Horror on the Hill - your experiences?

Quasqueton · Feb 22, 2005

Thirty-fourth thread of a series on the old classic Dungeons & Dragons adventure modules. It is interesting to see how everyone's experiences compared and differed.

Horror on the Hill

Did you Play or DM this adventure (or both, as some did)? What were your experiences? Did you complete it? What were the highlights for your group?

Quasqueton

EricNoah · Feb 22, 2005

Cover looks extremely familiar, but I don't have any other memories of this one.

el-remmen · Feb 22, 2005

I ran this way back in the day before I knew what I was really doing in terms of running D&D.

Later I lent it to someone and never got it back. . .

I would love to own it again - as the site itself the adventure takes place on (isn't it an island?) would fit very well in Aquerra.

I remember nothing else about it.

Henry · Feb 22, 2005

I was wondering when you'd bring this one up...

This has been by far my favorite of all the old modules. Why? Because it and B2 (Keep on the Borderlands) formed the basis for my homebrew campaign world. It's the first place that two separate groups of players, spaced about nine years apart, first got their taste of my Alyxia Campaign. I set the fort the PCs started from as both the starting point for the Hill, and for the Caves of Chaos (I placed the hill nearby and the caves farther out). The Hill bloomed into a trackless magically encroaching forest (Similar to the Fangorn Forest) just beyond a river that separated it from the fort, and the Forest was home to large bands of humanoids pushed out by the human/elf/dwarf/halfling confederation.

The Neanderthal Tribe (I revamped them into a Dakon Tribe), The two little old ladies Rosabella and Rosalinda, and the Forgotten God the monks worshipped I expanded upon GREATLY, and each became fixtures in my game. The adventures of both groups NEVER discovered the Dragon, and BOTH soundly trounced the Hobgoblins on the Hill.

Interesting side note: The PCs in the first group found a helm of opposite alignment (one that constantly worked, but only once per individual), and after subduing a raiding party of Hobgoblins, they used the helm on them all for fun. I decided that the opposite of a Lawful Evil Militaristic Hobgoblin type would be more like a 1960's style peace-and-love chaotic good hippy-type, so they created a Chaotic Good Hobgoblin commune that exists in my homebrew to this day. They even helped save them from "normal" hobgoblins looking to do them harm on a couple of occasions.

In short, I've cannibalized this module in every way, shape, and form for my home games.

diaglo · Feb 22, 2005

i've got this slated yet again for when the PCs make it past UK3 The Gauntlet.

T. Foster · Feb 23, 2005

This was one of the first modules I bought (before I'd moved on from Basic D&D to AD&D) and I think is the very first pre-published module I ever ran as DM (though since at the time it was only me and 1 other player the DM also ran a couple PCs). I remember we played this in one marathon session that started under the bleachers at a track meet (we were there ostensibly to watch my friend's older step-brother compete) and ended in the back of the van on the way home (I can't believe I didn't get carsick...).

This is a very fun module with some memorable set-pieces and good art by Jim Holloway (which, alas, I'm pretty sure we later colored in), but it has a 'false ending' followed by a twist that is certainly dramatically exciting (my friend almost had a coronary when he realized what had happened) but is ridiculously unfair to low level characters who are likely low and hp and just about out of spells by the time it happens (especially since it cuts off any possibility to retreat and rest up -- the characters are given no choice but to finish the module or die). And then there's the actual true finale of the module which is so horribly out of balance that I can hardly imagine any party not getting TPK'd without heavy DM intervention (which I'm pretty sure I provided -- after all a 9-year old kid who's DMing for the first time and also running a couple of PCs doesn't want to inflict a TPK).

I'm not sure how I'd handle these issues if I were to run this module again today (which is probably one of the reasons why I never have...).

Olgar Shiverstone · Feb 23, 2005

Haven't DMed, or played -- still need to pick it up for my personal collection.

Psychic Warrior · Feb 23, 2005

Another classic. This and B4 - The Lost City are two of my all time favourites. The module is huge witha multi level dungeon, interesting NPCs to met along the way and some nasty twists and turns in story. I lost about 5 PCs to it when i first tried playing through it and when I, years later, ran it I started everone at 3rd level. By the end (and they made it all the way through and defeated the dragon) they were 6th or 7th level. Of course that was clearing every nook and cranny of the dungeon and hill of treasure and mosnters.

A module I have fond memories of but I don't know how it stacks up today as it has been years since i read it.

Lazybones · Feb 23, 2005

A great mod, and another of the early examples of a "campaign in a small folder" mods. In 3.5 I could easily see this being good for taking the group up to around 5th level even if you cut back on the random encounters. That's good, since the dragon at the end is going to wipe the floor with a low-level group. It's a reminder of how weak dragons were in the early years...

FCWesel · Feb 23, 2005

hehehe...I JUST ran part of this last weekend, the second session (of three it looks like). I decided to run a BASIC D&D "One Shot" for the heck of it.

I tried to force myself to "stay to the script"...I have only wandered a small bit.