What is on your adventure Bucket List?

[Zuras]

What adventures, regardless of system or genre, do you either have on your list to play (or run), or consider a key piece of the overall RPG landscape that everyone should try, at least in that perfect world where we can actually play multiple sessions a week.

This could be specific written adventures, or specific genres. For example CoC’s Masks of Nyarlathotep and WFRP’s Enemy Within are specific campaigns I have heard so much positive chatter about they’re at the top of my list (which isn’t getting any shorter these days). I also think everyone (at least everyone who likes D&D) should play at least one gonzo death trap dungeon and one megadungeon, but wouldn’t label any specific lone module as a must-play (since there are so many good ones).

What adventures have you heard are legendary classics you forlornly hope someone in your group will want to run some day so you have a chance to play?

[Jay R]

It's not actually a published adventure, but two years ago, I had an intensely satisfying encounter, based on a well-known incident.

We entered the front yard of a home, and saw an open-air structure with trellis-work. Yes, a gazebo.

As a joke, one of us attacked the gazebo, and it fought back. It was a monster who was using an illusion to hide its presence.

[There was another one there, disguised as a tree.]

We fought the gazebo, and eventually the DM said, "You have killed the gazebo." I had waited over a third of a century to hear that.

We eventually discovered what the monster was, but none of us called it that, either that night or in the two years following. A gazebo it was, and a gazebo it will remain.

[Brookshw]

My list will never end. Currently I'm looking at d20 Dark Matter, D20 Future, going back to Rokugan, grim and gritty mercenary company campaign (mm maybe D&D, maybe another system), GURPS post apocalypse/psionics, going back to Rifts, Castle Forlorn (still one of the coolest modules in my opinion, ran it one in the early/mid 90s), Magitech heavy D&D. I'm sure a month from now there will be a few more on the list.

[Pauly]

I’d love to get a mind wipe and replay some of the early Traveller modules our group butchered when we started RPGs as teenagers.
Murder on Arturus Station and Beltstrike in particular.

[Jay R]

My current remaining bucket list is
TOON, Pendragon, Basic D&D (BECMI), Fantasy Hero, and maybe The Fantasy Trip. [The first two I’ve run, but never played.]

There is no published setting on my list, but I’d love to play a Talking Animal in a Narnian game, a stalwart hero (or a Maverick gambler) in the American West, a hero in Greek mythology, or a Tarzan-like character in the jungle.

---

But there is nothing that I think “everyone should try”. We are different; we have different skills, different tastes, different interests.

Here is a list of things on my bucket list (or that would be if I hadn’t already played or run them), along with reasons why they probably shouldn’t be on yours.

D&D (the original three pamphlets in a white box). No modern player should try it; it’s … not really a complete game. It’s more like an outline for how a DM can invent a game on the fly.

The complete original D&D (with all the supplements), AD&D 1e & 2e, D&D 3.5e & 5e. I’ve played all of these, but there’s no reason you should seek them all out.

Flashing Blades (FGU’s musketeer-era role-playing game). If you don’t have my deep interest in swashbuckling, don’t bother.

TOON. Unless you want to laugh out loud at inane cartoon role-playing, it’s not for you. Traditional role-players often can't get into “Act before you think”.

Champions and other Hero Systems games (including Fantasy Hero). If arithmetic annoys you, DON’T PLAY IT.

Chivalry and Sorcery. It’s the most lush, vivid, realistic, complete, immersive, detailed, glorious unplayable mess I’ve ever seen. I’m glad I played it. Never again.

Pendragon. Unless you are deeply into the Matter of Britain (the Arthurian mythos), then you’ll get bogged down in details you don't care about.

Empire of the Petal Throne, and Paranoia. Fascinating backgrounds — but their own little corner of weird.

[thorr-kan]

I have been running my 2E Al-Qadim campaign off and on for over 20 years. I want the PCs to reach 20th level, having solved the Great Mysteries of the setting.

THEN, I want to step back, finish writing down my Ideas on the Matter of Mahabba, formalize all the rogue classes I've collected for 2E, and run my all-rogues campaign.

[animorte]

I still haven't had the opportunity to play Tomb of Annihilation, though I imagine if my group ever does it, I will be the DM.

I discovered World's Without Number several months ago and I've been able to do very small sample runs. I legitimately want to play it though.

