Most Legitimately Difficult Modules Ever?

[Lago PARANOIA]

I'm trying to compile a list of them for all tabletop games. I'd prefer to leave off modules that are difficult because they directly contradict key rules elements, lack internal sense, or are difficult due to trial-and-error gameplay where avoiding grievous yet easy-to-bypass obstacles is the key to success.

Less Tomb of Horrors, more Red Hand of Doom. Please also explain why the adventure is difficult.

[Cynic]

Dead Gods. It's got hack n slash and rp but it's also a helluva puzzle module with puzzle monsters that took our group ages to solve.

[K]

Red Hand of Doom mostly because every other monster is a dragon, and as we know dragons are just CRed really badly.

A fair number of puzzle monsters as well.

[Username17]

the original Against The Giants is a meat grinder. None of the monsters are individually that threatening (Hill Giants then Troglodytes). But this was back in the days when Gygax took the Number Appearing line at face value.

Orcs: 40-400

-Username17

[souran]

The adventure they put out for the Wheel of Time role playing game (we don't talk about that games cool adjustments to the vancian system enough) is actually quite difficult after the first few "mini" adventures.

Although that games difficulty fluxuated in difficulty based on how much the GM pushed things towards being like the books or how they made it like D&D...

The adventure out of the boxed set for 2e forgotten realms was really actually pretty rough for a low level party. I found that even veteran players would get TPK in that dungeon.

Also 2e "ruins of myth drannor" boxed set had some adventures that my gaming group never beat. It has some dungeons that have rooms that are basically designed to kill a player and have no way to bring them back. My group at the time would spend lots of resources trying to at least get the body back for a rez and end up just saying "to hell" with the whole adventure.

I have heard people love Menzoberanzan but I have never heard anybody explain why except "drow kick ass" so I cannot vouch for the adventures.

I have heard really awesome things about "Die Vecna Die!" if played at the correct level range. I have heard really crappy things about it from people who complained the adventure should have been for 15+ instead of 10-13....

Also Die Vecna Die! has got t obe the COOLEST adventure name ever produced.

[erik]

the original Against The Giants is a meat grinder. None of the monsters are individually that threatening (Hill Giants then Troglodytes). But this was back in the days when Gygax took the Number Appearing line at face value.

Orcs: 40-400

-Username17

I had an old DnD set of modules that were titled by the monster and number of them you were facing.

One of the best titles for a mod ever:
Orcs (1000)


(the mod book is sadly packed away in my parent's basement until I sell my current abode)

[Roy]

...Why the hell are people so scared of RHoD? And don't say 'the dragons', there are four of them. Total. Most of which are set with fucking stupid tactics.

[ubernoob]

...Why the hell are people so scared of RHoD? And don't say 'the dragons', there are four of them. Total. Most of which are set with fucking stupid tactics.

Large number of enemies. Wail on the hobo tactics don't work.

[fbmf]

The original 1E Ravenloft module was pretty tough, as I recall. Castle filled with traps and Strahd himself was a badass by the standards of the edition.

Game On,
fbmf

[Danchild]

2e's Night Below had some difficult encounters, but that could have been the DM. The party was TPK''ed in a Shadow Dragon/Behir 3way combat. The negative energy breath weapon was the main culprit, followed closely by the swallow whole ability of the Behir.

[erik]

...Why the hell are people so scared of RHoD? And don't say 'the dragons', there are four of them. Total. Most of which are set with fucking stupid tactics.

I think there are a few BS portions and the expected party is supposed to be damned low considering the CR opponents.

That said when I played the living greyhawk adaptations the dragons usually got crushed pretty easily. Then again we had an average party level about 1-2 higher than the original mod expected (however there were 2 utterly useless characters in our party of 6 so we did not have a real advantage there). I think my character could 1-hit kill most enemies and 2 hits on the tougher baddies. That helped.

I think only the last fight sucked for us. Do not remember why it was a bad. I think a silence spell fucked us hard maybe.

[Emerald]

Dead Gods. It's got hack n slash and rp but it's also a helluva puzzle module with puzzle monsters that took our group ages to solve.

I've heard this before, but don't know anything about the module besides the general plot. Could you give a few examples of the puzzles/puzzle monsters in it?

[virgil]

The power of the vestige's illusions are the most brutal you'll ever see, off the top of my head. It's comparatively easy to be the wrong kind of cautious when you first enter Castle Perilous.

