Looking for "discov. ancient civilization" modules

Hi lovely GP community!

I have probably finally nailed down for what module/experience I'm looking for in near future trough the RPGs media. And looking for some good recommendations from you. As I trust your judgment, seeing what and how people play games here:)

I'm basically looking for "discovering ancient, but advanced(alien?) civilization trough the eyes of middle-ages or Renaissance people" - experience/feeling provided by recommended modules/adventures. If the world has also fantasy/magic/legends themes - that's not the problem. But technology(outside of magic) shouldn't be further than bows, big ships allowing crossing the oceans and flintlock pistols/guns.

My main inspiration from other media would be: The Mysterious Cities of Gold (I wonder if anyone here even knows/remembers it... ;) ) and/or Thorgal comic books and probably any legends/stories about Atlantis or similar. Plus I would add Erich von Däniken books to the mix - so mixing ancient history with futuristic/sci-fi themes/ideas. :)

Edit: also I would add amazing Castle in the Sky to the list. How could I forgot? ;)

(and... lol... even Gummi Bears had some themes of that... but sssssh... I didn't mention that... I'm adult now;) )

"Mystery and amazement of discovering some ancient technology, that is far advanced to what is available now and probably will be in 500 years." But nothing overly dark/demonic in genesys/source like in Culthu themes/games.

System/rulesets are irrelevant. As I'm willing to learn new system or convert the adventure for what I'm using - if the module will be really good. The story and the feel of discovering amazing things is the most important.

Besides if you have other medias to recommend with such "feel": books, comics, movies, cartoons, anime, computer games - I'm very willing to hear your recommendations!

But let's focus on RPG material mainly, please. So: ready-made adventures or modules.

Bonus question - if someone is willing to state their opinion on this: what system/ready-made setting would you use for playing Thorgal or The Mysterious Cities of Gold -like campaigns ?

The ancient gummy bears rocked! Mecha, Rollercoaster transport, advanced magitech, they had it all. I showed a bit to my kids and got some odd looks and laughs from them.

Dnd forgotten realms had the Netheril. They had advanced magic tech. Can't think of and modules based on their ruins though

Hehe... those youngsters... nowadays... they don't know what is good! ;)

And in my opinion gummy bears was a very good cartoon. Plot was intelligent, but a little same-y. It required some thinking, not like some of today's cartoons that seam to be based on providing only "feelings" (excitement, competition, battle) not caring about story and character arcs at all. Excluding of course some great examples like "perfect"(for me;) ) Avatar the last air bender(season 1) and such's: )

Does that count as "today's cartoons"? It aired in 2005. That's almost twenty years ago 😄

Huh?! What? Twenty years?!? Shh.... I'm not that old! ... hrrrr<the sound of snoring, while falling a sleep once again in a rocking chair>

I totally remember 'Mysterious Cities of Gold'. That was an interesting mix of genres.

Starting with D&D, I'm echoing what Psybermagi mentioned about Netheril, the boxed set Ruins of Myth Drannor brings adventurers to explore the past of Forgotten Realms. Also, the default Mystara setting for D&D, which is very Renaissance, has within the planet a Hollow World, which gives a whole range of other adventures. Then there's a classic Expedition to Barrier Peaks, ie, fantasy meeets spaceship, but that might be considered too cheesy for today's tastes.

On a different note, I've always thought the Numenera setting for Cypher is meant to evoke the 'discover ancient civilisations' feel, even if it's meant to start in the far future in the Ninth World.

The Mysterious Cities of Gold was one of my favorite shows when I was little. It was on Nickolodeon right after school along with Noozles.

I have no helpful input though.

I've got a ton of OSR and actual old school modules that had lost cities as a centerpiece. Off the top of my head:

B4 The Lost City
I1 Dwellers in the Forbidden City
Caverns of Thracia
Hot Springs Island
The Secret of Black Crag

There are many more; I'll try to crawl through my collection at some point.

Thank you all for answers and recommendations! Few comments/answers from me:
Thanks! I have put Netheril on my radar. Will read it someday:) From the descriptions it looks like very adjacent to what I'm looking for(flying cities! ), but as you said unfortunately not so focused on ruins, more so about time travel? I see one module for this setting: How the Mighty Are Fallen but also it is seam not so about the ruins. But I also will take a look in it some day.
Being in your game I had a feeling that we may be some kind of kindred spirits ;)
Thanks! Putting Ruins of Myth Drannor on my reading list. Hollow World will get some look too, but with lower priority judging from DriveRPG comments.
Expedition to Barrier Peaks - wow! :) I will definitely get this. Cheesy can be good too... ;) but probably will need some adjustments.

