Introduction:
I have played through all 23 of the fan-created DAO modules and decided to review and rank them, in the hopes of guiding players to the ones they might enjoy. Most are available on the Dragon Age Nexus.
This list only concerns standalone modules ("Other Campaigns" in the main menu); it does not cover mods that integrate new quests and maps into the main campaign.
All other mods and official DLC should be not just disabled but also uninstalled completely when playing a custom module, to avoid bugs. Cosmetic mods are generally ok and some may actually be required for some modules.
All modules were played with the "Normal" difficulty setting.

Criteria:
Level Design: Does the game world use handcrafted maps, or just recycled areas from the main campaign? If they are recycled, are they revamped in a convincing way?
Character Creation: Do you create a custom hero from scratch, or play with a pre-defined character? Is it possible to import an existing hero from another campaign?
Dialogue: When interacting with other characters, do we have real voice actors, computer-generated voices, or no voices at all (text only)?
Combat: Are the items, skills, and talents available to the player well-balanced against the challenges that enemies present?
Story: What is the plot or purpose of the module? Is it compelling and interesting, or dull and confusing? Does the story react to the player's choices?
Technical: What types of bugs, glitches, or unintended effects are present in the module? Are they minor or do they interfere with completion & enjoyment of the game?
Length: Time to completion in hours or minutes. Assuming the player explores everywhere, talks to everyone, completes all quests.
Lore-Friendly: Does this module take place in the canon world of Thedas?
Thoughts: Subjective impressions of the content.

Ranked (Best to Worst):
Rose of Eternity
Thirst
The Shattered War
The Carrion Birds
Baldur's Gate Redux
Fragments of Ferelden
The Broken City
Dragon Age Quest
Dragon Age Uprising
Craggy Island
Scars of War
Shadows over Telia
Dirge of Coldhearth
Trouble in Rainesfere
Emissary
Gladiator
Kal Sharok
NWN2 OC Remake
A Mercenary Story
Red Riding Hood
The Demon
The Dungeon
Wardens Arena

Full reviews of each to follow soon, depending on what the character/post count limits might be on here.

Part I: The Best

Rose of Eternity
Level Design: Handcrafted maps
Character Creation: Pre-defined hero (male human warrior)
Dialogue: Real VA
Combat: Good balance, inventive combat system
Story: Interesting story
Technical: No bugs
Length: 6.25 hrs.
Lore-friendly: No
Thoughts: This module is outstanding on every level. Rose of Eternity (subtitle: Family and Country) is actually the third installment in a series. The first two titles were fan modules for Neverwinter Nights. I was not able to track them down to play them first, but they are not necessary to understand the story and become immersed in the world. Rose of Eternity is not lore-friendly and takes place in a completely separate universe from Dragon Age. The author has clearly given this mod a lot of care and attention to detail. The characters feel real and fleshed out, and the story feels like you're getting a glimpse into a much larger world, one with a rich history and a many possible futures in front of it. The music is also tastefully chosen to add maximum emotional weight to every scene, whether combat, exploration, or cutscenes. The only criticism I can muster is that the audio quality of some of the voices is not great. This was the first module I played that I did not want to end, and one of the few that made me want to replay right away.

Thirst
Level Design: Handcrafted maps
Character Creation: Custom hero (new origins)
Dialogue: No VA
Combat: Difficult Balance
Story: Interesting, reactive story
Technical: Minor bugs with quest completion
Length: 15.0 hrs.
Lore-friendly: Yes
Thoughts: Full of professional touches, Thirst is an excellently crafted module. The story takes place after the events of the main campaign, in Arceris, a trade city mostly unaffected by the Blight. Thirst features multiple well-designed maps, party members with fleshed out personalities, and challenging combat encounters. The mod has a lot of old school RPG touches that reward curiosity and exploration, like hidden secrets and the lack of hand-holding quest markers. Many of the side quests feel organically tied to the main quest, which is itself compelling. Thirst is one of the least linear fan modules I have played. Due to the branching plot based on player choices, at least two playthroughs would be needed to see all the content. Players can expect to stumble on puzzles or challenging bosses early on that they will have to revisit later when they have leveled up or discovered key quest items. With the emphasis on investigation, it can feel tedious at times running back and forth between the four main sub-maps and backtracking through large dungeons to report quests. Combat tends toward the difficult side but with proper planning and tactics there were no unwinnable encounters. With voice acting, this module would be nigh-indistinguishable from official DLC.

