Paul

A great follow-up or alternative adventure to the Lost Mine of Phandelver! Princes of the Apocalypse takes you into the Dessarin Valley, a region rife with elemental energies. The elemental cults are working in secret to summon their respective disaster-inducing archomental. Although the cultist stat blocks get repetitive, there is a nice selection of elemental creatures and enemies rather than orcs and goblins. What I like most is that the Big Bad changes based on player actions, making it a different ending for GMs to run every time. The maps by Mike Schley are so quintessential that I've used them in other adventures (my favorite is the Weeping Colossus!).

There are two major parts to a game of Alice is Missing: world building in the first half and improvisational mystery. The world building is a great opportunity for "Yes and" without limit. Is the nightclub a legit party spot, den of crime, or meeting place for real vampires? If you are playing both parts in a single session, prepare for strong emotional resonance. Player safety guidelines ahead of the game and aftercare are essential.

A campaign that pulls in nearly every horror monster into a single adventure! There are so many possible paths and sympathetic NPC quests that even the replay value is high! Curse of Strahd can be handily conquered within 11 levels or less, which helps to reduce campaign bloat and encourage completion in a reasonable time frame. I personally recommend checking out the Adventurers League Curse of Strahd season as great intro adventures to drop characters into Barovia.