Best 3rd edition adventures

[Infernal Teddy]

I need some recomendations, guys. What are the best available adventures for D&D at the moment? What makes them great, why do you like them? What pitfalls are there to look out for?

And before anyone askes, I'm asking about all levels.

 

[demiurge1138]

Most of the 3e adventures I've really liked are from Dungeon Magazine. In no particular order...

Age of Worms: The Whispering Cairn - It might be brutally deadly for some first level parties (hint - encourage burning hands and flasks of alchemist's fire), but no module I've ever seen has so successfully combined 1e hard dungeon crawling with the emphasis on story and roleplaying 3e tries hard to encourage. Of course, I also loved the rest of the Age of Worms, so...

Steel Shadows - I'm a sucker for murder mysteries. I'm a sucker for warforged. A murder mystery featuring warforged? I'm sold. The clues are well set up, the antagonists are both wicked and surprising, and the fights are memorable and brutal. And yes, of course, this is an Eberron adventure, so it wouldn't fit into all games.

The Styes - More urban mysteries, this time with a heavy Lovecraftian flair and more than a little homage to the dark fantasy of China Meiville. And it was the first time I ever got a handle on how to use an aboleth effectively.

Shadows of Istivin - I haven't ran through it yet, but this three-part adventure arc is chock full of classic Greyhawk flavor. And it's got giants, drow and demons in it! A triple threat that's hard to miss with.

Demiurge out.

 

[DaveMage]

Shackled City from Paizo.

Tomb of Abysthor & the Rappan Athuk series from Necromancer Games (Rappan Athuk soon to be rereleased as a box set with enhancements from the original 3 modules).

World's Largest Dungeon from AEG.

 

[Endur]

Best adventures ... hmmmm

The big campaign adventures from WOTC: Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil and City of the Spider Queen are excellent. RTOEE has an excellent message board on the Monte Cook site for additional details.

Dungeon has had some great adventures in the last thirty or forty issues. Tears for Twilight Hollow is a can't miss. Maure Castle is nice if you are nostalgic for the old days of D&D.

If you have access to living greyhawk adventures, Erik Mona's River of Blood and the geoff modules Gifts of the Fey and Summer's Passing were excellent modules.

 

[Qualidar]

The Styes - More urban mysteries, this time with a heavy Lovecraftian flair and more than a little homage to the dark fantasy of China Meiville. And it was the first time I ever got a handle on how to use an aboleth effectively.

I can't second this one enough, as well as the general sentiment that Dungeon is the go-to source for great adventures. In general, the adventure paths have been well worth checking out.

Other recent greats:
Ill-Made Graves (133) - Snowy viking dragon goodness
Palace of Plenty (130) - Oriental adventures spirit realm goodness
Murder in Oakbridge (129) - Another Ebberon murder mystery with a great protagonist
Shut-In (128) - Creepy low level investigation/horror adventure
Lost Temple of Demogorgon (120) - Uplifted demon worshiping dire apes!
Throne of Iuz (118) - High level orc fight

~Qualidar~

 

[Mouseferatu]

The Red Hand of Doom is, bar none, the best adventure WotC has published to date, IM(NS)HO.

 

[Voadam]

Banewarrens.

Factions, epic powers, politics, dungeon crawling, mysteries to unravel and lore to be unearthed, betrayal, traps, dynamic plot, varied and interesting enemies.

Watch out for the mecha influence, as a D&D player I want my PC to be the actor, not controlling a character directing action through a mech.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

Age of Worms Adventure Path - taken in its entirety this is one bad muther of an adventure. Can't wait from the hardcover release and I've already run 1/2 of the dang thing!

Terror in Freeport (I think) the one with lizard/snake people trying to take over Freeport and the Sealord building a lighthouse to bring madness to the world. I only ran in it as a player but I had a lot of fun in and around Freeport.

 

[Drowbane]

I'm a huge fan of Paizo's two hits, Shackled City and Age of Worms. I own Red Hand of DOOOOM but haven't had a chance to mess with it yet (looks spiffy though).

 

[Treebore]

As my sig says, Dungeon and Necromancer Games are my favorite makers of adventures, especially if you want decent to great story elements. the DCC's from Goodman can be good too, but thye have been much more hit or miss with me.