Thanks to BeyondtheBreach in another thread for bringing up a subject near and dear.  When we first started playing D&D back in the late 70's, there wasn't a huge selection of material to choose from module-wise.  To top it off my own efforts frankly sucked.  So novice DMs like myself, once we worked through the published stuff like the classic "letter" series of modules, would typically fall back on the modules published in Dragon magazine as part of their Module Design Contest that ran in the early 80's.  These were published every few months for a few years in Dragon magazine (the publication of Dungeon magazine would eventually lead to Dragon no longer carrying these short one-shot adventures). In general, I don't recall a single stinker in the bunch, and as a matter of fact a few became staples of my campaigns.  I ran the many of these again and again, and their quality at least matched if not surpassed many of the "official" TSR offerings at the time.  I thought I might review a few of these that I've used more than once, maybe some other oldies like myself can share some thoughts about their favorite Dragon magazine adventures.  
    FOREST OF DOOM in Dragon Magazine #73, May of 1983, is an adventure I've run several times and each time it has gotten a great reception.  At the time, it was interesting because it featured Drow before they became the ubiqitous inhabitants of every other hack creation being published nowadays.  Back in 1983 they had only appeared as the main villains in the D-series and Q1, which came out in 1980, and were definitely not the overused badguys they became and still are to this day.  Without major research, I think this was the first published adventure since the D series and Q1 to feature Drow as a villain (from 1980 to 1983 I don't think they appeared commercially).
    Anyway, the point being that at the time they were still seen as the deadly and mysterious creatures of the underdark, and still had the capacity to bring excitement to the game table instead of bringing unpleasant pictures of Drizzt and his scimitars to mind.  Not to mention the very unique dungeon setting Scott Butler picked for his award winning adventure.....
     First Place winner of Category A-2 in the Module Design Contest, Forest of Doom as for a party of 4-8 characters of 4th to 7th level (being the main opponents are Drow spellcasters, I'd lean towards the higher levels there).  This 15 page adventure is typical of those in the Module Design Series, setting up a fairly good background/motivation for the adventure, one generic enough to be lifted to any campaign if needed. To summarize, a "dark" forest of evil beings surrounds a prosperous land, and must be traveled through regularly for trade reasons. Sporadic raids are taking place on the edges of the forest, and inevitably the player characters are sent to find someone or somethng called "Arron" who is responsible for leading these attacks.  To do this, they must enter the dark forestand find the base for these raiders.
     The author sets up the plot well as Drow are never mentioned, although several clues are given (darts smeared with some like of fungus as well as pitted and decayed blades are found after the raids) that would immediately give it away to many of today's gamers.  Plus, another red herring is that after meeting the Drow under the circumstances of the D-series, players at the time didn't suspect that a dark forest, not an underground cavern, could hide the sun-hating dark elves unless they were very familiar with the monster description in the Fiend Folio.  
    The Drow are not only raiding from the forest, they have set up a somewhat unique fortress/base INSIDE a gigantic tree in the heart of the forest.  Parts of the tree have been hollowed out to form rooms and passages and a rationale is given as to why the tree has survived this and even thrives.  As far as I can remember, this is the only published TSR adventure that takes place within a gigantic tree, and the uniqueness of the locale adds to the adventure.
    When the Tree Fortress is located, the characters must plan an assault in most cases not knowing Drow are their foes (unless they have run into a Drow patrol during random encounters).  Battling bugbears, giant spiders, Quaggoths, stirges and the occasional drow (another nice thing about this adventure is that they keep the Drow somewhat mysterious and unique by not throwing dozens of them at the party) the party makes their way "up" the inside of the tree to rescue slaves and confront the mysterious leaders.  
    The Tree Fortress only has three levels but due to the claustrophobic nature of the "dungeon" it might take awhile to clean it out.  The final encounter is particularly nasty, with two high level drow leaders (8th cleric and 7th fighter/mage) and their five henchmen in a large chamber the drow enemies can easily use to their advantage.
    The treasure and magic doesn't look excessive, and the creatures and traps faced are varied and interesting enough to keep the PCs on their toes. All in all, this was an excellent adventure that could have perhaps been polished up to be an adventure that we would remember as a "classic" crawl if it had been published as an actual module instead of a contest winning adventure in Dragon magazine. I've run this adventure several times, changing it up depending on the circumstanes, and have always gotten good feedback from the players.  Highly recommended.
    BTW, anyone want to list the issues of Dragon these adventures were published in?  I'm too lazy.  Plus would like to hear comments on anyone else's favorite Dragon magazine adventures.

Mike B.[/code][/list]

Oh, the Drow were so wonderfully evil and tough.  The party I took through it just shook their heads in disbelief the whole adventure, but they wouldn't stop.  They succeeded in completing it but only after losing two of the strongest party members in the final encounter.  Definitely a classic!

Was it Den of Thieves (Thieves Den)?

darkseraphim wrote:Speaking of puzzle dungeons, it's worth noting Greenwood's Assassin Run (#64?) was later re-used in an official module.  Who can name it?

Dark, was it used in H3?  Or is my memory not up to snuff?

Mike B.

>>Dark, was it used in H3? Or is my memory not up to snuff?

That's it.

"The Dancing Hut" was in Dragon #83 and is a high level adventure that features Baby-Yaga.  