The Shattered War
Level Design: Handcrafted maps
Character Creation: Custom hero (new origins)
Dialogue: Real VA
Combat: Good balance
Story: Interesting, reactive story
Technical: Minor bugs with quest completion, some minor typos
Length: 11.0 hrs.
Lore-friendly: Yes
Thoughts: The story of The Shattered War parallels the Awakening expansion and touches on many of the same themes, though without the Grey Warden as the protagonist. Instead, a custom-origin hero gains command of a fort in the Frostback mountains, during the months following the conclusion of the main campaign. The hero must coordinate efforts to eradicate the remaining Darkspawn threat in the region, as well as navigate tense political situations through diplomacy. The player's choices are accounted for at every turn, from the origin chosen, to the major branching decisions made in the main quest, to smaller dialogue choices made with companions and minor side quests. One could play The Shattered War many times before seeing all the content. Almost every NPC is fully voice-acted, and the quality ranges from decent to professional. Characters and locations are generally well-written and fleshed out in optional dialogue and codex entries. The handcrafted maps are charming and full of attention to detail. One complaint is that points-of-no-return are not always clearly flagged so the player may find themselves railroaded into the endgame with several incomplete side quests. With some additional polish, this module could approach official DLC quality.

The Carrion Birds
Level Design: Revamped maps
Character Creation: Custom hero (new races and origins)
Dialogue: No VA (story scenes instead)
Combat: Good balance
Story: Interesting, reactive story
Technical: No bugs
Length: 3.0 hrs.
Lore-friendly: Yes
Thoughts: This impressive module proves you can achieve a lot with reused familiar locations, so long as you have strong gameplay. The Carrion Birds serves as an immediate epilogue to the main Origins campaign. In this module you get to create a custom character whose race and origin has an effect on the story. You revisit all the locations in Denerim and get to see what the city is like in the aftermath of the climactic battle. The story is tight and compelling and the companion characters are integrated in a believable way and have useful roles, both in combat and in cutscenes. The missions are original and inventive, and the replacement of dialogues with old-school story scenes featuring pictures and text was a stroke of genius. Very solid creation.

Baldur's Gate II Redux
Level Design: Handcrafted maps
Character Creation: Custom hero (D&D classes)
Dialogue: Real VA
Combat: Good balance, all new spells and abilities
Story: Interesting story
Technical: No bugs
Length: 2.5 hrs.
Lore-friendly: No
Thoughts: The purpose of this mod is simple: recreate the opening dungeon from the classic RPG, Baldur's Gate II. The authors have accomplished this with gusto. The main designer eventually got paying work developing BeamDog's BG Enhanced Edition remakes, so this ambitious project sadly never went beyond this opening dungeon and a cinematic cutscene. Still, it's very fun, old-school gameplay, providing a much different experience than the typical Dragon Age dungeon. Everything is well-executed technically, and the mod benefits from being able to use the original music and voices from BG II, as well as new custom creature models. If you want a nostalgia hit or just something different, this one comes highly recommended.

Fragments of Ferelden
Level Design: Recycled maps
Character Creation: Custom hero
Dialogue: No VA
Combat: Good balance
Story: Interesting, reactive story
Technical: No bugs
Length: 4.0 hrs.
Lore-friendly: Yes
Thoughts: Fragments of Ferelden was the first fan module released for Dragon Age, and to this day it remains one of the most solid and enjoyable entries. The mod is absolutely packed with mini-quests that integrate nicely with the main quest, and there is a high degree of reactivty to the player's choices. Recycled maps from the OC work in this mod's favor. Instead of slapping a different name on Orzammar's Dust Town and pretending it's a different place, Fragments fully embraces the original locales by having its plot feature random "chunks" of Ferelden that have been magically ripped away and reassembled in a kind of otherwordly place known as "The Labyrinth." In this place, the rules of time and space are bent and broken, and it is up to the player, taking the role of a Templar, to try to maintain some degree of order and safety for all those citizens stranded in a chaotic and fraught reality. If you also have the sequel module "The Broken City" installed, you can seamlessly transition from Fragments into that mod, with your choices intact, so I encourage you to treat them as one big mod. You may want to play "Dirge of Coldhearth" first however, which is stand-alone but serves as a storytelling link between the two.

