Best and Worst D&D modules
Dave
What are everyone's favorite and least favorite AD&D/D&D modules? I will
be taking a survey from now until March 31st and report the results on
April 1st (appropiately enough).
If you're interested, please send me the names of your 3 favorite and 3
least favorite modules to me. If possible, include the letter designation
as well (i.e. Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits). Include "Best and worst D&D
modules" in the subject line. Send to dav...@ziplink.net.
Remember, this is not a political election. No voting 'early and often'.
Thanks,
Blue Troll
On 26 Feb 1997 06:12:29 GMT, "Dave" <dav...@ziplink.net> wrote:
>What are everyone's favorite and least favorite AD&D/D&D modules? I will
>be taking a survey from now until March 31st and report the results on
>April 1st (appropiately enough).
My 3 favorites....don't remember their numbers!
1) Lost Island of Castanamir (Where's the room?)
2) Ravager of Time (Ravager of characters)
3) Needle (Computer? Computer?)
My 3 worst...don't want to remember their numbers!
1) H4 : Throne of Bloodstone (Give me a minute to clean my sword!)
2) Egg of the Phoenix (Egg roll play)
3) Isle of the apes (King Kong rules)
ekl...@primenet.com
Rupert Boleyn wrote:
>
> In rec.games.frp.dnd, bo...@omic.com (Blue Troll) did say:
>
> >On 26 Feb 1997 06:12:29 GMT, "Dave" <dav...@ziplink.net> wrote:
>
> >>What are everyone's favorite and least favorite AD&D/D&D modules? I will
> >>be taking a survey from now until March 31st and report the results on
> >>April 1st (appropiately enough).
>
3. Keep on the Borderlands
2. White Plume Mountain
1. Tomb of Horrors
I can't think of the 3 worst right now...maybe another time.
Eric Klauss
Rupert Boleyn
In rec.games.frp.dnd, bo...@omic.com (Blue Troll) did say:
>On 26 Feb 1997 06:12:29 GMT, "Dave" <dav...@ziplink.net> wrote:
>>What are everyone's favorite and least favorite AD&D/D&D modules? I will
>>be taking a survey from now until March 31st and report the results on
>>April 1st (appropiately enough).
>My 3 favorites....don't remember their numbers!
>1) Lost Island of Castanamir (Where's the room?)
>2) Ravager of Time (Ravager of characters)
>3) Needle (Computer? Computer?)
>My 3 worst...don't want to remember their numbers!
>1) H4 : Throne of Bloodstone (Give me a minute to clean my sword!)
>2) Egg of the Phoenix (Egg roll play)
>3) Isle of the apes (King Kong rules)
I don't know all the numbers but here's my NZ$0.02:
The best:
1: The Keep on the Borderlands (B2?), from BD&D
2: The Veiled Society (B6), again a D&D module
3: I don't have a third, unless you want to count the Night Below box.
The worst
1,2&3: The Against the Gaints series (They're so darn linear, no choice in them
anywhere).
R. Boleyn
Military Intelligence: A highly refined organization of overwhelming
generalities based on vague assumptions and debatable figures
drawn from undisclosed activities pursued by persons of dirverse
motivation, doubtful reliability, and questionable mentality in the
midst of unimaginable confusion.
Jason Coppes
1. Keep on the Borderlands (what else?!?!)
2. the series whose name I cannot place at this moment: Slave Pits or
something, had Lloth in it, etc. (just what was that series?)
3. Ah...nothing else, I make up my own now...
--
Jason Coppes
ja...@vbe.com
"Those who are upset by criticism admit that they deserve it."
Cornelius Tacitus, Roman historian
odragon
ekl...@primenet.com wrote:
>
> Rupert Boleyn wrote:
> >
> > In rec.games.frp.dnd, bo...@omic.com (Blue Troll) did say:
> >
> > >On 26 Feb 1997 06:12:29 GMT, "Dave" <dav...@ziplink.net> wrote:
> >
> > >>What are everyone's favorite and least favorite AD&D/D&D modules? I will
> > >>be taking a survey from now until March 31st and report the results on
> > >>April 1st (appropiately enough).
Favorites:
1. I6 Raveloft
2. I3-5 Desert of Desolation
3. BD&D: Death's Ride (more undead anyone?)
Worst:
1. Needle: 5 Readings, still don't want to run it
2. BD&D: B1 - In search of the Unknown (zzzzzz....)
3. BD&D: Journey to the Rock (I think..see #2)
odragon
--
To reply to me delete the spam-proofing *'s from my address
And may the Schwartz be with you
Lawrence R. Mead
Rupert Boleyn (gtru...@iconz.co.nz) wrote:
: In rec.games.frp.dnd, bo...@omic.com (Blue Troll) did say:
[snip]
: The worst
: 1,2&3: The Against the Gaints series (They're so darn linear, no choice in them
: anywhere).
You've got to be kidding, right? These are the *least* linear modules ever.
They can be done as a series or individually as self contained. The NPC
within them (including Drow) have ever so much room for DM creativity and
role-play. You *must* have had a bad DM.
DMGorgon
--
Lawrence R. Mead (lrm...@whale.st.usm.edu)
ESCHEW OBFUSCATION ! ESPOUSE ELUCIDATION !
http://www-dept.usm.edu/~scitech/phy/mead.html
christoph...@boeing.com
Dave wrote:
>
> What are everyone's favorite and least favorite AD&D/D&D modules?
>
> Dave
> dav...@ziplink.net
I particularly liked the following:
1) B4 The Lost City : Simple and straightforward, I probably taught 20
people to play the game with this module.
2) A1-A4 Scourge of the Slavelords : DM'ed properly, these modules
bring out some of the most creative role-playing I've seen.
3) H2 Mines of Bloodstone : High-level PC's with an attitude? Cut 'em
to shreds with this high-powered mega-dungeon.
I disliked(or even hated) the following:
1) X? : Isle of Dread(Stupid, boring, unplayable)
2) Shadows of Evil(Ultra-deadly, the courtyard was a graveyard)
3) Lich Lords(played by a DM with any ability whatsoever, you couldn't
win. The liches were absurd 30+ level archmages with crowns of power
capable of destroying the mightiest PC's)
Barry Smith
Jason Coppes wrote:
> >
> > >>What are everyone's favorite and least favorite AD&D/D&D modules? I will
> > >>be taking a survey from now until March 31st and report the results on
> > >>April 1st (appropiately enough).
> >
> >
> > >1) Lost Island of Castanamir (Where's the room?)
> > >2) Ravager of Time (Ravager of characters)
> > >3) Needle (Computer? Computer?)
> >
> > >My 3 worst...don't want to remember their numbers!
> >
> > >1) H4 : Throne of Bloodstone (Give me a minute to clean my sword!)
> > >2) Egg of the Phoenix (Egg roll play)
> > >3) Isle of the apes (King Kong rules)
> >
> > I don't know all the numbers but here's my NZ$0.02:
> >
> > The best:
> > 1: The Keep on the Borderlands (B2?), from BD&D
> > 2: The Veiled Society (B6), again a D&D module
> > 3: I don't have a third, unless you want to count the Night Below box.
> >
> > 1,2&3: The Against the Gaints series (They're so darn linear, no choice in them
> > anywhere).
> >
> >
> > Military Intelligence: A highly refined organization of overwhelming
> > generalities based on vague assumptions and debatable figures
> > drawn from undisclosed activities pursued by persons of dirverse
> > motivation, doubtful reliability, and questionable mentality in the
> > midst of unimaginable confusion.
>
> 1. Keep on the Borderlands (what else?!?!)
> 2. the series whose name I cannot place at this moment: Slave Pits or
> something, had Lloth in it, etc. (just what was that series?)
> 3. Ah...nothing else, I make up my own now...
> --
> Jason Coppes
> ja...@vbe.com
> "Those who are upset by criticism admit that they deserve it."
> Cornelius Tacitus, Roman historian
1. Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure (a great challenge for any level
group)
2. Temple, Tower, & Tomb (a great 3 stage tough adventure)
3. Undermountain the Boxed set (enough said)
The Worst
1,2,&3. The Dungeonland series of modules (Are you kidding me? Alice in
Wonderland in AD&D? Give me a break...)
Tim Breen
> 2. the series whose name I cannot place at this moment: Slave Pits or
> something, had Lloth in it, etc. (just what was that series?)
The series was, I think, modules A1-A4. I never played it or read it,
but I remember working in a game store when it first came out many years
ago.
-- Tim
Totally _UN_official RPGA web site at rpga.org.
"Why not seize the pleasure at once? How often is happiness destroyed by
preparation, foolish preparation?"
-Jane Austin
David Callander
On Mon, 10 Mar 1997 12:06:23 -0800, Barry Smith <bsm...@ncia.com>
wrote:
>The Best
>1. Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure (a great challenge for any level
>group)
Really? While it certainly is a good dungeon-crawl to chalange a
group of PCs, it just plain doesn't make sense!
I mean, think about it. You have a dungeon that's totally sealed
until the PCs coma along with their fancy key, yet somehow on the
lower levels there's a bunch of monsters and *people* running around.
What the hell do they eat? Where do they get it from? Jeeze, you've
really got to be prepared to suspend your disbeleif on that one...
>The Worst
>1,2,&3. The Dungeonland series of modules (Are you kidding me? Alice in
>Wonderland in AD&D? Give me a break...)
Could have been interesting, but you'd definitely need a groupof
players who could get into the spirit of things, as well as DM of
course.
David.
Brian Corbett
Barry Smith (bsm...@ncia.com) wrote:
> The Best
> 1. Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure (a great challenge for any level
> group)
> 2. Temple, Tower, & Tomb (a great 3 stage tough adventure)
> 3. Undermountain the Boxed set (enough said)
> The Worst
> 1,2,&3. The Dungeonland series of modules (Are you kidding me? Alice in
> Wonderland in AD&D? Give me a break...)
For the worst, are you talking about the Dungeon Crawl series??? I hope
not, because I really messed up my PCs with the size change (and it makes
common animals more lethal for high level characters :) ).
