grodog's Top 10 Favorite Greyhawk Adventures

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:

1. 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!
   
   
2. 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
   
   
3. 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)
   
   
4. 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
   
   
5. 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
   
   
6. 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.)
   
   
7. 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
   
   
8. "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).  
   
   
9. "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
   
   
10. 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 ;)

1. GDQ1-7 Queen of Spiders 
2. I6 Ravenloft 
3. S1 Tomb of Horrors 
4. T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil 
5. S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks 
6. I3-5 The Desert of Desolation 
7. B2 The Keep on the Borderlands 
8. Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil 
9. S2 White Plume Mountain 
10. Return to the Tomb of Horrors 
11. The Gates of Firestorm Peak 
12. The Forge of Fury 
13. I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City 
14. Dead Gods 
15. X2 Castle Amber 
16. X1 The Isle of Dread 
17. The Ruins of Undermountain 
18. C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan 
19. N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God 
20. A1-4 Scourge of the Slave Lords 
21. Dark Tower 
22. S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth 
23. WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun 
24. City of the Spider Queen 
25. DL1 Dragons of Despair 
26. WGR6 City of Skulls 
27. U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh 
28. B4 The Lost City 
29. L2 The Assassin's Knot 
30. C2 The Ghost Tower of Inverness

...with some analysis by Glyfair in 2004 ENWorld discussion:

• OD&D: 0 
• 1st Edition: 18 
• Basic D&D: 4 
• 2nd Edition: 5 
• 3rd Edition: 3
• Non-TSR/Wotc products: 1 

Allan.

More Mega-Dungeon Meanderings (and on a Monday!)

I've been hanging out in reddit a lot more over the past few years, among its OSR, AD&D, Greyhawk, mega-dungeon, miniatures, and related old-school (and Delta Green) communities. 

 In /osr/ the user livefreebugs posted a question at  https://www.reddit.com/r/osr/comments/wzugz6/what_elements_would_make_your_ideal_megadungeon/ asking (with my linebreak additions), 

I've been reading a lot of theory and perform advice on megadungeons and it seems like an area that there's a lot of room for awesome new adventures in. There's definitely a‍ risk some megadungeons run into of being repetitive or incoherent and having a huge quantity of locations over consistent quality. I think vibrant factions, multiple approaches, verticality, a sense of place/history that gives deep interconnections between areas of the dungeon, and a scale that allows for many sessions of return delves. 

I know it's not too controversial here but while not exactly "mega" depending on your definition I think the Caverns of Thracia is one of the better large dungeons ever made due to the integration of layout, history, occupants, into the whole and not feeling like a jumble of random rooms (though gonzo funhouses' can be sweet too). 

What would you look for in your perfect large/mega-dungeon that doesn't exist yet?

My response follows. 

==

My favorite things to do in mega-dungeons, as a player or DM:

• Explore...:  lots of room to wander around, get lost, find cool things no one else has found, pass through empty rooms/chambers/halls on the way to fun encounters!  A mega-dungeon must also lead outward into the world(s), as well as pull the world into it's orbit from time-to-time
• ....and Map!:  I love to map while playing and mega-dungeons provide wonderful opportunities to do so :D
• Interact with Interesting characters:  whether PCs or NPCs, some of whom are only available to meet in the mega-dungeon, of course!  Over time, they may offer opportunities to ally, to cautiously negotiate with neutrally, or to become bitter foes (long- or short-term).  Either way, they are the personalities that help to bring the mega-dungeon to life, and they 're not just factions (although they're important too).
• Encounter Tricks, Traps, Trials, and Enigmas!:  any adventure should not just be about combat, and the rest of the challenges should include aspects that bring the environment into the foreground from time-to-time
• Magic!:  there should be cool, fun magic items, spells, effects, and other artifacts and relics that are only available in the mega-dungeon---and some should be permanent features that the players may want to return to for years on end (rather than the usual kind that are hauled up and out and used/sold)

Mega-dungeons sometimes have overarching themes that range in from obvious (Rappan Athuk) to more-subtle (Caverns of Thracia), while others don't seem to have themes at all.  I like there to be zones with and without theme, to keep the whole from getting stale, and to allow the DM freedom and flexibility to design "off topic" levels, or players to really dig deep into side-levels, sub-levels, and extra-planar environs that catch their eye.