The Broken City
Level Design: Handcrafted / revamped maps
Character Creation: Must import from 'Fragments of Ferelden'
Dialogue: No VA
Combat: Difficult balance
Story: Interesting, reactive story
Technical: Major bug, but workaround available
Length: 8.25 hrs.
Lore-friendly: Yes
Thoughts: The Broken City is the conclusion to both "Fragments of Ferelden" and "Dirge of Coldhearth". While "Dirge" is a stand-alone prequel module, "Fragments" is in fact required, and once you have completed it you will seamlessly transition into The Broken City, assuming you have both mods installed. At any rate, the two storylines converge and come to a resolution in this mod. Broken City features some really wonderful unique maps, which is very refreshing after the recycled maps of "Fragments." Like its predecessor, the Broken City is reactive to the player's choices, whether it's party members responding to dialogue or the mod's "reputation" system which gives faction rewards and changes the outcomes of certain quests and battles. The combat is challenging but fair, mixing large waves of trash mobs alongside spongy bosses with high hitpoint regeneration. The sole blemish on this module is a game-breaking bug that caused a crash whenever area transitions triggered. Luckily the developer provided a workaround with a teleport console command, so I was able to successfully complete the module.

Part II: The Pretty Good

Dragon Age Quest
Level Design: Handcrafted Maps
Character Creation: Pre-defined hero (male human rogue)
Dialogue: Real VA
Combat: Difficult Balance
Story: Interesting Story
Technical: No Bugs
Length: 1.0 hr.
Lore-friendly: No
Thoughts: This module is inspired by old-school adventure games with highly interactable environments. The pre-defined, nameless hero gets a "Sleuth" specialization, imparting 4 abilities: Inspect, Take, Move, and Use. The small but content-dense dungeon where the campaign takes place is packed full of items, objects, NPC's, and creatures on which these new abilities can be used. Consisting mostly of investigation and dialogue, this module is light on combat until the end. The entire campaign is a puzzle of sorts, each piece falling into place as the player discovers the right sequence. The writing in this adventure is solid, the characters fully voiced, and the humor is wonderful as well. It may not be for everyone who enjoyed the standard Dragon Age experience, but this is the most unique and innovative fan module by far.

Dragon Age Uprising
Level Design: Handcrafted / revamped maps
Character Creation: Custom hero (must be male/female Alienage Elf)
Dialogue: No VA
Combat: Difficult balance
Story: OK story, somewhat reactive to choices
Technical: Minor bugs, several typos
Length: 30 hrs.
Lore-friendly: Yes
Thoughts: By far the largest fan campaign, Uprising is technically 3 separate acts that should be installed and played in sequence, importing the savegame from each act to the next. Uprising is written as a sequel to Origins, set 50 years after the main campaign concludes. During this time, conditions for Alienage elves in Ferelden continued to deterioriate. Act I plays out like an extended version of the Alienage Elf origin from the main campaign. If this act's oppressive city streets and tunnels feel claustrophobic, Acts II & III make up for it with open forested areas as well as revamped maps like Lothering & Denerim.
Overall the writing is servicable but with some clunky storytelling, unrealistic dialogue, and distracting typos. There are no hand-holding quest markers, which is fine, but also not often much guidance in dialogue or journal entries. The player is often told to find someone, someplace, or something and then must roam around several maps until they find it. Even when the objective is clear, there's a massive amount of backtracking. On the plus side, the handcrafted maps are nice to see. It's obvious the creators spent a lot of time on the maps and dialogue. There is a LOT of dialogue. You can hold long conversations with most NPC's, and even those that you can't were given ambient dialogue. Combat can be challenging, with many early encounters deliberately designed to be unwinnable to force a different strategy. Your party is always in flux, with members coming and going with each quest. This can undermine your ability to handle battles with confidence. Despite feeling bloated sometimes, there's a lot of content here. I have to applaud the authors for completing such an ambitious project, even if their reach did exceed their grasp.

