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Message: <blockquote data-quote="N'raac" data-source="post: 6240901" data-attributes="member: 6681948">I think the modules themselves do not provide a complete picture of the campaign envisioned by Gygax, Arneson et al.  The point of those modules is that they were modular - they were intended to be inserted in the GM's much broader campaign, and be worked into the more complex overall campaign/world structure.  They weren't adventure paths, but an encounter or area explored as a small part of the ongoing campaign.  They generally did not presuppose any specific motives of the PC's (other than the most basic, that they would value treasure), or how the broader tapestry of the world outside the dungeon was woven by the players and their DM.  They were intended as a component of the campaign, not the campaign as a whole.  The very earliest modules were commonly tournament modules, which did not anticipate any outside campaign, merely characters (pregenerated characters at that) played through the module, with no previous play and none expected afterwards - very different from an ongoing campaign.  That evolved as time went on, but those early modules were plug & play dungeon environments, not the campaign world as a whole.  The Tomb of Horrors was pretty much unique, more deathtrap than dungeon (and I know a lot of gamers, even in the early days of AD&D, who did not consider it much of an adventure, for precisely that reason), but all of those early modules relied on the GM's efforts to flesh them out, and tie them to larger campaign events, PC motivations, etc.  Judges Guild tended to have a more "here is an area fleshed out in which you can place your adventures" approach in many cases.White Plume Mountain was a popular one - I saw it used a lot.  But I didn't see the PC's just stumble on it and decide to explore it for the sake of exploration.  Typically, there were events outside the module which mandated a need for one or more of those special weapons, or our heroes were commissioned to retrieve one or more for their original owners, perhaps for monetary reward, but more often for some campaign-specific reward ("If you wish my daughter's hand"; "Before I will ally my forces, you must prove your worth"; "I will not craft such an item for crass gold, but if you could offer me the legendary Whelm in return...", etc.).  Often very flimsy excuses ("stop the raids from..." or "prove you are the heroes you claim by..."), but linkages to a broader tapestry in the campaign world.  In a game focused on the efforts of a small band of heroes to turn back a tide of evil, simply replacing the three weapons with items needed to advance their aims (perhaps the crown, scepter and orb of the long-splintered Kingdom the PC's seek to reunite in order to stand against the foe) makes the module a part of the living campaign, a challenge our heroes must overcome to achieve their goals.Even in the early days, though, at least in my experience, the players brought the personalities of their characters to these modules, playing through their challenges.  That is where the "experience" lay.  That "shared experience" of playing through the same challenges was common ground for players widely separated geographically, in those pre-online days.  Different approaches to the challenges, different characters undertaking them, and for different reasons in the campaign, but shared experiences within the early gaming community (funny how we say "gaming community" and mean "RPG players", or perhaps even "early D&D players" - isn't the local darts club and cribbage league "gaming"?  The term derives from the wargaming community from which our hobby developed, I believe).  In any case, I hardly see Tomb of Horrors, White Plume Mountain or the G-D-Q series fitting well in an indie style game either.  Perhaps the fact that Tomb of Horrors was unique indicates how far off the "standard D&D adventure" as envisioned by the game's authors and its early participants it truly was.</blockquote>

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