[3.5] Best adventure to put my players through the wringer?

[overduegalaxy]

I'm idly considering doing a good, old-fashioned deadly campaign this summer, and thought it might be a good experience for my players to run through one of the more famous modules.

However, I have no idea which would be my best bet. Red Hand of Doom? Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil? Expedition to the Demonweb Pits?

I'd like one that focuses on dungeon crawling, but has enough intrigue, puzzle solving, or other distraction to keep it from getting stale. But I'd also like it to be fairly vicious, and give my PCs a run for their money.

[arguskos]

I'm betting the Tomb of Horrors is right out then.

Give Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil a shot. Expedition to Castle Ravenloft is great, if you can maintain the horror atmosphere and the players are willing to play along. Ruins of Undermountain is pretty fun too, though the above three are better by far.

[Epinephrine]

I'm running Age of Worms - it's pretty deadly - I'm running it gestalt and with a certain amount of kid gloves, and still having trouble not killing the party. Not sure if all chapters are as bad (3rd looks a little weak), but the first two are pretty nasty, and some of the later stuff looks pretty tough.

[RTGoodman]

Well, Tomb of Horrors is definitely the deadliest adventure ever written. Just Google it to find more info on it. It's a good ol' fashioned Gygaxian dungeon crawl with some puzzles and stuff, so it could work, but if you want your players to still like you, I might suggest against it.

Red Hand of Doom can be pretty deadly, too, but it has a great story and is great fun to run or play. Check out Saph's Red Hand of Doom Campaign Journal here to read more about it. If you doubt it's deadly, consider that, in the one campaign they had THIRTY DEATHS.

[arguskos]

Well, Tomb of Horrors is definitely the deadliest adventure ever written. Just Google it to find more info on it. It's a good ol' fashioned Gygaxian dungeon crawl with some puzzles and stuff, so it could work, but if you want your players to still like you, I might suggest against it.

This can't be overstated. I recently ran it (as in, three days ago), and the party wiped (frikkin' endboss). One player was so irate, they nearly threw a TABLE at me.

[Jimbob]

Well we have just finished after a year of playing, completed the return to temple of elemental and it was amazing from a players point of view. Our DM said it was hard to work his way through but it was well worth it.