OD&D DMs Guild Treasures: 5 BECMI Modules That Deserve the Big Book Treatment

There are a number of players, old and new, who have affection for the original Basic and Expert (and more) B/X or BECMI rules and modules. Already, Goodman Games has given both Keep on the Borderlands and Isle of Dread a modern shake, converting the modules into big book versions with 5E conversions and reprints of the originals. This got me thinking about five other modules that could get the same kind of treatment, which could be of some interest to players inside and outside of the BECMI venn diagram.

Goodman Games has also done Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, but that is an AD&D module and we are not talking about those here. It should also be noted that B1 In Search of the Unknown is already reprinted in Into the Borderlands. Note: I did not use science or sales as measures, just what I think are the interesting adventures to the modern audience. Also, I may cheat by combining two or more modules.

B7 Rahasia

I never played this one but the reception seems positive on it. It was written (and re-written) for TSR by Tracy & Laura Hickman. You may recognize the names as the authors of I3 Pharoah and I6 Ravenloft. They also had something to do with a barely remembered property named Dragonlance, you likely never heard about it. Just for being some early work by the Hickamn’s I think Rahasia should be in consideration.

B4 The Lost City

I did play through this one and have run it as well. Right away I was captivated by this module as it is far more than just a huge dungeon crawl. There are politics and factions here and the inverted natures of the dungeon is a lot of fun to play with. I can say The Lost City is a great time to play and to run. Note: As someone reminded me, this module is on the list for conversion.

X2 Castle Amber

Quirky, weird, and a little French, Château d’Amberville is a fun-house style of adventure that has cosmic horror themes seeded in it. Tom Moldvay wrote this one and it was remade into the Mark of Amber boxed set. Castle Amber is one of those modules folks shake their head when mentioning, but in general it was well received. Some of its inspirations might be tricky to license, if indeed they need to be, and are a touch problematic. But I think those issues could be overcome.

X4-X5: Master of the Desert Nomads & Temple of Death

If you are not sold on these modules by the names alone, I dunno what to tell you. David “Zeb” Cook wrote these two modules about a war in the arid lands of Mystara and the dangerous mastermind behind a rampaging army. As a campaign for more military minded players, these modules would work well. There are many wilderness encounters, which make for a great change of pace.

CM1-CM4: Test of the Warlords, Death’s Ride, Sabre River, Earthshaker!

Are you a fan of MCDM’s Strongholds & Followers or their Kingdom’s & Warfare? It is possible that you were also a fan of the original Companion Rules as well. The adventure CM1 Test of the Warlords was the first Companion level adventure and it lands 15th level characters in Mystara, where the King of Norwold has called the player-characters to serve that kingdom. Success can mean being given lordship over land and people to rule as you will. The other modules continue this theme in the same part of the world. The Pathfinder game has done adventure paths with this theme and I think updating the CM mods to 5E might find a significant audience.

Honorable Mention: B3 Palace of the Silver Princes

While I think this could be a great module to update, I suspect the odd publishing history might work against it. The original release was marred by a controversy over some of the content and an infamous landfill conclusion. The fact that there are two versions would be interesting as whoever was doing could restore both. Would they then update both versions to 5E? Good question.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

One thing I will say about Aleena's death is that, aside from being total fridging, it establishes early on that death is part of the game (and that ghouls are really, really dangerous). See also the example of play in 1e.

Every edition needs a intro adventure that has a charismatic and loveable expository character that explains the rules and how to play and then gets brutally murdered by Bargle who gets away scot free.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Ghouls were far too powerful for the low level threat they were intended to be for most of the life of D&D. A pack of ghouls is a near-guaranteed TPK in most editions of D&D unless you go in with characters immune to paralysis and ready to lay the smack down on some undead.

If the ghouls surprise a group of low-to-medium-level adventurers, though? Those suckers are hors d'oeuvres.

 

[Hurin70]

Yeah, I may or may not have considered pirates riding dinosaurs with lasers wands of scorching ray attached to their heads.

You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads.

 

[The Glen]

Really, though, isn't it time that we really re-evaluated Bargle? After all, this was all told from the perspective of Mentzer and Aleena.

Isn't it time that we learned of these events from Bargle's perspective? And re-contextualized his actions into a framework that allows us to understand and sympathize with him?

Now that we understand the false choices foisted upon poor Bargle by the trinary alignment system in Basic, perhaps we can more fully understand the full humanity of Bargle's inchoate desires, manifested in that unfortunate tragedy!

#justice4bargle!

Yes we will build the orphanage here and cut down anyone that stands in your way raising the funds to help those children

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

"People have no grasp of what they do. You broke into my house, stole my property, murdered my servants, and my PETS! And that is what grieves me the most! You killed my snake."

Isn't it time that we learned of these events from Bargle's perspective? And re-contextualized his actions into a framework that allows us to understand and sympathize with him?

 

[Hurin70]

"People have no grasp of what they do. You broke into my house, stole my property, murdered my servants, and my PETS! And that is what grieves me the most! You killed my snake."

Thorgrim is beside himself with grief! He raised that snake from the time it was born.

 

[Oofta]

Thorgrim is beside himself with grief! He raised that snake from the time it was born.

Malakili feels Thorgrim's pain.

 

[guachi]

I've played B7, B10, X2, X4, and X5 in 5e. I ALMOST got a campaign to X10 but it fell apart.

B7 was okay but not great. B10 was outstanding and easily the most fun module I've ever run. X2 was a surprising success, especially after you tell them the module is a bit silly and just to go with it. Great fun. X4 and X5 the players really liked the cross country travel and I had set The Master up as a bad guy so they were keen to take him out.

If I could choose one it would be B10. The way I ran it had a good flow from combat/exploration and the social resting between (and good for me as I could mentally relax from tracking combat). It had my single favorite scene in the inn run by the halfling in the elven town. One of the PCs was a dwarf and she was game to act out a song that appears in the Five Shires Gazetteer. The player actually acted out the silly parts herself and the players lustily pounded the table at the right time.

EDIT: Why is B10 so great? It's not really obvious (at least it wasn't to me) from reading the module initially. And this is from someone who loves Mystara. It only became apparent after prepping it. The module is wonderfully episodic and very modern in design. Everything makes sense and has a purpose for being there so it's MUCH easier to run. There's great pacing between the three pillars. The NPC descriptions are short but enough I had something to go with. There are no endless background descriptions of the NPCs and yet I had a very easy time running the good-guy NPCs. There are tons of mini-adventures that can be used or ignored and most fit great into a single adventuring day and, therefore, work great in 5e. The adventure works great for its intent of bridging the Basic series of dungeon crawls and the Expert level wilderness.

The players had a real sense of accomplishment in defending the homestead, finding the missing brother, defeating the werewolf, curing the elf who was stricken with lycanthropy (I made it much harder than by the rules), FINALLY selling the Macguffin white horses, solving the trap in the Tombs on the Ridge before I even finished the description, escaping the gnoll horde, making it to hidden valley, figuring out the politics in the valley, and the epic final battle against the multi-tentacled creature that saw five of six characters drop to zero HP.