Name Change for module

After a bit of thinking I decided I'd better change the name of my module, as there are a few versions of "Delve" used in the retro module market.  So being the googler that I am, I checked "term for underworld" and came up with "Chthonic".  Which has quite a nice ring to it I think?  I also found a nice little gif clipart of 3 mushrooms, so I'm on the way to having a design that's looking a little better.  Also Chthonic has a bit of a Cthulhu ring to it doesn't it?

I updated the design.  (see right)

Chthonic (/ˈkθɒnɪk/, from Greek χθόνιος – chthonios, "in, under, or beneath the earth", from χθών – chthōn "earth";^[1] pertaining to the Earth; earthy; subterranean), apart from its literal translation meaning 'subterranean', its historical or interpretive definition designates, or pertains to, deities or spirits of the underworld, especially in relation to Greek religion. The Greek word khthon is one of several for "earth"; it typically refers to the interior of the soil, rather than the living surface of the land (as Gaia or Ge does) or the land as territory (as khora(χώρα) does). It evokes at once abundance and the grave.

D&D 30 Day Challenge - Favorite magic item - Day 25

There are so many interesting magical items out there.  For example,  the "Drums of panic"  as described in Basic Fantasy.  

These drums are kettle drums 

(hemispheres about 1-1/2 feet in diameter on stands). 

They come in pairs and are unremarkable in appearance. 

If both of the pair are sounded, all creatures of less than 6 

hit dice within 120' (with the exception of those within a 

20' radius safe zone around the drums) must save vs. 

Spells or flee in fear.  The drums can be used once per 

day. 

This isn't my favorite magical item, but for the simple sake that who in there right mind walks around with a giant kettle drum???  Really?  

In actuality, I think my favorite magic item is probably the "Bag of Holding" as its extremely handy!  And if I was going with a non D&D type item , I'd probably suggest the most famous magic ring of all, Sauron's ring, the ONE ring.  (to rule them all).

However one other magical item came to me while I was writing this and that's "the hand of vecna" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_of_Vecna

To use the hand, a player must declare that his character (PC) has touched it to the stump of the PC's left forearm; most PCs must chop off their own left hand to do so. The hand magically grafts itself to the PC's stump, and from then on can be used as a normal hand, though it retains its charred and rotting appearance. It grants an array of magical powers, such as the ability to conjure forth missiles of magical force. Additional abilities become evident if the user also possesses the Eye of Vecna.

So that was a helluva a mixed bag.  Oh hey! The "Mixed Bag" new magical item, a little similar to heromine's "bag of holding" you have a 1 in 6 chance of pulling something out of the bag that maybe useful in a given situation.  DM's discretion advised.  I actually like that idea.  "Raf needs a healing potion, check the Mixed bag and see what comes out".. Roll.... "you pull out a pink toad, he ribbits jumps out of your hand and runs off, Raf is still bleeding to death, what do you do?"

The Deep Delve Cover Art

Just having some fun this afternoon in GIMP, I attempted to create some old school cover art for the module I've been working on at home.   Let me know what you think?  The picture is from a free archive I found online.

D&D 30 Day Challenge - Favorite Energy Type

This really must be a 3rd edition + question.  I'm gonna go with lighting, its fun.

A little "LotDS" Love.

I'm excited for Venger Satanis's OSR/System Agnostic module to come out.  He just posted a intriguing mini adventure, lead up to the actual book.  Check it out here - http://vengersatanis.blogspot.ca/2013/09/vords-familiar-introduction-to-clear.html

"You're walking through town until you come to a doorway.  Going through it, you suddenly find yourself in the forest at night.  Up ahead is a bonfire.  Drawn to it, you walk up to the edge of a camp where cackling winged serpents fly above sinister robed humanoids.  The robed humanoids hold meat cleavers above their heads, bringing them down, cutting into several torsos, legs, arms, and various gore-drenched body parts strewn before them.  The spectacle sickens you.  Before you can turn away from the grisly scene, the dark red visage of a Demon Lord appears in the midnight sky.  He has a smug expression upon his face, arrogantly gesturing at something behind you.  Still unable to move, you feel the sensation of worms - hundreds of them - crawling upon your legs and working their way up.  The Demon disappears as it utters the following disembodied words, "M'zathrinah Vordes'torvik ak qxon fsirie e'visht." 