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>+<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
| Brian "PALADIN" Corbett | "Jesus was an Architect previous to |
| Architecture III | his career as a prophet" - Ministry |
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>+<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Rob Hayward
In article <5g138m$mdo$1...@thorn.cc.usm.edu>, "Lawrence R. Mead"
<lrm...@whale.st.usm.edu> writes
Best
Slavers
Desert of desolation
Tizun Thane (An old old old White Dwarf competition one )
Worst
Most of the X ones I saw
All the ones I didn't buy
Dwarfs curse | Rob Hayward r...@battleaxe.demon.co.uk
May your beard | All my rules at
never reach the | http://www.battleaxe.demon.co.uk (under construction)
ground | I love playing Devils advocate
Robert Baldwin
Brian Corbett wrote:
>
> Barry Smith (bsm...@ncia.com) wrote:
><Snip>
> > The Worst
> > 1,2,&3. The Dungeonland series of modules (Are you kidding me? Alice in
> > Wonderland in AD&D? Give me a break...)
>
> For the worst, are you talking about the Dungeon Crawl series??? I hope
> not, because I really messed up my PCs with the size change (and it makes
> common animals more lethal for high level characters :) ).
>
Well, IIRC there were modules titled "Dungeon Crawl", and they are not
the Dungeonland modules. IMO, however, these are _great_ modules *if*
all the players are familiar with and enjoy Alice In Wonderland enough
to want to play it. Only the Paladin in the group I ran through it had a
problem. Basically, there was not true Evil, just a lot of irritation.
<GGGggg...> (Fading Grin, TM)
--
BB
"Everyone dies someday; the trick is doing it well."
"4 out of 5 victims of UCE recommend new .spam.kill.";
check out the free sample in my _return to_ line.
Scott R Sadusky
In article <332586d6....@news.canterbury.ac.nz>, D.Cal...@Mang.Canterbury.ac.nz (David Callander) writes:
> On Mon, 10 Mar 1997 12:06:23 -0800, Barry Smith <bsm...@ncia.com>
>
> >The Best
> >1. Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure (a great challenge for any level
> >group)
>
> group of PCs, it just plain doesn't make sense!
>
> I mean, think about it. You have a dungeon that's totally sealed
> until the PCs coma along with their fancy key, yet somehow on the
> lower levels there's a bunch of monsters and *people* running around.
> What the hell do they eat? Where do they get it from? Jeeze, you've
> really got to be prepared to suspend your disbeleif on that one...
>
I'm not going to dispute that WG6 was a crawl, but I think that it does
makes sense if Tomorast really created almost everything on the first
floor, including the Unopenable Doors. If he built them, then he
can probably open them himself, right? And it isn't too unreasonable
that he made the immune-to-everything Doors, since there's another
"invulnerable" something-or-other lurking around on the same level...
(Actually, can't the Doors be opened normally from the inside?)
-Scott
Scott R Sadusky
In article <33224B...@primenet.com>, ekl...@primenet.com writes:
> > >My 3 favs:
>
> 3. Keep on the Borderlands
> 2. White Plume Mountain
> 1. Tomb of Horrors
>
An amusing question about White Plume Mountain: Is there anyone
reading this who went through this module as a kid and _didn't_
wind up stealing all the weapons? The plot is supposed to be "rich
patrons offer great rewards if you bring back the goods," so
you're only supposed to use the weapons to get out of the mountain,
but doesn't every player pretty much ignore that and keep the
weapons for themselves? There was that story on the net a couple
years ago about the Drow ("Sutekh?") who lugged around Blackrazor,
and the only reason our group didn't keep it is because nobody was
chaotic. My dwarf got Whelm, though, and some other fighter got
Wave (and I think we conveniently ignored the part about having
to "devote yourself to Poseidon" or whatever it was...).
-Scott
Dan Bongard
Scott R Sadusky (sad...@math.psu.edu) wrote:
: An amusing question about White Plume Mountain: Is there anyone
: reading this who went through this module as a kid and _didn't_
: wind up stealing all the weapons? The plot is supposed to be "rich
: patrons offer great rewards if you bring back the goods," so
: you're only supposed to use the weapons to get out of the mountain,
: but doesn't every player pretty much ignore that and keep the
: weapons for themselves?
Oh, hell yes. I can't speak for everybody, but my friends and I sure
didn't hand over those weapons to the "proper authorities". :)
Of course this was back around 1984 or so, and I was deeply involved
in the "hack-and-slashing munchkin" phase of my roleplaying development.
I see to recall that it was a paladin character of mine who kept
Blackrazor. Alignment? What alignment?
-- Dan
Wayne J. Rasmussen
: > > >My 3 favs:
: >
: > 3. Keep on the Borderlands
: > 2. White Plume Mountain
: > 1. Tomb of Horrors
: An amusing question about White Plume Mountain: Is there anyone
: reading this who went through this module as a kid and _didn't_
: wind up stealing all the weapons? The plot is supposed to be "rich
: patrons offer great rewards if you bring back the goods," so
: you're only supposed to use the weapons to get out of the mountain,
: but doesn't every player pretty much ignore that and keep the
: weapons for themselves?
When we ran through this module the GM had the patrons approach my
character demanding the items. Knowing that the patrons had sent many
groups in before ours, I told them that we found all the dead bodies
within the first 50' of the dungeon. My party was mostly wiped out and
the dead and heavily wounded were placed inside a magical container with
the weapons. It appeared to the patrons that I was the only one who
walked out of the place alive. We got to keep the items through trickery.
It does seem that most GMs forget about returning the items aspect of
this adventure.
(much removed)
wayne
Tony Marasco
>On 26 Feb 1997 06:12:29 GMT, "Dave" <dav...@ziplink.net> wrote:
>
>What are everyone's favorite and least favorite AD&D/D&D modules? I will
>be taking a survey from now until March 31st and report the results on
>April 1st (appropiately enough).
Favorites:
3) White Plume Mt.
2) A1-A4 Series
1) Tomb of Horrors
Least Favorite:
3) S3 (everyone wanted laser guns)
2) Isle of Dread
3) The Keep (everyone wanted guns and drive cars)
--
Tony Marasco
http://www.berksiu.k12.pa.us mailto:ton...@berksiu.k12.pa.us
Jason Hatter
christoph...@boeing.com wrote:
: 1) B4 The Lost City : Simple and straightforward, I probably taught 20
: people to play the game with this module.
Simple, straightforward, and totally illogical. Don't get me wrong, for
many years it was my favorite pre-made module, but I recently went over it
with the idea of adapting it for my AD&D FR campaign, and was totally
flabbergasted at some of the stuff thats in there. I mean, c'mon, pixies
in the middle of a desert?
--
Jason
http://www.cris.com/~towonder/
RPG stuff at http://www.cris.com/~towonder/rpg.html
featuring Sailor Moon V at http://www.cris.com/~towonder/fanfic.html
Mike Need-to-Know Basis
I have to plead ignorance to a LOT of probably great modules, since
I've only ever played regular D&D, but here are my three best and
three worst from that line:
The Best:
1) B10 - Night's Dark Terror - It was complex but interesting,
challenging but manageable, and well thought out all around.
2) X11 - Saga of the Shadow Lord - Again, tough but well thought out overall.
3) CM6 - Where Chaos Reigns
* Note--all of these came out at about the same time...coincidence?
The Worst:
1) B4 - The Lost City (the lower levels only) - I liked the top five
tiers of the pyramid, but why did they bother putting in the lower
five tiers fully stocked the way they were? It's a masochist's dream
even for a mid-level party, and pretty unrealistic to boot - some of
the monsters they list couldn't even have gotten into the rooms
they're in, let alone survive once they did.
2) Pretty much all of the "new" D&D Modules that came out with the
1991 Edition. Each time I got a new one, I kept wondering where the
hell the rest of the module was. And maybe I wasn't the target
audience at age 19, but why were they written like primers for
pre-school? Give the young audience (11-12 year olds) a little bit of
credit...I did fine at age 11 with Horror on the Hill and The Veiled
Society (well, except maybe for the paper houses).
3) None comes to mind right now...I have to say that overall I've
liked TSR's products in the D&D line.
Mike
barbara haddad
> > >The Best
> > >1. Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure (a great challenge for any level
> > >group)
> >
> > Really? While it certainly is a good dungeon-crawl to chalange a
> > group of PCs, it just plain doesn't make sense!
> >
> > I mean, think about it. You have a dungeon that's totally sealed
> > until the PCs coma along with their fancy key, yet somehow on the
> > lower levels there's a bunch of monsters and *people* running around.
> > What the hell do they eat? Where do they get it from? Jeeze, you've
> > really got to be prepared to suspend your disbeleif on that one...
It sounds almost as bad as the 'temple of elemental evil' silliness
(here we have a temple that's been chained shut -- BUT it's got one
secret passage into the place and is inhabited by 4 factions of humans
who all hate each other enough to attack each other on sight but ONLY if
the PCs are in view and, of course, all have only the one way in/out of
the dump. Sheesh!)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just a thought from barbara haddad -> (bha...@LunaCity.com)
LunaCity BBS - Mountain View, CA - 415 968 8140
ETAN MOONSTAR
>> 2. the series whose name I cannot place at this moment: Slave Pits or
>> something, had Lloth in it, etc. (just what was that series?)
>
> The series was, I think, modules A1-A4. I never played it or read it,
> but I remember working in a game store when it first came out many years
> ago.
He is, I believe, referring to A1-A4, G1-G3, D1-D3, and Q1. These modules
can all be chained together, as well as starting with T1-T4 before the A
series. It would take several years to play through them all in a good
campaign though! (Wouldn't it be nice....a gaming group that sticks around for
years without players graduating from college and leaving. Heh.)
--Etan Moonstar
rel...@cbus.mindspring.com
"Dave" <dav...@ziplink.net> wrote:
I always liked the Ghost Keep of Inverness. I know it was made as a
tournament dungeon, and I generally don't like tournament dungeons
(because I don't think DND should be played for points), but I always
had fun going through it...
Slavers series wasn't too bad, but we never made it all the way
through.....and I had a sadistic DM who captured us and had evil
bugbears do unspeakable things to my paladin.....but that was him, not
the module...