I know about Numenera... I like the concept... but something doesn't convince me to invest in this family of systems. But would definitely play same game of it here on GP to check if it will provide such feelings:) Besides, for now I would like to go with Renaissance themes.

Yeah! They were great. I loved that each episode was also preceded with the documentary section. Did you - @Falconloft, witchdoctor see the newer seasons too? (I think the 2nd is from 2012). They are not bad in my opinion, but more... hmm... childish in the characters behaviors.
Thanks a lot for those recommendations! But I know about some of them, and have questions - if someone GMed them.

B4 The Lost City - saw a video about it. It looked more like "fighting monster and mediating between factions" adventure then exploring amazing ruins. And I don't like what is the final/conclusion - was done 1000 times. But I maybe wrong of course. How do you see it?

Dwellers in the Forbidden City - at first peak looks great - goes to reading list.

Caverns of Thracia - looks interesting too. Isn't it somehow famous module or made by famous designer? I recall something like this... hmm... <after reading Wikipedia>... I see. It is. For OSR community. And that's great news! Definitely goes high on reading list! But it's seems hard to buy... not on DriveRPG and not on DCC side. Strange.

Hot Springs Island - was looking on this module for other reasons. But didn't notice it has some ancient civilization/tuins in it? Has it?

The Secret of Black Crag - I know that one! Didn't read so far, but I'm planing to run it soonish! Looks great and very in the direction I was looking for! Do you have any experiences with it? @Harrigan ?
Those recommendations were great! So always looking for some more from you:) And you can count me in instantly if you ever will want to GM any of those modules Harrigan! :)

I own B4 but I've never run, played, or carefully read it. So can't help you there, though I love the idea of that juicy faction play.

Thracia was by Jennell Jaquays, who just died recently, sadly. Very famous module. Hard to obtain. Goodman has the rights, I think, and I *really* hope they publish it and give it the same "OAR" treatment they gave many other TSR classics and Dark Tower. (Also by JJ when she was working for Judge's Guild.)

I do believe HSI has the ruins of an ancient city, but it's less of a focus than these other books.

Black Crag is incredible, but so is everything that Chance Dudinack does...

Thanks for all recommendations. THEY WILL be read ;D

Yes, Chance Dudinack is great. Already have two of his modules, and plan to buy and GM all of them:)

The discovery of ancient and advanced civilizations is one of the themes of Numenera. You could just limit character creation to these cultures that have a renaissance/middle ages development level. Numenera as a setting is huge.

Thanks Camilla I will take it into consideration. Do you recommend any specific modules for Numenera that mainly focuses on it? Or all of them like that? ;)

Which ones do you have? Black Wyrm of Brandonsford is perhaps my favorite adventure of all time. Winter's Daughter is right there, though.

@pedrop - no, I never did. I heard they weren't as good and decided to leave my nostalgia in tact.

Yes, I have Black Wyrm of Brandonsford. And planing to GM it soon for my kids, after converting it to Genesys. I think Winter's Daughter is not his, as far as authors on DriveThroughRPG are correctly submitted. But I must admit that I also thought it was his module too. I have Winter's Daughter too, planed to merge it with Wyrm of Brandonsford, but recently I'm not so sure about it.

Any advices for GMing those modules @Harrigan ?

I have also The Isle of Forgotten Gods, but haven't read it very in detail yet, but plan to buy Secret of the Black Crag and connect the two modules. As my base for bigger, epic campaign:) On the list there is also: The Secret of Strangelight Hall 5E :) But don't know too much about it.

@Falconloft they are not bad really. Especially don't kill the nostalgia - at least for me. I mean 2nd season. But the character are written worse - more flat, then very interesting approach in 1st season.

Winter's Daughter is by Gavin Norman of OSE fame. I just meant it was also a favorite module generally. And I think some of the themes are a little close and overlapping in those two modules... you could run them in the same setting, but I would build some connective tissue with the fae and the crypts.