D&D General Planning a D&D editions tour

[Quickleaf]

I just did this last weekend - it did take a lot of work to decipher and prep, but it worked out in the end. You're welcome to use my cheat sheets if you change your mind! (Though be warned I had to fill in some gaps myself.) AFAIK the only true OD&D adventure is Temple of the Frog in the Blackmoor supplement, though...

Those cheat sheets you did are spiffy. Thank you!

I'm pretty sure the original adventures from 1976 – Palace of the Vampire Queen and the lesser known F’chelrak’s Tomb (written by Jennell Jacquays in Dungeoneer magazine) – would qualify as OD&D adventures?

 

[Quickleaf]

@Jolly Ruby ive played ODnD at GaryCon. It is playable.

However there is a re-edit of odd called
D&D Single Volume Edition

Compiled by Greyharp. It’s better at least. I won’t link it here though.

I bound a copy playing around with book binding.

I bought the 0e pdfs on DMsGuild because I plan to run a one-shot F’chelrak’s Tomb for some friends, but that Single Volume Edition is sooo much better organized and exactly what I'm doing removing the Chainmail & Outdoor Survival necessities. Thank you!

 

[darjr]

I bought the 0e pdfs on DMsGuild because I plan to run a one-shot F’chelrak’s Tomb for some friends, but that Single Volume Edition is sooo much better organized and exactly what I'm doing removing the Chainmail & Outdoor Survival necessities. Thank you!

Thanks for pointing out that adventure!

 

[Quickleaf]

Thanks for pointing out that adventure!

Yeah, it was The Dungeoneer 1976 fanzine - DM Dave has an article about it. F'chelrak's Tomb is a really nice little dungeon.

Spoiler

The entry has an incomplete inscription begging for Read Languages to be used, with a clever possibility for misinterpretation if the PCs only read the incomplete bit. Immediately after, there's a stair-into-chute trap that leads to a landing with two urns holding venomous snakes. The implication being - you might slide into and break an urn full of snakes! There's a lot of implicit design that you don't realize until closely reading the adventure (or perhaps it comes up in the moment while running it). For example, there's a room with 3 manticores guarding secret doors that would probably be a TPK at ~4th level (what I guesstimate the adventure is written for) which is just begging to be a "Predatory Cheshire Cat / Truth-teller and Liar" type of roleplaying encounter. There's a nice balance between overt combat, hidden combat, obvious traps, a dastardly trap, exploration as storytelling, and vertical design. I was stunned reading it - F'chelrak's Tomb was way ahead of many adventures I read from the early 90's in Dungeon magazine.

 

[darjr]

Yeah, it was The Dungeoneer 1976 fanzine - DM Dave has an article about it. F'chelrak's Tomb is a really nice little dungeon.

Spoiler

The entry has an incomplete inscription begging for Read Languages to be used, with a clever possibility for misinterpretation if the PCs only read the incomplete bit. Immediately after, there's a stair-into-chute trap that leads to a landing with two urns holding venomous snakes. The implication being - you might slide into and break an urn full of snakes! There's a lot of implicit design that you don't realize until closely reading the adventure (or perhaps it comes up in the moment while running it). For example, there's a room with 3 manticores guarding secret doors that would probably be a TPK at ~4th level (what I guesstimate the adventure is written for) which is just begging to be a "Predatory Cheshire Cat / Truth-teller and Liar" type of roleplaying encounter. There's a nice balance between overt combat, hidden combat, obvious traps, a dastardly trap, exploration as storytelling, and vertical design. I was stunned reading it - F'chelrak's Tomb was way ahead of many adventures I read from the early 90's in Dungeon magazine.

I have a print copy in the giant Goodman Games Judges Guild Jennell collectors book. Neat.

 

[JEB]

I'm pretty sure the original adventures from 1976 – Palace of the Vampire Queen and the lesser known F’chelrak’s Tomb (written by Jennell Jacquays in Dungeoneer magazine) – would qualify as OD&D adventures?

True! I was thinking of official TSR adventures, not third-party works.

 

[Mannahnin]

For 4e the later modules have much better reputations than the early HPE series.

HS1 The Slaying Stone is only 32 pages so a comparatively short one.

Yup. @Jolly Ruby I'd definitely say go with a later one (Slaying Stone or Madness), though Keep on the Shadowfell is arguably more "classic" since it was the quick-start, so a lot more people played it. My group definitely didn't take as long with it as Overgeeked's. It's 1-3rd level and a lot of the encounters are relatively quick/short ones. It also has the benefit of coming with and using several poster battlemaps, if you're using an original printed copy.

Yeah, it was The Dungeoneer 1976 fanzine - DM Dave has an article about it. F'chelrak's Tomb is a really nice little dungeon.

F'Chelrak's is great! I just played it this year. Although it's definitely not designed for levels 1-3. Maybe 3rd levelers could do ok. 4th would probably have more of a fighting chance.

 

[TheSword]

As a 50th anniversary celebration I'm planning a tour across past D&D editions with my players. I want to run a short-ish module for each edition, preferably a "classic" one like Keep on the Borderlands, using just the core rulebooks. The candidates are:

OD&D: honestly, I'm skipping this one since it's really hard to run it without a retroclone, and I think using a retroclone that makes the rules coherent would defeat the purpose of playing OD&D. If someone have another idea I would be glad to know.

D&D B/X: B2 The Keep on the Borderlands. I think it perfectly encapsulates the pitch of a classic short-ish adventure to showcase the edition.

AD&D 1e: T1 The Village of Hommlet or U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, both really good low level modules. I'm more inclined to U1, even though T1 is the most remembered one.

AD&D 2e: I don't know yet, but I want something to showcase where 2e era was different from 1e. Maybe something with Planescape or Spelljammer.

D&D 3.X: Maybe Red Hand of Doom, but I think it's too long for the premise of this tour.

D&D 4e: I really don't know, I never played 4th edition but I'm curious to give it a shot without judgements.

D&D 5e: Lost Mine of Phandelver, of course.

If you want a shorter module for 2e I can heartily recommend Doom of Daggerdale. It’s a cracking little module about missing townsfolk, a dream fever, rebels in the countryside, and a cursed dwarven hold. All set in within bowshot of the town of Dagger Falls.

 

[Lanefan]

Jacquays' dungeons are excellently designed but they're also generally quite nasty for their intended character levels (which is also excellent IMO!).

Make sure you go in with a large party, as there'll for sure be less of you when you come out.

 

[overgeeked]

Jacquays' dungeons are excellently designed but they're also generally quite nasty for their intended character levels (which is also excellent IMO!).

Make sure you go in with a large party, as there'll for sure be less of you when you come out.

Retainers and hirelings were there for a reason.