Reasons for the letter designation of 1st ed. modules

[DMH]

Having read all the adventures I bought recently, I have to wonder why I 1 and 2 are stand alones and yet 3-5 are a series. And I get that G means giant, D means depths and Q means queen, but wouldn't it make more sense to have them as a series from 1 to 7 and leave D and Q for other possible series? If C are the competition series, then why aren't the A series actually Cs?

In other words, why were some of the letters used?

 

[CM]

I think the answer is that these adventures were produced over the course of years, and came about pretty haphazardly--there weren't months of planning going into each series. They were just kind of strung together where they fit.

 

[finch500]

A number of modules were originally tournaments (the S series for instance), so I'm not sure why the Slave Lords modules would be designated with their own letter. Perhaps it was to let them stand out better. I, I believe, was meant to stand for Intermediate. At least the D&D modules (B, X, CM, M) were self explanatory, as were the UK modules.

R

 

[diaglo]

Having read all the adventures I bought recently, I have to wonder why I 1 and 2 are stand alones and yet 3-5 are a series. And I get that G means giant, D means depths and Q means queen, but wouldn't it make more sense to have them as a series from 1 to 7 and leave D and Q for other possible series? If C are the competition series, then why aren't the A series actually Cs?

In other words, why were some of the letters used?

I3 Pharoah, I4 Oasis of the White Palm, and I5 Lost Tomb of Martek were stand alones originally.

A stands for Aerie. A1, A2, A3, and A4 were stand alones too.

 

[Storm Raven]

A number of modules were originally tournaments (the S series for instance), so I'm not sure why the Slave Lords modules would be designated with their own letter.

THe A series (the Slaver series) was originally a set of tournament modules.

 

[diaglo]

A number of modules were originally tournaments (the S series for instance), so I'm not sure why the Slave Lords modules would be designated with their own letter. Perhaps it was to let them stand out better. I, I believe, was meant to stand for Intermediate. At least the D&D modules (B, X, CM, M) were self explanatory, as were the UK modules.

R

and the S stands for Special not Slavers. S1 Tomb of Horrors, S2 White Plume Mountain, S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, S4 .....

 

[MerricB]

A (1-4) = Against the Slavelords
B (1->) = Basic set modules
C (1->6) = Competition modules (e.g. tournament adventures)
CM (1+) = Companion set modules
D (1-3) = Descent/Drow
G (1-3) = Giants
H (1-4) = High Level (Bloodstone pass)
I (1-14?) = Intermediate-level adventures (e.g. 4th-8th level)
L (1-3) = Lendore Isles
M (1+) = Master set series
N (1-5) = Novice series (e.g. 1st-3rd level)
Q (1) = Queen of the Demonweb Pits
S (1-4) = Special modules (Tomb of Horrors, White Plume Mountain, etc.)
T (1-4) = Temple of Elemental Evil series
U (1-3) = first UK series (Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh)
UK (1-7?) = second UK series
X (1-?) = eXpert set adventures

FR = Forgotten Realms
DL = Dragonlance

Cheers!

 

[diaglo]

A (1-4) = Against the Slavelords
B (1->) = Basic set modules
C (1->6) = Competition modules (e.g. tournament adventures)
CM (1+) = Companion set modules
D (1-3) = Descent/Drow
G (1-3) = Giants
H (1-4) = High Level (Bloodstone pass)
I (1-14?) = Intermediate-level adventures (e.g. 4th-8th level)
L (1-3) = Lendore Isles
M (1+) = Master set series
N (1-5) = Novice series (e.g. 1st-3rd level)
Q (1) = Queen of the Demonweb Pits
S (1-4) = Special modules (Tomb of Horrors, White Plume Mountain, etc.)
T (1-4) = Temple of Elemental Evil series
U (1-3) = first UK series (Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh)
UK (1-7?) = second UK series
X (1-?) = eXpert set adventures

FR = Forgotten Realms
DL = Dragonlance

Cheers!

O - One on One
XSOLO/XS - Expert Solo
BSOLO - Basic Solo
MV - Magic Viewer
CB - Conan
IM - Immortal Series

edit: WG - World of Greyhawk

edit2: RS - Red Sonja

 

[TerraDave]

And WG4 is a sequel to S4 and there is no WG1-3...not haphazard at all...

