7 Epic Third-Party Dungeons & Dragons Adventures You Need to Try

Dungeons & Dragons has been around for a while at this point. With over 50 years and 5+ editions under its belt, the beloved TTRPG has plenty of adventures to offer players. Of course, not every older adventure translates easily to the current editions, but even so, the official catalog of D&D campaigns is a lengthy one. While the official adventure books from Wizards of the Coast have plenty to offer, sometimes, players want to try something a bit more off the beaten path. That’s where third-party published adventures come in.

Thanks to the Dungeons & Dragons Open Gaming License, third-party creators can craft their own exciting supplemental materials for the game. That means creative teams other than those housed at Wizards of the Coast have come up with their own adventure settings and stories for players to explore. This adds to the variety of options on the table when choosing your next D&D campaign. These days, Wizards of the Coast is even starting to add more of these modules right to D&D Beyond, making it even easier to play them using offical tools like the Maps VTT. So if you’re looking for something a little different for your next adventure, these are some of the best third-party D&D campaigns out there.

7. Winter’s Daughter

Winter’s Daughter is a “romantic fairytale adventure” written for both the Old Essentials Rules system and Dungeons & Dragons 5e. It is set in Dolmenwood, a folklore fantasy setting crafted as an homage to old-school D&D rules and the fairy tales of the British Isles. The game is available as its own system, but individual adventures can also be run using the OSR or 5e systems. It is available as a PDF download from the Exalted Funeral website for $20 USD.

If you are looking for a fairy-tale style adventure, this one will deliver. Winter’s Daughter takes players through woodland terrain, the tomb of an ancient hero, and the fairy realm. Length-wise, it’s closer to a one-shot, at just 24 pages long and taking around 3-6 hours to complete for most parties. That said, the Dolmenwood setting offers plenty of additional adventures if your party is hungry for more after experiencing this highly-rated story.

6. Abomination Vaults 

This adventure stems from the Pathfinder system, which originally began as an offshoot of D&D. It was first designed for Pathfinder, but the folks at Paizo later adapted it to D&D 5e. And now, in collaboration with Wizards of the Coast, this adventure path in its 5e form is available on D&D Beyond for $49.99. As the first official Paizo adventure on D&D Beyond, it was a solid choice, as it’s widely considered one of the best Pathfinder campaigns around.

Abomination Vaults has a ghostly theme, where players delve into a “sprawling megadungeon,” the titular Abomination Vaults. The adventure is set in a seaside town called Otari, so you’ll get some coastal flair that’s good fun for leaning into character creation and NPC roleplay. In total, Abomination Vaults has 10 chapters worth of story to play through, so it’s a campaign of solid length that should take your party some time to complete. Many tables who’ve played through say it took around 8 months to a year with regular sessions, but your mileage may vary.

5. Uncaged: Goddesses

For D&D adventurers looking for another angle on some common tropes, Uncaged: Goddesses will deliver. This collection brings together several Tier 4 adventures for a sprawling campaign that digs into the lore behind the goddesses of the Faerun pantheon from D&D. It is available from DM’s Guild for $45.99 as a physical book or $19.99 in a PDF format.

This award-winning adventure is perfect for players curious to know more about goddesses like Fury, Mother Night, and Pharika. Adventurers will encounter these goddesses in a sprawling collection of 21 adventures, which can be linked together for a mythical campaign. Like prior Uncaged titles, each adventure can be run as a one-shot of around 3-5 hours, creating the option for a months-long campaign when strung together.

4. Courts of the Shadow Fey

Courts of the Shadow Fey is designed for players at 7th to 10th level, making it a perfect third-party campaign for tables ready for high-level play. This adventure from Kobold Press brings players into the deceitful Cours of the Shadow Fey, where they’ll work to reclaim the city. It is available as a PDF for $19.99 at Kobold Press, with an optional VTT map pack add-on for an additional $4.99.

This adventure offers plenty of opportunities to roll for deception, as players will take part in an ongoing effort to gain an audience with the Fey Queen. For those looking for an adventure that mixes court intrigue with fey magic, Courts of the Shadow Fey will deliver. The adventure is 148 pages long and tends to take parties several months to complete. Players love the story and vibes, but do note that it can be confusing to run unless you’re a well-seasoned DM.

3. Dungeons of Drakkenheim

If a dark, urban setting is more your speed, allow me to introduce Dungeons of Drakkenheim. This adventure was created by the Dungeon Dudes and is based on the campaign setting from their actual play adventures. It is designed for the D&D 5e system and is available from Ghostfire Gaming for $49.99 in hardcover, or $24.99 in PDF only format.

Dungeons of Drakkenheim brings players into the urban wasteland left behind after Drakkenheim was destroyed by an Eldritch storm. Now, hideous monsters roam the lands, but brave adventurers still crave the wealth and lost knowledge that lurk within the ruins. This is another meaty third-party D&D campaign that will take your party plenty of time to complete. Players say it’s taken them anywhere from 20-40 sessions, depending on the completionist vibes at your table. With many D&D fans singing its praises, this adventure will be worth the time.

2. Call from the Deep

Looking for a pirate-themed D&D adventure? Call from the Deep is here to deliver, with an otherworldly twist. This Sword Coast adventure from creator JVC Parry is available from DM’s Guild for $39.95 as a PDF or hardcover. With an average player rating of 5 stars, this is one of the best third-party D&D books out there.

Call from the Deep brings players to the Sword Coast, where an otherworldly ship has crash-landed and spawned a new era of piracy. Creatures from the deep have emerged in the wake of the crash, along with a dark foe who just might destroy the world. This campaign spans levels 1 to 12 and tops out at 270 pages, taking many parties around a year to complete.

1. Odyssey of the Dragon Lords

If you enjoy Greek epics and heroic deeds to save the world, the Odyssey of the Dragon Lords from Arcanum Worlds will deliver. This adventure originally came into being as a Kickstarter campaign in 2019 and has been impressing players ever since. It is available from Modiphius Entertainment as a hardcover book for $62.11 or as a PDF for $27.60.

This adventure comes from the lead designer behind epic RPG video games like Baldur’s Gate, Dragon Age: Origins, and more. The campaign is designed to be epic, taking characters from level 1 to 15 in a 460-page odyssey through the Greek mythology-inspired setting of Thylea. The adventure has the potential to become a truly long-running campaign, lasting from up to several months to a few years, depending on how in-depth your table goes. With a massive setting, plenty of space to build your characters’ epic stories, and a solid plot, Odyssey of the Dragon Lords is one of the best third-party adventures for D&D 5e.

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