I also discovered Everyday Heroes that I'm desperately trying to get a couple good friends together for. Like, it's the absolute perfect RPG for my two friends, just can't get them to commit (not a new issue).

I would like make my own basic RPG template and give it a run. I've been slowly putting together some of my favorite inspirations into my own mechnical perception. It's been a really fun learning experience that I hope lasts for many years to come.

[Zuras]

But there is nothing that I think “everyone should try”. We are different; we have different skills, different tastes, different interests.


Of course, not every system or every adventure will work for everyone. From the perspective of a designer, however, what types of adventures should you be publishing (or re-publishing updated to your new edition) to give players the “iconic” experiences associated with your game, or fiction archetypes in general.

WotC, for example, basically decided to publish its primary new 5e adventures as either re-works or call-backs of its greatest hits, in terms of villains and scenarios.

In terms of villains, they hit dragons, elementals, Drow, demons, vampires, giants, liches, mind flayers and devils. In terms of previous iconic modules, they were clearly inspired by Dragonlance, Temple of Elemental Evil, Descent Into the Depths of the Earth, Ravenloft, Against the Giants, Tomb of Horrors, The Isle of Dread, Ruins of Undermountain, and A Paladin in Hell.

Obviously all the directly reprinted adventures were also ones on somebody’s list of classics as well, and in terms of adventure styles they put in a megadungeon and a hex crawl (both a bit flawed from the perspective of the original material, but they, they tried) and an entirely urban adventure with a major social interaction component. Whether or not you agree with them, Wizards clearly has a stance on which of their adventures and setting tropes are classics (whether they were actually good or just nostalgia bait doesn’t matter, as long as they sell).

Looking at things from the GM’s perspective produces the slightly different question of “what classic fictional/RPG experiences do I want to provide for my players?”. In D&D a lot of times it just means presenting classic monsters in a fashion where they are threatening but defeatable. In my experience it’s the sort of thing that requires both good GMing and luck (because if you’re being a neutral arbiter there’s always a good chance the players just stomp you, or roll badly and TPK), so I’d never put “fight a god and win, without feeling like the DM let us win, or because the scenario let us win” on my bucket list, but like True Love, it’s something everyone hopes to experience at least once in their life.

[Easy e]

Well, I think everyone should try Non-D&D RPGs a few times in their life. If it was up to me, we would play D&D only 10-33% of the time, and no more than that.

However, on my Bucket list is:

1. A game where we play super high-positioned characters, such as the Dune RPG can allow. People like Planetary Leaders, fleet admirals, generals, spymasters and the like.

2. One of the Warhammer 40K themed RPGs from FFG, but as a player not the GM.

3. A White Wolf Story-teller game, as I missed out when that was hot, hot, hot. Most the people in my area were playing it as a LARP, and I was not available at the time due to other commitments.

4. Publish my own RPG as something other than a PDF.

5. Play a diceless RPG as a player and GM.

6. Organize a local Con for RPGs, CCGs, and Wargames

[Bohandas]

At this point I just want to play a regular game that doesn't collapse after two sessions

[Khedrac]

I have wanted to have a BECM D&D campaign get to a level where I can run CM1 - Test of the Warlords for decades. I have a lot of D&D material that I have bought and never used for a game...

[Draconi Redfir]

Not quite specific adventure paths, but more just generic moments.

At some point I'd like to play a Paladin-type character who is currently running away from one or more monsters with the group that the group very clearly can not fight, and my character needs too / decides too stop and buy the party as much time as possible while they escape. Ideally with them ACTUALLY escaping, and not doing that dumb "Turn around and try to fight / save the PC" thing.


At some point I'd love to play a moment from the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria opening cinematic. Two enemies are fighting, trying to kill one another when suddenly a third, unrelated party shows up and demonstrates itself to be at least slightly more powerful then either of the fighting individuals combined. The two fighting parties just kind of look at this third party, maybe look at one another, and without so much as saying a word, one hands the other a weapon or a healing spell or something of the sort, and they both start fighting against the third party as allies.


I'm sure there are others, but those are the two at the top of my head.

[thorr-kan]

I've also been toying with the idea of a "magical school" ala Hogwarts or early Buffy or something similar, with excursions into the Feywild and/or Outer Planes. The problem is keeping the kids low-level enough that a few years of school are challenging, but powerful enough that they're not one-trick ponies.

