Old D&D adventure set in Manhattan

[NiTessine]

A friend of mine happened to mention that some time ago, he played an adventure module where the party of D&D adventurers are transported to New York to find an artifact.

What little he remembered was that they first appeared in some kind of park or a golf course, and met a bunch of helpful children.

He's fairly certain it was a ready adventure module, though he doesn't know its edition (at least 2nd Edition, likely older). Might be from Dungeon. Details did not match up with module IM1: The Immortal Storm, however, though its plotline is basically the same.

Google, Wikipedia and a cursory search through my Dragon Magazine Archive yielded nothing.

So, I turn to you, EN World. Anyone have an idea what this might be? Also, are there any other modules around that cross over from a D&D setting to our world?

 

[Glyfair]

There was an adventure published in Dragon where the characters came to the modern world. I'm almost certain it was in London, though (they pointed out the police wouldn't have guns, which helped avoid the guns & D&D issues).

 

[NiTessine]

Matches the description. Apparently, the DM had moved the module to Manhattan and given the cops guns, though.

Thanks!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Here I was going to guess Taxi of Horrors, The Hidden Shrine of Times Square or Staten Island of Dread.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

There was an adventure published in Dragon where the characters came to the modern world. I'm almost certain it was in London, though (they pointed out the police wouldn't have guns, which helped avoid the guns & D&D issues).

Do you remember the issue number?

 

[NiTessine]

Do you remember the issue number?

Issue #100. The module is called "The City Beyond the Gate".

 

[Glyfair]

Dungeon had a number of interesting "oddball" adventures. My favorite was the haunted house adventure where the players were all playing cub scouts.

 

[grodog]

Gygax also wrote about Greyhawk PCs ending up in the modern world in The Dragon #30 (October 1979):

I have prepared a special scenario which will put the adventurers through a short “routine” adventure in a “ World of Greyhawk” city. This will lead them to a cellar and a tunnel which in turn brings them to a sewer and up to a subway tunnel. The power which brings the party to this place will probably cause a blackout in the city, so for a time the players will be uncertain where they are. If it all works as well as I think it will, the report of the game will be submitted for publication in a future issue.

In the city setting, magic will work, although cleric spells above third level will not. Of course, firearms also work. The perils of the place— police, street gangs, muggers, criminals of other sorts, citizens with karate training or able to box, those with guard dogs, etc. — will be numerous and different. Weapons aren’t difficult to rate according to damage. Electricity will be interesting — low-tension AC giving but 1d6 damage (4d6 if the party is well grounded), low-tension DC doing 1d6 each segment until the victim is freed, and high-tension DC doing 1d20 in the same manner. Cars will inflict 1d4 damage for each 10 mph of speed. Small trucks will get a d6, large ones a d8, and trains a d10 for each 10 mph.

Each special character (guard, policeman, street tough, mugger, etc.) will be given a level roughly corresponding to those of AD&D characters, although the type of dice used will be non-standard. If the adventurers survive and manage to return to their own place in the multiverse, they will have little in the way of treasure — at least in all probability.

Gunpowder and explosives will not function on the World of Greyhawk. Lighters and flashlights must be garnered. Perhaps things such as aluminum arrows, metal bottles (canteens) and plastic containers might prove useful. There will be a jewelry store or two, and an art galley, but trying to loot them will certainly bring police and possibly a SWAT team. What should prove the real fun of this whole scenario is discovering the perils of the modem world as DM and seeing how the players handle them in their roles as fantasy world adventurers. If you have DMed or played settings of this type, by all means tell me about the experience, so I can pass it along to the other readers!

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

I'd bet it was Immortal Storm...

 

[Piratecat]

Yup, Nitessine has the details right; that's the one.