Let's Read...Everything D&D!

[KirayaTiDrekan]

S1: Tomb of Horrors

Originally published June, 1978

Version being read and reviewed: Dungeons of Dread S1-4 (March, 2013) by Gary Gygax

First things first - SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Still here?

Ok, here we go.

According to Echohawk's 1st Edition Collector's Guide, this little classic arrived in stores at the same time as the PHB, so that partially answers my question about what DMs and players did to get campaigns going while waiting for the DMG to come out. Of course, this thing seems more like a campaign ender (usually via TPK) than a campaign starter.

As with most adventure modules of the era, the Tomb of Horrors made the rounds at conventions before seeing publication so it was probably already rather infamous by the time you could buy it in stores. As a kid, my impression of AD&D adventures was that they were competitive and tournament based, so you couldn't play them in your regular home games. That was a contributing factor in my bypassing 1st Edition and jumping straight to 2nd Edition from BECMI.

There's very little set-up or lead-in. There is some brief background on the big bad, Acererak, but the module just jumps straight in for the most part, trusting DMs to worry about getting their party there.

Coming from a more modern perspective, where adventures are a fairly even mix of combat & creatures, traps & treasures, and exploration & encounters, Tomb of Horrors strikes me as being different from the beginning with two false entrances that give the place an Indiana Jones feel. That feeling quickly gives way to an almost Saw (the movie) like array of death traps and some truly frustrating looking red herrings and arbitrary "no save" situations. When I adapt this to 5th Edition, I'm going to tone it down slightly, by allowing saves in most cases (except, perhaps, the infamous demon maw, since a character has to willing go into the thing).

The variety of ways to die in this adventure is pretty impressive. Everything from getting squashed into jelly, to disintegrating, to getting dropped into fiery lava, to starving to death in an isolated cell to getting your soul sucked out by the demi-lich himself.

The module includes a series of illustrations meant to be shown to players when they encounter a particular area or trap. These are, in my opinion, of a higher quality than the art seen in the OD&D books and the AD&D MM and PHB, though that assessment may have to do with the fact that they serve a purpose beyond mere decoration, providing clues and a visual reference as the players make their way through the adventure. In that way, I am reminded of the 2nd Edition Dark Sun flip-book style adventures.

For being so packed full of death and destruction, the module is actually pretty short. Given the relatively minimal combat, I could see this adventure only taking a session or two, especially if the party 1) TPKs or 2) falls for one of the false tombs and leaves none the wiser. I can't help but wonder how many DMs, after the PCs returned to civilization feeling triumphant, let the cat out of the bag with a bit of smug laughter.

Next up: G1: Steading of the Hill Giant Chief

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

G1: Steading of the Hill Giant Chief

Originally published July, 1978

Version being read and reviewed: G1-3: Against the Giants (PDF) (March, 1981; PDF added to www.dndclassics.com January, 2013) by Gary Gygax

First things first - SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Still here?

Ok, here we go.

There's a lot of detail packed into this short adventure. Each room has a full description of furnishings and what purpose the room serves, in addition to the occupants and treasures (and there's generous amount of treasure in this module).

One tidbit I found odd - in the very beginning, the motivation for the PCs to take on the adventure is basically an ultimatum: the local lord basically tells them to clear out the giants and find out what's behind them, or else. If the PCs don't succeed, their lives are forfeit.

One of the reasons this adventure is able to pack in so much detail is that there are no monster stats provided other than hit points for the most part. The DM needs to have a Monster Manual on hand. Guess I'm a little spoiled by modern adventures in that regard.

Another awesome little detail - the wandering monsters in the place are all from set locations (even the chief himself could be wandering about) and will thus diminish the numbers of critters in the Steading accordingly. Speaking of the chief, its likely the PCs will encounter him and deal with him while only about halfway through the adventure as there's an entire dungeon level to explore as well.

The dungeon level has an interesting story going on, with the orc slaves in open rebellion against their masters. Thus, the PCs can find themselves a small army. If they are sneaky enough, this little army could prove useful in upstairs area 11, the Great Hall, which has 38 critters hanging out in it, most of them giants, including Nosnra, the chief. I don't imagine many parties survived that encounter if they just stumbled into it while exploring.

The chief's treasure room down in the dungeon level gives us our first clue about the true nature of the giant threat, a note from someone named Eclavadra and a map of the next adventure site, The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl, as well as a convenient teleport device to get there right away. I imagine that last bit was thrown in for tournament play so as to not waste time between adventures trekking through the wilderness to the next location.