D&D 30 Day Challenge - Least Favorite Monster

Here's another one that's hard to figure.  The one thing that comes to mind is that there is a variety of "meat" humanoids that are used on a regular basis, be it kobolds, Orcs, Bugbears, Gnolls etc.  I think all of us DM's use these types of Monsters to just fill space more often than not, myself included.  Maybe we should all start looking outside the box and throw some different monsters in there.  For example, rather than throwing in a party of Orcs, why not throw in one tougher monster, a Ogre, a Giant, a Troll (even then they are used a lot).  Or for that matter, create your own! Just for something different.   One monster that I feel isn't used very often (atleast in experience) is the Rakasta.  Create something new and different.

Further to the "Decisions???" Post

I've decided to stick with Basic Fantasy & the Chaotic Caves module for the next adventure I run.  I'm going to leave B/X alone for the time being, as its just another System that I may or may not end up using or just adding to my overwhelmed sense of mind! haha.  Since our gaming group has only met a few times, starting something new from scratch won't be too difficult.  However, because I still want to "create" something, I've been working on a few ideas, including a mega dungeon.  I'm going to make my best effort to finish it up and give it away as soon as possible! I plan to use OSRIC rules as, it allows people to produce modules without much extra legal work.

I had considered using B/X for the simple fact that it is Basic D&D, and with that a sense of nostalgia comes along, however running my one shot Blueholme adventure and my one shot Basic Fantasy adventure, made me realize from a DM stand point, I quite like the Ascending AC thing.  Other than that major difference, in my mind, Basic fantasy is as close to OSR as I can get, without having to look up THACO tables, which we can all agree is a wholesome pain in the arse.

The other night I had looked thru The Keep on the borderlands and a few other modules, including Chaotic Caves, (which is sorta a mashup of the keep, and a small sandbox), and I realized, that its really what I'm looking for, the Chaotic Caves that is.   I had briefly considered using The Keep as a home base for the PC's, (loosing the caves in the module) and creating a bunch of extra scenarios, but this just means a lot more work, and I already have some really good scenarios within CC anyways.  Or for that matter, Using the Keep as the home base, the scenarios from CC, and creating a new map... BLARG, Too much work LOL!  Its all just a starting point anyways.  Leave it be Shane... leave it be....

So, here's another meandering useless blog about nothing particularly in general, but that fact that I really need to DM something soon!

Later tonight, I'll re-arrange my binder for the upteenth time, and prep for CC, and wait for my players and some dice.

In the mean time I'll finish up this friggin mega dungeon.  I have already 10 pages of handwritten notes, and about 6 maps completed.

D&D 30 Day Challenge - Favorite Monster Overall - Tarrasque

I've never ran this sombitch! but damn it I want to! AC - 3, 300 HPs!!! approx 70 HD, HOLY CRAP ON A CRACKER, the heroes' better be gods. The XP value is a whooping 107,000, a guaranteed level advancement right there, provided you don't die!  

"Okay gents I'm going to need about 60 potions of healing, a couple of giant henchmen, a wizard with a wish spell, and a bit of luck".

So the question that comes to my mind is, has anybody ever actually unleashed this guy???? Please tell me! hahaha

Seriously I think I'd get tired of rolling damage, 300 HPs!!! This would make for an interesting campaign.  obviously you'd have to seriously equip the PC's, and start off with some high level peeps.  Their deaths would be legendary! Minstrel's would right songs about how it ripped there flesh apart, and made stew.  

Anther thing I've always thought is that the Tarrasque, looks quite a lot like Doomsday, the guy that killed Superman. 