But we usually didn't use modules, we made up our own...and sometimes
stole bits and pieces out of modules (how many times have we all
encountered the "chess" room from Ghost Tower...?)
David Callander
On 11 Mar 1997 02:16:23 GMT, sad...@math.psu.edu (Scott R Sadusky)
wrote:
>In article <332586d6....@news.canterbury.ac.nz>, D.Cal...@Mang.Canterbury.ac.nz (David Callander) writes:
>> On Mon, 10 Mar 1997 12:06:23 -0800, Barry Smith <bsm...@ncia.com>
>> wrote:
>> >The Best
>> >1. Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure (a great challenge for any level
>> >group)
>> Really? While it certainly is a good dungeon-crawl to chalange a
>> group of PCs, it just plain doesn't make sense!
>> I mean, think about it. You have a dungeon that's totally sealed
>> until the PCs coma along with their fancy key, yet somehow on the
>> lower levels there's a bunch of monsters and *people* running around.
>> What the hell do they eat? Where do they get it from? Jeeze, you've
>> really got to be prepared to suspend your disbeleif on that one...
>I'm not going to dispute that WG6 was a crawl, but I think that it does
>makes sense if Tomorast really created almost everything on the first
>floor, including the Unopenable Doors. If he built them, then he
>can probably open them himself, right? And it isn't too unreasonable
>that he made the immune-to-everything Doors, since there's another
>"invulnerable" something-or-other lurking around on the same level...
There's all sorts of stuff on the first level which leads one to think
that it's *not* a place where *anyone* goes if they want to live.
Take the statue which animates and turns you to stone with a
successful hit as a good example.
Now, perhaps I didn't read it right and Tomorast did create all of
this stuff and is hense imune or something. But, unless my memory
serves me incorrectly, the entrance way (and in fact the whole first
level) is described as being dusty, old, untouched etc, isn't it?
Doesn't sound like Tomorast or any of his cronies were going in and
out that way to get food etc.
I don't think there was a toilet anywhere in the dungoen either...
>(Actually, can't the Doors be opened normally from the inside?)
Dunno - my copy is at home, but I did re-read it again only a few
months ago. I'm not sure it matters either way, as I say above.
David.
ha...@interlog.com
I recall enjoying:
1. Oasis of the White Palm
2. D3 Vault of the Drow
3. Secret of Bone Hill
Fred
Gregory Bernath
In article <3iRF4D...@LunaCity.com>,
barbara haddad <bha...@LunaCity.com> wrote:
> It sounds almost as bad as the 'temple of elemental evil' silliness
>(here we have a temple that's been chained shut -- BUT it's got one
>secret passage into the place and is inhabited by 4 factions of humans
>who all hate each other enough to attack each other on sight but ONLY if
>the PCs are in view and, of course, all have only the one way in/out of
>the dump. Sheesh!)
Don't forget that the corridor is only 3 feet wide, yet somehow we have
giants tramping in and out.
I'm glad someone else shares my opinion. ToEE is sort of a sacred
cow around here, judging from most posts and the results of the on-line
poll, which put it near the top of "best TSR product of all time" list.
I'll be damned if I can figure out why normally sane people adore this
mediocre dungeon crawl so much. Sentimentality, probably.
T1 Village of Hommlet was good, along with the T2 section on Nulb. The rest
requires way to much suspension of rational thought to be believable.
I mean, the good guys are strong enough to seal in a major demon, but don't
bother looking for secret doors? They know horrible evil still waits to be
unleashed here, but can't spare a few soldiers to check things out from time
to time?
Why in the world would Iuz keep Thrommel in stasis in the temple, where
he can be rescued or killed (either one of which is bad for Iuz), when
he could keep him just as well in Dorakaa? Let's not forget ultra-munch
Fragarach, the sword that never misses.
What do these critters eat? To feed all the trolls and giants down below,
you'd need a non-stop baggage train down that secret passage. Where do they
shit? Just what do they do all day, other than stare at the walls and wait
for adventurers? Why haven't they plundered and set off all those silly
traps?
Just why would any bad critters sign on with the temple? They're not
getting paid squat, the duty sucks, the mortality rate is sky high,
and there's not a female to speak of anywhere inside, other than a few
bugbears. Word of that will get out, and even the dullest ettin will
figure out that he'd have better luck in the forest.
As far as I'm concerned, the temple is sealed, and there's not much
inside other than Zuggtmoy and pets. The good guys do send troops there
from time to time, and anyone caught trying to break in is assumed to be
trying to break out Zuggy. Shoot to kill, Speak With Dead later.
--
Greg Bernath gber...@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu
Scott R Sadusky
(SPOILERS)
In article <3328312a....@news.canterbury.ac.nz>, D.Cal...@Mang.Canterbury.ac.nz (David Callander) writes:
> On 11 Mar 1997 02:16:23 GMT, sad...@math.psu.edu (Scott R Sadusky)
> wrote:
>
> >In article <332586d6....@news.canterbury.ac.nz>, D.Cal...@Mang.Canterbury.ac.nz (David Callander) writes:
> >> On Mon, 10 Mar 1997 12:06:23 -0800, Barry Smith <bsm...@ncia.com>
> >> wrote:
[snip]
> There's all sorts of stuff on the first level which leads one to think
> that it's *not* a place where *anyone* goes if they want to live.
> Take the statue which animates and turns you to stone with a
> successful hit as a good example.
>
> Now, perhaps I didn't read it right and Tomorast did create all of
> this stuff and is hense imune or something. But, unless my memory
> serves me incorrectly, the entrance way (and in fact the whole first
> level) is described as being dusty, old, untouched etc, isn't it?
> Doesn't sound like Tomorast or any of his cronies were going in and
> out that way to get food etc.
Everything on the first level was intentionally put there by Tomorast
to screw with anybody who somehow managed to get past the Doors.
Nothing there bothers you unless you start playing with it. He
was friends with the ogre mage, and he is explicitly said to have
created the pool of hetfish and the iron golem and all the props nearby.
I take this to mean that everything magical and bad on the first
level is his work or Arley's. I think the empty rooms are described
as generally dusty, and I think the downward passage leading to
the Doors is supposed to have junk and leaves in the entranceway,
but I don't remember anything else except all the scratches and
gouges in the floor from people trying to open the Doors. It's
not specifically mentioned that Tomorast can open the Doors for
his people, but I think that's the way it's supposed to work.
> I don't think there was a toilet anywhere in the dungoen either...
There's a "refuse pit" someplace, and barring that there are a
shitload of empty rooms. There's also a small section of the
dungeon that's totally walled off (no doors leading into it), and
that's where you can have the mages keep their spellbooks, since
they're otherwise unmentioned in the module.
-Scott
Steve Gilham
In article <3iRF4D...@LunaCity.com>, barbara haddad <bha...@LunaCity.com> wrote:
> > > until the PCs coma along with their fancy key, yet somehow on the
> > > lower levels there's a bunch of monsters and *people* running around.
> > > What the hell do they eat? Where do they get it from? Jeeze, you've
> > > really got to be prepared to suspend your disbeleif on that one...
> It sounds almost as bad as the 'temple of elemental evil' silliness
> (here we have a temple that's been chained shut -- BUT it's got one
> secret passage into the place and is inhabited by 4 factions of humans
> who all hate each other enough to attack each other on sight but ONLY if
> the PCs are in view and, of course, all have only the one way in/out of
> the dump. Sheesh!)
Indeed, a besetting problem with many of the 'classic' modules is that
they share this style of flaw, in one form or another.
My nomination in this style is the pyramid in the Desert of Desolation
series of modules.
-- Personal mail to steve*windsong.demon.co.uk (for which PGP is preferred) --
Steve Gilham |GDS Ltd.,Wellington Ho. |My opinions, not those of GDS
Software Specialist|East Road, Cambridge |Corporation or its affiliates.
steveg@ |CB1 1BH, UK |---------------------------------
uk.gdscorp.com |Tel:(44)1223-300111x2904|http://www.windsong.demon.co.uk/
ha...@interlog.com
Does anyone out there remember when DragonLance was a bunch of
modules?
Some of them were pretty good but a little too rigid at times.
When my group played the series we completely ignored the prearranged
heroes and created our own. We deviated from the given storyline too.
Added an element of mystery that playing the series, as it was
intended, would have lacked since by DL4 everyone had read the first
novel.
Worked out great and spawned a whole new DL universe that only we
are/were aware of.
Fred
Scott R Sadusky
(SPOILERS)
In article <E6y5x...@boss.cs.ohiou.edu>, gber...@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu (Gregory Bernath) writes:
> In article <3iRF4D...@LunaCity.com>,
> barbara haddad <bha...@LunaCity.com> wrote:
>
> > It sounds almost as bad as the 'temple of elemental evil' silliness
> >(here we have a temple that's been chained shut -- BUT it's got one
> >secret passage into the place and is inhabited by 4 factions of humans
> >who all hate each other enough to attack each other on sight but ONLY if
> >the PCs are in view and, of course, all have only the one way in/out of
> >the dump. Sheesh!)
>
> Don't forget that the corridor is only 3 feet wide, yet somehow we have
> giants tramping in and out.
The escape passage isn't the one way in or out. The temple has three
front doors. The center one has the magic wards on it, but the side
doors are ordinary. It says they're locked and barred, but presumably
from the inside, since the PCs have to smash through them to get inside
the building. The situation inside the temple is similar. There's
a central staircase that leads down to an impassable warded door,
but there are two side staircases, 15 to 20 feet wide on the map, that
are usable (even by giants, presumably). The only thing that those
gates lock in is Zuggtmoy. (And even then it's not a matter of
the gates physically locking her in. If she could get out as soon
as there was an unblocked path to the exit, then she could leave after
the first gate was broken. But she can't, since the warded doors are
apparently more like "you can't leave" signs from the gods.)
> I mean, the good guys are strong enough to seal in a major demon, but don't
> bother looking for secret doors? They know horrible evil still waits to be
> unleashed here, but can't spare a few soldiers to check things out from time
> to time?
