Pick your Top 5 TDM Missions

[Dragofer 1501]

Mostly in whatever order:

1. Full Moon Fever

Incredibly well made, I'd have liked to use the 6th option for 'Perfect' in Gameplay and Appearance if it had a poll. If only the story were less minimalist.

 

2. William Steele: In the North

My ideal mansion mission, cozily winterly and lots of niches to explore, both in the architecture and the story.

 

3. Ulysses: Genesis

This was an impactful experience, one of a kind with its nightmarish opening and thoroughly well executed.

 

4. Penny Dreadful: Grail of Regrets

An impressively convincing underground environment and, above all, a successful horror mission.

 

5. Normally I should put another well-made mission here, like St Alban's Cathedral or Requiem. But instead I'll reserve a spot on this list for ERH+'s Seed of Lodestar, a haunting deep sea adventure...

 

 

Honourable mention: House of Theo. It's soothing to watch the inhabitants wander down the castle's hallways in the dim cool light streaming in through narrow windows from the moonlit mountain landscape, a violin quietly playing its sombre tune. Such tranquil ambience.

[unfairlight 13]

Thomas Porter series, all of it except for 2.

It's great, however in TP4 I had a bug where my lightgem was at full darkness wherever I went which made it very easy. TP 1, 3 and 6 were my favorites. I found 2 too hard for me so I didn't complete it but it was a well designed mission anyway.

 

Ulysses: Genesis and Ulysses 2.

A mission that did something new for once: it allowed me to kill. I find it annoying that so many missions never allow you to kill, with how loud kills are it's easier to blackjack in most situations anyway. Extremely well designed and fun to play, was never too aggravating or too easy with nice story and worldbuilding.

 

William Steele: In the North

Big, open, 1 hour long and generally just fun. The winter is cozy too. Too many readables with no info though.

 

Accountant 2: New in Town

Probably the biggest TDM mission of all, it is in filesize anyway. A lot of voice acting, good atmosphere and nice level design, very enjoyable.

 

Crucible of Omens: Behind Closed Doors

Huge, HUGE mission with enjoyable level design, readables and generally just pure fun. The map is huge and very confusing at first but ends up fun to play later on.

[Kukutoo 28]

Oh builder, as it stands these are my top 5 picks. I have more but these are my favorite!

 

-Accountant 2: new in town, the hidden knickknacks in all the rooms and apartments, the cozy feeling of late night Gothic/ modern city life, the ost coming from the lobby on floor three, the terror enduing floor two, sewer and village, wonderful mapping skills, the joy of finding the secrets, and my ability to beat it without any help!

 

-Alberic's Curse, I never counted but more then ten ways to get into the monastery. As a 13th century enthusiast and a massive fan of all things Gothic this map delivered! A tragic story accompanying the ruins of a isolated church in which its entire population was killed, its history unraveled through its texts! Holy Relics and objects abandoned that for sure the Church would pay to have back! A reasonable and realistic layout to the buildings, all rooms serve a purpose and you can imagine life here. The bricks I shat when getting cornered by the undead, and best of all I recently beat it in one save! One of the few maps I have returned to more then a few times.

 

-A house of locked secrets, Good lord were to start? I care little for story in my mods, but this one for sure changed my mind! The unfolding events of a lords manor, the new mechanic introduced for this mod alone, how it made sense and I was able to beat the level without online guides, the wonderful maps and the details in rooms, the interactions with npcs, and final boss, I was very happy with this mod.

 

-Ulysses 2: protecting the flock, I felt like a secret agent in the 15th century. Avoiding the peasants who have been riled up and focusing on the evil cultists as the targets and saving hostages! Such a badass feel! The map was nice with almost a infinite way to navigate its cloister, the voice talent was charming, Die hard Gothic style!