A little info - The legendary tarrasque, for there is fortunately only one known to exist, is the most dreaded monster native to the Prime Material plane. The creature is a scaly biped with two horns on its head, a lashing tail, and a reflective carapace.  Slaying of the tarrasque is said to be possible only if the monster is reduced to -30 or fewer hit points and a wish is then used. Otherwise, even the slightest piece of the tarrasque can regenerate and restore the monster completely.  Note: Creatures with a minus THAC0 can only be hit on a 1.  More info on the Tarrasque here - http://www.lomion.de/cmm/tarrasqu.php 

The tarrasque is a gigantic lizard-like creature which exists only to eat, kill and destroy. In most campaign settings, only one tarrasque is said to exist on each world. The tarrasque has a low intelligence and cannot speak. It is neutrally aligned, for despite its violent and savage nature, it lacks the mental capacity to choose between good and evil.

The tarrasque was introduced to the D&D game in the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. It is based upon the French legend of the tarasque.  

Here's a bit of Tarrasque humor for you, (can't believe it was on cheeseburger!) 

Decisions?????

It must be the touch of ADD? Maybe.. I dunno.  I bounce back and forth between creating my own modules, running purchased modules (and possibly tinkering with them), and a variety of systems, I currently have Advanced Fighting Fantasy,  Blueholme, Basic Fantasy, Ad&D 2ed, and I'm considering grabbing B?X on friday.  ARGH!

Not to mention I've printed off a half a dozen tree's in the last few months, and 90% of it, I probably wouldn't run so much as I've got some good ideas from (which is great).

Its maddening isn't it?

Is it railroading?

Okay here's a good question, and it falls under the "is it railroading?"... I have an idea for a campaign, where there is a common goal in the end.  For example a medallion has been stolen and broken.  The medallion protects the countryside and keeps demons at bay.  The hero's need to find all the parts of the medallion and have it put back together somehow. So its broken up into 4 pieces, spread thru out a sandbox style map.  All the encounters are balanced similar so they can all happen at anytime.  Along the way there will be side adventures, etc.  However is it railroading, if the end goal is to have the medallion put back together? especially if there are NPC's nudging the hero's  to "this place where there is a possibility of the a section of the medallion there". 

D&D 30 Day Challenge - Favorite Dragon Color/Type

This one is a toss up between two "good" dragons, the Steel Dragon & the Bronze Dragon.  Both of which like to spend time with Humans/Demi-Humans, and are curious of what it is that these people do.  As far as Evil dragons go, I think its really a toss up between Black, Red & Green, they are all vile & vicious*

Steel Dragon - Steel dragons love to have human and demihuman companions, and they prefer to live amid the hustle and bustle of great cities. They often pose as sages, scholars, mages, or other intellectuals. 

Bronze Dragon - Bronze dragons are inquisitive and fond of humans and demi-humans. They enjoy polymorphing into small, friendly animals so they can unobtrusively observe humans and demi-humans, especially adventurers. Bronze dragons thrive on simple challenges such as riddles and harmless contests. They are fascinated by warfare and will eagerly join an army if the cause is just and the pay is good. 

In one of my latest games I started running a Bronze Dragon as a polymorph, I hadn't planned on much else other than for him to follow & and observe.  It makes a handy little plot device.

I also quite like the idea of the Steel Dragon, just wandering amongst the commoners in a town or city.  He could be the merchant, the old coot, the beggar, the captain of the guard.   All very handy plot devices.  Keep that in mind, and remember its Dungeons & Dragons, but that doesn't necessarily mean the heroes;'s have to fight them!  Although if they are dumb enough to take on one of the above Wyrms, if it materializes in front of them.  Well then.....


 *Hahahha  New Name for D&D Retro Clone - Vile & Vicious 

New Game Tonight!

Ever since I got a copy of "Keep on the borderlands" I've been really wanting to run it.  I've been sitting on my copy forever! Probably since I was about 16.  Anyways, I've decided to give up on my little campaign I started in basicfantasy, or atleast take a break from it.  The other player that had joined in hasn't made it down for awhile know and I'm getting friggin ansy, so without further ado tonight, my wife and I are going to roll up some characters and play thru "the keep".  I'm excited! The plan is to use the Blueholme rules.  I'll keep you posted.