Pretty cool if you are looking for an upper level module for characters - also the hut can be used inventively and woven into your own adventures.  The nature of the hut and it's design also enable you to change/modify encounters with ease or create your own rooms.  I used this adventure as part of an ongoing quest to retrieve a gem that held the imprisoned soul of a legendary wizard. . . the difficulty was, the gem was in the possession of a Type V demon on the abyss.  Much investigation revealed that she was an "ally" of Baby-Yaga (at least, as much of an ally as Chaotic Evil creatures can be).  Further adventures led to the hut and a meeting with Baba-Yaga herself (One of the hut's rooms was actually a gate to the abyss which Baby-Yaga could command to open virtually anywhere on the plane).

Of course, Baba-Yaga wasn't going to help the party and betray her "friend" without a substantial reward and a frightfully difficult quest that would question the parties' alignment.  More adventures and plot threads. . . most of this came to me after reading the module and thinking how it could be used in our campaign.

In my campaign, every world on the Prime Material (and several lower planes) had an identical hut, with the identical door as the multiple gateways.  The place was sacrosanct - no violence could be committed by anyone, unless Baba Yaga decided she wanted to eat someone.  Usually the "maidservant" (a shapeshifted Type V demon) would be there.  You would walk in, sometimes brushing shoulders with a lich that just entered from another world to seek advice on longevity, or a ki-rin coming to bargain for the life of a kidnapped servant.  It made a great beginning point for starting high-level adventures - Baba Yaga became a major NPC, because sometimes the legends the PCs needed to start a quest were locked away in her mind.  Grisly side-quests and disturbing "prices" were to be had before every such adventure.  The PCs loved her, but they were always too freaked out to even think of exploring the hut.

dzubak wrote:Traveller,
Quest for the Midas Orb was published in issue #61.  It has some decent rooms and encounters but I was a bit let down by the conclusion of it.

Interestingly, and don't ask why, I ran this once as an underwater adventure...again, don't ask why.

Fedifensor was published in issue #67 and is a great adventure.  The Dragon#67 also included a large article on the astral plane.  A very good issue indeed.  I've never had the pleasure of playing or DMing this one but it is on my dream list.

 

Fedifensor was nice, and while running it one of my gamers pulled one of the best surprise tactics that I've ever seen and that my gaming group still talks about to this day. Add to this fact the guy was a stoner and probably wasted when he did it makes it even more incredible.  I'll get to it later when I review this module.

Bbarsh,
The module with the magic spear and the plague is Citadel by the Sea from issue #78.  A great low level (1-2) adventure pitting the players against a small clan of orcs who have penentrated an old fortress in search of the magic spear that is a bane to elvenkind.

An absolute classic. I'll review this one later.

Some of my other favorites Dragon adventures include:
Wandering Trees(#57):  a mid-level adventure that has the party exploring an ancient druidic ruin that was wiped out years ago by a barbarian horde.  A truly great adventure that includes a large wilderness area and with many encounters (in addition to the extensive ruined complex).

Good outdoor run for druid characters who are always bitching about not being able to use their powers (yes my group had one).

Chagmat (#63):  another good low level adventure that I've run multiple times.  Using a cliched plot hook (rescue missing villagers), the adventures travel to an old dungeon in a mountain to combat an old foe (humaniod spiders) that terrorized the region decades prior.  I enjoy it because there are some good encounters, the finale is a good battle and the new monster is pretty cool.

The humanoid spiders were a very cool villain, and being as they weren't in the Monster Manual a good surprise to use agains players (who as everyone knows who gamed back then, had the MM memorized front, back and sideways).

Into the Forgotten Realms (#95):  a really mid-level good dungeon crawl into an old wizardry school, althougth it contents plot elements specific to the Forgotten Realms and the final encounter could easily result in a TPK.

If the party doesn't panic and try to fight the senile Lich, it can be a really, really funny (yet suspenseful) encounter, with lots of roleplaying.  

Aesirhamar (#93):  a high level adventure that takes the party to the outer planes (where the Norse gods reside) in search of a rogue giant with a powerful hammer.  I liked it because it added a new element for the players to experience.

Never ran this one...

Ruins of Andril (#81):  a mid/high-level desert adventure that involves the adventures finding an egyptian temple that is only appears once a year (or so) and sinks back into the sand after a day.

Another classic, I'll review it later.

Halls of Beoll-Dur (#41):  classic dungeon crawl into a dwarven temple complex.  I just loved the maps.  

I ran this once upon a time, and the party had lots of fun, but re-reading it recently...well, it's about the same quality as a fair Judge's Guild module at the time.  Not as good as I remember it being!

Mike B.

About six months ago I realized (for the first time) that the modules in Dragon Mags were always the center insert and came with a "black and white" cover page with art.

I am sure many others have known about this, but it dawned on me that I could remove the modules from the mags and create a little collection of adventures.  Now. . . I only decided to do this because all my old Dragon Mags are pretty shoddy - many had lost their covers!

So, I was able to dispose of some dead weight Dragons with a good conscience and start a little collection.  

I now have The Dancing Hut, Can Seapoint Be Saved, Citadel By the Sea, Valley of the Earth Mother, Betrayed, Barnacus: City in Peril, Forest of Doom and Quest for the Midas Orb neatly set aside and bagged.

Okay, no real value there, but they are available and handy for quick reference or play (if the day ever comes that I play again. . .    )

A decent enough use for old Dragons. . . eventually I will get a collection of all the old modules.