As above, they didn't really "miss" the secret exit. I'm not sure
if the attitude is totally logical or defensible, but it seems like
the good guys said "as long as the demoness is chained up, we don't
care, we can't spare the resources we need elsewhere, etc." They
couldn't really touch Iuz, and they couldn't thoroughly wipe out
all the evils (or they tried and failed, and the slime eventually
crawled back to the temple). But it didn't matter because evil
can't get anywhere near the warded gates, so the people who would
actually want to free her can't. There are, of course, a bunch of
high-levels watching the place, including at least one mole who's
relatively close to the center of the temple hierarchy.
> Why in the world would Iuz keep Thrommel in stasis in the temple, where
> he can be rescued or killed (either one of which is bad for Iuz), when
> he could keep him just as well in Dorakaa?
I don't understand this part very much, and I don't understand why it
would be "bad for Iuz" if Thrommel was killed. This was the guy who
was kidnapped to break up the anti-Iuz marriage and alliance, right?
The only reason for not killing him, that I can see, is that it would
somehow break "the rules of the gods." Someone's watching over
Thrommel, and if Iuz had him killed that would be crossing the line,
is that it? This would sort of explain why they keep him in the
temple; they want to fool good/neutral people (PCs) into killing
Thrommel, since they're unable to do it themselves. So if the good
guys make it an appreciable distance into the temple, they find a
"vampire" which they stake, and thus relieve Iuz of a potential
future problem. They want to put Thrommel on ice, but they want
there to be a chance that rescuers will accidentally kill him.
If there are good guys marching through Dorakaa, then it's all
over for Iuz anyway, so they put him in an "outpost" (the temple).
If they lose the outpost there's a chance that Thrommel will be killed
as well. (I think this is sort of standard Gygaxian good-evil logic.
It's not explicitly spelled out in the module, though. There's
also that confusion over whether or not Thrommel is a paladin or
a ranger; if he's a paladin, then you're left to wonder how he was
even captured in the first place, and he wouldn't be able to use
Fragarach, a chaotic weapon.)
> What do these critters eat? To feed all the trolls and giants down below,
> you'd need a non-stop baggage train down that secret passage. Where do they
> shit?
If you want to be cynical, then you can say that as long as the module
designer writes in some kind of "garbage pit" (where you stick the
otyugh or rot grubs) and some kind of "storage room" (full of barrels
of water and boxes of food, which the PCs will inevitably search
thoroughly just in case you hid a ring of wishes in with the beef
jerky), then you're safe. If you don't like the idea of big multi-
level dungeons with lots of creatures and people, then you can always
ask where everybody gets their food, water, and air, and what happens
to the waste. But ToEE isn't _totally_ illogical in this regard,
since there are storage rooms and waste dumps, I think, and they
actually can get into and out of the temple, as above.
As far as the infighting between the sub-temples, the situation
before the PCs show up is some kind of stalemate, I believe. So
the temples don't necessarily start lauching genocidal wars
against each other as soon as the good guys breach the surface.
They probably just take advantage of bad things happening to
the other temples. So if the PCs kill off most of the earth
temple, after they leave the other temples will grab up the spoils,
recruit the surviving humanoids, etc.
-Scott
David Callander
On 13 Mar 1997 02:53:58 GMT, sad...@math.psu.edu (Scott R Sadusky)
wrote:
>> I don't think there was a toilet anywhere in the dungoen either...
>
>There's a "refuse pit" someplace, and barring that there are a
>shitload of empty rooms. There's also a small section of the
^^^^^^^^
>dungeon that's totally walled off (no doors leading into it), and
>that's where you can have the mages keep their spellbooks, since
>they're otherwise unmentioned in the module.
*LOL* that's a great pun, intended or otherwise!
The points you raise are generally good though - you can pretty much
rationalise the dungeon given a bit of time and thought.
Cheers,
David.
Phil Rhodes
On 14 Mar 1997 01:55:11 GMT, sad...@math.psu.edu (Scott R Sadusky)
wrote:
>I don't understand this part very much, and I don't understand why it
>would be "bad for Iuz" if Thrommel was killed. This was the guy who
>was kidnapped to break up the anti-Iuz marriage and alliance, right?
>The only reason for not killing him, that I can see, is that it would
>somehow break "the rules of the gods."
This is one of those 'old chestnuts' from Greyhawk. It gets kicked
around on the mailing list every once in a while, and the best answer
is found (I think) in WGR4 The Marklands. If he were dead, then
Belvor would name a new heir. Since he's not (and presumably
divination would reveal this), Belvor won't name a new heir, even tho
the nobles are pressing him to. This leads to all sorts of dissension
in Furyondy, which benefited Iuz considerably during the Wars.
Now that I think about it, this may not be in WGR4. It may just be an
amalgam of my own thoughts and what I've seen from other people. But,
it seems reasonable to me.
--
-Phil (Phillip...@baylor.edu)
"Baseball is dull only to those with dull minds." -Red Smith, sportswriter
Dave Brohman
ha...@interlog.com wrote:
> Does anyone out there remember when DragonLance was a bunch of
> modules?
Does anyone remember when Ravenloft was just _ONE_ module?
Mike Wilson
I'll probably get flammed for this (and I will ignore them)but there is
no other Ravenloft. This new "so called" Ravenloft is TSR's attempt at
those Vampyre games... To gothic for me... Only one Ravenloft and is the
one labled I6.
Just IMO!
--
Mike Wilson, 817-332-8883
Chief Technical Officer http://www.flash.net/~mwilson
Peter J. Miller
On 17 Mar 1997 04:23:33 GMT, dbro...@chat.carleton.ca (Dave Brohman)
wrote:
>ha...@interlog.com wrote:
>
>> Does anyone out there remember when DragonLance was a bunch of
>> modules?
>
>Does anyone remember when Ravenloft was just _ONE_ module?
I've got that module, definitely one of the all-time greats, and, if
combined with Ravenloft II: Gryphon Hill it can create one of the best
roleplaying adventures of all time.
However, I think TSR has done a great job of expanding the Ravenloft
line into a whole campaign world, it's definitely one of my favourites
(up there with Al-Quadim). I can't wait till the hardcover comes otu
this year.
Jeffery Ray Dubois
Mike Wilson (mwi...@flash.net) wrote:
: Dave Brohman wrote:
: >
: > ha...@interlog.com wrote:
: >
: > > Does anyone out there remember when DragonLance was a bunch of
: > > modules?
: >
: > Does anyone remember when Ravenloft was just _ONE_ module?
: I'll probably get flammed for this (and I will ignore them)but there is
: no other Ravenloft. This new "so called" Ravenloft is TSR's attempt at
: those Vampyre games... To gothic for me... Only one Ravenloft and is the
: one labled I6.
Here, here.(or is that hear, hear?)
: Just IMO!
: --
: Mike Wilson, 817-332-8883
: Chief Technical Officer http://www.flash.net/~mwilson
--
Jeff DuBois.
"Cry havok and let slip the dogs of war"
- Star Trek VI
The Undiscoverd Country
- Macbeth?
William Shakspear
randir
On Mon, 17 Mar 1997, Mike Wilson wrote:
> Only one Ravenloft and is the one labled I6.
What about RL:2 The House on Gryphon Hill (I11?)
Although it was written latter, Hickman suggests in it that
you should play both adventures simultaneously...
J. McGuire
Jeffery Ray Dubois wrote:
>
> Here, here.(or is that hear, hear?)
It's hear, hear! As in "He's got something good to say, hear him!"
> "Cry havok and let slip the dogs of war"
> - Star Trek VI
> The Undiscoverd Country
> - Macbeth?
> William Shakspear
- Julius Caesar
William Shakespeare
(act 3, scene 1)
<trying out my new scanner>
> ANTONY. 0, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
> That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
> Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
> That ever lived in the tide of times.
> Woe to the hands that shed this costly blood!
> Over thy wounds now do I prophesy
> (Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips
> To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue),
> A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
> Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
> Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;
> Blood and destruction shall be so in use,
> And dreadful objects so familiar,
> That mothers shall but smile when they behold
> Their infants quartered with the hands of war;
> All pity choked with custom of fell deeds:
> And Caesar's spirit ranging for revenge,
> With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
> Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice
> Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war;
> That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
> With carrion men, groaning for burial.
-- Jean
Wintertree Software | Remember to remove the spambot-blocker
http://www.io.com/~wtsoft | from my address before replying via email
"Pbatenghyngvbaf! Lbh'ir sbhaq gur frperg fvtsvyr."
stephenJ
I agree. I like I6, but i also enjoyed DMing RL2. IMO, it's an
under-appreciated scenario....
--
*******************
Was the order to slay given because of the Sign of the Goat found on the
altar of the ancient Roman crypt beneath the Cathedral, or whether the
Dark Man of the Haute Vienne Coven had spoken the Three Words?
ha...@interlog.com
dbro...@chat.carleton.ca (Dave Brohman) wrote:
>ha...@interlog.com wrote:
>> Does anyone out there remember when DragonLance was a bunch of
>> modules?
>Does anyone remember when Ravenloft was just _ONE_ module?
Touche!
WilHolmes
>Mike Wilson (mwi...@flash.net) wrote:
>: Dave Brohman wrote:
>: >
>: > ha...@interlog.com wrote:
>: >
>: > > Does anyone out there remember when DragonLance was a bunch of
>: > > modules?
I remember that Dragonlance is based off the Books. The modules were just
the books written for play. BORING!!!!!
>: > Does anyone remember when Ravenloft was just _ONE_ module?
>
>: I'll probably get flammed for this (and I will ignore them)but
there is
>: no other Ravenloft. This new "so called" Ravenloft is TSR's attempt at
>: those Vampyre games... To gothic for me... Only one Ravenloft and is
the
>: one labled I6.
>
I remember there is two Ravenloft modules. The first that started it
Ravenloft and second Gryphon Hill. The second one was much harder then the
first one was.
Frankly I do like that TSR did exapnd the Ravenloft, but they have gone
a little far with it. I liked the Strahd von Zarovich character from the
I6 and I9 modules. But this idea of expanding it into a world where you
can pick out classic characters from fiction is going a little far. Hope
TSR does not get sued over copyright violations. :-) hehehehe!!! TSR can't
claim they have been around since 1816 when Frankstein was written can
they?