D&D 30 Day Challenge - Favorite Monster (Humanoid/Natural/Fey)

Hmm, I think this one maybe similar to my post about Favorite Animal, not so much my favorite monster that I can throw at players, but one of my favorite humanoids in the game, and that would be Dwarfs! I love em! I like their gruffness, their fondness for shiny objects, their war mongering, their warhammers.  I really quite like the culture of the Dwarf's that has grown around them since D&D came out.  I also like the idea that half the time someone plays a dwarf they give em an incredibly silly scottish accent.  (I'm part scottish).  Anyways, I raise my glass of mead to anyone who's ever played the lovable albeit stubborn Dwarf! Slainte.

Darkfast Classic Fantasy Set Zero: Basic Adventure

Gawd I love going thru the FREE stuff on drivethrurpg.com  I just found these, and I'm printing them off on some leftover card stock at work.  Miss appropriate of office supplies! hahaha.

Darkfast Classic Fantasy Set Zero: Basic Adventure gives you 10 original Classic Fantasy themed miniature figures perfect for roleplaying games or wargames.  All files are 300dpi and include front and back views.  This is a layered PDF giving you two options of colour schemes for the figures.  


Download HERE!

From now through Saturday 9/28, The Temple of Elemental Evil is FREE.

From now through Saturday 9/28, The Temple of Elemental Evil is FREE.

Download it here - http://www.dndclassics.com/product/17068/T1-4-Temple-of-Elemental-Evil-%281e%29?it=1

A sinister force, long thought destroyed, stirs from the black hole that spawned it. Like an ebony darkness it prowls the land and safety is but an illusion, for it watches from every shadow and ponders possibilities.

What began years ago, with the introduction of the players to the quiet village of Hommlet and the amazing lands of Greyhawk, at last is complete. Here is the long-awaited campaign adventure, featuring the ruins of the Temple of Elemental Evil! Evil broods and grows beneath those blasted stones. This is your chance to drive it back and scatter its force again.

This product includes the village of Hommlet, the filthy shire of Nulb, and reveals the ruins of the Temple of Elemental Evil and the labyrinths that lie beneath, a warren of darkness. And beyond these ruins, even more is revealed.

For the first time, this product provides a complete campaign adventure, which will take beginning characters from 1st all the way to 8th level and possibly beyond! Hours of adventuring await you!

D&D 30 Day Challenge - Day 19 Favorite Monster - Elemental/Plant

I think this one is going to be quite obvious, probably for a lot of people.  I'm going with the Treant, known as the Shepard's of the forest.  Most famously from the Lord Of The Rings , "Treebeard".  I've never ran one of these guys in a game, but now I think I'll have to! My wife and I love these guys.  We have these old elms in our neighborhood, (like really old 100+ years) they are  super tall, like you can walk down my street in a rain storm and not get wet tall!  On the tree outside of our house we got some ceramic eyes & a nose and taked them to the tree, so he looks like a treant protecting our house.  Also my wife just finished up ceramic's class and she made 2 different Treant's for our deck, there both flower pots.  One of which the flowers grow out of his head, cool huh!

From SRD: A treant’s leaves are deep green in the spring and summer. In the fall and winter the leaves change to yellow, orange, or red, but they rarely fall out. A treant’s legs fit together when closed to look like the trunk of a tree, and a motionless treant is nearly indistinguishable from a tree.

A treant is about 30 feet tall, with a "trunk" about 2 feet in diameter. It weighs about 4,500 pounds.

Treants speak their own language, plus Common and Sylvan. Most also can manage a smattering of just about all other humanoid tongues—at least enough to say "Get away from my trees!"

D&D 30 Day Challenge - favorite monster (immortal / outsider)

Well here is another stumper, I'm wondering if this list was created with D&D 3 in mind?  I did however notice this on the OSR Google + "Martin Thomas posted the following... For those "not-in-the-know" an "outsider" is anything from the "outer planes" - so stuff like elementals, solars, planetars, devils, demons, and my "favorite"...