Some additional thoughts at https://grodog.blogspot.com/2020/06/grodog-favorite-mega-dungeons.html and in my review of Castle Zagyg at http://greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_castle.html

===

What are your favorite aspects of gaming in mega-dungeons---the things that bring you back to the table again and again?

Allan.

grodog's Favorite Mega-Dungeons

Some info about my favorite mega-dungeons, from the classics to the newest, hot-off-the-presses OSR titles (well, "new" as of today, 15 June 2020 anyway....). 

This post was inspired by some discussions over on the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea forum, as well as a similar thread over on TheRPGSite.   The questions raised in those boards were:

• Which mega-dungeons do you like, and why? 
• Which mega-dungeons have you used in play?

The Quilt Map -
Map by Tony "Wheggi" Rosten

grodog's Thoughts on Well-Designed Mega-Dungeons -- The Stuff that Matters at the Table

I think that for me what I like about a mega-dungeon really varies, based on who I've been playing with (or sometimes, working with).  I've really enjoyed nearly all of the mega-dungeons that I've played in or run, but I've also generally had the wonderful pleasure of excellent DMs and players, which makes all the difference in the world in terms of the game experience at the table.

Thinking through the mega-dungeons I'm familiar with, the stand out qualities that I love to play through, and the mega-dungeons that bring that to the table are:

• Best Environments to Explore and Map:  Castle El Raja Key, Maure Castle, Caverns of Thracia, Foolsgrave
• Most-Fun Encounters:  Castle Greyhawk, Foolsgrave, Rich Franks' mega-dungeon
• Most-Fun Puzzles, Enigmas, and Centerpiece Encounters:  Castle Greyhawk, Maure Castle, WG5, ASE1/2-3, Undermountain
• Coolest Maps:  Arden Vul, Castle of the Mad Archmage, Foolsgrave, The Quilt Map, Undermountain, Vladikavkaz 
• Best Presentation in Print:  None*
• Pulls It All Together:  Caverns of Thracia, Foolsgrave, Maure Castle, Tomb of Abysthor

* In terms of best-published format/presentation for a mega-dungeon, I don't think that we've seen any stand-out products deliver on the goods on that yet.  Necromancer Games build out a good standard template for dungeon levels between Rappan Athuk and Tomb of Abysthor, and The Grand Temple of Jing attempted to design a new layout format for the mega-dungeon (similar to what Ptolus attempted for the massive-city sourcebook), but neither product quite achieved their overall goal on those fronts, due to other, over-shadowing issues with the products (horrible maps in RA the first go-round, while the KS version of GToJ didn't really pursue the usability goals of the first version of the dungeon).  

A well-built layout focused on at-the-table usability, married to a brilliant  book design could really distinguish a future mega-dungeon product, and potentially allow it to leapfrog into the top of the list....

 

Castle Zagyg - Mouths of Madness and The Storerooms
Dungeon Level - Cartography by Jeff Talanian

Mega-Dungeons grodog has Played

• Castle El Raja Key - written and DM'd by Rob Kuntz (pre-published version)
• Caverns of Thracia - written by Jennell Jaquays, DM'd by Jon Hershberger
• Dark Tower - written by Jennell Jaquays, DM'd by Jon Hershberger
• Foolsgrave - written and DM'd by Chainsaw (pre-published version)
• Jakallan Underworld - written by Phil Barker, DM'd by Victor Raymond (pre-published version)
• Thieves Fortress Badabaskor - written by Bob Bledsaw & Mark Summerlott, DM'd by Jon Hershberger

Mega-Dungeons grodog has Run

• Castle Greyhawk - grodog's version/The Lair of Thelmon Onvalth - my own version of Castle Greyhawk (pre-published version)
• Castle Greyhawk - EGG and RJK - Bottle City, EX1-2, WG6, etc., etc.
• Castle El Raja Key/Maure Castle - RJK - WG5, The Statuary, Chambers of Antiquities, Warlock's Walk (co-DM'd with Rob Kuntz at GenCon 2007)
• Mythrus Tower - Matt Finch
• Temple of Elemental Evil - Gary Gygax with Frank Mentzer
• Tomb of Abysthor - Clark Peterson and Bill Webb 
• Undermountain - Ed Greenwood - Box set 1, Dragon articles

