On tonight's Gabbin #353 "The Top Published Greyhawk Adventures!" show, Jay Scott, Anna Meyer, and Mike Bridges feature Erik Mona, Carlos Lising, and Joe Bloch as guests (with others to be announced during the show) to discuss their favorite Greyhawk modules of all time.*
My favorites rankings have slowly evolved over time (two different links there), as I've revisited various classics and my assessments of them: D3 and L1 rose through such reconsiderations, while G3, WG4, and S4 lost some ground when considered as adventures first and sine qua non, rather than for their introductions of seminal new monsters or magic items, etc.
For my top favorite Greyhawk modules lists below, I've limited myself to adventures set in Greyhawk (whether explicitly or with the serial numbers filed off), rather than those that can (or perhaps should) be adapted to Greyhawk:
grodog's 10 Favorite Gryehawk adventures, ranked, with some quick notes about what appeals to me about each:
- D3 Vault of the Drow by Gary Gygax: D3 has dethroned G3 as my favorite adventure of all time; it is the quintessential AD&D scenario---a high-level sandbox of doom that will snuff out your PCs if they're not as capable diplomatically as they are in combat; combining the best of dungeon play alongside factions and city play, D3 is the ultimate test of a DM and a play group!
- WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure by Rob Kuntz: WG5 continually remains a favorite, but it is difficult for me to choose between these three levels vs. others in Rob's Maure Castle (in my head, I group the three levels here with the three from Dungeon alongside "Warlock's Walk"), but for the moment it remains at the top among his designs, in my eye: it's hard to beat the Kuntzian expansiveness of The Lost City of the Elders, the octych stars before the Unopenable Doors, the imaginative Eli Tomorast and his unique familiar Rel, Kerzit and his stewardship of The Tome of the Black Heart, and the fabulous set-pieces throughout the first level
- MoZ4 The Eight Kings by Rob Kuntz: like WG5 it's hard for me to rank MoZ4 vs. others in the series, but this one edges the others out since it presents a 32nd-level archmage's magical lab demi-plane, invaded and taken over by Xaene after Zydilec (its original proprietor) fell victim to one of his own experiments; it also offers a wonderful conclusion to the series, and the opportunity for the PCs to restore the good-and-just Ivid V to the throne of the Great Kingdom (as opposed to his evil clone, controlled by Xaene)
- T1 The Village of Hommlet by Gary Gygax: the quintessential challenge for expert players---new 1st level PCs thrown into a powderkeg of local politics and regional-spanning machinations that involve gods and demon princes!; the fact that Lareth is beloved by Lolth (or Zuggtmoy, or whoever you decide to replace his patron with) also demonstrates the importance of actively-engaged deities in the setting (St. Cuthbert and the Old Faith druids and bards, among others), something I have certainly taken to heart in our current campaign
- L1 The Secret of Bone Hill by Lenard Lakofka: another wonderful introductory sandbox, this one uniquely providing local wilderness exploration accessible to lower-level PCs (2nd to 4th), alongside fun dungeon exploration, and the introduction of local politics later exploited and developed further in L2 The Assassin's Knot
- G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King by Gary Gygax: While I've slipped my ranking of this adventure as I've reconsidered it over time (for many many years it was my #1 module), that's only because I've grown to appreciate the other scenarios above even more-deeply; I still love the drow, the interplay of the factions throughout the adventure (in particular when you consider any previously-surviving giant thanes from G1 and G2 making their last-stands here after fleeing the PCs earlier in the series!), the temple to the Elder Elemental Gods, the wall of tentacles and tentacle rods, and the subtly-suggestive interplays among the evil forces (Queen Frupy's occasional magical control of her husband, the suggestion of an affair between Eclavdra and the king, the illithid spying upon everyone, etc.)