Eberron races, Ravnica backgrounds, and everybody gets a Strixhaven house feat to start. Magical casting base classes only; I'm still debating whether I'd allow clerics and druids. This would give a hefty starting power and fit the theme I want.

I'd like adventures in the vein of Wild Beyond the Witchlight and Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel. Those can probably be mined with a close enough read. Sense of Wonder is what I'm looking for.

I'd like to lean into Strixhaven's whole Teen Drama and School Drama schticks. I'm not sure the Friday Night Gaming Group would be up for that type, and I don't think I want to run this for my kids, who are that age; role-playing Real Life might not be any fun.

I think milestones for level advancement. These would probably be tied out to academic years. The regular accumulation of power would fit the genre. But to avoid too much power creep, I think I'd borrow an idea from 3E and implement E6 for this campaign. Sixth level would be senior year/last form/just prior to graduation. Any higher levels, and PCs would be out in the real world.

Oh, new thought! Maybe use Dragonlance's Test as a graduation exercise!

[animorte]

Strixhaven <snip>
I actually played a few times and one that I DMd was specifically a no-class run. Everyone chose their race. Everyone had their race features, strixhaven background features, Strixhaven Initiate feat, and mascot. Each player was different and still had noteworthy power through this fun trial run. I talked about it more in-depth in another thread some time ago, if I can remember where it's at.

[thorr-kan]

At some point I'd like to play a Paladin-type character who is currently running away from one or monsters with the group that the group very clearly can not fight, and my character needs too / decides too stop and buy the party as much time as possible while they escape. Ideally with them ACTUALLY escaping, and not doing that dumb "Turn around and try to fight / save the PC" thing.
"Horatio at the Bridge" is a surprisingly under-served trope in D&D. But it's fun to play out; I've done it a few times.

Once I was lucky and skilled enough to make my escape. Once the party ran, took stock, decided they didn't like situation, came up with A Plan, and swung back around to be Big Damn Heroes. I was robbed, ROBBED I tell you! It was pretty cool. A couple of times, I got steamrolled; sometimes you didn't properly evaluate the threat.

[thorr-kan]

I actually played a few times and one that I DMd was specifically a no-class run. Everyone chose their race. Everyone had their race features, strixhaven background features, Strixhaven Initiate feat, and mascot. Each player was different and still had noteworthy power through this fun trial run. I talked about it more in-depth in another thread some time ago, if I can remember where it's at.
That would work, too. Though no classes might be a bridge too far for a lot of groups out there. :)

I'd be interested if you turn that thread up.

[Draconi Redfir]

"Horatio at the Bridge" is a surprisingly under-served trope in D&D. But it's fun to play out; I've done it a few times.

Once I was lucky and skilled enough to make my escape. Once the party ran, took stock, decided they didn't like situation, came up with A Plan, and swung back around to be Big Damn Heroes. I was robbed, ROBBED I tell you! It was pretty cool. A couple of times, I got steamrolled; sometimes you didn't properly evaluate the threat.



Closest i ever got was in the original "Guild Wars" video game. There's a mission early on where you need to run away from an army of Charr in order to warn a general about their approach. And along the escape path, there's an archway with a pair of scorpions underneath it. You're intended to just run past, but my first time through i thought i could kill one of them fast enough to use my necromancer powers to raise a minion to distract the army for a time. Pretty sure that didn't work, but i liked the result so much that every time i re-did that dungeon (sometimes just for fun) i intentionally stopped at that point to slow down the Charr for as long as possible. Usually died right away, but it was still fun. Think i was even able to raise a minion or two from those scorpions once or twice :P

[gbaji]

"Horatio at the Bridge" is a surprisingly under-served trope in D&D. But it's fun to play out; I've done it a few times.

Once I was lucky and skilled enough to make my escape. Once the party ran, took stock, decided they didn't like situation, came up with A Plan, and swung back around to be Big Damn Heroes. I was robbed, ROBBED I tell you! It was pretty cool. A couple of times, I got steamrolled; sometimes you didn't properly evaluate the threat.

