Top 3 Hardest Dungeons of All Time

DaveyB · Post by **DaveyB** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 7:57 pm

What do you guys/gals think are the top 3 hardest dungeons of all time. They can be ones you've played or ones you've heard or read about. Also they don't have to be D&D, they can be from other RPGs as well. Mine are:

3. Lure of the Liche Lord - Warhammer Fantasy: well written module with plenty of backstory that explains why this dungeon is there and possible outcomes that can result from PCs interactions. Devious puzzles and traps galore, but none that are as brutal as another famous Lich's tomb.

2. Red Hand of Doom - D&D 3.x (I know, I know...): while not a singular dungeon, there were some pretty good meat-grinder moments in this module as well. Our party came up with many ingenious (i.e.- stupid plans that somehow worked out in the end) ways to get past the many challenges in this adventure.

1. S1 Tomb of Horrors - D&D: while I've never had the pleasure (or misfortune?) of going through this module, everything I've read states that this is the module that TPK's more parties than anything. One of these days I hope to play this module and see if it's as deadly as everyone makes it out to be!

Well, there are mine. I'm not the most widely played RPG'er, so I haven't had the pleasure of going through many of the older modules, but I'd be interested in hearing other peoples' thoughts!

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 8:22 pm

3. Ravenloft

2. Tomb of Horrors

1. Temple of Elemental Evil

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Valerian · Post by **Valerian** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:19 pm

1 Tomb of horrors

2 Return to the tomb of horrors

3 Ravenloft
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serleran · Post by **serleran** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:21 pm

As said elsewhere --

1) Tomb of Horrors

2) Labyrinth of Madness

3) Necropolis (I had to reread this one...)

sieg · Post by **sieg** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:02 pm

1. S1: Tomb of Horrors

2. Rappan Athuk III (lower levels)*

3. U2 Fingers of the Forsaken Hand
Honorable Mention to a4: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords. Maybe not so tough in and of itself, but with naked and unarmed PC's? Yep!
*= I've read it but never ran it, so its theoretical...
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Go0gleplex · Post by **Go0gleplex** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:33 pm

The Desert of Desolation Series...

Ravenloft
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Barrataria · Post by **Barrataria** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 11:26 pm

I think I concurred with this list when posted on DF:

1. Tomb of Horrors

2. Isle of the Ape

3. Return to Tomb of Horrors

I gave my honorable mentions to G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King, which has killed off and/or decimated every party I've run through it. And Descent into the Depths- my players survived, but took one look at Vault of the Drow and decided they'd rather fight their way out than fight whatever was in there

DaveyB · Post by **DaveyB** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:07 am

I've seen Ravenloft mentioned elsewhere. I have the old boxed set sans the box, but I've never played/read the module. What makes it so deadly? I've also heard good things about Necropolis. Might have to look into that as well.

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:16 am

They do not mean the box set -- they mean the module which predates the setting (box set). It was called I6 and looks like:

And, regarding Necropolis, I do not mean the d20 version, but the original released for Mythus / Dangerous Journeys. I find the d20 version lacking in killability simply because d20 characters, at that level, are much more nastier.

DaveyB · Post by **DaveyB** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:35 am

Serleran wrote:
They do not mean the box set -- they mean the module which predates the setting (box set).

Yeah I know, I probably should've made that a little clearer in my first message.

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:37 am

Its OK. any excuse to post the picture is a good one. I like the module a lot, but don't consider it exceptionally deadly. It can be... but not everything is set up that way. I mean its no Acerak's tomb... of horrors.

sieg · Post by **sieg** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:59 am

Agreed; I6 Ravenloft is hardly a cakewalk, and certainly has very good points as a module. But I wouldn't normally consider it a PC-Killer.

Those who posted RL, could you share some thoughts with us on why this one rated?
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shadoes · Post by **shadoes** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:28 am

First time I played it A4 In the Dungeons of the Slavelords was quite the deadly challenge heh.

Tomb of Horrors definitely

And can I put a vote in for Casey's game over the weekend?

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:38 am

I have only had 12 players survive it, out of 13 groups
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Tadhg · Post by **Tadhg** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:40 am

I never played in any of those high level AD&D dungeons, but look forward to doing so some day.

But, for a hard dungeon to crawl through and map, I'll throw out B1 In Search of the Unknown. Being that Quasqueton was our first dungeon experience, it was quite challenging to map. Imagine if it was your first dungeon crawl!!!

Aside:

I have to say that I'm very impressed with you veteran players who can map so well from a DM's description. I watch and am amazed. I'm not at all spatially challenged and have a good sense of direction, but I still get impressed. I'll guess that it's just a matter of experience - and then it's second nature for you.

Of course, much depends on how good the DM/CK describes the layout.

I've also been very impressed with the Troll mods A0 and A1. Very good dungeons and very challenging.

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Barrataria · Post by **Barrataria** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:40 am

sieg wrote:
Those who posted RL, could you share some thoughts with us on why this one rated?

I didn't, but my players got so frustrated with it that one character sat at the illusory (or whatever) organ and played along with Strahd
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cinderblock · Post by **cinderblock** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:44 am

You should NEVER touch Strahd's organ!