 

-WS1: in the north, the first map I had played after the tutorial and the Tears of Saint L, What a lucky pick. A live castle with a barrack, kitchen, servants quarters, guest rooms, and more! A dark history looms over this keep with secrets that made me rewatch the film 'the name of the rose' once I had finished it. And like all the other maps before this one I was able to beat it without any help from the internet!

Edited December 3, 2017 by Kukutoo

[Bikerdude 3743]

-Alberic's Curse, I never counted but more then ten ways to get into the monastery. As a 13th century enthusiast and a massive fan of all things Gothic this map delivered!

Nice to see this old map still getting some love.

[Kukutoo 28]

Nice to see this old map still getting some love.

Man, it is a nice map!

I once made a map on paper because I had planned to speed run it.

It has so much freedom, but at the same time keeps you grounded to a goal.

I have not been able to beat it without being seen in one save yet.

Edited December 3, 2017 by Kukutoo

[Bikerdude 3743]

I have not been able to beat it without being seen in one save yet.

You remind me of that guy over on TTLG that does iron-man runs of T2 missions (cant remember is name atm)

[Macsen 5]

Just downloaded TDM for the first time - I had forgotten about this mod! Nice to see it's now going strong with a good choice of missions. Does anyone have any suggestions for good steampunk-themed missions? I.e industrial, robots and machinery. Those I've downloaded so far based on suggestions above all seem to be medieval-themed.

[Bikerdude 3743]

Does anyone have any suggestions for good steampunk-themed missions? I.e industrial, robots and machinery.

Of the top of my head, William Steel 2, but you would play William Steel 1 first. But the caveat is the WS series sets the bar pretty high compared to other missions.

[Macsen 5]

Of the top of my head, William Steel 2, but you would play William Steel 1 first. But the caveat is the WS series sets the bar pretty high compared to other missions.

 

Thanks, Bikerdude for your help. WS1 was the first one I downloaded and played! I'll give WS2 a go. Let me know if you can think of any others.

 

Edit: Ooh, yes, this is exactly what I was looking for! Good stuff.

Edited March 14, 2018 by Macsen

[Bienie 444]

I would say maybe give Ulysses 1 a go as well. The only map I know of that has actual robot enemies. A lot of missions have industrial warehouses etc though, A Matter of Hours for example though it's a short one, and Quinn Co. has some bank heists.

Aside from that ERH+ is working on a massive steampunk submarine mission, and MirceaKitsune is working on a cyberpunk conversion of TDM though release dates are understandibly TBD.

[Macsen 5]

Thanks, I'll have a look. I'm writing a steampunk novel at the moment so I'm looking for something to get me 'in the mood'!

[rrhanson 3]

First off, I'm a huge fan of The Dark Mod. I played the original Thief I and II during undergrad and Thief III during grad school. It got me through a lot of rough times and is easily my favorite video game series ever.

 

So, I'm going to go outside of the best 5 format here...I've kept a journal of my thoughts and ratings of 74 fan missions that I have played over the last 2 or 3 years.

 

My rating system was as follows:

 

*Not that great

**Solid

***Really Fun

****Awesome!!!

 

I'm not going to post which missions got * or ** because I understand these take a huge amount of time/effort to make, and I don't want to discourage anyone who tries to design these. Thank you to all authors! And thank you to the developers of The Dark Mod!!

 

**** Four Star Missions (listed in order of when I played them)

 

Builder's Influence ****

St Albans Cathedral****

Heart of Lone Salvation **** Best fan mission I have ever played

Requiem **** a work of art, some elements feel tomb raider-esque, excellent

A House of Locked Secrets **** It’s a work of art!

King of the Mountain **** awesome, escape from a prison with many guards, beautiful natural light

 

*** Three Star Missions (listed in order of when I played them)

 

Knighton Manor ***

Glenham Tower ***

Alberic's Curse *** big and terrifying

Somewhere Above the City ***

Reap what you sow *** hard but unique, (broad daylight!), good story

Betrayal *** this mission is unexpectedly huge

The Lich Queen *** Dark and interesting, lots of complexity to the mission

The Alchemist *** Has it all...plenty to explore...city streets, mansion, monsters, etc.