Bottle City level of Castle Greyhawk -
map by Rob Kuntz

Mega-dungeons grodog has Helped to Design, Develop, Edit, and/or Publish

• Castle Greyhawk - grodog's version/The Lair of Thelmon Onvalth - my own version of Castle Greyhawk, including my version of The Black Reservoir (based on EGG story vs. RJK level) and The Quilt Map (based on Tony Rosten's map)
• Castle Greyhawk - RJK - Bottle City (editing, development)
• Castle of the Mad Archmage - Joe Bloch (editing/development work abandoned when Black Blade contract expired and Joe pursued publication on his own)
• Maure Castle - Warlock's Walk - RJK (editing)
• The Twisting Stair centerfold mega-dungeon - Tony Rosten and Allan Grohe
  (editing, development)

Oerth Journal # 23 -
dedicated to Maure Castle

Mega-Dungeons grodog has Read but Neither Run Nor Played

• Anomalous Subsurface Environment - Patrick Wetmore - Levels 1 and 2-3
• Arden Vul - Rick Barton (pre-published version)
• Barrowmaze - Greg Gillespie (first versions from Kickstarter, prior to expansion in Barrowmaze Complete)
• Castle Blackmoor - First Fantasy Campaign as well as the 3.x versions
• Castle Greyhawk - Castle Zagyg, WG7, WGR1, Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk, etc., etc.
• Castle Xyntillian - Gabor "Melan" Lux
• The Darkness Beneath - many levels published in Fight On!
• Dwimmermount - James Malizewski
• The Grande Temple of Jing - Danny O'Neill & Diverse Hands
• Mines of Khunmar - Stefan Poag
• Rappan Athuk - Clark Peterson & Bill Webb - R1-3, Rappan Athuk boxed set (original)
• Ruins of Kwalishar - Tim Kask (pre-published version)
• Stonehell - Michael Curtis - Vol 1: Down Night-Haunted Halls
• Undermountain - Ed Greenwood & Diverse Hands - Box set 2, the Fireplace level (Dungeon Magazine), a smattering of modules too
• Vladikavkaz - Keith Sloan (pre-published version)

Castle Xyntillan - by Gabor Lux,
Cover art by Peter Mullen

Mega-Dungeons grodog has Neither Read Nor Played

• Arden Vul - Rick Barton (final/published version)
• The Black City - from Dreams in the Lich House blog 
• Castle Triskelion - from eponymous blog
• DCC #51 Castle Whiterock - Goodman Games
• Forbidden Caverns of Archaia - Greg Gillespie
• Gunderholfen - G. Hawkins 
• Highfell: The Drifting Dungeon - Greg Gillespie
• Mike's Dungeons - Geoffrey McKinney
• Numenhalla - published serially in Megadungeon magazine
• Stonehell Vol 2: Into the Heart of Hell - Michael Curtis
• The World's Largest Dungeon - AEG

If you know of other mega-dungeons that I should check-out that don't appear in the lists, do please chime in! :D

Allan.

Kellri's 18 Module Challenge - Epitaph

Kellri's 18 Module Challenge - Epitaph

After losing my blog posts for Day 15 and Day 17, I stopped the modules challenge blogging for the moment until I work out a better writing process than losing posts an hour+ into them on the blogger interface. Here are my final selections:

• Day 15 - A Module I Like Based on a Book or Film: Court of Ardor by Terry K. Amthor
• Day 16 - My Favorite Gary Gygax Module: G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King by Gary Gygax
• Day 17 - A Module I'm Saving for the Right Time: D3 Vault of the Drow by Gary Gygax
• Day 18 - A Module from the Year I Began to Play: there are no modules I've played from 1977 (and few published---Tegel Manor is the only one that readily came to mind), so I went with Outdoor Geomorphs Set One: Walled City by Gary Gygax

I planned several follow-on posts that tied back to my various Runners Up selections, and a few additional categories that came to mind as variations on some of Scot's themes, which I will return to

My thanks to Kellri for putting the challenge together!

Allan. 

