Isle of Dread - your experiences?

[rogueattorney]

the map for the Known World came out a couple years later.

Nope. The map of the Known World was included, in fact it debuted in, the module itself. It had a brief rundown of each of the main countries - Karameikos, Darokin, Thyatis, etc. Only about two pages of info. all told, but enough for me to run a campaign in for years.

R.A.

 

[diaglo]

Nope. The map of the Known World was included, in fact it debuted in, the module itself. It had a brief rundown of each of the main countries - Karameikos, Darokin, Thyatis, etc. Only about two pages of info. all told, but enough for me to run a campaign in for years.

R.A.

i think your map and my map of the known world are different. partially due to my faulty memory.

but i thot, the whole map came out with Quagmire at around the same time the Companion rules boxed set was released.

 

[RFisher]

Nope. The map of the Known World was included, in fact it debuted in, the module itself. It had a brief rundown of each of the main countries - Karameikos, Darokin, Thyatis, etc. Only about two pages of info. all told, but enough for me to run a campaign in for years.

Yep. I just recently acquired X1. (I'd originally bought the stand alone Expert rulebook instead of the Expert Set.) The "continent map" therein was the first time that the "Known World" managed to hold my interest. I still don't think I'd use the Gazetteers & I'd probably modify lots of stuff even as its described in X1, but I'm seriously considering using it.

 

[Style]

The Known World map did indeed appear in X1 - it has the maps to the pirate lair and the general cave maps on the back (maps E2, E3 and E4 for the pedantically challenged).

 

[rogueattorney]

but i thot, the whole map came out with Quagmire at around the same time the Companion rules boxed set was released.

A ha! We have a terminology ambiguity.

The map of the entire D&D planet, tragically re-named "Mystara" about 5 years later in an apparently miscalculated attempt to get fans of My Little Pony to play D&D, first appeared on the inside cover of the booklets in the Master box set in 1985. (The world itself was originally given the glamorous name "Urt" in the Immortals boxed set; why that fabulous name didn't catch on is beyond me.) Quagmire, released the year earlier, and a few other X and CM modules had maps of the entire continent of Brun, of which the Kown World was part. I don't believe they named the continent until much later, but I don't recall the first mention of "Brun".

"The Known World" was not technically the name of the entire D&D world, but rather only that part of the world that was "Known". (Whether that's known to the designers or known to the inhabitants is up to conjecture.) Throughout the product history of Mystara, the "Known World" generally just was used to refer to those areas first described in X1 and/or were covered by the Gazetteer series.

R.A.

 

[rowport]

I never played the original X1, although I very vaguely remember reading it 20-odd years ago.

But, I just read the Dungeon #114 return to the Isle of Dread, and LOVE it. Seriously, those of you with fond memories of the original may especially enjoy it, but it is very good stuff on its own merits. My only regret is that my gaming group is about to start a Pirate-filled Wilderlands campaign, and this module would fit PERFECTLY in such a game. I knew I should resist reading the article, but it was... just... too... good. Oh, well. Maybe our GM can throw some sneaky traps in to counter my evil metagaming ways.

 

[diaglo]

"The Known World" was not technically the name of the entire D&D world, but rather only that part of the world that was "Known".

cool. now you've jogged my memory enough.

i called the D&D sets the Known World. but i can't recall if that was always the case. never really paid much attention as i had to port them into my own map of my campaign world. strangely enough, my campaign world also included Greyhawk, Harn, and the Wilderlands.

 

[Jalkain]

A very simple but very memorable adventure. I think a big part of it's appeal was the flexibility it gave DMs to create a variety of storylines and missions. Having dinosaurs helped too!

Most memorable moments:

Setting fire to the Aranea lair, and then battling with the spider-folk amongst the burning trees.

A desperate battle with a giant plesiosaur in the middle of an inland lake, after it destroyed our raft.

Sneaking through the cultists lair, being discovered, and then a tense stand-off as my assassin held one of the chief's sons hostage in exchange for safe passage into the island temple.

 

[Joshua Randall]

X1 is great because it introduces (to the PCs, anyway) so many new monsters: the aranea, kopru, dinosaurs (as D&D monsters, that is -- I assume most players know what they were in real life!). Wasn't there also an aboleth in this adventure? Maybe not.

It was also the first widespread adventure to take place outside the dungeon, showing that D&D could work away from its constrained roots. That was a big step for the game.

 

[Silver Moon]

Ah, the Isle of Dread. It was the very first module I ever played in. It had a little of everything in it, unique monsters, historical context, dungeon crawls, wilderness adventure, sea adventure....a great way to start out.

It was also my first DM's first module and she loved it. She's now run it five times with her gaming group (that has been playing continuous for 24 years) and she recently did the sequel from Dungeon Magazine.