Unlike the Tomb of Horrors, this adventure feels like a place with a purpose, so to speak. It has atmosphere and a genuine "lived in" feel, with all the creatures here-in making sense within the context of the location. I can't wait to DM this one and, also unlike Tomb of Horrors, when I adapt it to 5E, I'm likely not going to revise or tone down anything (although I might remove the teleport deus-ex-machina device at the end since I'll have no need to speed the party along).

Next up: G2: The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

G2: The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl

Originally published July, 1978

Version being read and reviewed: G1-3: Against the Giants (PDF) (March, 1981; PDF added to www.dndclassics.com January, 2013) by Gary Gygax

First things first - SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Still here?

Ok, here we go.

As with G1, this adventure is densely packed with detail, making the home of the frost giants seem like an active, lived-in lair. As one might expect, there are a fair number of cold themed critters in addition to the frost giants. There's a few unexpected residents as well - visiting ogre magi, emissaries from the fire giants (bet they are miserable in all this cold), and an imprisoned storm giant who could be a potential ally for the party if they free her.

This adventure doesn't strike me as being quite as dynamic as G1. Don't get me wrong, its still interesting and should be a blast to DM, but there doesn't seem to be as much potential story going on here. When I run this in 5E, I'm going to take out the dragons, not because I don't like them but to fit my campaign world (dragons haven't been around for thousands of years). I fully intend to replace the dragons but I don't know with what, yet.

Just like G1, the treasure chamber includes a map to the next adventure and a convenient means of teleporting there. There's a bit of treasure that's rather annoyingly (if believably) hidden, making it likely that the PCs will completely miss it. One thing that strikes me as amusing is that the final confrontation with the frost giant jarl essentially involves the party interrupting a romantic dinner with his wife.

Next up: G3: Hall of the Fire Giant King

 

[Kai Lord]

What an awesome thread MasqueradingVampire!!!

I don't care if you can't get through even the majority of D&D products, just reading your reviews of the classic OD&D and AD&D books as if they were new releases is transporting me back to a time when those amazing games were still sitting new on book and store shelves. Keep it up for as long as you can! And whenever you stop is fine, everything you've already posted is very, VERY appreciated.

 

[pemerton]

G2: The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl

<snip>

This adventure doesn't strike me as being quite as dynamic as G1. Don't get me wrong, its still interesting and should be a blast to DM, but there doesn't seem to be as much potential story going on here.

I'm about to run this in 4e (levelled up for a Level 26 party). I know what you mean about the dynamism (or lack thereof) - I've made a few changes to try and help with that. But I've also warned my players to warm up their dice-rolling wrists if they don't want to sprain them taking down all those giants!

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

G3: Hall of the Fire Giant King

Originally published July, 1978

Version being read and reviewed: G1-3: Against the Giants (PDF) (March, 1981; PDF added to www.dndclassics.com January, 2013) by Gary Gygax

First things first - SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Still here?

Ok, here we go.

From icy cold to hellish heat, its time to visit the fire giants. Both G1 and G2 have included notes at the beginning about the party being able to find a relatively safe hidey-hole near the adventure site to stash their supplies and retreat to rest and level-up as needed. G3 includes a similar note but this time its a bit less safe, with a cumulative risk per excursion that their temporary hidey-hole will be discovered.

Since this adventure has two "big bads" - the fire giant king, Snurre, and the mysterious evil behind everything, your party actually gets to take down Snurre in the 3rd room of the adventure. At first this seems a little anti-climatic, but, we do get to meet...

Drum roll, please.

The Drow!

I'm not sure if they appeared in any periodicals before this point, but this is their official debut as far as my read-throughs are concerned, except for a vague reference to them in the Elf entry in the Monster Manual.

Before we get to the dark elves, let's take a quick look at the rest of the adventure. Snurre's wife, Frupy, reminds me very much of Dolores Umbridge from the Harry Potter series for some reason. Her precious "babies" (giant weasels" and her general demeanor just strike me as amusingly cloying, with a streak of cruelty and vanity. In addition to the fire giants dwelling here, we have hell hounds, a chimera, an evil dwarf, ettins, trolls, a red dragon and a few other critters.