To quote Joshua De Santo http://geniuslocigames.blogspot.ca/2013/09/30-day-challenge-day-18-them.html  "As the days wear on and the challenge grows I am starting to see that I am woefully under-prepared for some of the questions"

I'm having a lot of difficulty as well with some of these questions.  I haven't played a whole lot of Space / Planescape RPG stuff, so this was a bit of a difficult one.  I've decided to go with the Glabrezu, and not because I've ever had one in any of my campaigns, but because I always wanted to.  There is something about flipping thru the AD&D 2nd Edition monster manual, that just makes you go "Gawd damn, we gotta roll up some HIGH level characters, cuz I want to throw this and that at you guys".  Same goes for the Tarrasque (which I'm sure will appear on day 22).  Here is some info on the Glabrezu from the Forgotten Realms wiki.

Glabrezu are one of the most powerful types of demonictanar'ri. A glabrezu tempts its victims into ruin by luring them with power or wealth. Their imposing stature radiates authority and control, which they use to sway mortals into accepting their gifts...for a price. They use lies and deception to destroy the lives of all whom these demons meet.

D&D 30 Day Challenge - Day 17 favorite monster - animal/vermin

I'm not sure if I have a favorite vermin, I suppose something along the lines of a wererat would probably be considering a lycanthrope rather than vermin, however they are particularly nasty aren't they?  When I consider animals, rather than think about ones that you have to defeat, I think about helpful ones, like Beast of Burden, (whether they are horses, camels, donkeys) and familiars like dogs.  Having a helpful animal or two within the party can be quite handy at times, and make for some interesting role playing.  I was just thinking about one of the more interesting animals I threw into a game, and its not something that you will likely think of, but a Rabbit.  Yup! a rabbit.  Of course the PC's didn't know at the time, but it was a good dragon (I believe gold) that had taken an interest in the PC's "doings & going abouts".  He followed them into a dungeon after they treked across a sodden plain.  He did not intervene, but watched from the sidelines.  I had thought about changing him, but I decided to save it until he was needed.  I think that's an interesting twist.

I leave you with the Killer Rabbit sketch, yes they are scary!!!

D&D 30 Day Challenge - Day 16 Favorite Monster (Aberration)

Quickly checks the SRD to see what Aberration is.... (An aberration has a bizarre anatomy, strange abilities, an alien mindset, or any combination of the three.)  HUH! Okay then, Greek Mythology here we go! 

Its gotta be a Manticore then, The manticore (Early Middle Persian Martyaxwar) is a Persian legendary creature similar to the Egyptian sphinx. It has the body of a red lion, a human head with three rows of sharp teeth (like a shark), and a trumpet-like voice. Other aspects of the creature vary from story to story. It may be horned, winged, or both. The tail is that of either a dragon or a scorpion, and it may shoot poisonous spines to either paralyze or kill its victims. It devours its prey whole and leaves no clothes, bones, or possessions.  I've never used one in a game, but I've always wanted to.  I've often thought about running a campaign where the PC's come up against mythological creatures & aberrations.  It may still yet happen.  Just within Greek mythology alone, there is the Hyrda, the Medusa, Centaur's, Satyr's, etc

If I had to pick 2, the other would be a Drider, they are a awfully freaky, a total aberration.  The drow look down upon them, treat them as slaves, which makes them very dangerous.  Although you do tend to almost feel sorry for them.  The entire Drow culture is rife with viciousness, Exploitation and blind religion, which makes for interesting role playing.

In the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game, a drider is an aberration that was formerly a drow (dark elf). Driders are centaur-like creatures in the game, appearing as drow from the waist up, with their lower portions replaced by the abdomen and legs of immense spiders. They are most commonly found in the Underdark.