Yeah. Almost impossible to pull off as a GM though (and you really shouldn't try it anyway). First off, you have to get the PCs to actually choose to run (which is really super hard to do anyway). Then, you have to have a situation where one person hanging back may be able to delay the chasing monsters (bridges work well, of course!), but also in a situation where them all just keeping on trucking wouldn't work just as well (and that's hard to rationalize). And then you have to have a player who's willing to actually risk losing their character for the good of the rest of the group. And, you can't expect this to happen, or else you are railroading a PC to their death, unless you have written in an escape for them, which is just another form of railroading and will teach the players bad lessons.

More often than not, what happens is one player bravely states "I'm going to make a stand here and slow them down so the rest of you can escape", and everyone else just looks at the player like they're nuts, then points out the relative movement rates, and that "we can all just run away you numskull". Had one player do this (sorta), also totally unnecessarily. Charged into a massive group of ghouls to "hold them off", and everyone else basically stood back and were like "Um... Or we can just close the door". Oops. Too late! Crunch, chew, grind, munch, munch... <sound of door closing>.

Such situations can occur as a direct response to really dumb party choices/actions though. And yeah, that can lead to this sort of thing. It's really really rare though. And even then, the vast majority of the time, there are other solutions that allow the entire party working together to survive as a group which will work better than one person making a "brave stand". If one person can stand on the bridge (which must be sufficiently narrow to allow one person to do so) and survive long enough to make a difference, then wouldn't like 5 or 6 people be able to do so even better? And they could support each other, cast healing spells, take turns holding the position, etc. Then it becomes a numbers game with an NPC choke point, in which most adventuring parties should be able to manage almost any number of mook level opponents (or at least an absurdly high number). How far do the PCs have to run to be "safe"? What's the relative movement rate of those chasing them? How long, therefore, must that sole defender remain standing to actually succeed at this? There's just an incredibly narrow range of numbers in that calculation in which the "single brave defender" model actually works but where other models in which everyone survives do not.

Having said this, I did recently have a (somewhat scripted though) situation where a really powerful character I was playing was guarding a portal that the party had travelled through (she was basically being run as an NPC, since she was required to make sure this one thing got done, but couldn't actually physically go through the portal herself). As the party managed to get far enough into the evil bbeg's lair, and its powerful protecters were being used protecting said lair, it sent a horde of minions towards the portal to attack whomever sent the party. Which was my character. Seemed like a steamroll, except that she had a powerful artifact that basically nullified the magic enhancing these minions. This was why she couldn't actually enter the portal, because the artifact (and her) couldn't be affected by the other realm's magic directly, which included the portal to the realm. Which left this character, with really good armor, and boatloads of powerful combat enhancing spells (and did I mention she's like this massive centaur?) facing off against a bunch of relatively small wimpy monsters weilding clubs and short spears which really couldn't hurt her, and no magic that could affect her either. So their only option was dogpile. And she's "really big" and "really strong", and smart enough to just find a narrow point in the cave she was in and just slice and smash them to bits.

It was a fun progression from "oh crap!" to "Oh. Huh. These things can't really hurt me" to "Uh... How many of these things are there, and will I drop from exhaustion before they're all dead?". But again, that was kinda the point. The GM knew that when he set up the situation. It was not really a combat to be fully played out (cause we didn't), but to establish that there were more bad guys in there than the party encountered, but they went somewhere else, and that yeah, without their enhancement magic, these guys are really really wimpy.

[skyth]

I've actually gotten to run some of my favorite adventures for a group though I had to convert them to another edition.

Chadranther's Bane (Converted to both PF1 and 5E - Never finished in PF1. Finished in 5E)
Whitelake Mine (Ran in both PF1 and 5E)
Horror on the Hill (Ran in 3E)
Isle of the Abbey (Ran in 3E)
Palace of the Silver Princess (Ran in PF1)
Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh/Danger at Dunwater (Ran in PF1)
Isle of Dread (Converted to 5E and changed several parts of it to fit in with my campaign)

[LibraryOgre]

A specific scenario.

Soloing the Caves of Chaos (B2, Keep on the Borderlands).

The PC is a human thief, 1st level... who dual-classed from high-level fighter. So, they have a TON of hit points and CAN fall back on their fighter skills... if they want to kill their advancement.

[Quertus]

Ah, heck, there's so much. Where to start?

I guess, first thing I should mention, I'd love to play an actual optimized, intelligent D&D 3e character at a table where that wouldn't break the table.

