Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Yeah, I'm a big fan of this module. It makes me sad that the unique monsters introduced in it really never took off as part of the D&D mythos.
Best old style AD&D dungeon crawlers ever
- Thread starter Fabio Andrea Rossi
- Start date
Mournblade94
Hero
I just absolutely love the Vault of the Drow. My group played G1-3, then D1-2, then Q1.
This series to me seems like the first adventure path.
Descent into the depth of the earth, Vault of the Drow and Shrine of the Kuotoa (I still call them SOHCAHTOA) was so awesome because our group was just getting a feel for Dark Elves. There was no Drizzt yet, but the Dark Elves seemed very alien. It was truly when all of my group first encountered the classic underdark ecology.
So frakking awesome!
This series to me seems like the first adventure path.
Descent into the depth of the earth, Vault of the Drow and Shrine of the Kuotoa (I still call them SOHCAHTOA) was so awesome because our group was just getting a feel for Dark Elves. There was no Drizzt yet, but the Dark Elves seemed very alien. It was truly when all of my group first encountered the classic underdark ecology.
So frakking awesome!
Deuce Traveler
Adventurer
If you have some old school players, definitely go with the suggestions above. If you are trying to ease players into old school modules, start with something lighter and with an air of mystery like B1: In Search Of Adventure. I'm running that one tonight on Google + and everyone is excited just from the book's background information that I passed around.
pming
Legend
Hiya.
One of the best "dungeon crawl" modules for me is a toss up between D1-2/D3 (Decent into the Depths of the Earth / Vault of the Drow) and Basic D&D module B2 (The Keep on the Borderlands).
D1-3 gives the players two key things that really bring the idea of "were not in Kanses anymore...".
First is that there are miles (as in potentially hundreds) of tunnels spiderwebbing all over the place....drow, duegar, pech, kua-toa, mind flayer, etc. check points, lost dwarven cities now infested with some hiddeous creature from beyond the pale (that everyone in a 50 mile radius avoids), hidden crypts, submerged dungeons created by some mad wizard, etc. Pure adventuring gold!
Second is that if/when the PC's ever actually get to the Vault, it is a decidely Chaotic Evil city. Demons, mind flayers, were-creatures, assassins, etc. wandering the streets and having 'drinks' in the bars...all under the watchful eyes of the warring drow houses. Walking into a bar in the Vault shouldn't have your PC's thinking "huh, may end up getting in a bar brawl here..."...they should be thinking "huh, I give our odds of leaving this bar alive 4:1 against...". Pure alien terror and paranoia!
With the Keep on the Borderlands...again, we have potential for DOZENS of sessions. I once ran a year long campaign for BECMI where the PC's never even left the Keep and it's environs...and they still hadn't explored every dungeon, cave or location on that single map page showing the keep and it's environs. Freeking huge pile of awesome, drizzled with awesome sauce, complete with a side order of awesome snaks and a big ol' bottomless glass of awesome-juice to wash it all down. Awesome!
Another one worth mentioning is another personal favorite of mine, L1, The Secret of Bone Hill. Small, *very* indipendant fishing village surrounded by rolling, wooded hills. Nearby is Bone Hill...a hill where atop it sits a small ruined castle where strange lights and chilling noises have been heard by those passing by to closely. The hill is rocky, with small patches of dead grass here and there, and misshapen grey trees. Worse, skeletons of animals and humanoids seem to walk from shadow to shadow on the Hill. Of course, there is an evil wizard living there now conducting experiments. His helpers and bodyguards infest the ground level, the two-level dungeons underneath are mostly avoided by the sorcerer...
Now that I think of it...just about any 1e adventure is good. Back in the day...man I'm getting old...adventure module writers did all the hard work and left the campaign-level creativity mostly up to the individual DM. That is, those modules had maps and maps and maps, encounter tables for various areas, keyed areas of each room written out, etc. That's the time consuming part of writing an adventure. Comming up with a plot, a few sub-plots and various NPC motivations is the easy part...most can actually be done "on the fly". Each module had an overall story that held it all loosely together...but the exact shape and color of the plots were up to the DM to use, discard or whatever. So...yeah, just about any 1e adventure can be a good 'dungeon crawl'.
^_^
Paul L. Ming
(check out Powers and Perils - Index for a nice, old-style frpg).
One of the best "dungeon crawl" modules for me is a toss up between D1-2/D3 (Decent into the Depths of the Earth / Vault of the Drow) and Basic D&D module B2 (The Keep on the Borderlands).
