Curious about opinions on 1E adventures

[Walter_J]

Hi!
Anyone care to share their opinions or stories regarding 1E adventures, including basic, expert, etc...? I know the subject of "1E vs 2E" and so forth has been brought up on message boards numerous times, although most get bogged down in personal heated debates, to say the least. I'm really not looking to start that here. I am hoping for reasonable, no right or wrong answer opinions that do not involve comparing 1E modules to other products, what that opinion is based on (I played, I heard, I read, etc...) and to take part in any discussions that might crop up.

If you wanna know why I ask. I'm an old gamer who, except for a few close friends, hasn't had the opportunity to speak much with other gamers for several years. Now that I have some time, I'm anxious to hear what other gamers have to say about a lot of different RPG topics.

Thanks much,
Walter

 

[ColonelHardisson]

This is more of a comment about the fact that you're posting here than about the game itself. I think the internet has been the biggest boon to gaming since the invention of the hobby, specifically because it has helped draw together and strengthen our ties, and added to our ranks. Personally, as a gamer from way back, if it wasn't for the internet I doubt I'd still be involved in gaming. The net has finally helpoed create the community of gamers that I wish we'd had back in the past.

I think the best time I had with a module was with S3, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. It was strange, enigmatic, and the art book was extremely good, especially for the time. There was a sense of awe and mystery to it, as the PC set out from the baron's fortress which was the last outpost of civilization before the PCs got to the adventure site.

The second best time was with Keep On The Borderlands. We were new to gaming, and the adventure site the Keep was near was perfect for learning the ropes.

The worst time I had with a module was with A1, Slave Pits of the Undercity. The module itself was OK, but it was the last time I ever gamed with my brother. I wasn't really wanting to play, but he and his buddies wanted to game, so I DM'ed, and treated them like crap (I was in my teens, and much more full of myself, if you can believe that's possible). Ended up killing my brother's PC (not really my fault, but given the mood I was in at the time, I cut him no slack). Anyway, he seemed to lose his enthusiasm for the game after that, and he never played again. That was close to 20 years ago. He was one of the best, most enthusiastic players I've ever had, and really tried to stay in the spirit of the game. Now he's out on the West Coast, and has no time for games. It makes me feel badly sometimes when I think about it.

 

[Walter_J]

I totally agree with your opinion on the internet and gaming. This is the first thread I've started, although I've read tons since I stumbled across Eric Noah's web-page back prior to the release of 3rd edition, which got me back into gaming. I never really stoped, although it had been a while since I was involved in a regular campaign.

It is a small world. I started gaming around 8 or ten with my older brother and his friends. I still may have the composition book I used to keep track of my characters in. The first page served as "table of contents" and turned into quit the list of dead characters. I'm tempted to say he pickd on me, but I thinking now that he was just a tough DM. My friend, Rodney, ran a paladin and two particularly wild things were inflicted on him by my brother. 1) A dying black dragon cursed him so that if there were more opponents then PC's the remainder would gang up on him and 2) when he finally got his holy avenger near the end of the campaign, whenever he'd draw the weapon it would come out as anything ranging from a dagger to a two-handed sword. I seem to remember a dagger of holy avenging popping up regularly.

My brother and I hadn't gamed, or done much of anything together, for years until last year. Some sad memories there from when we were teens too. On the up side, if this helps any, I'm looking forward to "never gonna get here winter nights" as a way to get my old gaming group back together. Maybe there's some help there for you and your brother?

Playing S3 must have been wild. I never had the opportunity, although my brother owned it and its upstairs in my collection somewhere now.

B2 was a great adventure and I believe I started out somewhere there abouts as well. That place could get nasty though, even if the DM was trying to be nice. So many alarms. So many, many nasty humanoids. So darn easy to get surrounded, beaten senseless and turned into a main course.

I liked T1 and N1 for similar set ups as B2--small community, nearby "dungeon", small wilderness area, lots of NPC's and tons of stuff for players and DM's to do. I'm amazed at what they managed to get into 32 pages.

The A's were just plain tough, so I wouldn't blame yourself for PC's getting killed. I don't believe I ever had a party make it the whole way through despite numerous attempts in several campaigns. I do recall a water filled pit of aspis larva (?) Not sure of the circumstances, but one or more characters ended up in the water fighting the larva-things and the magic-user got excited and threw lightning bolt, forgeting what happens to lightning bolts in water. I think that foray ended there. Then there's the time the party got surprised by ghouls dropping down from ledges right near the entrance. That one didn't last too long either.

Come to think of it, I think a lot of those old modules were tough. Lots of fun, but, wow, talk about parties needing to carry sponges and zip lock bags to gather up their comrades. Yeash!

Thanks for the reply.
Walter

 

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

Ahhh....good old 1e. I started gaming with 1e and have lots of good memories...

B2 was the first adventure I got run through, and it was a great place to learn the ropes. The crazy old guy in the tree was so much fun deal with, and the dungeon was lots of fun--or maybe it was just me enjoying D&D a ton...

T1-4 was the next one we went through, a lot of fun too, though it got a big repetitive by the time you got down to about the third or fourth dungeon level (my DM didn't even get into the elemental nodes)

After that, we played a basic D&D quest called Search for the Heartstone or something like that and once we found this heartsone we got sent to clear out the tomb of horrors....we're still trapped in that tomb since our DM got a new job and wasn't able to play much anymore.

 

[Harlequin]

...

My favourite memories from 1E days (i only played 1E )
was GDQ 1-7 Queen of Spiders

We were going to start with T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil and then A1-4 Scourge of the Slae Lords and then move onto GDQ 1-7 but for some reason we just rolled up uber characters and played thru this monster

I would love to see a converison done on this and also T1-4 (we already have a conversion of A1-4)...Then just play thru all three in 3E goodness...

I had so many 1E product when i was younger that has all gone missing for some strange reason but have got the downloads off the wizards site and cant wait to go thru these online (especially when NWN comes out )


Harlequin

 

[Zhure]

WG4: The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun.

http://store.wizards.com/Product.asp?ProductID=6429

 

[Allister]

The one thing I always remembered about 1E adventures was the amount of magical items floating around. No matter what the adventure was, if you didn't take out at least half of the magical items, your party would be walking out glowing with all the magical emanantions.

 

[grodog]

I've run and/or played most 1e or pre-1987 OD&D adventures, in some cases many, many times. My personal favorites are:

- A1, A2, A4
- B1, B2, B4
- D1, D3
- DA1, DA2
- EX1, EX2
- G1, G3
- H2
- I7
- L1, L2
- N1, N5
- R1, R2, R3, R4
- S1, S2, S3, S4
- T1
- U1, U3
- UK6
- WG4, WG5, WG6
- X2, X4, X5

I hope this helps your second-hand shopping

 

[Lazybones]

Thanks all for sparking some nostalgia (I like this much better than "my version's better than your version")...

I played and enjoyed most of the adventures you guys listed. GDQ was _the_ classic high-level adventure back when I was playing in the mid 80s. I also liked the old B-series, converted to AD&D, especially B4 The Lost City and B5 Horror on the Hill (each of which was more like a campaign than a single adventure). Also, I1, Dwellers of the Forbidden City, was a great mini-campaign that had some cool and creepy adversaries before MM2 came out (mongrelmen? yuan-ti? and what the heck is a "pan lung"?).

I agree with the sentiment that those old modules just seemed to have so much _more_ to them than the current crop (and somehow they managed to do it with abbreviated stat blocks in the encounter listings, go figure). Oh well, that's another thread entirely!

LB

 

[grodog]

De nada