I've seen tons of threads about the best low-level adventure module. These are rarely actually resolved, because people have favorites for a variety of reasons, but the point is that the debate is far more common by virtue of the fact that way more people have played low-level D&D than anything else.

This thread is to discuss what's the best Mid-Level D&D adventure?  Be it TSR or OSR, what adventure for, say, levels 6-12 do you consider the best? And why?

A number of classic modules are mid-level, Vault of the Drow, Ravenloft, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, Temple of Death by David Cook, Red Hand of Doom come immediately to mind. Not sure I really need to explain why these are great modules, I think their reputations are pretty secure and well known. I think some hidden gems from TSR are The Dungeon of Death by Jason Carl and Sargent's City of Skulls. Lots of good adventures in Dungeon and White Dwarf I'm forgetting no doubt.

OSR is more debatable, I consider Stuart's DCO a mid-level adventure, it is amateurishly put together but tremendously imaginative and challenging without ever tipping into a negadungeon. I recently discovered Gabor Lux's free In the Name of the Principle! and want to check out more of his stuff, this adventure is a complex but clearly laid out Orwellian science fantasy with plenty of factions for the PCs to get mixed up in and which encourages some thought and sneakiness instead of full frontal assaults.

Stroh is great but looking over his adventures tends towards low level or high level adventures for DCC, the mid level modules are among his weakest I think. Most of the really fine work in the OSR for mid-level to me are more settings than adventures, but I'm sure there is stuff out there I'm missing.

Desert of Desolation series, in a smelly block-of-flats basement rec room, wasting precious rare beautiful Finnish summer days indoors, and blasting 'Last in line' and 'Powerslave' a bit too loud in the background. AD&D was still fresh and exciting, yet familiar enough that the play was smooth and everybody brought their A-game to the table.

Objectively? I have no idea...

Can't say. The only module I remember owning was whichever one they used to package with Basic. B-1 or B-2, I think. But I have a PDF of every single module TSR ever made, so I'd be interested in knowing if any of them are any good. It's a lot to dig through.

X-4: Master of the Desert Nomads and X5: Temple of Evil. Levels 6-10

DA-1: Adventures in Blackmoor

The Free Dyson's Delve (level 1-8) https://rpgcharacters.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/dysons-delve-deluxe.pdf - an excellent mini-megadungeon and the tentpole dungeon for two of the groups in my Wilderlands sandbox. Very easy to run, add stuff, change stuff. Dyson's smaller mid-level dungeons are great, too.

X2 Castle Amber works best at levels ca 6-8 and is great IMO.

Pathfinder #7 Seven Days to the Grave (plague envelops city, now #2 in Curse of the Crimson Throne hardback) is for level 4-6 so low-mid, very good IME.

Pathfinder #3 The Hook Mountain Massacre (now #3 in Rise of the Runelords hardback) is very good, but very gore-porn and brutal for recommended levels ca 8-10, it's more a high level (10-12+) adventure.

It does seem curious how few OSR adventures are for mid-level.  It's probably a product of the whole 'fantasy fucking vietnam' nonsense.

Quote from: RPGPundit;991415It does seem curious how few OSR adventures are for mid-level.  It's probably a product of the whole 'fantasy fucking vietnam' nonsense.

There's actually a lot of published OSRIC adventures in the 6-12 range, I own several. They're just not very good and I wouldn't recommend them. Pretty much the same with the C&C stuff I have for that level.

Gary Gygax's Yggsburgh is a sandbox C&C campaign designed for level 4+ that is mostly very good, but not really an adventure per se, and almost impossible to get hold of.
Dwimmermount looks good, but I've not GM'd it, only read. Written for levels 1+, including mid level. Probably tends a bit towards the Fantasy Fucking Vietnam style.

I ran Necromancer Games' Vault of Larin Karr (written for 3e) - https://www.froggodgames.com/vault-larin-karr is for levels 4-9. It's pretty good but I made a big mistake running it in 4e & starting at 1st level. It would work best in 1e/OSR I think. The interconnectedness-via-Underdark can feel a bit excessive/cheesy.