In the North ***

Lords and Legacy ***

Vengeance for a Thief (part III) *** huge museum + mansion to explore, lots of guards!

Ulysses – Genesis *** get to use lots of fun mines and gas mines

Ulysses 2: Protector of the Flock *** fun

Penny Dreadful 1 (Grail of Regrets) *** fun, zombies!

Penny Dreadful 2 (All the Way Up) *** fun and fairly complex/large!

The Gatehouse *** probably the funnest short mission I have played

Crystal Grave 2.1 *** medium length, fairly solitary, lots to explore, take your time to adjust the lighting

Full Moon Fever *** excellent

The Ravine *** Nice. Very Alice in Wonderlandesque. Massive, but no readables and few locks to pick

Crucible of Omens: Behind Closed Doors *** City-style mission with some small mansions

Volta 2: Cauldron of the Gods ***+ good voice acting, creepy new creatures, underground caverns, great!

 

 

 

Edited April 28, 2018 by rrhanson

[SuaveSteve 29]

5. Normally I should put another well-made mission here, like St Alban's Cathedral or Requiem. But instead I'll reserve a spot on this list for ERH+'s Seed of Lodestar, a haunting deep sea adventure...

Oh boy... don't tease us like that, man!

 

Also, I get the sense the top brass is paralysed in indecision from all these offerings? Perhaps expand the total to 10 and also count campaigns/series (like WS) as one?

[CountMorillonite 20]

First off, I'm a huge fan of The Dark Mod. I played the original Thief I and II during undergrad and Thief III during grad school. It got me through a lot of rough times and is easily my favorite video game series ever.

 

So, I'm going to go outside of the best 5 format here...I've kept a journal of my thoughts and ratings of 74 fan missions that I have played over the last 2 or 3 years.

 

My rating system was as follows:

 

*Not that great

**Solid

***Really Fun

****Awesome!!!

 

I'm not going to post which missions got * or ** because I understand these take a huge amount of time/effort to make, and I don't want to discourage anyone who tries to design these. Thank you to all authors! And thank you to the developers of The Dark Mod!!

 

**** Four Star Missions (listed in order of when I played them)

 

Builder's Influence ****

St Albans Cathedral****

Heart of Lone Salvation **** Best fan mission I have ever played

Requiem **** a work of art, some elements feel tomb raider-esque, excellent

A House of Locked Secrets **** It’s a work of art!

King of the Mountain **** awesome, escape from a prison with many guards, beautiful natural light

 

*** Three Star Missions (listed in order of when I played them)

 

Knighton Manor ***

Glenham Tower ***

Alberic's Curse *** big and terrifying

Somewhere Above the City ***

Reap what you sow *** hard but unique, (broad daylight!), good story

Betrayal *** this mission is unexpectedly huge

The Lich Queen *** Dark and interesting, lots of complexity to the mission

The Alchemist *** Has it all...plenty to explore...city streets, mansion, monsters, etc.

In the North ***

Lords and Legacy ***

Vengeance for a Thief (part III) *** huge museum + mansion to explore, lots of guards!

Ulysses – Genesis *** get to use lots of fun mines and gas mines

Ulysses 2: Protector of the Flock *** fun

Penny Dreadful 1 (Grail of Regrets) *** fun, zombies!

Penny Dreadful 2 (All the Way Up) *** fun and fairly complex/large!

The Gatehouse *** probably the funnest short mission I have played

Crystal Grave 2.1 *** medium length, fairly solitary, lots to explore, take your time to adjust the lighting

Full Moon Fever *** excellent

The Ravine *** Nice. Very Alice in Wonderlandesque. Massive, but no readables and few locks to pick

Crucible of Omens: Behind Closed Doors *** City-style mission with some small mansions

Volta 2: Cauldron of the Gods ***+ good voice acting, creepy new creatures, underground caverns, great!