There are story hooks and interesting NPC interactions here, making up for their absence in G2. First and foremost is a rival contingent of drow who oppose Eclavdra and may be potential allies of convenience for the PCs. Then we have the thief. In the prison, in addition to an elf noble and her entourage, a couple of centaurs, some naughty gnolls, a crazy troll, and some skeletons, we have a nameless human thief. Though she only gets a paragraph, this character screams recurring character to me as she likely joins the PCs only to rob them blind and take off at some point. The brazen thief is a classic archetype, but I find her inclusion here to be a nifty little quirk with a ton of story potential. Another potentially interesting development are a trio of mind flayers who are not involved in whatever the drow are plotting. They are just observing the situation and keeping their distance. Why? Potential plot twists abound just by their mere presence.

So, drow.

The dark elves get a Monster Manual style entry in the back of the module, along with a couple of new spells, with notes on their spell abilities, typical classes, special arms and armor (which rots away in sunlight), poison-use, and light sensitivity. Their origin story here is pretty generic with no mention of spiders or Lolth.

The drow have, over the years, reached near-iconic status in D&D, surpassed only by unique D&D monsters like the beholder and, of course, dragons. A lot of that is thanks to Drizzt Do'Urden who is still ten years of products away from making his debut on my reading list (assuming I include the novels). What we do have are the beginnings of the matriarchal aspects of their society, with their ability scores and spells varying based on gender, with drow females generally being more powerful. If you've been reading along with me so far, you know that gender issues are pretty important to me and thus drow are problematic and always have been. They are based, somewhat, on Nordic myths of the Svartalfar, but that doesn't quite excuse them for being inherently sexist in their portrayal. As an aside, I should note that, while I am critical of drow and the problems they represent, I still use them in my own campaigns. I have worked around the issue of their typical portrayal as evil matriarchal dominatrixes by making all elves in my homebrew setting matriarchal. Its sort of a bandaid solution, but, it works for me, at least for the moment.

The adventure itself concludes with a note about potentially continuing the campaign with D1, in pursuit of any drow that managed to escape. When I run this adventure, I will, again, be removing the dragon for campaign reasons and I'll definitely be using the drow rivalry story hook, as well as the thief prisoner, who I think will follow the party into D1, lured by the potential for loot.

Next up: D1: Descent Into the Depths of the Earth

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

D1: Descent Into the Depths of the Earth

Originally published September, 1978

Version being read and reviewed: D1-2: Descent Into the Depths of the Earth (PDF) (April, 1981; PDF added to www.dndclassics.com January, 2013) by Gary Gygax

First things first - SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Still here?

Ok, here we go.

Unlike all of the adventures we've looked at so far, this one seems specifically designed to be a "Part 1" as opposed to a standalone adventure. There isn't a "BBEG" really and the adventure mostly consists of a hex crawl, albeit an underground one. This module does introduce the Underdark, though it wouldn't be called that for a while.

Wandering monsters (and drow patrols and drow merchant trains) take center stage here as the PCs are primarily traveling. Among the wandering critters are beholders, which thus make their adventure module debut.

There are three major locations of note - a drow checkpoint along the "road" that is basically a chokepoint against any potential incursions (and thus, an unavoidable encounter), a mind flayer enclave, and a troglodyte warren. The trogs' warren serves as the "dungeon" of this adventure, though there is little "character" to the place. The warren does feature a powerful lich (20th level) which seems likely to wipe out the party if they run into it.

There are a few implied opportunities to traverse safely past the drow. Taking out the mind flayers is the best option, garnering the favor of the drow. Its also implied that Elcavdra's actions were not sanctioned so if the PCs are allied with her rival from G3, they should have an in with most of the drow in this adventure. We also see our first mention of Lolth, her symbol featured along with several other symbols, apparently house insignia or something similar.

Overall, this adventure feels like filler, a "point A to point B" journey to get the PCs to the next actual adventure.

Next up: D2: Shrine of the Kuo-Toa

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

D2: Shrine of the Kuo-Toa

Originally published September, 1978

Version being read and reviewed: D1-2: Descent Into the Depths of the Earth (PDF) (April, 1981; PDF added to www.dndclassics.com January, 2013) by Gary Gygax

First things first - SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Still here?

Ok, here we go.

This is another filler adventure, albeit a more interesting one than D1. The party is still on their way to find and deal with the drow and stumble onto a kuo-toa stronghold. As there is still a lot of Underdark (or underworld as it is referred to here, the term Underdark having not been invented, yet) travel going on, wandering monsters take center stage again in the first part of this adventure, with the potential to encounter drow patrols, merchants, kuo-toa religious pilgrims, and a variety of other critters, all thematically appropriate to the setting.

