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Old "Slave" modules

Jovah

First Post
I am thinking about picking up the old "Slave" series of modules.
I like the idea of having the characters start out with nothing.
I don't know much else about he series.
Was it any good?
Has someone converted it to 3e?

Was the newer Slavers (2000 ?) supplement any good?
 

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Jovah said:
I am thinking about picking up the old "Slave" series of modules.
I like the idea of having the characters start out with nothing.
I don't know much else about he series.
Was it any good?
Has someone converted it to 3e?

Was the newer Slavers (2000 ?) supplement any good?

If you mean the old A1-A4 modules, here's what I know.

The current conversion library has A2 and A3 conversions posted. http://www.d20reviews.com/conversions.htm
I think there was a conversion of A1 and A4 before the new WotC's policy on conversions, but no one has posted a compliant conversion yet. At least here.

I don't think the original modules have the characters start out with nothing.

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In the original modules, at one point the party gets captured placed in the dungeons of the slave lords. I think that's at the end of the A3 and the character start off A4 with no gear, etc.

Seems like a bit of a "railroad" but remember that there were tournament modules, not originally designed for a home game.
 

I believe it is Scott Metzger that did (or is doing) the conversions. But- by all means I recommend picking them up. The originals are awesome (especially if you were a 1e player and enjoyed them the first time). If not, still, grab them anyway. They are a bit of the nostalgia that made 1e what it was. So- I highly recommend them to you.
 


The Slavers module was a good update to the originals. They are set in CY591 where as the originals are set around CY576 Greyhawk year. The Slavers module doesnt have the maps from A1-A4 and the text but does have new areas written up as well as maps and text on cities around the Wolly Bay as well as the Nyr Dyv.

Mike
 

Bah, railroad crap

Good adventures just dump the "party loses everything," and your fine. There's nothing like 3 adventures and losing everything to fuel Regdars fire.
 

The "Scourge of the Slave Lords" supermodule that included A1-A4 (as opposed to "The Slavers" suppliment in the final days of 2e) had plot railroads all over the place. One would almost think it were a Dragonlance adventure!

I probably wouldn't take away all the party's items unless a clear path exists (ie: bloody unlikely to be missed!) in the game where (1) the party gets their stuff back, or (2) the party gets new and perhaps better stuff. I'm not sure A4 even mentions if the PC's can recover their stuff or not, and the Scourge seems to delight in denuding the PC's over and over again (I know at least one case that wasn't in A1-A4...). Then along comes "Queen of the Spiders" (the logical sequel to Scourge), and it happens YET AGAIN!

I should note that clerics do NOT need to rest to recover spells, just pray at the right time of day, so it's actually possible for them to recover spells during A4! Clerics and monks (and perhaps sorcerers, if the DM doesn't go with the "PC's somehow lose all spells" railroad) have it pretty good!

In short, they're excellent adventures to play as a change of pace with characters you don't care much about yet (ie: just created). However, they are not suitable for regular campaign use unless you LIKE player mutinies (I swear some DM's do, by the way they plot railroad and persecute Lawful Good characters).
 
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I ran a 3e group through the converted A1 around christmas.

I told them (with tongue in cheek) that being a 1e style game their characters were not to have any backgrounds or personalities, and that there was fog surrounding the slaver's building of A1. They had just arrived there, and knew what they wanted to do.

We had a lot of fun with the game. Much combat. One problem we found though was that there were only two points in the module that actually threatened the group. The rest of the combats were too easy. We also kept track of the XP, and they tended to level up very quickly.

Duncan
 

Although the slave modules were very good I have them You will probably have a diffecult time finding them.

If it is the start them out with nothing angle you like try the new Dungeon world That adventure starts you out with nothing not even clothes.The character start stark naked on a slab of stone.
 
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IMO, while the Slaver Series was a cool idea, it lost something in the making.

There's some very, very goofy :):):):) in A2. And by "goofy" I mean completely and totally unrealistic. Goblins walking around pretending they're mummies. A guy who has to worry about getting poisoned by a medusa . . . and so he keeps his Periapt of Proof Against Poison hidden 60' away from his room, in the eye of a stuffed bear. An Anhkeg in a big pit in the main entryway (how in the hell do they bring the slaves through?!)

A4 is just as bad -- that's the one where nobody has equipment. Somehow, the spellcasters find scrolls or something that allow them to cast spells from them an infinite number of times.

Great modules for getting ideas from, or for putting through some heavy tweaking. But if you like realism at *all* in your campaigns, don't play them straight.
 

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