There are quite of variety of published DnD campaigns. These are my favourites as I think they balance combat, intrigue, role-playing, emotional motivation, puzzles, treasure/items/magic acquisition, turn-based exploration of maps, and dungeon crawling/spelunking.

In addition to those factors, there needs overall to be a focus on collaborative storytelling. I heard a great quote once “The DM has the plot and the players tell the story”. The players need to feel they matter and help to create and design the story. There isn’t anything worse than players to feel they are just pieces of a story the DM wants to tell. Then again, the DM needs to provide a loose structure that provides goals, motivations, and objectives for the players. So that said, here are six campaigns that I think do that very well.

1. Curse of Strahd – I’m sure it is no surprise as this campaign is high on most people’s list. Extremely well-written, great balance between structured and unstructured play, and well crafted characters with motivations that make sense. Add in the extra benefits of a fortune telling deck, Mike Schley maps, and excellent BBEG and you have a classic.
2. Rime of the Frostmaiden – wonderful recent addition. Again a great balance between structured and unstructured and a wonderful plot. Love the fact that players can visit any numbers of the ten towns and create multiple stories within the overall plot. I modified the motivations of the BBEG based on lessons I learned from “How to be a great GM”. Excellent time and a great winter-themed campaign. Great balance of towns, castles, dungeons, and creatures.
3. The Wild beyond the Witchlight – this one came out of left field and I didn’t think I would enjoy it as much as I did. Probably the most original of all the campaigns. Wonderful fun can be found in the carnival and the stories and characters encountered along the way to the end are memorable. My only complaint is I cut out some of the detail in the final chapter as I felt the multiple storylines became overly complex. Love the setting.
4. Rise of the Drow – I found this port of multiple pathfinder modules and I am hooked. I am playing this right now and it is probably the best written of all the campaigns. It is written by AAW Games and feels like an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons adventure. (Which is exactly what I was looking for) Leans a little harder into battles and combat if that is what you prefer. Is a little bit more structured, but still leaves a lot of autonomy for the players to define the story. I’ve also cut out some detail based on decisions players made, but I prefer that to having to add details. Amazing amount of original creatures, treasure, and story background and context.