Round Two: Another 10 old school modules I'm considering!

Forked from: Which of these old school modules are worth getting?

Knightfall said:

Okay, I'm thinking about getting a few of the older D&D modules to incorporate them into my World of Kulan campaign world...

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Round Two!

Same as before...

What I'm looking for is to find out which of the 10 modules listed in the poll would be easiest to incorporate into a homebrewed world.

What are these modules' strengths and what are their weaknesses? How hard would they be to convert to v.3.5, based on your personal experiences?

The ones I own: B4 The Lost City, B6 The Veiled Society, C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, C2 The Ghost Tower of Inverness, I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City, N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God (*), T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil, WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun (*), WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins, and X1 The Isle of Dread. *I just bought these two modules (Feb27).

The modules from the first thread that I'm seriously considering getting based on the advice I received: I2 Tomb of the Lizard King and X8 Drums on Fire Mountain.

G1-2-3 Against the Giants

I'm not a big fan of G1-2-3. There isn't much to them except some massive fights. I think any decent modern DM ought to be able to do as well.

I'll be an even bigger dissenting voice by saying that you probably shouldn't bother with 'U1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh'. This module has one really awesome thing about it - it features a twist. It starts out being about one thing and it ends up being about something else. But encounter design will in many ways seem very dated to a modern DM (virtually everything provokes a saving throw), and it will take some significant updating to make it work well. It's something I would suggest novice DM's review, but I'm not sure that you can get more use out of it than that. In particular, the two follow up modules (U2 and U3) are extremely flawed. If the PC's stay on the railroad, they probably work great, but I don't like modules that depend on staying on the railroad as much as those two do.

On the other hand I3-4-5 'Desert of Desolation' is one of my favorite short campaigns, and the sort of thing I might break out for a short notice campaign with a new group of players.

Avoid I12 'Egg of the Pheonix'.

Celebrim said:

Avoid I12 'Egg of the Pheonix'.

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Why? What's wrong with it?

Celebrim said:

I'm not a big fan of G1-2-3. There isn't much to them except some massive fights. I think any decent modern DM ought to be able to do as well.

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Agreed, though there's a bit more intrigue available in G3. Also, if KF's campaign doesn't feature clans of giants as potential enemies, it could be difficult fitting something like this into his campaign.

Celebrim said:

I'll be an even bigger dissenting voice by saying that you probably shouldn't bother with 'U1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh'. This module has one really awesome thing about it - it features a twist. It starts out being about one thing and it ends up being about something else. But encounter design will in many ways seem very dated to a modern DM (virtually everything provokes a saving throw), and it will take some significant updating to make it work well. It's something I would suggest novice DM's review, but I'm not sure that you can get more use out of it than that. In particular, the two follow up modules (U2 and U3) are extremely flawed. If the PC's stay on the railroad, they probably work great, but I don't like modules that depend on staying on the railroad as much as those two do.

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A few points:

1) All old-school modules feature dated encounter design. That's part of their charm, and their frustrations. If KF doesn't want to deal with that issue, he should avoid old school modules.
2) Something like U1 is very easy to fit into a campaign. Low level, localized, minimal assumptions about the campaign world. And never underestimate the power of a good twist. The module needs to be improved and fleshed out, but it has a solid framework to a memorable adventure.
3) I was far less impressed with the two sequels. I agree that they are more difficult to fit into a campaign, and work better as a stand alone "railroad" story arc.

Celebrim said:

On the other hand I3-4-5 'Desert of Desolation' is one of my favorite short campaigns, and the sort of thing I might break out for a short notice campaign with a new group of players.

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I loved playing through these modules in my 1E days, but they have all sorts of elements that can make them difficult to fit into a larger campaign world. A desert environment, nomads that are very similar to bedouins, a major protaganist and antagonist, both with history critical to the adventure. All of these can be re-written, of course, but it seems to me that converting these to fit in a campaign would be a lot more work than adapting something like U1. Possibly well worth the effort, but only KF can decide that. Even if not incorporated wholesale, I stronly recommend stealing the maps and some of the more interesting encounters.

Celebrim said:

On the other hand I3-4-5 'Desert of Desolation' is one of my favorite short campaigns, and the sort of thing I might break out for a short notice campaign with a new group of players.

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I can't agree more. I love these. I've run them in AD&D 1 and 2, basic D&D, and GURPS. I've got my originals in the plastic sleeves they originally came in.

I'll very much need to run them again, and your idea of just doing it as a little stand alone campaign is a great idea.

Andre said:

Agreed, though there's a bit more intrigue available in G3. Also, if KF's campaign doesn't feature clans of giants as potential enemies, it could be difficult fitting something like this into his campaign.

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That's a good observation. My campaign doesn't have rampaging giant clans as enemies. However, it does have rampaging ogre tribes.

Celebrim said:

On the other hand I3-4-5 'Desert of Desolation' is one of my favorite short campaigns, and the sort of thing I might break out for a short notice campaign with a new group of players.

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Andre said:

I loved playing through these modules in my 1E days, but they have all sorts of elements that can make them difficult to fit into a larger campaign world. A desert environment, nomads that are very similar to bedouins, a major protaganist and antagonist, both with history critical to the adventure. All of these can be re-written, of course, but it seems to me that converting these to fit in a campaign would be a lot more work than adapting something like U1. Possibly well worth the effort, but only KF can decide that. Even if not incorporated wholesale, I stronly recommend stealing the maps and some of the more interesting encounters.

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Well, my main campaign region (i.e. continent) does have a large desert available. It's main inhabitants are nomadic clans of desert elves. Still, I'm hesitant to use an iconic desert supermodule within that desert since it's not a HUGE desert.

However, I could always set it on one of my other continents.

I really like Death's Ride. It's no sabre River but we had a lot of fun with it.

Knightfall said:

That's a good observation. My campaign doesn't have rampaging giant clans as enemies. However, it does have rampaging ogre tribes.

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Oh, I don't think the giants have to be ramaging everywhere. Personally, I cannot imagine a fantasy setting (ancient, medieval, high fantasy, etc.) without a "land of the giants" in some corner or two of the world. I suppose the ogres would serve the same purpose. They're like giant-lite, right?