system-less "Heads"), though there's also a few that are "meh"
8. The Great Pendragon Campaign (Pendragon)

Greg Stafford's masterpiece; a thoroughly-researched; multi-generational path through the entirety of the Arthurian mythos
Why it's #8 - I've not gotten a chance to run it yet. It seems like it's prone to being very railroady at parts, in it's fidelity to the original stories, and the lack of character profiles/write-ups seems like a serious omission.
7. Horror on the Orient Express (Call of Cthulhu)

A massive Call of Cthulhu campaign set revolving around the legendary Orient Express, containing 19 linked adventures taking the players from London to Constantinople.
Why it's #7 - Again, mainly because I've not gotten a chance to run it through in it's entirety yet, after a sadly aborted attempt that fell apart too soon due partially to IRL circumstances, partly to me misjudging the lethality of the second or third adventure, which ended in a TPK.
6. City of Lies (Legend of the 5 Rings)

A fascinating boxed set by Greg Stoltze that I happened upon accidentally, and instantly fell in love with. Not so much a campaign as a detailed city mini-sandbox where every resident is on the verge of backstabbing everyone else each for their individual reasons.
Why it's #6 - As I haven't played Legend of the 5 Rings, I heavily adapted both the setting and system to fit into my Phaserip campaign, and though it was worth it, I expect most GMs would balk at that amount of work.
5. Tribe 8 Adventure Cycle

Comprising 9 volumes (if you don't do any of the side quests), Tribe 8's proprietary campaign cycle allows the players to completely reshape the setting while uncovering all the secrets lying beneath the game's mythos.
Why it's #5 - Easily the biggest published campaign that I've ever GMed, the early parts are very good at accounting for player freedom, but towards the end it takes some jiggering on the GM's part to prevent the players getting stuck as little more than spectators to some of the bigger events
IV. Wings of the Valkyrie (Champions)

A Time-Travel adventure that presents a classic moral dilemma for the players, questioning the very notion of what it means to be a Superhero
Why it's #4 - though superheroes is perhaps my favourite genre for RPGs (or is at least tied with Horror), despite the numerous great systems over the years, really good adventures are few and far between (one of the reasons I often convert CoC adventures to use in my superhero games). This one from Champions, however (a system I've never owned or played) is in a class by itself. I'm of the opinion, as a longtime supers GM, that part of what makes that genre work best, insofar as gaming, is to put players in situations where they have to make tough moral choices. Sometimes that means the choice between meeting personal obligations to friends and family vs foiling a villain (Spider-man), sometimes it means dealing with social issues that you simply can't punch into submission, like bigotry and racism (X-Men). What this adventure does is cover one of the classic moral conundrums that all of us have considered at least once in our lives: if given the chance to go back in time, would you kill Hitler? The adventure provides the opportunity and then forces the players to deal with the effects of their choices, in this case a rewritten future that is way worse than the one they left behind.
3. Beyond The Mountains of Madness (Call of Cthulhu)

A masterful adaption of one of Lovecraft's very few novel length works
Why it's #3 - Beyond the Mountains of Madness is very different from other classic CoC big adventures like Masks of Nyarlothotep or Day of the Beast, in that it's not really a series of interconnected adventures, it's more of one long adventure, and it's a slow burn until the final crescendo. It starts in New York, and rather than cultists or strange artifacts, you're dealing with reporters and gangsters, and...shopping. And then there's the trip to Antarctica, and from there stuff starts to snowball, but up until the very end it's all pretty much realistic perils and more grounded in psychological and survival horror. It's a massive adventure. The older edition I have is easiy over 400 pages. I think it's a masterpiece, but it requires the right group and a solidly experienceed GM. It's probably the last module I'd recommend to a group new to Call of Cthulhu.
2. The Enemy Within (Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play)

The epic campaign that defined the Warhammer Fantasy world, thrusting a band of lowly peasants into a conspiracy that threatens the Empire not from without, but within, gradually revealing the larger stage of the Warhammer World and the eternal conflict between civilization and Chaos manifest.
Why it's #2 - published in six parts (The Enemy Within, Shadows Over Bögenhafen, Death on the Reik, Power Behind the Throne, Something Rotten in Kislev, and Empire in Flames) between 1986 and 1989, the first parts were written when the Warhammer world was just starting to take shape, and more than half of the first book is devoted just to worldbuilding for the Empire, everything from calendars to forms of communication, geography to the political and economic structure. The adventure starts with a strong premise, but throws in a nice amount of twists, a healthy amount of black humour, and a larger focus on travel and social interactions than atypical dungeon crawls of the day. Unfortunately, the last two books aren't anywhere near as strong as the first three parts, with Kislev in particular seeming more like an unrelated adventure shoehorned in to expand the runtime. Hopefully the newly remastered version by Cubicle 7 will fix this, as the original trilogy is a masterpiece of adventure design that deserves an equally ingenious finale.
1. The Masks of Nyarlothotep (Call of Cthulhu)

Investigators travel around the world fighting a global network of cultists devoted to the titular Elder God.
Why it's #1 - Both an epic overall campaign that can take years of gameplay to complete, and a series of interconnected mini-campaigns, each of which could stand on it's own as examples of the highest quality of Call of Cthulhu adventures. Each new location offers an engaging new cast of unique characters to interact with, mysteries to solve, and the potential for a pulp action climax that can range from dogfights in bi-planes to interrupting a ceremony in a secret chamber beneath the Egyptian Pyramids. And though the basic structure is retained, so players are never at a loss for how to proceed, what really elevates the campaign is just how different each chapter is in atmosphere and mood., so that players always have something new to look forward to, and the campaign never feels repetitive. Likewise, the majority of adventures can be played in any order, presenting the entire world as a sandbox for players that provides the satisfaction of individual victories and the solving of individual mysteries while the larger plot is gradually revealed. If there's one criticism I can dig up, it's only that the campaign is not exactly "Lovecraftian" in the literary sense, but I imagine players will be having too much fun to ever notice.