Craggy Island
Level Design: Handcrafted maps
Character Creation: Pre-defined hero (male human warrior)
Dialogue: Real VA
Combat: Good balance
Story: Interesting story
Technical: No bugs
Length: 2.75 hrs.
Lore-friendly: No
Thoughts: In Craggy Island the player takes on the role of a mercenary sent to investigate missing children on a remote island. This module feels almost more like a fan adventure from The Witcher 1, and that's not a bad thing. The mod involves a lot of investigation via dialogues and searching for clues. Combat only comes into play in the second half of the mod. Nevertheless, the story is compelling and has its twists and turns, and the level design, custom music, and cutscenes are very memorable. The module is also served well by some talented voice acting.

Scars of War
Level Design: Handcrafted maps
Character Creation: Somewhat Pre-defined (must be Human Commoner, can be rogue/warrior or male/female)
Dialogue: No VA
Combat: Good balance but no injury kits
Story: Interesting story
Technical: Moderate bugs
Length: 2.0 hrs.
Lore-friendly: Yes
Thoughts: Scars of War firmly inserts itself into the Dragon Age canon, during the period after the massacre at Ostagar, when the Grey Warden is off gathering allies. At the same time, a civil war is taking place in Ferelden between those allied with Loghain and those opposed to him. The player takes on the role of a mercenary hired to investigate possible conspiracies during this turbulent time. This was a solid mod, my only complaints being a bug that prevented the final companion from properly joining the party, and also a total lack of injury kits in the mod. Otherwise this module would have been ranked a few places higher. Still, it was a satisfying experience.

Shadows over Telia
Level Design: Handcrafted / revamped maps
Character Creation: Custom hero / import allowed
Dialogue: Real / Robot VA mix
Combat: Difficult balance
Story: Interesting Story
Technical: Minor bugs with map and pathing
Length: 1.75 hrs.
Lore-friendly: Yes
Thoughts: A dark and foreboding mod, as befits the title. The environments are interesting and not unlike anything in the main campaign or other modules. It very much has the quality of a nightmare. I recommend importing a Grey Warden around level 10. The blend of robot and real human voices is somewhat jarring, but thankfully rare. This module strangely does not feature any ambient sounds or music, not even generic nature sounds or the stock combat music. This robs the content of emotional weight, whether in exploration, dialogues, or combat. I played some Grim Dawn tracks in the background and it suited the mod perfectly. Some great ideas here that could have benefited from more polish and balancing.

Dirge of Coldhearth
Level Design: Handcrafted maps
Character Creation: Custom hero
Dialogue: No VA
Combat: Difficult balance
Story: Interesting Story
Technical: No bugs
Length: 1.0 hr.
Lore-friendly: Yes
Thoughts: This module serves as a link between "Fragments of Ferelden" and "The Broken City", so even though those two mods link seamlessly, I (and the author) advise you to play Dirge of Coldhearth in between those two for the best story-telling experience. The story is bleak, telling a story of doomed heroes but hinting at possible salvation. The difficulty can be extremely punishing; the author expects a high facility with strategy and tactics to survive. Luckily the player can choose at the outset between a "Casual" mode and "Hero" mode which is more like grueling, lengthy MMO boss raids. I strongly suggest you choose the former. The best thing about Dirge is the excellent handcrafted map, a charming village entry from the fan contest.

Trouble in Rainesfere
Level Design: Handcrafted maps
Character Creation: Custom hero / import allowed
Dialogue: No VA
Combat: Good balance
Story: Ok story
Technical: No bugs
Length: 1.0 hr.
Lore-friendly: No
Thoughts: This is a light-hearted mod with a high fantasy aesthetic and tongue-in-cheek characters. Despite its short length, single questline, and only a handful of maps, it manages to provide a charming setting and story.

Emissary
Level Design: Handcrafted map
Character Creation: Pre-defined character (Hurlock mage)
Dialogue: No VA
Combat: Difficult balance
Story: Ok story
Technical: No bugs
Length: 30 min.
Lore-friendly: Yes
Thoughts: This module has the player take on the role of a Hurlock Emissary leading a party of Darkspawn, so they get to see the twisted inverse of the typical battles. Emissary feels like the impressive seed of what should have been a larger mod. With two or three more maps, this could have easily eclipsed the official Darkspawn Chronicles DLC. It has a dark and evil aesthetic and great cutscenes. However it is quite short with only one map and a handful of battles.