Edit: White Plume Mountain is silly but fun, I think it's for ca 5-8 in 1e.

I'm mostly a 1st & 2nd Ed type of guy, my OSR knowledge is low-level only.  Mid-level is the sweet spot for AD&D - just enough spells to make things interesting, not too many to overwhelm the game. Everyone has enough HPs to survive the first round of an ambush, but not so many that they can leap off cliffs and survive.

I'd say UK6 (All that glitters) & UK7 (where dark clouds gather) are pretty good, with "interesting" places to visit and enemies who have agendas that make sense. C1 (Hidden shrine of Tamoachan) is a classic - although it's at the low end of the range. I reckon D3 is a high level adventure, so it's out for me. I1 (dwellers of the forbidden city) was a great sandboxy place that the GM could build on.

The Awakening by Gamemaster publications was pretty cool, probably the first Dwarf-vs duergar find-the-artefact scenario and still the best (IMNSHO).

Irilian from White Dwarf was pretty good - although it was very scripted, the "railroad" visited some excellent stations :-) I loved The Halls of the Dwarven kings (complete dungeon master series). I always had a soft spot for Ravenloft, but as written it's a real mess (3 +3 maces just lying around in one room?!). The maps were gorgeous though ...

I could go on for ages, but I'll stop here for now ...

Quote from: spon;991426The Awakening by Gamemaster publications was pretty cool, probably the first Dwarf-vs duergar find-the-artefact scenario and still the best (IMNSHO).

I agree it's very good. Written for 1e 7-9 I think, it has a lot of "12 trolls" type encounters and would have been considered a high level adventure on publication. PCs need to be high enough to beat powerful forces but not high enough to directly defeat the Duergar army, so it's a bit tricky IMO.

S4 (Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth) is quite good.

I enjoyed running Tomb of the Lizard King.  I'm not sure how much of that was the module being good, and how much was the players being particularly inspired that weekend.  It's been a long time.  Most of the so called classics leave me cold.

Quote from: spon;991426I'm mostly a 1st & 2nd Ed type of guy, my OSR knowledge is low-level only.  Mid-level is the sweet spot for AD&D - just enough spells to make things interesting, not too many to overwhelm the game. Everyone has enough HPs to survive the first round of an ambush, but not so many that they can leap off cliffs and survive.

I'd say UK6 (All that glitters) & UK7 (where dark clouds gather) are pretty good, with "interesting" places to visit and enemies who have agendas that make sense. C1 (Hidden shrine of Tamoachan) is a classic - although it's at the low end of the range. I reckon D3 is a high level adventure, so it's out for me. I1 (dwellers of the forbidden city) was a great sandboxy place that the GM could build on.

The Awakening by Gamemaster publications was pretty cool, probably the first Dwarf-vs duergar find-the-artefact scenario and still the best (IMNSHO).

Irilian from White Dwarf was pretty good - although it was very scripted, the "railroad" visited some excellent stations :-) I loved The Halls of the Dwarven kings (complete dungeon master series). I always had a soft spot for Ravenloft, but as written it's a real mess (3 +3 maces just lying around in one room?!). The maps were gorgeous though ...

I could go on for ages, but I'll stop here for now ...

I don't think I've said it before, so: welcome to theRPGsite!

Quote from: RPGPundit;991979I don't think I've said it before, so: welcome to theRPGsite!

Thanks! Glad to be here :-)

Would Pelinore (from Imagine) count? More a set of locations than an adventure, but there were some good ideas there ...

Quote from: Philotomy Jurament;991456S4 (Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth) is quite good.

That module gave more bang for the buck than any published before or since.

I tend to think of mid-level as 4-8 or thereabouts, and A2: Secret of the Slavers' Stockade is the best for that bracket. Not only does it have a lot of useful material, but the PCs can go at the scenario in any number of ways (head-on assault, infiltration, intrigue, or even picking off the slavers as they come and go). It's the polar opposite of a railroad.