 

 

 

Seeing as you only have 1 post so far, I'm curious as to whether you are still around after all these months.

If Heart Of Lone Salvation is "the best fan mission I have ever played", do you mean only the Dark Mod missions or are you including the hundreds of Thief 1,2,3 fan missions out there. Or maybe you're including fan missions from other games not Thief.

That's pretty hefty praise and I'm not disparaging HLS at all, it's awesome!

[gokudo 9]

Hi all,

Happy new year and I can't wait to see what this very talented team manages to release this year. Some of my favorite missions so far are (not in order are):

1.) Crucible of Omens: Behind closed doors 

2.) Alberic's Curse 

3.)  Crystal Grave 

4.) Deceptive Shadows 

5.) Awaiting the Storm

As for campaigns, I highly rate whatever's released by Dragofer, Goldwell, Grayman and Sotha. I feel that atmosphere sets aside TDM from all the other bland, bloated games that are saturating the market at present. I just love that Gothic/Baroque feel that TDM is able to capture and that no-one else appears to be doing, much to the detriment of gamers everywhere.  I do feel as the missions get more and more detailed, this list will most likely change a couple of times! Keep up the great work team!

 

 

 

[SeriousToni 491]

I really have to chime in again to make a small statement about the William Steele series here. I found myself playing TDM again and these missions are so well built and always have some nice special mechanics in them that I replayed these with more joy than even the newer FMS of other creators (which topped themselves with every new release on levels I never believed were possible nevertheless). So without saying that other FMS aren't worthy, I really admire the love and sweat that was put in the William Steele series by grayman and I can recommend this to everyone who has not started playing or finishing them. I also wanted to abuse this post to give a really big thank you to grayman for creating this story with excellent gameplay and I am really curious what he will  craft in future times. This is really excellent work - thank you so much!! 

Edited April 26, 2020 by SeriousToni

[grayman 2982]

Thanks, @SeriousToni!

Glad you're enjoying the series.

The 3 remaining missions are under construction. I hope to release them this calendar year.

[Tarhiel 37]

In no particular order:
1. The Heart of the Lone Salvation
2. Requiem
3. A House of Locked Secrets
4. Volta 1: Volta and The Stone
5. Volta 2: Cauldron of the Gods

Honorable mentions(because we can´t write more than 5):
Glenham Tower
Return to the City

Edited April 27, 2020 by Tarhiel

[Goldwell 2507]

There are a lot of fantastic TDM missions but i've never sat down and tried to figure out which are my favorites until now. It's quite hard when you're limited to just five, but here's my pick for the top 5 TDM missions.

 

1. A House of Locked Secrets by Moonbo

2. Volta 1: The Stone by Kingsal

3. Penny Dreadful 3: Erasing the Trail by Melan & Bikerdude

4. William Steele 4: The Warrens by Grayman

5. Perilous Refuge by Dragofer & Crucible Team

 

Honorable mentions

A Good Neighbor by Amadeus

Lords & Legacy by Kvorning

Anything by Bienie / Sotha

[duzenko 676]

I like missions with plot, fresh take, atmosphere, and adventure, while less loot and path searches

In order of appearance:

• Heart of Lone Salvation. One of the earliest fm's, but one of the richest ever. I could feel the effort and excitement the creators have put in it. They gave it their best.
• Illusionist's Tower. Underappreciated by general public, it impressed me personally by replacing the generic search for loot by a series of bizarre, daunting, expressive scenes.
• Thomas Porter 6: Lich Queen's Demise. The entire series deserves the highest praise, but the finale episode is sheer grandeur.
• Requiem. A golden standard in story telling.

I haven't played most missions released after 2017 yet, hopefully some of them can please me like one of those.

Honorable theme mentions

Full or partial use of daylight. Prison break. Flying ship. Lightning storm. Forest. Winter. Animals. NPCs. Theme swap. New objective. Assassination. Custom monsters.