Day 15 D&D 30 Day Challenge - Favorite Monster Undead

So many choices, I wonder what everyone is going to pick? Skeletons, Vampires, Zombies?   Personally I think I'd have to go with a Wight, as there just such bad asses, in basicfantasy/SRD they can do a Energy Drain (see below).  I suppose I should give more reasons that this, but I honestly can't think of too many.  I like the idea of throwing something dangerous at the hero's once in awhile rather than everyday meat like Skeletons & Zombies.

Sometimes characters are exposed to energy drain from 

undead or evil magic.  Such energy drain is manifested in 

the form of “negative levels.”  For each negative level a 

victim receives, he or she suffers a semi-permanent loss of 

one hit die worth of hit points and a penalty of -1 on all 

attack and saving throw rolls.  The victim may or may not 

be allowed a saving throw to resist the effect (depending 

on the specific monster type). Healing and Rest 

Characters recover 1 hit point of damage every day, 

provided that normal sleep is possible.  Characters who 

choose full bedrest regain an additional hit point each 

evening. 

D&D 30 Day Challenge - Day 14 Favorite NPC

I've been looking forward to this one! In my current campaign (which is based on Basic Fantasy's module - The Laughing Dragon which you can download here - http://basicfantasy.org/downloads.html )  My favorite NPC is Fonkin The Gnome Wizard, I've been playing him sort of like Sheldon from TBBT,  In the first part of the quest , he sends the hero's out to look for some things that have been stolen from his hut by his EX apprentice.  When playing him I've been trying to take everything literally the way Sheldon does in the show.  As far as other campaigns I've ran, Obviously for Forgotten Realms, Elminster is great fun to play, he's modeled after Gandalf as far as I'm concerned, and every time I played him, I played him aloof just like Gandalf the Grey.  When I used to play advanced fighting fantasy, I really enjoyed adventuring in Port Blacksand, and one of the main antagonists was Lord Azzur, not really so much a NPC as a Pain in the arse!  If I remember correctly AFF also had a NPC wizard guy like Gandalf/Elminster although for the life of my I can't remember his name off hand.  It seems that the Wizard as a NPC rears their heads in every type of fantasy game that I've played.  Have you found this? Why is the a Wizard the guy that always sends everyone out on foolhardy quests?

Sword & Board: A Basic Fantasy Companion

Just found this over at Drivethru, downloading currently.

This supplement provides new races, class options, monsters, spells, and
 encounter rules for the Basic Fantasy Roleplaying Game.

D&D 30 Day Challenge - Favorite Trap/Puzzle Day 13

By happenstance, Day 13 also fell on Friday the 13th! Awesome.  This one is a bit difficult for me, but I quite like all traps, especially when they are done sneaky and the PC's forget to "check for traps".  I recently ran an adventure where there was a Skeleton in the room goading the players to move forward while firing arrows at them, of course they walked forward and fell into a pit trap!  Another one I created lately was a Evil Idol Statue, that if screwed with created lighting in the room.  Basically the PC's came in to the room and felt a very evil presence emanating from the statue, one of the PC's tried to pry some Gems off the statue, and the lighting commenced, (this would have also happened had the PC's attempted to consecrate the statue as well).  Obviously Evil, and had there been any evil characters in the room, it would not have done this.  As far as puzzles go, I haven't ran many, but have found a ton of good ideas out there that I'm hoping to use eventually.  I do like the occasional riddle,  I wrote one about a Dragon, that was easy enough to answer, but was very poetic.  The kicker was it was written in Dwarfish, so a skill check was needed to confirm the PC's would be able to read it.  Another thing I'm working on is Crystal keys, that will have to be placed in a specific door in a specific way to have it open and reveal more dungeons :) that is of course in the works.

D&D 30 Day Challenge - Day 12 - favorite dungeon type/location

I'm sure I won't be the only one to say this but the Underdark is probably my favorite, the adventure with the boxed set was so thrilling, (I ran it once).  If I remember correctly you could either start off as a member of a Drow family or as an outsider, I picked the outsider path just for the tour to Menzoberranzan, which is extremely detailed in the box.  I suppose if I had to pick a second dungeon location it would be a toss up between the "Caves of Chaos" and any Castle type crawl.