P.S. - And here are my responses to the full module challenge:

1. Day 18 - A Module from the Year I Began to Play: there are no modules I've played from 1977 (and few published---Tegel Manor is the only one that readily comes to mind), so I went with Outdoor Geomorphs Set One: Walled City by Gary Gygax
2. Day 17 - A Module I'm Saving for the Right Time: D3 Vault of the Drow by Gary Gygax 
3. Day 16 - My Favorite Gary Gygax Module: G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King by Gary Gygax
4. Day 15: The Court of Ardor by Terry K. Amthor
5. Day 14:  Starstone by Paul Vernon Lydiate
6. Day 13:  "The Ruins of Andril" by Ian Melluish
7. Day 12:  "Treasure of the Dragon Queen" by Rutgers University Gamers
8. Day 11:  S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth by Gary Gygax
9. Day 10:  Return of the Eight by Roger E. Moore
10. Day 9:  Pavis and Big Rubble by Greg Stafford, Steve Perrin, Oliver Dickinson, & Diverse Hands
11. Day 8:  Angmar, Land of the Witch King by Heike Kubasch
12. Day 7:  X2 Castle Amber by Tom Moldvay
13. Day 6: DMG Monastery Dungeon by Gary Gygax
14. Day 5: S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks by Gary Gygax
15. Day 4: "Deep Shit" by Jeff Barber
    
16. Day 3: A Fabled City of Brass by Anthony Huso
17. Day 2: Masks of Nyarlathotep by Larry DiTillio
18. Day 1: Empire of the Ghouls by Wolfgang Baur
19. Day 0: These are a Few of My Favorite Things...

OSR Guide for the Now-Less-Perplexed (or So We Hope...)

OSR Guide for the Now-Less-Perplexed (or So We Hope...)

 

OSR logo by Stuart Robertson

I tweaked Zak's original questions a bit (see below if you want to reuse my wording):

1. One article or blog entry that exemplifies the best of the Old School Renaissance for me:   This one's a toss-up for me, since I love both 1) timrod's excellent and inter-related series of blog posts on the maps and environs for B2 Keep on the Borderlands, T1 Village of Hommlet, and the Sample Dungeon from the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide, as well as 2) Zach "Zenopus Archives" Howard's page-by-page analysis of John Eric Holmes' original manuscript for the Holmes Basic set - Both of these exemplify close reading of texts in conjunction with creative approaches to leveraging that information in game play at the table!


2. My favorite piece of OSR wisdom/advice:  "Megadungeon Tactics: Mission-Based Adventuring" by Matt Finch, published in Knockspell #4 (Spring 2010) - This is an excellent resource for old-school dungeon-exploring players in general, and helps players to effectively deploy in play the concepts outlined in Matt's Old School Primer. 


3. Best OSR module/supplement:  Scot "Kellri" Hoover's Classic Dungeon Designer's Netbook #4 - Old School Encounters Reference.pdf - Perhaps the best free OSR resource ever published!:  an essential guide to adventure/encounter design, and while written with 1e AD&D/OSRIC in mind, it's very useful for anyone running any fantasy campaign, regardless of RPG and/or D&D edition.


4. My favorite house rule (by someone else):  I have no recollection who came up with this concept anymore (and if you remember, please let me know!), but I love the idea that when PCs sell gems, jewelry, magic items, and other loot, that their payouts are influenced positively and negatively by the negotiating PC's Charisma reaction adjustments (to which I also add racial preferences modifiers, too).  This goes back to the old Amber Diceless RPG adage that each-and-every stat on your character sheet is the most-important stat (in some situation). 


5. How I found out about the OSR:  The OSR coalesced, named, and formalized itself around the online mailing lists, web sites, boards/forums, and gaming conventions where I've hung out, discussed and shared AD&D- and Greyhawk content over the past 15-20 years.  I've met, gamed with, and become friends with many old-school gamers who I wouldn't otherwise have ever known except through the OSR communities where we've come together to talk shop around our favorite games.


