To get an idea of modules from back in the day, I suggest the following resources:

Wikipedia: D&D Modules

Wizards of the Coast Downloads

My all time favorite is X3: Castle Amber (Chateau d’Amberville). Super challenging with an ass-kickin’ story. I hope these are useful, though they may already be in your arsenal.

- Ironshef

My group hasn’t used any modules. I can’t speak for Jeremy, but my reason is simply that I always find something I’d rather buy when I’m at the bookstore. I’ve been meaning to pick something up just to see how it’s done (I’d like to be able to make some of my own sometime), but I have yet to follow through on that.

I think it’s interesting that you saw a correlation between the rarity of magic items and your group’s interest in the story side of the game. It makes sense, though, because when you’re not constantly getting bigger and better gear, you aren’t focusing on optimizing your build. That leaves your brain free to explore the character and the world.

When I used to play (and this was back in the days of Basic and the first Advanced rules set — do groups even use modules anymore?) we used to refer to those campaigns containing an abundance of easily-acquirable magic items as “Monty Hall” campaigns. Any superficial analysis will reveal that this was not a terribly accurate analogy, but we were just kids and viewed “Let’s Make a Deal” as this wildly disorganized game show where people were given cool stuff for doing practically nothing.

Ultimately, that free-wheeling approach to the distribution of magic items damaged the experience for us. Access to more power than we deserved was common and quickly led to boredom. So, in response we moved radically in the opposite direction and made the items rare and very difficult to acquire. Sometimes they were discovered deep in dungeons after several clever obstacles had been overcome, other times they were created by powerful individuals as rewards for completing a series of arduous tasks. However it happened, it was not easy and the acquisition had genuine meaning for the character. The “new” magic items weren’t always overwhelmingly powerful, but they were definitely meaningful. Perhaps, epic, in that sense.

This shift left us with considerably more time to focus on our characters, their stories and interactions and how they fit in the game worlds we created. It worked and it kept us playing for many years to come when it seemed like we were on the verge of tossing our dice on the pile of forgotten toys.

It warms my heart to see committed groups out there playing D&D. For me, it was foundational in my love of fantasy and gaming. I’ll never forget it. Good on all of ya!

- Ironshef

Reading, not so much… I never want to end my break if I do that