Gladiator
Level Design: Recycled maps
Character Creation: Custom hero / import allowed
Dialogue: No VA
Combat: Variable / challenging difficulty
Story: No story
Technical: No bugs
Length: 30 min.
Lore-friendly: No
Thoughts: Of the two arena combat modules (Warden's Arena is the other), Gladiator is the superior one. You may create a new hero or import one from another module, but since you will be fighting solo, with no party and no vendors, I highly recommend importing a hero with good gear and consumables. The design is simple: talk to an arena master, choose your style of fight, then walk through a door. Fights range from one-on-one (against seven different monsters), all the way up to large-scale battles against darkspawn and dragons. The player may also switch sides for the larger battles and fight for chaos. The challenge may be easy or punishing depending on the hero, but the levels can be adjusted with the arena master to tweak the balance. There's no story, quests, or lore, just combat.

Part III: The Not-So-Good

Kal Sharok
Level Design: Recycled maps
Character Creation: Custom hero
Dialogue: No VA
Combat: Bad balance
Story: Ok story, not reactive
Technical: Minor bugs
Length: 3.75 hrs.
Lore-friendly: Yes
Thoughts: Kal Sharok is the abandoned Dwarven settlement whose inhabitants were left to fend for themselves, at the mercy of the Darkspawn and their own in-fighting. The titular city is just a recycled map from the OC (Ortan Thaig) and the surrounding areas are other bland chunks of various Deep Roads maps. Kal Sharok is a bleak place, but there are a few colorful companions. Though there are seemingly many role-playing choices to be made, none have an effect on any outcomes, even the final "big" choice, so your decisions ultimately feel hollow. Some of the quests have interesting ideas, but the combat is horribly balanced, featuring numerous overwhelming battles that are a slog even on Easy. This is a dreary, depressing mod, though die-hard Dwarf fans might still want to give it a go.

Neverwinter Nights 2 OC Remake
Level Design: Handcrafted Maps
Character Creation: Custom hero / import allowed
Dialogue: Real / Robot / No VA mix
Combat: Good balance
Story: Ok story
Technical: Some bugs, couldn't report final quest
Length: 45 min.
Lore-friendly: No
Thoughts: This module is an alpha test for a complete remake of the original Neverwinter Nights 2 campaign in the Dragon Age engine. Only the initial map, the Festival Prologue, was ever completed and released. Unlike the Baldur's Gate II remake, the author did not take advantage of the original NWN2 soundsets like voices and music. Instead the NPC's mostly use the same robot voice, which makes characters visually expressive but also unbearable to listen to. Since Dragon Age's visuals are only marginally more advanced and also very muted and grim in comparison to NWN2's vibrancy, this module ends up not really capturing the spirit of the original NWN2, and feels little pointless. Still, the West Harbor town map is nicely designed and has that charming carfree "RPG prologue" feel. There's not much to do here and it's incredibly rough around the edges, but if you're desperate for a little dose of NWN2 nostaligia you might get a mild buzz from this mod.

A Mercenary Story
Level Design: Recycled maps
Character Creation: Custom hero
Dialogue: No VA
Combat: Bad balance
Story: Uninteresting story
Technical: No bugs
Length: 2.0 hrs.
Lore-friendly: Yes
Thoughts: This module is technically sound but overall very unimpressive. The maps are familiar recycled locations with different names slapped on them, and the battles are bland and predictable yet overly difficult. The player levels up when transitioning areas, but because they are immediately thrust into battle each time, they are unable to assign their points until after the battle. This makes many encounters unfairly challenging. The story is vague and dull, and the text is full of typos and spelling errors. There's a second mercenary that you can supposedly hire, but only for an impossible sum of money, more than 20x what you could possibly earn. Overall forgettable.

Red Riding Hood
Level Design: Handcrafted maps
Character Creation: Pre-defined hero (female elf mage)
Dialogue: Robot VA
Combat: Good balance
Story: Uninteresting story
Technical: No bugs
Length: 10 min.
Lore-friendly: No
Thoughts: I hesitate to criticize this one too harshly, as terrible as it is, since it's clearly meant to be a little joke that's not to be taken seriously. It is, in essence, just the bare-bones plot of Little Red Riding Hood. It comprises two small maps, two NPC's, and one brief battle. Skip it, assuming you can even find the download anymore.