6. My favorite OSR online resource/toy:  Jason Zavoda's Index Greyhawkiana, a compiled index of references within World of Greyhawk products published from the 1970s through August 2003 (the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer was its last update) - Jason's index is something I use practically every day, and is an indispensable tool for a fan of the World of Greyhawk setting.  Other key reference tools I use nearly-daily include the Dragondex index of Dragon Magazine articles, and the D&D publishing history web sites The Acaeum, Adrian Newman's TSR Archive, and the Tome of Treasures.


7. Best place to talk to other OSR gamers:  In-person at GaryCon (every year in March, in Lake Geneva, WI; ~2500 attendees) and the North Texas RPG Convention (every year in June in Dallas, TX; ~400 attendees) - These conventions have been a wonderful way to put-faces-to-names from discussion boards, to deepen friendships begun online, and to game with like-minded old-schoolers.  If you've never carved out the time and/or budget to attend one or the other, it's well-worth planning to do so.  If you dig around there's probably an old-school convention in your neighborhood, too.


8. Other places I might be found hanging out talking games:  The Knights & Knaves Alehouse, Dragonsfoot, ODD74, Canonfire!, and various other Greyhawk and/or old-school, general RPG, etc. groups on Facebook, Google+, and most-recently, MeWe.  Feel free to get in touch if you'd like to chat---I'm "grodog" on all of these platforms.


9. My awesome, pithy OSR take nobody appreciates enough:  Mapping as a player is fun, useful in-game, and makes the game easier to play!  I know, I know---you don't believe me, but I wrote an article in The Twisting Stair #3 that details three different ways to approach mapping as a player, and when to use one method vs. the other two.  It's worth checking out :D


10. My favorite non-OSR RPGs:  Amber Diceless, Ars Magica, Blue Planet, Call of Cthulhu, Coriolis: the Third Horizon, Eclipse Phase, Kult, Upwind, Vampire the Masquerade, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.  Of those, Call of Cthulhu most-often ends up atop the list after AD&D. 


11. Why I like OSR stuff:  I love the fun and creative collaboration when people come together to play games and to enjoy discussing, playing, designing, and publishing the adventures, settings, sourcebooks, and rules for the games and settings that I love to play. Hand-in-hand with that spirit of collaboration is the important idea of designing, sharing, and publishing tools that make games easier to play, in addition to sharing out cool ideas, adventures, and settings.  To paraphrase Trent Foster---designing good "creativity aids, not creativity replacements” is an important aspect that drives the DIY work-ethic and work-product of the OSR. 


12. Two other cool OSR things you should know about that I haven’t named yet:  1) David A. Hill's Eldritch Avremier, fourth of five old-school supplements from his Mothshade Concepts imprint, which publishes his OD&D-based Avremier campaign setting, and 2) Jeff Talanian's Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea old-school game - I'm a sucker for good settings, and both David's and Jeff's works offer richly-evocative campaign settings immersed in old-school play styles. 


13. If I could read but one RPG blog on my desert island, it would be:  Gabor "Melan" Lux's Beyond Fomalhaut and associated Echoes from Fomalhaut zine - Gabor's work couples the essence of Wilderlands of High Fantasy gaming with excellent design, useful-at-the-table gameplay detail, and a wonderful imaginative vision that always inspires me to design better, to try harder!


14. A game thing I made that I like quite a lot is:  Tales of Peril: The Complete Boinger and Zereth Stories of John Eric Holmes, published in June 2017 by Black Blade Publishing and I'm adding a second since this one's free---The Hyqueous Vaults written the Hyqueous Vaults Creation Team and published by Guy Fullerton (two different links there) in December 2017 (the adventure somewhat-belatedly celebrates the 10th anniversary of the publication of OSRIC, the original AD&D retro-clone)


15. I'm currently running/playing:   running and/or playing in four AD&D 1e campaigns, playing an Ars Magica 5e saga, and planning to run a Delta Green and/or Call of Cthulhu 5th edition Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign


16. I don't care whether you use ascending or descending AC because...:  ...I have DM Screen to look up the proper numbers, of course---and I use it because repeating 20s are difficult to memorize!