The first set-piece encounter is with an unhinged kuo-toa "monitor" (basically a monk) ferryman who can get the party across a turbulent river. Without him, the trip across is going to be much more difficult and the party will end up quite a distance downstream in the process.

After that, we get to meet the deep gnomes, aka Svirfneblin (good luck pronouncing that one right the first time). These underground gnomes are potential allies against both the kuo-toa and the drow, though they do come across as a bit covetous when it comes to gems.

Finally, the kuo-toa shrine. Kuo-toa seem to be inspired by Lovecraft. Evil cultish fish people just seems to be something straight out of the Cthulhu mythos. There are a couple of instances in the shrine where a PC has a chance of being transported to the Elemental Plane of Water and coming face to lobster-face with Blibdoolpoolp, the kuo-toa's pseudo-deity. That name is more than a little silly sounding, but one must pronounce it properly (and present an expensive offering of pearls) in the presence of the naked-human-female-with-lobster-hands-and-head in order to gain a favor and be transported back.

Not much story potential here, overall, though there are plenty of prisoners and slaves to liberate, including a paladin. There are also a few seemingly worthless trinkets to collect that apparently have significance in the next adventure, Vault of the Drow.

At the end of the module we have Monster Manual style entries for the Drow (repeated verbatim from G3), Jermlaine (rat-loving kobold wannabes), kuo-toa, and svirfneblin.

Overall, D1 and D2 are mostly filler, but they do introduce most of the concepts we now consider definitive of the Underdark.

Next up: D3: Vault of the Drow

 

[KirayaTiDrekan]

Holy moly, its been quite a while, hasn't it. Well, in my defense, I started a new job. Yay me!

D3: Vault of the Drow

Originally published September, 1978

Version being read and reviewed: D3: Vault of the Drow (PDF) (PDF added to www.dndclassics.com January, 2013) by Gary Gygax

First things first - SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Still here?

Ok, here we go.

My goodness did this thing take forever to read through. In addition to life getting in the way, this module is just an impenetrable wall of text for the most part, with few illustrations. That's great, because it means Gygax crammed a lot into this adventure, but it makes it a pain to read.

This adventure assumes from the get-go that you've played through D1 and D2 and there isn't much advice given for those who want to run this module by itself. There's a note in the introduction stating that this adventure is designed for experienced players. New players are going to have a rough time of things.

There are a lot of wandering monster tables as the adventure includes a fair amount of wandering around underdark passages and the city itself. The first notable set encounter is a drow checkpoint which is relatively boring but necessary. The second encounter is far more interesting, involving a vampire and his succubus lover. Their area is covered in an illusion to make it look like a serene glade under a starry sky - quite inviting for a party that's spent weeks in the skyless depths of the underdark.

If the party doesn't acquire some brooches, identifying themselves as guests or merchants or affiliated with a drow noble house, they are going to fail, most likely. The guard tower at the entrance to the city is pretty killer all by itself. Then there's the sororities and fraternities of fighters loosely associated with the noble houses that are full of drow ready to murder anyone without an identifying brooch or cloak.

Erelhei-Cinlu...yeah, I'm not going to try to pronounce that. There are some overview style descriptions of the city and the wandering encounter tables provide some interesting meat and roleplaying opportunities (especially the rakes...rebel drow and cross-breeds who are fed up with the drow nobility and are thus potential allies) but the DM is left to fill in the blanks quite a bit.

The same is true for the noble houses, with each only getting a listing of the ruling members classes and basic stats, important magic items in the house's possession, and the house's rank in the city. There are also some notes about factions and inter-house alliances that could be of benefit to the party if they can play the politics a bit. There's also some heavy hinting that not all of the noble houses are Lolth worshippers and instead revere the Elder Elemental Eye.

The Egg of Lolth is the main temple and final dungeon of the adventure. Inside, the party has the chance to meet Lolth herself if they are (un)lucky. There is a massive illusion of Lolth as well that acts as a portal to the Abyss (and the final adventure in this seven-module proto-adventure path, Q1: Queen of the Demonweb Pits).

The module ends with Monster Manual style entries for Drow (repeated from previous modules), Kuo-Toa (repeat), Lolth, Mezzodaemons, Nycadaemons, and Svirfneblin (repeat).

Overall, much better than D1 and D2, with a lot of potential if the DM wants to take the time to flesh out the city.

Next up: B1: In Search of the Unknown

 

[Samloyal23]

Egads, now I remember why I failed so many classes in 10th grade... Yeppers, I was addicted to these old school modules back in the day. Good reviews, more please...