 

[DarrenGMiller]

Okay, let me try to list the known item designation codes for TSR/WOTC Dungeons & Dragons products pre-3rd edition:

A - Aerie or Assault
AC - Accessory
ALQ - Al Qadim
B - Basic
BSOLO - Basic Solo
C - Competition
CA - City of Adventure
CB - Conan the Barbarian
CGR - Complete Guide Reference
CM - Companion
CN - Conan
CR - Cards
D - Drow
DA - Dave Arneson
DDA - Dungeons & Dragons Adventure
DDREF - Dungeons & Dragons Reference
DL - Dragonlance
DLA - Dragonlance Adventures
DLC - Dragonlance Classics
DLE - Dragonlance Extra? (In Search of Dragons, Dragon Magic, Dragon Keep)
DLQ - Dragonlance ? (Knight's Sword, Flint's Axe)
DLS - Dragonlance Silvanesti
DLT - Dragonlance Tales
DMGOR - Dungeon Masters Guide Optional Rules
DMGR - Dungeon Masters Guide Reference
DMR - Dungeon Masters Reference
DQ - Dragonquest
DS - Dark Sun
DSE - Dark Sun Extra? (Dragon's Crown, Black Spine)
DSM - Dark Sun Module? (Black Flames series)
DSQ - Dark Sun ? (Road to Urik, Arcane Shadows, Asticlian Gambit)
DSR - Dark Sun Reference
DSS - Dark Sun Supplement? (series of Dark Sun accessories)
EX - Extra (Dungeonland, Magic Mirror)
FOR - Forgotten Realms
FR - Forgotten Realms
FRC - Forgotten Realms Curse? (Ruins of Adventure, Curse of the Azure Bonds)
FRE - Forgotten Realms Extra? (FR city books)
FRS - Forgotten Realms Supplement
G - Giants
GA - Gazeteer
GC - Greyhawk Castle (the original designation of the two EX adventures)
GDQ - Giants, Drow, Queen
GEN - GenCon Adventures
GRM - ?
H - High Level
HHQ - ? (Class Challenges)
HHS - ? (Class Challenges 2)
HR - Historical Reference
HREF - Historical Reference
HWA - Hollow World Adventure
HWQ - Hollow World ? (The Milenian Scepter)
HWR - Hollow World Reference
I - Intermediate
IM - Immortal
IQ - InQuest
JAK - Jakandor
L - Lendore or Lakofka
LC - Living City
LNA - Lankhmar Adventures
LNQ - Lankhmar ? (Slayers of Lankhmar)
LNR - Lankhmar Reference
M - Master
MSOLO - Master Solo
MA - Monstrous Arcana
MC - Monstrous Compendium
MV - Magic Viewer
N - Novice
O - One-on-One
OA - Oriental Adventures
OP - Outer Planes
PC - Peoples and Creatures
PG - Players Guide
PHBOR - Players Handbook Optional Rules
PHBR - Players Handbook Reference
Q - Queen of Spiders
R - RPGA Adventures
RA - Ravenloft Adventure
REF - Reference
RPGA - RPGA Adventure
RM - Ravenloft Module?
RQ - Ravenloft ? (series of Ravenloft adventures)
RR - Ravenloft Reference
RS - Red Sonja (there was also a Van Richten's Guide (RR) that was misprinted as RS)
S - Special
SJA - Spelljammer Adventure
SJQ - Spelljammer ? (Heart of the Enemy)
SJR - Spelljammer Reference
SJS - Spelljammer ? (Goblins Return)
T - Temple of Elemental Evil
TM - Trail Map
U - United Kingdom
UK - United Kingdom
WG - World of Greyhawk
WGA - World of Greyhawk Adventure
WGM - World of Greyhawk Module? (Border Watch)
WGQ - World of Greyhawk ? (Patriots of Ulek)
WGR - World of Greyhawk Reference
WGS - World of Greyhawk Sargent
X - Expert
XS - Expert Solo (Thunderdelve Mountain)
XSOLO - Expert Solo
XTA - Extra (Rod of Seven Parts originally held this designation)

I have listed all of the ones I know. There are a few I would love to know, so any assistance would be great. Where possible, if I didn't know one, I have listed the adventure(s) that held this designation. This is probably more than anyone wanted to know, but once I started typing, I just had to keep going.

DM

EDIT: As I learn of the meanings of designations, I will edit this post.