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Nine Awesome, Complete, & Affordable D&D Campaigns
Chris Flood
United States
Oakland
California
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This meta-list of lists is composed of diverse D&D campaigns that not only include the Greatest D&D Modules of All Time but also are quite affordable. The most expensive campaign is $100, but it's also arguably the best and includes twice as many adventures as the other ones. The cheapest one is less than $20. All will progress PCs from the 1st level to at least the 10th level, and each one focuses on a specific storyline, setting, or style of play that ties together all of the modules.
Feel free to add your own ideas to the list. The campaigns should get the PCs from 1st to at least 10th level with a minimum of DM effort. Please also include the total cost of the modules.
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Chris Flood
United States
Oakland
California
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Among the D&D settings, the Kingdom of Kalamar seems to be rather underrated. It boasts the top-rated D&D module ever on RPG.net and a host of material that costs but a couple dollars each on the used market, but the collection of these products has yet to receive more than just a few ratings. This campaign puts together a string of adventures set in this world plus the well-regarded sourcebook, all costing under $10. Heck, if you take out the sourcebook, it's only $3!
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Chris Flood
United States
Oakland
California
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Designed to take PCs from the 4th to 14th level, this $15 module is essentially a campaign unto itself. To get PCs up to the 4th level, start them off with the Secrets of Lendore Isle Mini-Campaign.
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Chris Flood
United States
Oakland
California
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The Sunless Citadel Adventure Path includes eight modules designed to fully progress PCs to the 20th level. While only the first adventure cracks my "greatest ever" composite ranking, a couple others would make it were I to expand the number I include and yet another couple could make it if only they receive some more ratings either here or on RPG.net. It's a worthwhile series made even better by a fairly affordable pricetag of only around $30 on Amazon.com.
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Chris Flood
United States
Oakland
California
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"The Forbidden Isles" campaign is inspired by two ideas from GROGNARDIA: placing I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City onto the Isle of Dread (X1) and setting B2's Caves of Chaos near L1's town of Restenford on Lendore Isle.
This list takes these concepts a couple steps further by adding C1 and S1 to the mix. You end up with two islands--Lendore Isle and the Isle of Dread--forming a massive sandbox capable of getting a group of 4 or 5 PCs from the 1st to the 10th level for less than $20 total. Because the entire campaign takes place on a few islands, DMs should find it fairly easy to flesh out the entire area without worrying about the broader context of the world.
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Gerry Smit
Canada
Toronto
Ontario
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Red Hand of Doom is a large Adventure Module that will run you from level 5 or 6 to level 10 or 12 (depending on whether or not you believe the back blurb or the inside notes).
To get to level five, Sons of Gruumsh is a great intro, especially if you substitute Hobgoblins for Orcs, or at least subsitute visiting RHoD hoblins for the visiting imperials.
To get to Level 4, I suggest any decent module, but two stand out as appropriate:
The Sunless Citadel
Scourge of the Howling Horde
Both deal with Goblinoids, and set the players into a Goblin(oid) Hunter spirit. A Ranger can specialize his favoured enemy as Goblinoid, and there's plenty of room for every other PHB character class, Druid included for this 3.5 ed Series. Set the entire campaign in "Elsir Vale" so that the RHoD events are personal to the PCs, and you're ready to roll.
Gerry
eta: Ooops. Forgot costs: RHoD should be available for about $20, $30 tops. The other three modules are showing up on eBay in the $5-$10 mark, making this campaign a $50 venture with a bit of shopping and patience. ghs2
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Chris Flood
United States
Oakland
California
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This Old School D&D Deserts Campaign strings together four epic-length adventures: B4 The Lost City (with assumed additions of pyramid levels and the underground city by the DM), the I3-5 Desert of Desolation supermodule, the Desert Nomad trilogy (X4, X5, and, if you can afford it, X10), and Gary Gygax's Necropolis. For just $60 and some tweaking of the modules, you can take a beginning party up to nearly the 20th level, all in one richly detailed environment.
Although these modules are drawn from both the World of Greyhawk and Mystara, some effort from the DM should enable them to integrate seamlessly. Essentially the whole idea behind this campaign is that it takes place entirely in a single enormous desert region. If the DM takes the time to plot these adventures on the map of said region, then she should be good to go.
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Chris Flood
United States
Oakland
California
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The modules on this list share a common underlying feel of eeriness and horror and should progress the party from the 1st level well past the 10th level. These highly rated modules cost a total of about $60. They come from a mix of campaign settings (Ravenloft, Mystara, and others), so the DM will have to do some work to incorporate them into his own setting. It shouldn't be too hard, since many of these modules utilize the "wandering through fog into an alternate dimension" introduction.
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Chris Flood
United States
Oakland
California
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Designed to take PCs all the way from 1st through at least 12th level, the $25 Night Below offers incredible value for the money. Although it's not as highly rated as some of the other classic modules on this list, it's the only one that includes an entire campaign progression in a single book, amounting to just a couple dollars per level of progression. Most of its ratings on GeekDo, RPG.net, and Amazon.com are excellent, with its only knock being that it is too combat heavy, according to one reviewer on RPG.net. However, since another reviewer on the same site argues that the campaign emphasizes diplomacy and trickery in a considerably more articulate and convincing manner, I'm inclined to believe the lackluster review should be taken with a grain of salt.
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Chris Flood
United States
Oakland
California
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The adventure modules on this list are not only among the greatest of all time but also share the common theme of sending the party on a discrete mission. Saving a village, rescuing stolen items, investigating strange border skirmishes--these are the types of goals the party will work toward. Whether you've got a group of do-gooders or hardened mercenaries, this series of adventures will keep them focused without having to railroad them through an epic plot.
The base modules suggested here and all their alternatives cost about $80 total (plus shipping) and will progress the PCs from 1st to nearly 20th level. Most of them are based in the World of Greyhawk, while the rest are generic enough that they could occur there as well.
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Posted Fri Jan 29, 2010 10:34 pm
Great Sutton
Cheshire
Oakland
California
Oakland
California