The Demon
Level Design: Handcrafted maps
Character Creation: Pre-defined hero (female human rogue)
Dialogue: Real VA
Combat: Terrible balance
Story: Confusing story
Technical: Several bugs
Length: ~1 hr. before giving up
Lore-friendly: Yes
Thoughts: This was not an enjoyable mod. The story was absolutely baffling. The player is given lore in the form of massive Codex dumps, yet the quest entries and dialogues are bare-bones and hardly deliver any kind of coherent purpose or story. There are no mini-maps, and exits to other locations are not marked, which is disorienting. The player ends up running all over the place in confusion, trying to find the right location or NPC to talk to. The voice acting has good audio quality but the delivery is awful. It sounds as if the actors are woodenly reading the lines for the first time and have no idea where to put inflection or emphasis. Worst of all is the balance. The mod is incredibly unfair in combat, pitting a mid-level rogue and knight up against huge armies of bosses that they have no hope of defeating even on Easy. The only good thing about this mod is some of the scenery and architecture. The Demon takes place in Jader (Orlais) and the ornate, beautiful buildings and NPC designs reflect a very foreign and visually arresting place compared to Ferelden. However almost all NPC models distort comically if the player moves a certain distance away. Moreover, there is no music or ambient background sounds whatsoever, so each location feels somehow sterile and empty. I can't recommend this one.

The Dungeon
Level Design: Handcrafted maps
Character Creation: Custom hero
Dialogue: No VA / Some robot VA
Combat: N/A
Story: Weak story
Technical: No bugs, but very unfinished
Length: 30 min.
Lore-friendly: No
Thoughts: Despite the title (and a guide NPC that promises a 60-level dungeon), there is no dungeon-crawling to be had in this module. "The Dungeon" comprises only two maps: a surface area plus the first level of the planned dungeon. The surface map is mostly empty except for a few buildings and NPCs who make the player solve a famous riddle quest before entry into the dungeon is granted. The dungeon itself is a one-level unfinished prototype that is empty save for some NPC's who promise a future quest that is not implemented. This module is a very rough alpha demo that never went anywhere and can be skipped.

Warden's Arena
Level Design: Recycled maps
Character Creation: Custom hero
Dialogue: Real VA
Combat: Terrible Balance
Story: No story
Technical: Some bugs
Length: ~1 hr. before giving up
Lore-friendly: No
Thoughts: There's a nice idea behind Warden's Arena, for those who enjoyed the team vs. team combat of the Proving. Unfortunately the implementation of this beta release leaves a lot to be desired. Rather than allowing import of a Warden's party that the player might already be familiar with and have well-equipped, this module has you roll a custom hero that is auto-leveled to 25. The player can then choose multiple companions of all races and classes to round out their party. These stats, skills, and talents of the companions are, sadly, mostly auto-allocated with no respec options. For example, all warriors end up with Shield talents only, and there's no way to dump all your points in certain stats like Constitution for a tank. It also seemed like many skills and talents were bugged and simply missing. There are vendors that offer some nice high level gear and consumables, but nothing close to the selection of items available in the full campaign. There are also zero health poultices available. Without these vital items, and the inflexibility of the party customization, the player is gimped in battles against massively powerful boss teams in the arena. I found no way to survive even the first battle on Easy, let alone the dozens of others that were apparently prepared by the author. Some potential here that never got a proper realization. Try Gladiator instead for arena combat.

Thank you for this!

Been a while since I played DA:O, but thanks for taking your time reviewing & writing about those modules. Maybe try copying it into steam guide for folks out there?

Unfortunately I only own disk and GOG versions so I can't post guides for DAO on Steam. I did make a post in the Discussions thread though:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/47810/discussions/0/3492005739885248978/

Great review! Someday I gotta try some of these.

Thanks, man

Thank you for the thread!

I haven't replayed the game in a long while, but it's good to have this info for future playthroughs. I love the amazing effort you put into this. :)
.

Thirst seems to have vanished. Do you have a copy so we can enjoy that mod ?

Yes:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BBlnNpYMYT7hgJTJnL7lBRtEIPrFGhWW/view?usp=sharing