D1-3 gives the players two key things that really bring the idea of "were not in Kanses anymore...".
First is that there are miles (as in potentially hundreds) of tunnels spiderwebbing all over the place....drow, duegar, pech, kua-toa, mind flayer, etc. check points, lost dwarven cities now infested with some hiddeous creature from beyond the pale (that everyone in a 50 mile radius avoids), hidden crypts, submerged dungeons created by some mad wizard, etc. Pure adventuring gold!
Second is that if/when the PC's ever actually get to the Vault, it is a decidely Chaotic Evil city. Demons, mind flayers, were-creatures, assassins, etc. wandering the streets and having 'drinks' in the bars...all under the watchful eyes of the warring drow houses. Walking into a bar in the Vault shouldn't have your PC's thinking "huh, may end up getting in a bar brawl here..."...they should be thinking "huh, I give our odds of leaving this bar alive 4:1 against...". Pure alien terror and paranoia!
With the Keep on the Borderlands...again, we have potential for DOZENS of sessions. I once ran a year long campaign for BECMI where the PC's never even left the Keep and it's environs...and they still hadn't explored every dungeon, cave or location on that single map page showing the keep and it's environs. Freeking huge pile of awesome, drizzled with awesome sauce, complete with a side order of awesome snaks and a big ol' bottomless glass of awesome-juice to wash it all down. Awesome!
Another one worth mentioning is another personal favorite of mine, L1, The Secret of Bone Hill. Small, *very* indipendant fishing village surrounded by rolling, wooded hills. Nearby is Bone Hill...a hill where atop it sits a small ruined castle where strange lights and chilling noises have been heard by those passing by to closely. The hill is rocky, with small patches of dead grass here and there, and misshapen grey trees. Worse, skeletons of animals and humanoids seem to walk from shadow to shadow on the Hill. Of course, there is an evil wizard living there now conducting experiments. His helpers and bodyguards infest the ground level, the two-level dungeons underneath are mostly avoided by the sorcerer...
Now that I think of it...just about any 1e adventure is good. Back in the day...man I'm getting old...adventure module writers did all the hard work and left the campaign-level creativity mostly up to the individual DM. That is, those modules had maps and maps and maps, encounter tables for various areas, keyed areas of each room written out, etc. That's the time consuming part of writing an adventure. Comming up with a plot, a few sub-plots and various NPC motivations is the easy part...most can actually be done "on the fly". Each module had an overall story that held it all loosely together...but the exact shape and color of the plots were up to the DM to use, discard or whatever. So...yeah, just about any 1e adventure can be a good 'dungeon crawl'.
^_^
Paul L. Ming
(check out Powers and Perils - Index for a nice, old-style frpg).
Dice4Hire
First Post
I seem to be getting some kind of vibe from you here, but .... nah, missed it.
I played only some of the old modules (lack of funds and opportunity) but the Lost Caverns were great fun and Sinister Secret of Saltmarxh might be the best module I ever played for getting players into the D&D mood.
Considering I generally don't like the old style dungeon crawlers, that would be my choice, too. While it makes as little sense as the others it was at least fun to play.
Pbartender
First Post
I'll second Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh... It's a smaller dungeon crawl, with a decent plot. Great module.
Like I said, it's a bit of a fun-house ride. If you don't mind the... eccentric? ...nature of the challenges, it can be a lot of fun. It's certainly not a module that can be taken very seriously.
Bullgrit
Adventurer
Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is, indeed, a great adventure. I love it, and consider it one of the best classic AD&D1 adventures. But it is a very different style than what most people consider, "old style dungeon crawl." And since that is what the OP is wanting, I wouldn't suggest it for his purpose.
Bullgrit
Bullgrit
Okay. Given these criteria, I'll recommend the following, in order of preference:
- A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity. A great compelling and heroic story, with fantastic traps, really fun battles, and a great theme. And if you like it, run the whole series. While this isn't my favorite module series of all time (see the next entry), I think this has the best mix of story, traps, and combat.
- I3: Pharaoh. A Hickman & Weis masterpiece. Great Egyptian flavor, compelling ghost story, ingenious traps, and well-balanced fights. And if the players like it, continue with I4: Oasis of the White Palm, and I5: Tomb of Martek. Overall, my favorite module series. It doesn't make it to the top of the list for your criteria, because it's a bit large. The Slave Pits is a lot more manageable for a one-shot.
- S2: White Plume Mountain. Heavy on the traps, but the fights are fun. Not much of a story
- C1: Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan. Again, not much story, but great Aztec flavor, and some really brillaint traps.
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