Aladar · Post by **Aladar** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:11 pm

The most deadliest AD&D dungeons I went through as a player were:

1. Tomb of Horrors.

2. Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (robots and ray guns, oh my!)

3. Ravenloft.
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Omote · Post by **Omote** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:43 pm

Tomb of Horrors

Rappan Athuk (Reloaded)

Temple of Elemental Evil

-O
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Lord Dynel · Post by **Lord Dynel** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:52 pm

I'd have to say:

1. Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth

2. Temple of Elemental Evil

3. Ravenloft

Honorable Mention - The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun

I've never run Tomb of Horrors, so I cannot attest to its "deadliness." I have it on schedule though.

Go0gleplex · Post by **Go0gleplex** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:44 pm

Tomb of horrors wasn't that bad at all. You just had to be paranoid. VERRRRRRY paranoid.
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Valerian · Post by **Valerian** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:22 pm

Ravenloft deadly .

Well when I ran it I ran it as is, for the suggested levels. Those are 5-7 , strahd is a 10th level vampire mage. By old rules that's a lvel 10 dungeon encounter. The first time I had Strahd show up was upon the top of a tower , rain , lightining the whole ambieance bit. He charmed our huge 18/% fighter , who through the only cleric from the battlements , splat. It only went downhill from there . Only the paladin and a wizard lived gained the sword and defeated strahd. Those two at least enjoyed it and had tales to tell, as 10 characters went in.
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See their character sheets piled before you

And to hear the lamentations of the players

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Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 6:07 pm

I'll likely run Ravenloft on line again for "Holloween". You can find out then why it can be so deadly. Of course my Ravenloft is now living. It grows based on what has gone before, except the ones lucky enough to have actually defeated Strahd. Running Ravenloft with Strahd defeated would be pointless. Strahd has only been defeated twice out of 13 groups.
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DaveyB · Post by **DaveyB** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 7:47 pm

Valerian wrote:
Ravenloft deadly .

Well when I ran it I ran it as is, for the suggested levels. Those are 5-7 , strahd is a 10th level vampire mage. By old rules that's a lvel 10 dungeon encounter. The first time I had Strahd show up was upon the top of a tower , rain , lightining the whole ambieance bit. He charmed our huge 18/% fighter , who through the only cleric from the battlements , splat. It only went downhill from there . Only the paladin and a wizard lived gained the sword and defeated strahd. Those two at least enjoyed it and had tales to tell, as 10 characters went in.

Man, that sounds awesome (except for the cleric's player perhaps). I'll have to look into acquiring I6 one of these days. Problem is I'm the youngest of the group and the rest of the guys have been playing since the late 70's/early 80's, so they've played through most of the classic modules. I'm sure time and some creativity can switch things up though.

concobar · Post by **concobar** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 7:54 pm

1. Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth

2. The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun

3. Tomb of Horrors

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 7:58 pm

Quote:
You can find out then why it can be so deadly.

We're discussing unmodified modules; a person can take any module and make it deadly, even Terrible Trouble at Tragidore -- I've done exactly that, but it doesn't mean the module is lethal as presented. The point of this thread, I assume, is a module as-written. There are certainly very naughty aspects of Ravenloft, for sure, but I consider it relatively mild compared to some others.

Also, there is a marked difference between lethal and difficult -- Labyrinth of Madness is not a killer module, but it is challenging. Hell, the last "module" from OP1: Tales from the Outer Planes is probably the most lethal adventure ever written...

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:04 pm

serleran wrote:
We're discussing unmodified modules; a person can take any module and make it deadly, even Terrible Trouble at Tragidore -- I've done exactly that, but it doesn't mean the module is lethal as presented. The point of this thread, I assume, is a module as-written. There are certainly very naughty aspects of Ravenloft, for sure, but I consider it relatively mild compared to some others.

Also, there is a marked difference between lethal and difficult -- Labyrinth of Madness is not a killer module, but it is challenging. Hell, the last "module" from OP1: Tales from the Outer Planes is probably the most lethal adventure ever written...

If you want I'll run it as is. The first 4 TPK's were before I decided to take it "live". The cleric surviving in the 5th group is what made me go "live".

A smart vampire who is a 10th level mage on his home ground, nasty.
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DaveyB · Post by **DaveyB** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:19 pm

Yeah, it's assumed that the modules are unmodified from their original release.

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:25 pm

DaveyB wrote:
Yeah, it's assumed that the modules are unmodified from their original release.

Like I said, the first 4 TPK's were unmodified. The 5th wasn't a TPK because the cleric got out alive and hid in the church with the modules cleric. Strahd still lived.

Its amazing how fast the party falls apart after the first successful Charm.
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DaveyB · Post by **DaveyB** » Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:30 pm

Treebore wrote:
Like I said, the first 4 TPK's were unmodified. The 5th wasn't a TPK because the cleric got out alive and hid in the church with the modules cleric. Strahd still lived.

Its amazing how fast the party falls apart after the first successful Charm.

Yeah, speaking of charm, reminds me of when we went through Red Hand of Doom and our main tank got charmed by one of Azur Kull's "mindbender" underlings with the cleric fresh out of spells and the wizard with nothing to break an enchantment. Needless to say, things didn't end pretty. It wasn't a TPK, but it was close.

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