D&D General Dungeon Magazine Hidden Gems 1986-2007.

[Lanefan]

The basic gist of it is ... to confront Flame a red dragon

Yeah, that fracker killed my PC on that trip...

Like any good villain Flame also returns in a future issue.

...and, just for good measure, killed my same PC this time around as well.

Yes, that means I've a PC who has been killed twice by the same opponent.....

 

[Zardnaar]

Yeah, that fracker killed my PC on that trip...

...and, just for good measure, killed my same PC this time around as well.

Yes, that means I've a PC who has been killed twice by the same opponent.....

That's a D&D moment.

 

[David Howery]

I'm pretty sure Dungeon was operating under the assumption that the main use cases for the readership would be reading, extensive alteration in prep time and idea mining, though? Much like the modern 5E adventure books.

I read a couple of his posts, which was all I could stomach. My take on it was that he had very very very very* specific ideas on what an adventure should be, and anything that didn't meet those ideas was pure and utter dreck.

*very very very very very

 

[Parmandur]

I think his own take would be that he loves D&D.

I'm sure that would be his point of view: I can only judge from the text.

I read a couple of his posts, which was all I could stomach. My take on it was that he had very very very very* specific ideas on what an adventure should be, and anything that didn't meet those ideas was pure and utter dreck.

*very very very very very

Yes, this precisely.

 

[Zardnaar]

Well I have reached the second level of this mega Dungeon.

Issue 2 Nov/December 1986

The cover has a 80's style somewhat cheesecake picture of a young lady and a group of sailor on a ship looking at an exploding volcano in the distance. From memory these early Dungeon issues are a bit rough but improve a bit around issue 10 IIRC.

4 adventures, 3 AD&D and 1 D&D.

The Titans Dream
In the Dwarven Kings Court
Caemor
The Keep at Koralgesh

This is late in the 1E lifestyle but the adventures are getting away from ye olde Dungeon hacks with more out door exploration and investigation type adventures which was more common in B/X adventures at least in terms of modules.

The stand out adventure for me in this issue at least is Caemor. Surly village on a remote wind swept spit with a devil infiltration problem. This adventure may be difficult to convert to 5E since its for low level adventurers but the monsters in it have had some large power buffs and a princess of hell is also in the adventure in a non combat capacity. Still you could replace the devil with a weaker one and retain the devil princess a'la Out of the Abyss early encounters with demon lords.

Sheep, booze, and devils you have been warned.

Keep of Korelgesh also looks interesting more because it looks like a fairly typical B/X dungeon hack so even in 1986 they are offering up a bit of variety for all tastes.

 

[Zardnaar]

Digging deeper level 3 beckons and ye old tablet of doom unearthed gives the date of January/February 1987.
The cover is quite interesting and it has a Sumerian or Babylonian type vibe to it. One thing I do like about the older magazine is all the writing is at the top of the magazine so you get almost full cover art without writing being all over it. On the inside there is an ad for the Wilderness Survival Guide which is kind of funny seeing in 2019.

4 adventures all AD&D, probably gives you a hint on 1E relative to Basic in 1987.

Falcons Peak
Blood on the Snow
The Deadly Sea
A Book with No End

Each adventure gets a descriptive paragraph and a Book with no End Stands out due to being for level 8-12 characters. Adventures for higher level 1E were not exactly common but a 4 level range is also kind of funny in modern terms. an ad for Adventures n Blackmoor credited to David Arneson is also interesting.

I quite like this issue for the variety. A book with no end is a wilderness travel adventure to a Dungeon, fairly typical 1E high level type but Blood on the Snow and The Deadly sea have a large amount of outdoors travel and exploration. In the Deadly Seas case some of it is under water, while Blood on the Snow is an arctic/snow type wilderness adventure. Falcons Peak is a small dungeon based adventure you could probably complete in 1 or 2 sessions.

My favorite on and the one I would consider running in 5E is The Deadly Sea. Aquatic adventures were not exactly unknown back then as several take place in such locations in the X series of modules or have elements of it- Isle of Dread, Quagmire, War Rafts of Kron.

And in 5E of course you have several converted in Ghosts of Saltmarsh.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

Caermor's devil princess is none other than Mephistopheles' consort Baalphegor, by the way. It's kind of funny that she's just decided to manifest in a small village.

 

[Zardnaar]

Caermor's devil princess is none other than Mephistopheles' consort Baalphegor, by the way. It's kind of funny that she's just decided to manifest in a small village.

I know but in the event some runs it they can discover it. I thought Caermor was the stand out adventure though.

 

[Zaukrie]

Funny was just thinking of doing this.... Thanks

 

[Lanefan]

Each adventure gets a descriptive paragraph and a Book with no End Stands out due to being for level 8-12 characters. Adventures for higher level 1E were not exactly common but a 4 level range is also kind of funny in modern terms.

Recommended levels spanning a 4-level range was common on 1e adventures; some even had a 5-level range (e.g. WGA4 Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun, for characters level 5-10). Inside there'd sometimes be a suggested total party level as well.