>Here, here.(or is that hear, hear?)
>
>
>: Just IMO!
>
>
>: --
>
>
>: Mike Wilson, 817-332-8883
>: Chief Technical Officer http://www.flash.net/~mwilson
>
>--
>Jeff DuBois.
Just my little two cents.
David Tolstrup
gtru...@iconz.co.nz (Rupert Boleyn) wrote:
>
> In rec.games.frp.dnd, bo...@omic.com (Blue Troll) did say:
>
> >On 26 Feb 1997 06:12:29 GMT, "Dave" <dav...@ziplink.net> wrote:
>
> >>What are everyone's favorite and least favorite AD&D/D&D modules? I will
> >>be taking a survey from now until March 31st and report the results on
> >>April 1st (appropiately enough).
>
>
> >1) Lost Island of Castanamir (Where's the room?)
> >2) Ravager of Time (Ravager of characters)
> >3) Needle (Computer? Computer?)
>
> >My 3 worst...don't want to remember their numbers!
>
> >1) H4 : Throne of Bloodstone (Give me a minute to clean my sword!)
> >2) Egg of the Phoenix (Egg roll play)
> >3) Isle of the apes (King Kong rules)
>
> I don't know all the numbers but here's my NZ$0.02:
>
> The best:
> 1: The Keep on the Borderlands (B2?), from BD&D
> 2: The Veiled Society (B6), again a D&D module
> 3: I don't have a third, unless you want to count the Night Below box.
>
> The worst
> 1,2&3: The Against the Gaints series (They're so darn linear, no choice in them
> anywhere).
>
> R. Boleyn
>
> Military Intelligence: A highly refined organization of overwhelming
> generalities based on vague assumptions and debatable figures
> drawn from undisclosed activities pursued by persons of dirverse
> motivation, doubtful reliability, and questionable mentality in the
> midst of unimaginable confusion.
>
The Bloodstone series was good (my party of 18th-20th level characters
nearly got killed in Throne about five times, and it was a solo game)
It was pretty good because it also sets you up for future adventures:
you've got both powerful demons and devils pissed off at you, one the
Prince of the Undead, the other Queen of Evil Dragons (I used the monster
Mythology stats cause she was such a pussy). They're all at unbelievably
high levels (26th level sword grandmaster fighter with a vorpal sword,
22nd level chosen of Mystra blooded mage, 22nd level Paladin knight
of the Rose, etc) but they really had to earn it. I've had lots of fun
throwing masses of Tanar'ri and dragons at them every time they leave
the country. I also liked most of the FR box set modules, eg Runes of
Chaos, Buying Time. As for my least favourites, I've got that crappy
one about Castle Caldwell somewhere, which has all the realism of
Pamela Anderson's bust measurement.
Rohan Tolstrup
Mad Hatter
ha...@interlog.com wrote:
>
> dbro...@chat.carleton.ca (Dave Brohman) wrote:
>
> >ha...@interlog.com wrote:
>
> >> Does anyone out there remember when DragonLance was a bunch of
> >> modules?
>
>
And the best module it was!
The only I've ever run (though I've read quite a few)...
Ah, those were the days
<take out the old pipe and think back, to those days, yonder>
--
If you eat a live frog in the morning, nothing worse will happen to
either of you for the rest of the day.
Jason Hatter
WilHolmes (wilh...@aol.com) wrote:
: TSR does not get sued over copyright violations. :-) hehehehe!!! TSR can't
: claim they have been around since 1816 when Frankstein was written can
: they?
Don't need to. AFAIK, Frankenstein is public domain...
Steven Taylor
Mike Wilson wrote:
> I'll probably get flammed for this (and I will ignore them)but there is
> no other Ravenloft. This new "so called" Ravenloft is TSR's attempt at
> those Vampyre games... To gothic for me... Only one Ravenloft and is the
> one labled I6.
I can relate to that feeling. That's the same way I feel about
Highlander II and the third one. Never existed. Nope. I've played
Vampire and Ravenloft, both. Didn't care for either one, but I never
got the feel that one was a knock off of the other. Of course, I had
the Ravenloft boxed set for a long time before I'd ever _heard_ of
Vampire. The problem with Vampire (for me, YMMV) is that I hated my
character, and felt no desire to play that type of being, and the
subject matter just depressed the hell out of me. Not as bad as a
Stephen R. Danoladson novel mind you <grin>. Ravenloft struck me as
being only as good as the DM's skill at setting the mood. Very hard to
run off the cuff, and definately not in fitting with our campaign style
(over-the-top heroics).
Steven Taylor
AJA
David Tolstrup wrote:
>
> gtru...@iconz.co.nz (Rupert Boleyn) wrote:
> >
> > In rec.games.frp.dnd, bo...@omic.com (Blue Troll) did say:
> >
> > >On 26 Feb 1997 06:12:29 GMT, "Dave" <dav...@ziplink.net> wrote:
> >
> > >>What are everyone's favorite and least favorite AD&D/D&D modules? I will
> > >>be taking a survey from now until March 31st and report the results on
> > >>April 1st (appropiately enough).
My three favorite modules would have to be;
1)T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil (the first "mega-dungeon")
2) The Endless Stair (a D&D Companion Set adventure by Ed Greenwood)
3)N5 Under Illefarn (a great way to start a FR campaign)
The three worst modules are;
1)Hordes of Dragonspear (the only gaming supplement i've ever taken
back to the store for a refund)
2)Castle Greyhawk (the "joke" adventure, not the later [and better]
Greyhawk Ruins)
3)Tower of Ulission (a 1980 Judges Guild adventure that I was very
disappointed in--especially compared to the classic 1978 "Citadel of
Fire")
David Callander
On 18 Mar 1997 07:20:59 GMT, wilh...@aol.com (WilHolmes) wrote:
>>Mike Wilson (mwi...@flash.net) wrote:
>>: Dave Brohman wrote:
>>: >
>>: > ha...@interlog.com wrote:
>>: >
>>: > > Does anyone out there remember when DragonLance was a bunch of
>>: > > modules?
>>: >
>
>I remember that Dragonlance is based off the Books. The modules were just
>the books written for play. BORING!!!!!
No, that's not true. Read the back of the first DragonLance book,
Dragons of Autumn Twilight. In there it says that parts of the book
were inspired by things that happened while playing out the first DL
module.
Tracey Hickman wrote the first few modules I think, then co-wrote the
books with Margaret Weis. I think the later modules were written
after the books, which would explain why they were (IMO) not of the
same high quality as the first four modules.
David.
randir
On 18 Mar 1997, WilHolmes wrote:
> I remember that Dragonlance is based off the Books. The modules were just
> the books written for play. BORING!!!!!
Well you remember wrong... the gawd awfull books were based on
a number of excelent adventures...
Hickman always wrote much better adventures than he does novels..
Steven Taylor
Steve Gilham wrote:
[snip some previous posts about populations who live inside a locked up
dungeon]
> Indeed, a besetting problem with many of the 'classic' modules is that
> they share this style of flaw, in one form or another.
> My nomination in this style is the pyramid in the Desert of Desolation
> series of modules.
In the "old-days", the hobby was young. Dungeon-crawling was saught
after more than realism. That has, to a certain degree, changed in more
recent years. I don't think it was a "flaw" any more than it's a flaw
that my infant nephew can't speak in sentences. It's just natural
progression from the basics. In the context of the time-period and
maturity of the game and the fantasy genre, those old modules are
great. In retrospect, they don't hold up, but who's to say that the
stuff we run today won't be laughed at 20 years from now?
Just my rambling $0.02 worth,
Stevn Taylor
JL
On Mon, 17 Mar 1997 09:05:26 -0600, Mike Wilson <mwi...@flash.net>
wrote:
>Dave Brohman wrote:
>>
>> ha...@interlog.com wrote:
>>
>> > Does anyone out there remember when DragonLance was a bunch of
>> > modules?
>>
>> Does anyone remember when Ravenloft was just _ONE_ module?
>
> I'll probably get flammed for this (and I will ignore them)but there is
>no other Ravenloft. This new "so called" Ravenloft is TSR's attempt at
>those Vampyre games... To gothic for me... Only one Ravenloft and is the
>one labled I6.
Well, Ravenloft boxed set came out well before "those Vampyre games",
so it can't be TSR's attempt at it, can it? (Not to mention that the
styles are entirely different, you don't play Vampires or such in
Ravenloft...you FIGHT them).
While the core rules and idea for the setting are wonderful--if you
like playing in a Gothic setting--the actual design left something to
be desired...when you can recognize Frankenstein in a game world, you
know there has been too much creative "borrowing"...
Still for those who like a dark, gothic setting, it's great for
everything from Shelly and Stoker, to Poe and Lovecraft.
-Oarim
Your mind exists within the Universe,
The universe exists within your Mind.
Steve Gilham
> [snip some previous posts about populations who live inside a locked up
> dungeon]
> > Indeed, a besetting problem with many of the 'classic' modules is that
> > they share this style of flaw, in one form or another.
>
> > My nomination in this style is the pyramid in the Desert of Desolation
> > series of modules.
> In the "old-days", the hobby was young. Dungeon-crawling was saught
I know the hobby was young then, since I was there. And even at the
time I found my suspension of disbelief creaking when confronted by
such things. The difference may be more in the age of the player than
the age of the hobby - I was in my 20s when these classic modules
started to appear.
Dave
Steven Taylor <ste...@sprynet.com> wrote in article
<333021...@sprynet.com>...
| |<snip snip snip>
| |
| In the "old-days", the hobby was young. Dungeon-crawling was saught
| recent years. I don't think it was a "flaw" any more than it's a flaw
| that my infant nephew can't speak in sentences. It's just natural
| progression from the basics. In the context of the time-period and
| maturity of the game and the fantasy genre, those old modules are
| great. In retrospect, they don't hold up, but who's to say that the
| stuff we run today won't be laughed at 20 years from now?
