Most Deadly Adventure:Rate Them

[dhusarra]

Ok.
here are some deadly adventures and your rating(if you remember any other so deadly feel free to add, dungeon magazine etc.).Any party that finish one of them?

Tomb of horrors
Return to tomb of horrors
Paladin in Hell
Dancing hut of Baba Yaga
Labyrinth of Madness

[Rhynn]

What's the cut-off for "deadly"? I found B4 The Lost City pretty lethal, even in ACKS (with relatively lenient death rules): my three-player group has lost 2 PCs and 4-6 henchmen (all starting at 1st level, except for some 0-level henchmen) to it in 3 sessions, and hasn't explored more than half (they've had great luck avoiding all the truly dangerous rooms so far).

Never gotten to play or run any of the ones listed, yet.

[dhusarra]

deadly =most difficult encounters, leathal traps, many tpks, many puzzles, save or die,etc.

[Vknight]

All the stuff from the original edition of Little Fears.

As kids could not beat adults or monsters in challenges that meant if the kids had too at any point handle either it changed from a standard scenario too; how quickly can the adult move through the kids.
And for monsters; do the kids notice it? Yes then 1 dies at least as they use belief which stops you from moving too slow the monster, No they are all goners.

You couldn't hurt the monster. You couldn't kill the monster. The monster kills you instantly.
Your only objective is too move the goal line far enough away or change it in such a way the monster gives up or gets upset and comes after you or someone you care about

[Rhynn]

deadly =most difficult encounters, leathal traps, many tpks, many puzzles, save or die,etc.

Yeah, I get that, but can you quantify the criteria? :smallamused: Is 2 PCs + 4 NPCs deadly, or are we talking about losing dozens of PCs to the dungeon without solving it, because that's old-school Tomb of Horrors apparently. (I am so going to plop it in my campaign.)

Oh, and I automatically thought AD&D 1E and BECM modules, but I guess that was silly... which was the Call of Cthulhu module where you end on R'lyeh trying to stop the cultists from opening it? On a read-through, it seemed pretty crazy, with multiple immortal sorcerers.

[dhusarra]

yeah even that 4 pc against 5 npc very difficult.whatever it is to kill an entire party in 2-3 rounds... :p

[Vknight]

I think the Tomb wins of the listed, D&D adventures. With the Little Fears as a general rule being more deadly because if the players don't run then its a TPK

[CE DM]

Ok.
here are some deadly adventures and your rating(if you remember any other so deadly feel free to add, dungeon magazine etc.).Any party that finish one of them?

Tomb of horrors
Return to tomb of horrors
Paladin in Hell
Dancing hut of Baba Yaga
Labyrinth of Madness

TOM: many, many deaths on numerous occasions. Was finished once (didn't fight/destroy the demi lich)

Return to TOH: deadly on paper, but never played all that much of it

Paladin in Hell: tough, but only a few perma deaths, players victorious (goal is not crush all baddies, but free Temple)

Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga: I am thinking the dragon magazine version (The Dancing Hut). Deadly (but need not be so for some). Some HL characters died without even getting in.

Labyrinth of Madness: players go insane trying to navigate it, their characters mostly do ok, never getting to the really nasty stuff. I do think there was one "dead at the entrance & turned into an undead" however.

Honestly, deadly adventures are relative; low or mid level adventures are often every bit as deadly (to characters of those levels). In fact, many a L1 adventure is as lethal as those above.

What makes an adventure deadly for one group but not another has so many factors: demeanor, party size, gear, party composition, DM style/house rules, & so forth; it's hard to truly say. Also, I found very long adventures or series tend to be hard in part just by attrition. Typically, if all the starting PC's are done for, the motivation to play is gone & failure results (without a TPK).

TOH certainly earned it's rep, though. Many a 2e Ravenloft Module is deadly indeed, if you are looking for nasty. Thoughts of Darkness is an example, so over the top/munchkin nasty, but I'd say it's also an awful adventure. Other Ravenloft adventures can actually be good & difficult.

I know most of the D&D adventures of old (up to 3.5e); anything specific you are looking for? Level? Group size?

[Zavoniki]

I think any call of Cthulu adventure ever written probably is up there.

[CE DM]

Yeah, I'd guess so, although for COC, I'd think death or insanity but crisis averted/foiled (the world keeps turning)= a win (for that system).:smallwink:

The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan is a mid level 1e AD&D example: Played as tourney mode; it's got a time limit (always tough for some players) in that toxic gas/fumes slowly take down the PC's. Clever traps, unusual monsters (some nasty), requires brains...it's a challenge.

[Rhynn]

I think any call of Cthulu adventure ever written probably is up there.

Not really, IMO. Most of the ones I own (Mortal Coils, the Adventures in Arkham Country collection, and the adventures included in the various Lovecraft Country supplements) aren't that deadly. I doubt most would have the death-rate of an average 1st-level D&D module. But, again, that campaign-module where you deal with the Silver Twilight Lodge and end up on R'lyeh...

[dhusarra]

i think that labyrinth is insanely difficult cause of the sigils and the traps.
paladin in hell is very tough i think, glad that you made it... :)

never heard of Little Fears...checking out

[Kaun]

House of Dust and Ash - the Dark Heresy module has a reputation for chewing up Acolytes.

[Rhynn]

RuneQuest 3's Dorastor: Land of Doom. Not the fairly reasonable Riskland campaign included, but the random and non-random encounters of Dorastor proper...

Also, RQ2's Griffin Mountain's Granny Keeneye.

[jaybird]

Just about any Dark Heresy adventure. Low-level acolytes are only slightly less expendable than grenades.

[Fabletop]

1. Tomb of Horrors (TPK in waiting)
2. Queen of the Demonweb Pits (?; death-on-a-stick)
3. Ravenloft (original; lost all but one of a 7-man party)
4. Pretty much anything OD&D (I was compelled to watch PCs perish)