Adventure ideas from the D&D cartoon

[Olgar Shiverstone]

So I discovered that one of the digital cartoon channels (Jetix) carries the 1983 Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, and I've been enjoying the nostalgic cheesiness of it all. It occurred to me that -- "waaa" unicorn Uni, uber-gnome Dungeon Master, Venger, and other cheesy characters aside -- there are actually some neat adventure ideas in the series.

The most recent episode, "Dragon's Graveyard", for example -- a place where dragons go to die, that is the source of power for magical items. Perhaps the party must venture there to secure an item, rpair an item, or something similar. (Interesting trivia: that episode is the one where

Spoiler

Venger is revealed to be Dungeon Master's son. Very 1983.

)

I recall another episode that had something to do with a cursed skeleton warrior that I remember making an adventrue out of back then for my D&D group.

Anyone else have good experiences cribbing adventure ideas from the old series?

 

[Crothian]

Ya, but it was for Paranoia

They have some modules with the characters in it but I never ran them.

 

[Wasteland Knight]

I agree the nostalgic cheese factor is just too good to ignore. A friend of mine has almost all the Dungeons & Dragons and Thundarr the Barbian episodes TiVO'ed...good stuff! As for adventure ideas, I always thought Venger and his Shadow Demon would make great archvillians. I've always wondered how Venger should be statted up...some sort of half-fiend sorceror or warlock perhaps?

The epsiode Quest of the Skeleton Warrior, where the party helps the skeleton warrior find redemption, was a great episode! I always thought it would make a good adventure. Some of the best rpg goodies are the settings. One would be the one where the group has find it's way through the Maze of Darkness (a maze that brings out each person's dark side - classic gaming goodness). Another is the episode with Venger's Prison of Agony, which is a prison fortress suspended on giant chains over an active volcano!

 

[guardianfallenangel]

does anyone know where to find those modules??

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

You're thinking of XL1 Quest for the Heartstone but IIRC it was crap.

It was related to the D&D toys that came out about the same time, and those were supposed to be a tie-in to the D&D cartoon, but I don't recall an episode of the cartoon that features the various action figure characters (Warduke, et al).

 

[Wasteland Knight]

Of all the action figures, Warduke did actually appear once in the cartoon series. But he's not some all powerful blackguard/antipaladin, just an evil bounty hunter :\

From the Dungeons & Dragons (TV series) Wikipedia:

In Search of the Dungeon Master - Dungeon Master has been captured by the evil bounty hunter Warduke, who plans to sell the helpless mage to Venger. But before they can rescue him, they must first rescue themselves and their fellow slaves from Venger's slave mines of Barramore.

 

[jodyjohnson]

You're thinking of XL1 Quest for the Heartstone but IIRC it was crap.

It was related to the D&D toys that came out about the same time, and those were supposed to be a tie-in to the D&D cartoon, but I don't recall an episode of the cartoon that features the various action figure characters (Warduke, et al).

Strongheart was in Servant of Evil which featured the already mentioned prison suspended over a volcano.

Kelek the evil wizard figure was in Valley of the Unicorns.

 

[LoneWolf23]

Of all the action figures, Warduke did actually appear once in the cartoon series. But he's not some all powerful blackguard/antipaladin, just an evil bounty hunter :\

From the Dungeons & Dragons (TV series) Wikipedia:

In Search of the Dungeon Master - Dungeon Master has been captured by the evil bounty hunter Warduke, who plans to sell the helpless mage to Venger. But before they can rescue him, they must first rescue themselves and their fellow slaves from Venger's slave mines of Barramore.

Not all powerful? Dude, anybody who can capture Dungeon Master must be pretty high-level..

 

[grodog]

Several of the settings from the various cartoon episodes were quite inspired: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_&_Dragons_(TV_series)#Episode_.26_plot_guide

 

[Qualidar]

Someone had posted on this topic a couple of months ago when Jetix started showing the cartoons (lost in the crash?). He said he based an entire campaign off of it without telling his players, and it was awesome. They really feared his version of Venger.

~Qualidar~