I'm laughing at the Den Of Thieves accessory right now. Absolutely one of
the worst RPG accessories ever made.
--
-Dave
Fairbanks was to Sullivan as Parcells is to Kraft
stephenJ
I'm not surprised. I disagree with this notion that there has been an
upward "progression" in the quality of modules over the years. IMO, the
best stuff was the old stuff. To hell with this silly narration-short
story nonsense that has plagued TSR modules in the '90's. Give me an old
Gygax or Jacquays classic - chock full of *useful* stuff like room
descriptions and maps - any day of the week. Modules like the Giant
Series and the Dark Tower aren't considered classics because of
nostalgia, but because they're hands-down better than anything out there
today.
And for the record, the role-play/dunger-crawl controversy has *always*
been a part of the game. There is no more emphasis on role-playing today
than there was in the old days. The solution to the problem today is the
same as it was 20 years ago: ADD is, and always has been, about *both*
role playing and hack'n'slash....
WilHolmes
Note from the Authors
Just as a number of instruments blend their unique and individual
sounds to create a piece of beautiful music, so many people have blended
their individual talents to create the DRAGONLANCEtm story.
It began almost two years ago with a proposal for ADVANCED DUNGEONS &
DRAGONS role-playing game adventure modules featuring dragons. Then it was
proposed that these dragons needed a world to live in, heroes to fight,
gods to serve. Thus began the creation of Krynn.
We would therefore like to acknowledge the orginal DRAGONLANCE story
team: Tracy Hickman, Harold Johnson, Jeff Grubb, Michael Williams, Gali
Sanchez, Gary Spiegle, Carl Smith. We would also like to thank Gary Gygax
for his encouragement and support.
As the world took shape and the storyline was developed, more people
added their own creative touches: Doug Niles, Michael Dodson, Bruce
Nesmith, Roger Moore. Laura Hickman created background for Goldmoon and
Riverwind. The art department gave life to our vision in their stunning
1985 calendar: Larry Elmore, Jeff Easley, Clyde Caldwell, Keith Parkinson.
Special thanks go to the president of TSR, Inc., Kevin Blume, for his
enthusiastic backing; to Mike Cook, our publisher, for his faith; to Jean
Blaskfield, our editor, who forced us to remember the real world; to
Harold Johnson, for story assistance; to artists Larry Elmore and Denis
Beauvis; a very special thank-you to Michael Williams for his wonderful
poetry; and a note of appreciation to everyone at TSR, Inc., who has been
involved with the project.
The DRAGONLANCE adventure began as a role-playing game. It is perhaps
natural that many ideas used in the devlopment of the novel came when the
authors role-played the game! It was during one such session that some of
the most interesting and fun parts of the book had their birth. We were
playing the first in the DRAGONLANCE series of modules: "Dragons of
Despair." Tracy was the Dungeon Master, leading us through the ruins of
XakTsaroth.
Suddenly the Raistlin of our book was born when player Terry Phillips
portrayed the mage with a soft, whispering voice that established his
character immediately in our minds. It was also during this game that
Terry - Raistlin - decided to cast a charm spell over the gully drawves,
causing one of them to fall in love with him! This had not been in our
orginal plot construction for the novel, but it was later added, creating
Bupu, one of our favorite characters.
Other scenes came from the role-playing sessions as well (Flint on the
log, Tas in the wicker dragon), and it became obvious to us once agaon how
valuable role-playing can be for developing creativity and the ability to
solve problems. (To say nothing of the fun we had playing our storyline!)
We hope, therefore, that those of you who enjoy the trilogy but who
might not have tried role-playing games will let this serve as your
introduction. In the games, you can take that part of any of the heroes or
heroines in our story or you can create your own character. You will have
some of the same adventures, or you will find different adventures. Best
of all, you will discover a new and exciting world - a world that, for a
little while at least - you can become a part of.
We invite you to enter the world of the DRAGONLANCE saga. We hope you
have as much fun there as we do. Role-playing game modules currently
available include DRAGONS OF DESPAIR by Tracy Hickman, DRAGONS OF FLAME by
Doug Niles, DRAGONS OF HOPE by Tracy Hickman, DRAGONS OF DESOLATION by
Tracy Hickman and Michael Dobson, and DRAGONS OF MYSTERY ( background
reference material, edited by Michael Dobson.
The DRAGONLANCE saga continues in the second volume of the DRAGONLANCE
CHRONICLES: DRAGONS OF WINTER NIGHT.
In this no where does it state that the modules came first. In fact it
only talks about the development of the first module and where 3
characters found their personalities. But nothing was published yet. or
the quotes would not appear around the title of "Dragons of Despair"
anyone who is a writer knows that this is only used when you are refering
to a work in progress. So, once again, the books came first from the
modules right after. Even the copyright date in the books place them
November, 1984. I have the first module and it's first printing shows
1985. Hmm. Is it a misprint on mine and you have something older? I doubt
it.
Thomas F. Mulherin
AJA <jas...@commnections.com> wrote in article
<332EEA...@commnections.com>...
> David Tolstrup wrote:
> >
> > gtru...@iconz.co.nz (Rupert Boleyn) wrote:
> > >
> > > In rec.games.frp.dnd, bo...@omic.com (Blue Troll) did say:
> > >
> > > >On 26 Feb 1997 06:12:29 GMT, "Dave" <dav...@ziplink.net> wrote:
> > >
> > > >>What are everyone's favorite and least favorite AD&D/D&D modules?
I will
> > > >>be taking a survey from now until March 31st and report the results
on
> > > >>April 1st (appropiately enough).
>
>
> My three favorite modules would have to be;
> 1)T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil (the first "mega-dungeon")
(snip)
This is the first module I ever played, and therefore it brings me back
good memories. :-)
Worst:
(snip)
> 2)Castle Greyhawk (the "joke" adventure, not the later [and better]
> Greyhawk Ruins)
I was given this as a gift, and it was probably the worst game that I've
ever played.
(snipped out the rest)
Besides T1-4, I also liked The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun. My worsts
besides the above would have to be any of the Dragonlance -- they didn't
seem to go anywhere. although, speaking of Krynn, has anyone else found
Krynn to be restrictive because of the amount of detail presented in the
Chronicles and Legends trilogy?
Nick Mulherin
muh...@capecod.net
ukt...@cats.ucsc.edu
The three best were:
1.White Plume Mountain
(Made a whole mythology to go with those three weapons. That silly Stormbringer rip
off!!!)
2.A Pyramid exploring one that was part of the Needle series.
3.An old one called the Caverns of Duodenum or somesuch. The players had to fight
this Vampire Warrior Anti-Xena in order to get this Lantern artifact. They also had an
opportunity to get the Tomes that raised your abilities. They could choose these Tomes
from a Library of such Tomes but were warned not to choose the wrong ones. For some
reason(go figure Mr. Gygax)we just thought the Tome of Infernal Diabolic Soul Sucking or
whatever was the wrong choice.
The three worst were:
1.In actuality too many too many to name but....Anything by Gary Gygax. Sorry, all
respect to the Nerd Our God but WHO THE HELL THINKS OF THE ANSWERS TO HIS
SCREWY RIDDLES. "Put a gem in the open hand of the gargoyle and have the statue
crush the gem. The gem must be worth 50,000 g.p. After the fourth gem you will receive
the answer to the riddle...."somethign like that. Or "Walk through this archway and you
will be naked and in the next town."Everybody except the monk just wanted to go to the
movies after that. Or...okay this one was cool...go through the mouth of the statue and
into a sphere of annihiliation. No saving throw.
2.I agree with the other post. The whole damn Dragonlance series.
3.Wonderland (something like that. A wonderland take off without the pedafilia.)
Jason Hatter
ukt...@cats.ucsc.edu wrote:
3.An old one called the Caverns of Duodenum or somesuch. The players had to fight
That was the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth...
Jeff Heikkinen
Favorites would be the Desert of Desolation series, Labyrinth of
Madness, and Night Below if it's not too big to count as a module. I'm
also still extremely fond of Q1 and Tomb of Horrors.
Least favorite... geez, where do you start... Forgotten Temple of
Tharizdun gets at least an honorable mention as "Easiest module to
completely sidestep". Any party which has or can rent a clue will stop
the norker raids by taking out the (high, narrow) bridge or blocking
the (winding, even narrower) mountain paths that are the only ways in
or out of the dungeon, trapping the little buggers inside, rather than
opting for the near-suicidal course of actually entering it. If you're
intent on looting the place, just wait for the inhabitants to starve.
(I'm often told good characters wouldn't do any of this, but how is
walking in and slaughtering them wholesale any more moral?) I'm still
a sucker for dungeon crawls, but they really have to be better thought
out than that.
Some other really awful modules are Journey to the Rock (dumb premise,
silly and non-contributing bondage scene towards the end, and even the
title is pretty stupid), Gygax's Dungeonland / Magic Mirror series
(Alice in Blunderland, as I call it), Undermountain: The Lost Level (I
thought they'd stopped doing settings that implausible in the early
80's), and Thoughts of Darknes or whatever the Ravenloft mind flayer
module was called (TOTALLY linear; is this a GAME, or a one-man play
with the players as audience?).
These are just off the top of my head, and since I only buy modules I
have some reason for expecting to like (and am usually not
disapointed... most have SOME redeeming qualities at the very least),
they probably aren't the worst TSR has ever produced. For example,
Thought of Darkness (assuming I've got the title right, I sold it to a
second-hand gaming store recently) is the only completely and utterly
linear module I ever owned, but I understand TSR has put out at least a
dozen of them in recent years. I suspect ToD is actually one of the
better (well, less bad) ones.
Just my two cents.
Mad Hatter
I'd say my all-time favorite is the first Ravenloft (AD&D 1st ed),
followed by Ravenloft II, The House on Gryphon hill.
I'd say #3, would be from D&D, B4 (I forgot it's name, but it was one in
a pyramid based in the desert of Ylarum), which had a wierd race, that
appeared to be on some high.
I'd say the worst would have to be into the maelstorm from D&D Master
rules set, and the first module of the immortal set in D&D.
I don't much do modules any more, though...