- A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity by David Cook: perhaps my only pick still on the list influenced in part by nostalgia (A1 was the first module I ever bought for myself, using monies saved up from paper routes and/or lining Little League baseball fields), I still find this scenario quite compelling---the introduction of the Slave Lords and their foul depredations throughout the communities of the Sea of Gernant, our first introduction to the ruined-but-still-living city of Highport, my first exposure to tribal shamans and witchdoctors in play, and the vision offered for how to flesh out a four-hour convention tournament (with scoring details, and now-iconic pregen PCs) into a campaign scenario; A1 inspired me to design other buildings in Highport, and to build out its sewer system that the dungeon level would naturally connect to, as well
- "Chambers of Antiquities" by Rob Kuntz and Paizo in Dungeon Magazine #124 (July 2005): my favorite of the three levels published in Dungeon, and only eclipsing #112's "The Statuary" because I still dislike the ideas of the Id Core and its minions (I haven't reimagined these concepts in my head yet for deployment at the table) enough that they outweigh my love of The Statuary's map (one of my favorite designs by Kuntz); that said, the set-piece encounters of "Chambers of Antiquities" are brilliant, and I love the concept of the Maure family maintaining vault of "stuff to dangerous for us to mess with yet," and the hints at the wider world of the setting (the Dragonmasters of Lynn, Arodnap/Pandora, and the many artifacts and relics Kuntz introduces).
- "COR1-03 River of Blood" by Erik Mona, an introductory and core Living Greyhawk scenario from the campaign's launch in 2000: Mona's brilliant introductory scenario stands right up there with T1, L1, and T1 as an excellent introductory campaign starter; it leverages xvarts (an under-used goblinoid monster unique to Greyhawk), and as the first in his "Absolute Power" series of planned LG scenarios ties into the Maures, the octyches from Maure Castle, S2 White Plume Mountain, and the ancient powers of the Suloise archmages; Mona followed-up on this adventure in "COR2-01: As He Lay Dying" and I hope that he returns to the series in the future, as it's an excellent premise
- Return of the Eight by Roger Moore: Despite it's railroady introduction---which, in truth, is not much worse than others in classic modules; the advantage of such starting premises is that they can a) be easily jettisoned, and b) take up little space in the module's text---I love this module for its creation of Greyhawk lore (oerthblood and the Fortress of Unknown Depths itself), its exploration of a high-level wizard's demesne (only Kuntz's MoZ4 surpasses it as such!), and a continuation and homage to Iggwilv's ongoing machinations in the setting, building from S4, WG6, and later scenarios (like "The Ravage of Ghorkai" from the d20 freebie download for Slayers Guide to Dragons, and perhaps most-notably in Carlos Lising's use of the character in his C11 and G2 modules)
10 Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order by title, rather than ranked):
- "Fiend's Embrace" by Stephen S. Greer in Dungeon Magazine #121 (April 2005)
- G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief by Gary Gygax
- G2 The Witch Queen's Lament by Carlos A. S. Lising
- LGCC-1 The Original Bottle City by Rob Kuntz
- "Kingdom of the Ghouls" by Wolfgang Baur in Dungeon Magazine #70 (September/October 1998)
- "Quest for the Golden Orb" tournament from Origins in 1984 by Elaine Walquist
- S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth by Gary Gygax
- "The Whispering Cairn" by Erik Mona in Dungeon Magazine #124 (July 2005)
- WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun by Gary Gygax
- WGR6 City of Skulls by Carl Sargent
I'm sure the discussion tonight will be well-worthwhile, so check it out live on Twitch or as a rerun on YouTube! (I'll update these links once it's posted).
* The discussion piggybacks on "The 30 Greatest D&D Adventures of All Time" listing published in Dungeon Magazine #116 (compiled by Mona, James Jacobs, and the Dungeon Design Panel and published in November 2004).
For reference, here is that list, but note that a) it's not Greyhawk-specific, and b) it cheats by grouping multiple modules in a series as a single line item, which doesn't force hard choices like G1 vs. G3, for example ;)
- GDQ1-7 Queen of Spiders
- I6 Ravenloft
- S1 Tomb of Horrors
- T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil
- S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
- I3-5 The Desert of Desolation
- B2 The Keep on the Borderlands
- Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil
- S2 White Plume Mountain
- Return to the Tomb of Horrors
- The Gates of Firestorm Peak
- The Forge of Fury
- I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City
- Dead Gods
- X2 Castle Amber
- X1 The Isle of Dread
- The Ruins of Undermountain
- C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
- N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God
- A1-4 Scourge of the Slave Lords
- Dark Tower
- S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
- WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun
- City of the Spider Queen
- DL1 Dragons of Despair
- WGR6 City of Skulls
- U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
- B4 The Lost City
- L2 The Assassin's Knot
- C2 The Ghost Tower of Inverness
- OD&D: 0
- 1st Edition: 18
- Basic D&D: 4
- 2nd Edition: 5
- 3rd Edition: 3
- Non-TSR/Wotc products: 1
Allan.