[Roy]

...Why the hell are people so scared of RHoD? And don't say 'the dragons', there are four of them. Total. Most of which are set with fucking stupid tactics.

Large number of enemies. Wail on the hobo tactics don't work.

And most of em are like CR 1, so it doesn't matter.

I mean really, dragons are scary and all, but not nearly as much as the Den hypes em up to be and even then, that's still only four encounters. They're also set up in such a way that the players can get a significant advantage via easy and intuitive means.

But between bad tactics and poor builds (enemy casters with LA, really?) it's not that genuinely difficult.

I've seen gimped parties blast through it on hardmode (most encounters 2-3 levels higher, and not designed to be made of fail). How gimped? They had a CW Samurai and a Warlock. Nuff said.

[Clutch9800]

This'll date me,


But the original "Villiage of Hommlet/Temple of Elemental Evil" was a pretty challenging run for PC's that started at 1st level, like they're supposed to.

Clutch

[hogarth]

Rappan Athuk Reloaded has the typical 1E style dungeon where you fight fifty trolls in one room and three normal rats in the next room.

But I think the question is silly. A "legitimately" hard dungeon is hard because it has difficult challenges, and the Challenge Rating system is completely arbitrary.

[Ganbare Gincun]

My favorite old-school D&D modules are probably the Secret Of Bone Hill and The Isle Of Dread. Not necessarily the most difficult modules, but very entertaining in the right hands nevertheless.

[Koumei]

How gimped? They had a CW Samurai and a Warlock. Nuff said.

Ouch. They were playing on Nightmare difficulty then?

[Blasted]

My favorite old-school D&D modules are probably the Secret Of Bone Hill and The Isle Of Dread. Not necessarily the most difficult modules, but very entertaining in the right hands nevertheless.

Really? The Isle of Dread has a really terrible reputation.

[Roy]

How gimped? They had a CW Samurai and a Warlock. Nuff said.

Ouch. They were playing on Nightmare difficulty then?

Yeah. And still just about every death could have been summarized as 'beatstick tries to melee a dragon, dragon shows them how it's done'.

Once they learned to let the real characters handle the real threats, while they stuck to beating on things 4-7 levels lower the deaths stopped.

[erik]

My favorite old-school D&D modules are probably the Secret Of Bone Hill and The Isle Of Dread. Not necessarily the most difficult modules, but very entertaining in the right hands nevertheless.

Really? The Isle of Dread has a really terrible reputation.

But is it more terribad than the Temple of Orcus? The dungeon was possibly the most retarded ever. One of the rooms was a giant room with the Tarrasque just waiting in it.

[A Man In Black]

I had an old DnD set of modules that were titled by the monster and number of them you were facing.

One of the best titles for a mod ever:
Orcs (1000)


(the mod book is sadly packed away in my parent's basement until I sell my current abode)

I realize it's completely tangental, but this reminds me of Architect player-made missions in City of Heroes. You get actual attempts to make interesting adventures and story arcs, or you get completely mindless grinds titled things like "Rikti farm".

[bosssmiley]

WG4 - Forbidden Temple of Thurizdan.

It's a module that requires careful reading and thought by the DM, and a sense of genre-savvy wariness on the part of the exploring party.

It also deviates radically from the trad. "kill the monster, take its pie" model of D&D dungeoneering in that there are few wandering monsters, and in that most of the sweetest lewt is in the form of one hard-to-obtain big score.

There are puzzles in the module with scattered and subtle contextual clues and no set explanation, but they still aren't dick-move "hah! You're dead" stunts (like you get in the Tomb of Horrors): everything makes sense in the context.

[TheFlatline]

Most difficult module EVAR?

Simple. Paranoia's Das Bot mission.

In 20+ years, almost nobody has ever finished it. At the time of it's reprinting, not one single person who had played the story had ever finished it officially.

Granted, there is an entire scene in a sub which results in a more or less 100% TPK rate, since in some situations you only have 3 real-world seconds to actually fix the screw up you just committed.

One of my favorite difficult modules is still Paranoia, and is Me and My Shadow Mark IV.

"And then something falls off..."

[RobbyPants]

What do you mean by "three real world seconds"? I haven't played Paranoia. Is there some link between RL time and game time?