Phil Rhodes
On 23 Mar 1997 07:26:38 GMT, <ukt...@cats.ucsc.edu> wrote:
>1.In actuality too many too many to name but....Anything by Gary Gygax. Sorry, all
>respect to the Nerd Our God but WHO THE HELL THINKS OF THE ANSWERS TO HIS
>SCREWY RIDDLES.
<examples from S1 snipped>
If you don't like them, then bloody well change them! You are the DM,
after all! Sounds like you had a sadistic DM that made you go through
S1 unprepared. What about G1-2-3? Or D1-2-3? Or the other modules
he wrote? I'm just curious to know if you based you opinion of Gygax
solely off S1, EX1, and EX2.
>3.Wonderland (something like that. A wonderland take off without the pedafilia.)
EX1 and EX2. Both were semi-joke modules, but fun if you can hoodwink
the players into them without them knowing about it. Probably a lost
cause today. How many players today have actually read the real
_Alice in Wonderland_ and _Through the Magic Mirror_?
--
-Phil (Phillip...@baylor.edu)
"Baseball is dull only to those with dull minds." -Red Smith, sportswriter
Lawrence R. Mead
Phil Rhodes (Phillip...@baylor.edu) wrote:
: On 23 Mar 1997 07:26:38 GMT, <ukt...@cats.ucsc.edu> wrote:
: >1.In actuality too many too many to name but....Anything by Gary Gygax. Sorry, all
: >respect to the Nerd Our God but WHO THE HELL THINKS OF THE ANSWERS TO HIS
: >SCREWY RIDDLES.
:
: <examples from S1 snipped>
:
: If you don't like them, then bloody well change them! You are the DM,
: after all! Sounds like you had a sadistic DM that made you go through
: S1 unprepared. What about G1-2-3? Or D1-2-3? Or the other modules
: he wrote? I'm just curious to know if you based you opinion of Gygax
: solely off S1, EX1, and EX2.
:
: >3.Wonderland (something like that. A wonderland take off without the pedafilia.)
:
: EX1 and EX2. Both were semi-joke modules, but fun if you can hoodwink
: the players into them without them knowing about it. Probably a lost
: cause today. How many players today have actually read the real
: _Alice in Wonderland_ and _Through the Magic Mirror_?
The latter is _Through the Looking Glass_ .
: -Phil (Phillip...@baylor.edu)
:
: "Baseball is dull only to those with dull minds." -Red Smith, sportswriter
DMGorgon
--
Lawrence R. Mead (lrm...@whale.st.usm.edu)
ESCHEW OBFUSCATION ! ESPOUSE ELUCIDATION !
http://www-dept.usm.edu/~scitech/phy/mead.html
David Callander
On 21 Mar 1997 17:59:27 GMT, wilh...@aol.com (WilHolmes) wrote:
[snip]
> The DRAGONLANCE adventure began as a role-playing game. It is perhaps
>natural that many ideas used in the devlopment of the novel came when the
>authors role-played the game!
[snip]
>In this no where does it state that the modules came first. In fact it
>only talks about the development of the first module and where 3
>characters found their personalities. But nothing was published yet. or
>the quotes would not appear around the title of "Dragons of Despair"
>anyone who is a writer knows that this is only used when you are refering
>to a work in progress. So, once again, the books came first from the
>modules right after. Even the copyright date in the books place them
>November, 1984. I have the first module and it's first printing shows
>1985. Hmm. Is it a misprint on mine and you have something older? I doubt
>it.
While nothing was _published_ yet, it is plainly stated that the
setting began as RPG first, book(s) second - see the quoted excerpt
above. That is, people like Tracy Hickman daughted module(s), from
which the first book was inspired. Exactly which found its way into
published form first is a mute point IMO - the DragonLance setting
began as AD&D adventures (modules if you like) first, then the books
were written.
David.
ThresholdMURPE
In my opinion, the best module is the T1-T4 series. Its pretty intense, and if
you DM it right, can last weeks and weeks and weeks. I remember a time where
we played it for well over a month, almost two months. We had about 12 players
or so, and a few would periodically drop out or add in as characters were
slain. It was very exciting, and there were lots of placed where I could drop
in my own special side adventurers.
-Aristotle@ThresholdMURPE
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VISIT THRESHOLD MURPE! Online High Fantasy RPG!
Guilds: fighter, mage, thief, cleric, psion, bard, alchemist, shapeshifter
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Tim Ward
In article <5h58tl$6e7$1...@canopus.cc.umanitoba.ca>,
jheik...@infobahn.mb.ca (Jeff Heikkinen) wrote:
> Favorites would be the Desert of Desolation series, Labyrinth of
> Madness, and Night Below if it's not too big to count as a module. I'm
> also still extremely fond of Q1 and Tomb of Horrors.
>
> Some other really awful modules are Journey to the Rock (dumb premise,
> silly and non-contributing bondage scene towards the end, and even the
> title is pretty stupid), Gygax's Dungeonland / Magic Mirror series
> (Alice in Blunderland, as I call it), Undermountain: The Lost Level (I
Hey, I LIKE those Alice adventures. They're hilarious.
I haven't bought any new modules in eons, but I've still got all those
early 80s classics stacked on my bookshelf, battered and torn. My personal
favorite is A4: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords, as the party starts in
the worst position imagniable (in the dark. no spells. no equipment, in a
cavern that is gradually collapsing from a series of earthquakes.) thus it
is a true test of players' abilities. Another is S4: the Lost Caverns of
Tsojcanth, which is the best "classic" dungeoun crawl (interesting
monsters, cool but not exceptionally powerful treasure--even the artifact
isn't a game-breaker if you GM it right) I've seen.
Most of the adventures in the Book of Lairs (book 1, there were 2 I think,
but I only have 1) blow the big kahuna. In one there's a staff of power
lying under a pile of boulders (you find it after killing a 12-headed
hydra) Yikes. Munchkin City. IMC, the only way you get a staff of power is
by prying it from the cold dead fingers of the 15th level mage who will
gleefully use it against you. The Myth Drannor adventure that comes with
the Forgotten Realms boxed set gives away tons of magic items, and the only
dangerous monster is the lich at the end, who won't attack you unless you
provoke him.
If there are *good, exciting* new modules out there, that aren't campaign
specific (or can be easily reworked to plug into a different campaign), I'd
like to hear about 'em. The few ones I've thumbed through in other players'
collections suck.
cheers to all,
Tim
--------------------------------------------------
Tim Ward tim...@usinternet.com
St. Paul, Minn., and no, you can't have my
real-world address.
delete the "spamTHIS" to reply....
"Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his dreams
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea." -Dylan Thomas
Phil Rhodes
On 24 Mar 1997 13:48:49 GMT, lrm...@whale.st.usm.edu (Lawrence R.
Mead) wrote:
>Phil Rhodes (Phillip...@baylor.edu) wrote:
>: EX1 and EX2. Both were semi-joke modules, but fun if you can hoodwink
>: the players into them without them knowing about it. Probably a lost
>: cause today. How many players today have actually read the real
>: _Alice in Wonderland_ and _Through the Magic Mirror_?
>
>The latter is _Through the Looking Glass_ .
::smacks forehead::
Thanks DMGorgon. I knew that. I really did. I really, really,
really did. Even if I forgot it for a second.
--
Brian Trosko
Tim Ward <tim...@spamTHIS.usinternet.com> wrote:
: Hey, I LIKE those Alice adventures. They're hilarious.
Never picked up the second one, but the first one was pretty interesting.
Granted, at that point my buddies an I were really too young to play it
effectively, but it was a fun read. Maybe I should dig it out and give it
a go the next time I get a group together.
Aside from the Classics (T1-4, the Slavers series, GDQ1234567....), I'd
have to give my number one vote to (I think this it is...) Expedition to
the Barrier Peaks. Can't remember the letter designation, but I think it
was the same series as White Plume Mountain, which was also an excellent
module.
Anyways, Expedition to the Barrier peaks entailed your party going on a
dungeon crawl though a crash-landed section of the big mama spacecraft
from _Metamorphosis Alpha_ (Geez, does anyone still remember *that* game?)
It was great, dealing with all this stuff that was still functional and
yet totally incomprehensible to most of the players. It really gave me
that "Wow, *this* is what roleplaying games are all about" feeling.
And the look on my friend Jay's face when his fighter accidentally
incinerated his own face while trying to figure out how that blaster rifle
worked was priceless.
Brian "A '1'...oops, Narg, that's a catastrophic failure" Trosko
Brad Brisco
Here are my favourites:
1) Saltmarsh series (U1,U2,U3)
2) Cult of the Reptile God (N1)
3) Ruins of Andril (Dragon 81?)
Honorable mentions:
Baba Yaga's Hut (Dragon 83?) and Aesirhammer (Dragon 90?)
both of these excellant adventure outlines are by Roger Moore.
Sadly, they seem to have promoted the very best designer out
of active duty and into some weeny editor/manager roles which
pretty much any hoser could likely do well. This is also the person
responsible for "The Whole Half-Ogre", "Two-Fisted Fighting" and
many of the other rules clarifications/expansions which made
First Edition truly playable. End of eulogy.
Dungeonland/Land Beyond Magic Mirror
some have criticized these bizarre little modules - I think they
were an excellant mix of silliness and playability (as opposed to
Greyhawk Ruins or whatever that lame module was)
Ravager of Time
only thing that prevents this adventure from being classic (IMHO)
is the absolutely unfair challenge presented to the characters
(think Mirror of Opposition on 'roids - lot's of 'roids). Excellant and
unique role-playing situations.
Village of Hommlet
When a Star Falls (UK4)
My Picks from Dungeon Magazine (missing a few issues)
1) The Mud-Sorcerer's Tomb (kind of like Tomb of Horrors but makes
a bit more sense and has a lot more feel to it)
2) Vesicant
3) Marriage Made in Hell (nice short adventure)
Worst Modules Ever
1) The Sword of the Dales (IMO absolutely worst TSR module ever)
- a couple of rooms, a lame puzzle and a (far too) powerful magical
award for low-level chars: this is one of the few paper items I
actually debate about throwing away every time I move - weirdly,
following two modules in series don't suck (not great, but don't suck).