I'd like to play a D&D 2e character up from level 1 to level 20 - strike that, to level 30+.

I'd like to play Traveler.

There's plenty of modules I've never played. My senile mind can only (maybe) remember... Red Hand of Doom and Temple of Elemental Evil as classics that haven't been spoiled. Tomb of whatsit, I've heard of strip mining it, so... probably not that one.

I'm drawing a complete blank on modules I've thought were really good. :smallredface:

Obviously, I'd love to continue many of my existing characters.

I'd love to play about half the systems/games NichG has described.

I'd love to get the transcript of one of my old games, to turn into a story.

I'd love to get time-shifted / alternate reality copies of some of my old groups, or mix-and-match players from some of my old groups, to see how that would turn out.

I'd love to play a MtG-based game... or a MtG based character in another game.

I'd love to play lots of crossover games, reality-traveling games, and games of that ilk.

I... have a potentially elder gods inspired curiosity to run a game for the group Talakeal games with.

I would love to run and play in Isekai games - preferably numerous times, with different setups.

I would love to play in, run, and play in and run in a rotating GM-ship, a megadungeon. And probably repeat that in a matrix of multiple editions and systems.

I would love to be in a group where "you are my quest" would be a potential valid campaign end.

I would love to have experience with multiple future / magic / tech games that aren't time-share Shadowrun or lol-what Rifts.

I think I'd like to play Multiverser, at least in a 1-shot, just to have done so.

I'd like to play in a world where... hmmm... "Dungeons" are a discrete, logical concept - like "the gods made dungeons for a reason, and they're part of the intended ecology", rather than just that they're ruins from the past or whatever. Obviously, in such a setting, either the gods (or whatever) keep making more, or the existing ones keep repopulating.

I'd love to play in a group composed of alternate-reality versions of myself. Sure, we may fight over who gets to play Quertus, but I think it would be interesting, to see myself game from the outside.

I'd like to play with AI, beings sufficiently inhuman enough to actually be able to ignore OOC information.

I'd like to play a video-game style RPG, like you'd find based off SAO or Log Horizon. Part of the key here being, it needs to be worth Exploring and Discovering how the world works.

I'd love to get to play a Chronomancer under a GM who would make that game worthwhile.

I'd love to play a long-running superhero campaign.

I guess I'll add "Transformers" and... wow, senility hit mid-sentence. And several other IP to games I'd like to say I've played, regardless of whether they have an existing RPG.

I'd like to get to play a powerful Shapeshifter (of the type that broke the game when I got to play it) without breaking the game. Heck, there's a number of abilities I'm really good with, that I'd love to be in a game where I could use them.

I'd love to play several characters with (for me, at least) "hard mode" abilities, like light manipulation, or weak versions of powers, like trivial telekinesis or portal generation, where I have to push myself to accomplish anything.

I'd love to play a character with a hydra or dinosaur mount. And one that animates dead dinosaurs. And one that animates golems (making undead golems, not just crafting normal golems). And one that animates... OK, there's a lot of things I'd like to animate. Animate Dead is kinda my favorite D&D spell.

I guess I'd like to try... Monster Hearts? And Pokemon, can't forget Pokemon.

Perhaps most of all, I'd love to play in an RPG that takes place in VR. I mean literally - the players all put on VR gear in order to play the game. My standards are way too high on this, btw - if the system can't read my mind to let me issue mind control orders telepathically, and the AI can't handle that, it's not up to my standards yet.

There's the "off the top of my head" list of mostly crazy ideas for games I'd love to play (or run, but mostly play).

[thorr-kan]

<SNIP! Discussion about pros and cons of DMing "Horatio at the Bridge" scenarios.
Maybe it's a generational thing. As a Cold War kid and a gamer who cut his teeth on BECMI D&D, character deaths don't impact me as much. But you're spot on about getting the party to run.

Back on to Bucket Lists: I want to take a group of well-tuned 3E characters and have them face the Horde at Drellin's Ferry from Red Hand of Doom.

PCs aren't supposed to make a stand here; they're supposed to drizzle down their leg and rabbit to greener pastures. But PCs, being PCs, have a hard time doing so. *My* group tried to make a stand, got a clue, and we rabbited. I'd love to see what an optimized group of characters could do.