17. The OSRest picture I could post on short notice:  Ian Baggley's "Battle with the Dagonites" which we used as Tales of Peril's back cover artwork:

    

    Ian Baggley's "Battle with the Dagonites"

    
    
    

And here's my tweaked list of the questions, for easy cut/pasting:

1. One article or blog entry that exemplifies the best of the Old School Renaissance for me:  
2. My favorite piece of OSR wisdom/advice:  
3. Best OSR module/supplement:  
4. My favorite house rule (by someone else):
5. How I found out about the OSR:
6. My favorite OSR online resource/toy:
7. Best place to talk to other OSR gamers:
8. Other places I might be found hanging out talking games:  
9. My awesome, pithy OSR take nobody appreciates enough:
10. My favorite non-OSR RPGs:
11. Why I like OSR stuff:
12. Two other cool OSR things you should know about that I haven’t named yet:
13. If I could read but one RPG blog on my desert island, it would be:  
14. A game thing I made that I like quite a lot is:
15. I'm currently running/playing:
16. I don't care whether you use ascending or descending AC because...:
17. The OSRest picture I could post on short notice: 

Kellri's 18 Module Challenge - Day 5: S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks by Gary Gygax

Day 5 - A Module that Needs to be Played by a BIG Party: _S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks_ by Gary Gygax

Like its predecessor S1 Tomb of Horrors (TSR, 1978), S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks was first published to support TSR's "D&D for Prizes" tourney at Origins II in 1976.  The module we know and love wasn't formally printed until 1980:

 

S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks:
1976 Origins II tournament version,
above a copy of TSR's 1980 first printing module.

Why I Love S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks

• S3 is one of the most highly-lethal adventures I've run, and probably surpasses S1 Tomb of Horrors for the droves of PCs sent to early graves beneath its chromium lights
• High-tech lasers, grenades, power armor, robots, and androids abound that will (appropriately) perplex and befuddle the players while folding-spindling-and-mutilating their PCs with with efficiency!
• Introduces oodles of new and unique monsters (both flora, fauna, fungi, and more!), including some personal favorites---aurumvorax, froghemoth, gas bats, russet mold---as well as rarely-encountered iconic monsters like the eye of the deep, intellect devourer, and the iconic illustration-booklet-cover mind flayer!
• Features some of Rob Kuntz's best design work:  Expedition to the Barrier Peaks builds upon materials from the Expanded Castle Greyhawk, including from Kuntz's Garden of the Plant Master/Garden of Tharizdun level, as well as the infamous Machine Level 
• The 1980 publication of S3 was TSR's only adventure to include color interior artwork all rendered by the incomparable Erol Otus, who's fabulous pieces feature throughout the art-heavy book as well:
  
  
  

  

  S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, TSR 1980

  
  
  

Three Runners Up

The lethality-factor isn't the only criteria that requires a large party of PCs to tackle an adventure---extended forays without the ability to reprovision require more redundancy in a party as well as a higher-reliance on clerics and druids to create/purify food and water, too.  Many classic adventures feature such extended expeditions, including the G-D modules, X1 and WG6 for their rapacious and dinosaur-infested wilds, and the unforgiving deserts of X4-X5-X10, but in the end, I settled on the following three:

• "The Dancing Hut" by Roger E. Moore (TSR, March 1984 in Dragon Magazine #83):  what's not to love about the scariest witch in the world and her multi-planar tesseractian, self-defending, and senient mansion-turned-death trap?  If you want to add some further twists to the adventure, you can leverage David Nalle's "The Bogatyrs of Old Kiev" article from Dragon #53 and/or Lisa Smedman's 1995 Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga (TSR, 1985), in addition to its original artifact entries in Eldritch Wizardry and the Dungeon Masters Guide.
•  S1 Tomb of Horrors by Gary Gygax (TSR, 1975, 1978, 1981):  the classic PC shredder---its provides 20 pregens for a reason!
• WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure by Rob Kuntz (TSR, 1985):  Kuntz's classic 3-level dungeon, later expanded through the Maure Castle series of levels via Dungeon Magazine

 

My other posts in Kellri's 18 Day Module Challenge:

1. Day 4: "Deep Shit" by Jeff Barber
   
2. Day 3: A Fabled City of Brass by Anthony Huso
3. Day 2: Masks of Nyarlathotep by Larry DiTillio
4. Day 1: Empire of the Ghouls by Wolfgang Baur
5. Day 0: These are a Few of My Favorite Things...