2) Avatar Trilogy
- come on - this is a (bad) novel in which your characters are
dragged along
(kind of like Dragonlance, but with none of the redeeming qualities).
3) Gargoyles
- you get to return the wings to a tribe of gargoyles (or something
equally
ludicrous)
Actually, I would really like to see a site with a collection of
reviews/opinions
on TSR products (in particular modules) - does anyone know of such a beast? If
not, would there be any interest in one? Assuming it doesn't run afoul of TSR's
legal stance, I might be willing to make a site like this if no one else
feels like
it.
Noah Dowd
Tim Ward wrote:
>
> In article <5h58tl$6e7$1...@canopus.cc.umanitoba.ca>,
> jheik...@infobahn.mb.ca (Jeff Heikkinen) wrote:
>
> > Favorites would be the Desert of Desolation series, Labyrinth of
> > Madness, and Night Below if it's not too big to count as a module. I'm
> > also still extremely fond of Q1 and Tomb of Horrors.
> >
>
> > Some other really awful modules are Journey to the Rock (dumb premise,
> > silly and non-contributing bondage scene towards the end, and even the
> > title is pretty stupid), Gygax's Dungeonland / Magic Mirror series
> > (Alice in Blunderland, as I call it), Undermountain: The Lost Level (I
>
I agree. I've never had the opportunity to DM them, but I think it
would
be a LOT of fun. You just need to be in the right mood.
> I haven't bought any new modules in eons, but I've still got all those
> early 80s classics stacked on my bookshelf, battered and torn. My personal
> favorite is A4: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords, as the party starts in
> the worst position imagniable (in the dark. no spells. no equipment, in a
> cavern that is gradually collapsing from a series of earthquakes.) thus it
> is a true test of players' abilities. Another is S4: the Lost Caverns of
> Tsojcanth, which is the best "classic" dungeoun crawl (interesting
> monsters, cool but not exceptionally powerful treasure--even the artifact
> isn't a game-breaker if you GM it right) I've seen.
It is a good module, but it suffers from illogical ecology. You know
the symptoms, monsters living very close to each other with nothing to
eat except the other monsters. But yeah, I like this one a lot, too.
Some of the encounters are just sooooo cool. And that last room is
fiendish ;>
> Most of the adventures in the Book of Lairs (book 1, there were 2 I think,
> but I only have 1) blow the big kahuna. In one there's a staff of power
> lying under a pile of boulders (you find it after killing a 12-headed
> hydra) Yikes. Munchkin City. IMC, the only way you get a staff of power is
> by prying it from the cold dead fingers of the 15th level mage who will
> gleefully use it against you. The Myth Drannor adventure that comes with
> the Forgotten Realms boxed set gives away tons of magic items, and the only
> dangerous monster is the lich at the end, who won't attack you unless you
> provoke him.
That's too bad about the Book of Lairs. I think the idea is great, but
you can get better stuff from Dungeon mag (if they ever resume printing,
that is).
> If there are *good, exciting* new modules out there, that aren't campaign
> specific (or can be easily reworked to plug into a different campaign), I'd
> like to hear about 'em. The few ones I've thumbed through in other players'
> collections suck.
Actually, I was just thinking to myself this morning on how good the
Night
of the Walking Dead is. It's a Ravenloft module, but could be adapted
easily
to other settings. It does a great job of setting a mood, has an
interesting mystery involving an old family secret, a psychotic madman,
and a disturbing hermit, and builds to a dramatic climax. In fact, the
climax of the adventure is pretty damn awesome, IMHO. A few words of
warning, though. The cover says that the adventure is for levels 1-3,
but
a party of 1st level characters will get slaughtered wholesale. I would
recommend all 2nd-4th, with about half of the party 3rd or higher. As
a gauge of difficulty, the final encounter has a zombie lord, a juju
zombie,
and about 6 zombies. I mean, Ravenloft should be deadly, but come on!
Even with the enhanced party strength, you should expect at least 1
character
to die, possible irrevocably (turned into a zombie). Anyway, I've run
this
module twice now, and it's been a lot of fun both times.
Your opinions may vary.
-Noah
--
E-mail: no...@anet-dfw.com
Just as irrigation is the lifeblood of the Southwest,
Lifeblood is the soup of cannibals. -Jack Handey
PJS
On 25/03/97 07:22, in message <5h7ues$s...@nnrp1.news.primenet.com>, Brian
Trosko <btr...@primenet.com> wrote:
> Aside from the Classics (T1-4, the Slavers series, GDQ1234567....), I'd
> have to give my number one vote to (I think this it is...) Expedition to
> the Barrier Peaks. Can't remember the letter designation, but I think it
> was the same series as White Plume Mountain, which was also an excellent
> module.
>
> Anyways, Expedition to the Barrier peaks entailed your party going on a
> dungeon crawl though a crash-landed section of the big mama spacecraft
> from _Metamorphosis Alpha_ (Geez, does anyone still remember *that* game?)
> It was great, dealing with all this stuff that was still functional and
> yet totally incomprehensible to most of the players. It really gave me
> that "Wow, *this* is what roleplaying games are all about" feeling.
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'd say Barrier Peaks was one I enjoyed LEAST, although the idea seemed good at
the time ... it ended as up wandering around getting radiation sickness and
using up the Cleric's spells. Queen of the Demonweb Pits was disappointing as
well - I think it's hard to write for PCs powerful enough to do a module of
that nature.
My favourites were probably Village of Homlet and Secret of Bone Hill.
Mike Reilly
In article <N.032597.221400.83@winwaed>, P...@winwaed.demon.co.uk (PJS) wrote:
>On 25/03/97 07:22, in message <5h7ues$s...@nnrp1.news.primenet.com>, Brian
>Trosko <btr...@primenet.com> wrote:
>
>> Aside from the Classics (T1-4, the Slavers series, GDQ1234567....), I'd
>> have to give my number one vote to (I think this it is...) Expedition to
>> the Barrier Peaks. Can't remember the letter designation, but I think it
>> was the same series as White Plume Mountain, which was also an excellent
>> module.
NOTHING beats a good original module designed for a well thought out world by
an experienced and creative DM.
Chris Geisel
In article <5i60ue$ntb$1...@noc.van.hookup.net>,
mre...@mail.comox.island.net (Mike Reilly) wrote:
[snip]
> >> Aside from the Classics (T1-4, the Slavers series, GDQ1234567....), I'd
> >> have to give my number one vote to (I think this it is...) Expedition to
> >> the Barrier Peaks. Can't remember the letter designation, but I think it
it was S3.
--chris
--
Chris Geisel
Designer
Double Aught, Inc.
www.doubleaught.com
Jay Robinson
In article <chrisg-1306...@chrisg.dialup.access.net>,
chr...@doubleaught.comREMOVE (Chris Geisel) wrote:
One I remember well is an old Basic D&D module called Rahasia. Now that was fun... How
about that bone golem??
Dragon
Jay Robinson <Azm...@netcom.ca> wrote in article
<5ntu1h$g...@tor-nn1-hb0.netcom.ca>...
My all time favourite - an old Basic D&D module called Knight's Dark
Terror. Talk about an epic adventure. This one had it all!
Dragon.
Ann Dupuis
In article <01bc7a54$581f0240$91896682@dragon>, "Dragon"
<dra...@mailbox.uq.edu.au> wrote:
> My all time favourite - an old Basic D&D module called Knight's Dark
> Terror. Talk about an epic adventure. This one had it all!
>
Ah, yes: B10, Night's Dark Terror. The transition module from dungeon-
crawling to wilderness adventures. My husband's D&D party (he plays
5 characters in our D&D game) are currently about 1/5 the way through
the adventure (slightly modified by moi). Not doing too well; two
of the characters are heading back to the city (in bad weather; it's
a late spring, still pretty wintry and wet conditions), one with
pneumonia (the party's leader, and best fighter) and the other with
a broken back (the "rogue," who happens to be the character I
specifically designed a side-adventure for; the same side-adventure
the other three characters are heading off to attempt to tackle.
None of them have any particular abilities to find traps -- too
bad! ;-).
Among the changes I've made to the module:
The chevall's enemies were originally werewolves; I made them
griffins, instead, since Misha the cleric has a pet wolf who's
actually the grandson of the White Wolf of Morlay (although
that's not been discovered by anyone yet). Anyway, Misha's
already shown a soft spot for lycanthropes (they've encountered
a werebear before), so I knew she wouldn't want to kill the
ones the chevall wanted destroyed. So I made them griffins,
instead. And created a mini-adventure around getting to their
nest; they're nesting at the top of a ruined rock-cut temple,
carved into the side of a cleft, and the only way up to them
is through the temple (and lots of traps, a'la Indiana Jones
and the Lost Ark). Or they could extend their trek by 2
days and go around some cliffs to come at the backside --
but they're anxious to fulfill their obligation to the
chevall, rejoin with their hopefully healed party members
(hah! assuming Arnold and Devlin ever make it to Kelvin! ;-),
and push on with their quest...
About the chevall's obsession with freeing horses: not in
my version. Especially not with the Hardhand's horses --
Misha sees to it that all the horses are very properly
cared for, and Arnold's warhorse is quite loyal. The mule,
who only allows women to ride/handle it, would tell the
chevall a thing or two if the chevall ever tried to "free"
it...
...although the party *will* have to decide between risking
the horses on near-impossible terrain or abandoning them
to fend for themselves in the wilds a little later on in
the adventure.
I'm also ignoring some of the side-trek portions of the
module; just doesn't make sense to me that the party, on
a tightly-deadlined quest, would take time out (a day or
two in most cases) to explore "interesting" things they
find. So I'm ignoring things like the haunted island;
may incorporate it into a future adventure.
Now, if we can only find the time to get back to *playing,*
we can discover how Misha and Juliette and Alex deal
with the griffins, and whether or not Arnold and Devlin
make it to Kelvin and clerical healing...
Best regards,
--
Ann Dupuis
Grey Ghost Press, Inc.
ghost...@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/ghostgames