Here's a link to the geography of the Underdark I found
http://www.realmshelps.net/faerun/underdark/pix/undermap.jpg

Couple of things I've stumbled upon this morning

Disasters in the Underworld.

Historically, we as humans have spent a lot of time digging holes in the ground. Throughout that history, we've had those holes collapse or blow us to holy hell. Coal miners have been known to bring canaries underground so that the birds would die from carbon monoxide poison while the miners still had a chance to escape alive. Even in modern industrial mines, a blowout can still lead to fatalities and miners spending days or weeks trapped underground with limited food and no sunlight. In Centralia, Pennsylvania, a coal mine fire started in 1962, is still burning in 2013 and will continue to burn unabated for 250 years.

In Dungeons & Dragons there's so much we can take out of this. The point I want to reach is in making underground disasters a challenge and not an annoyance or a simple declaration of "rocks fall, everyone dies."

To read more check out the excellent blog http://initiativeone.blogspot.ca/2013/09/disasters-in-underworld.html

Three Sad Wizards

http://weirdopera.blogspot.nl/2013/08/three-sad-wizards-available-in-print.html

The wizards in the village of Tealief have horrible problems! • Terrible carnivorous plants make the garden of Bymen the Botanomancer unsafe. • Giant insects are running free in the underground laboratory of Ermard the Entomomancer. • Monstrous birds escaped from the tower of Ostal the Ornithomancer. Only a group of courageous adventurers can help them. Is your party brave enough? Three Sad Wizards is an introductory module, designed for characters of 1st and 2nd level. Written for use with old school RPGs, this module can be fitted into almost any campaign or played as a stand-alone adventure.

D&D 30 Day Challenge - Day 11 Best Adventure You Ever Ran

The best adventure I ever ran was "The sword of the dales", it was for AD&D 2ed.  I had gotten a hold of this adventure (and the Dales campaign setting) before I got the Forgotten Realms Boxed Set.  Funny thing was I spent most of my time in the dales with our adventurer's anyways, it just has a mystique about it, and obviously Greenwood spent a lot of time there with his pals before he wrote it.  One of the Stand Out Characters of the adventure was Randal Morn, the rightful ruler of Daggerdale.  Here is the information on the backcover.

The Sword of the Dales, an icon of theDalelands symbolizing the unity and strength of the people, has reappeared! Created byShraevyn the weapons-mage hundreds of years ago, the lost Sword had become nothing more than a fantastic children's tale—until now.

A group of warriors led by Randal Morn, rightfule ruler of Daggerdale, rushed to theSword's resting place to recover it, but dark forces awaited them, and Randal and his men fell to an ambush. Only one man escaped, yet he brought hope with him that Randal Morn yet lives. Resolved to rescue his leader, that lone survivor turned to Elminster of Shadowdale for aid.

But Elminster is gone, off plane-hoping while the fate of Daggerdale hangs in the balance. Hence, it is up to Lhaeo, scribe to the old mage, to find a group of heroes who have mettle enough to face down the menace which claimed Randal Morn and his hearty followers...

This is the first of three modules that grant the player characters the opportunity to determine the fate of Daggerdale. The Saga continues with The Secret of Spiderhaunt and concludes with The Return of Randal Morn.

http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sword_of_the_Dales

In my searching about this module I did manage to find an extremely horrible pdf version online illegally, a quick search will find it for you, I'd prefer not to put the link up.  This was a really fun adventure, it has some overland travel with a few planned encounters, it is to a degree a railroad adventure, as you have to get to a tomb eventually, however if you can extend the module a bit, and take off in a different direction with one of the encounters or plan your own.  I can't comment on the rest of the trilogy, as I only ever owned the first one, but If you'd like to learn more, there is a synopsis below. 

http://forgotten-realms.wandering-dwarf.com/daggerdale/sotd_synopsis.php

There is also a really nice cross hatch map of the tomb in the module.