Slave Pits of the Undercity - your experiences?

[Uder]

One of my favorites of all-time! Who doesn't love a series of adventures that ends up with the party being half-naked and stumbling in the dark trying to find their way out?

Sounds like a great adventure to start a campaign, or a great consequence for failure if you don't want to TPK a group. As a foregone conclusion regardless of party actions? No, no thank you. It's not so much that A4 is a bad module, more that A3 (and its force field/no-save gas ending) is a terrible module.

 

[riprock]

It's not so much that A4 is a bad module, more that A3 (and its force field/no-save gas ending) is a terrible module.

Back when my notions of "reasonable challenge" were set by a Monty Haul DM who would run his brothers and myself through ultra-high-level dungeons, disintegrating everything merrily, I had the notion that AD&D was supposed to be *won*, and that with enough preparation, it *could* be won. (In my defense, I was younger and more foolish than I am now.)

Which meant that A1, A2, and A3 were slaughters. We not only killed all the monsters that were listed, we killed all the *other* monsters who wandered in. And we killed monsters on the way to the dungeon, and on the way back. Our DM was convinced that the bulk of experience should come from battle, and I adopted that attitude for many years.

By the time we reached the ending of A3, it made no sense to be use the tournament ending, so it was just another slaughter.

I distinctly recall using A4, but I think the DM was just using it as a sourcebook and pulling out monsters and treasures.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

The A series was what I felt a tournament game should be like, unlike the horribe 'Tomb of Horrors' PC killfest.

It would probably run well today, even under 3.X.

The Auld Grump

 

[sydbar]

The follow up module was called Slavers, and was a pretty good module, and went toward explaining alot about one of the bigger plots in Greyhawk lore.

 

[Paladin Superhero]

I really like this series. I'd run it as a conversion today if I could find a group that wasn't familiar with them (I have the same feelings about the GDQ series).

A1 and A4 are two of the only 1st Edition modules that I played in and did not run. And what debacles they were!

A1 was the beginning of a new D&D group that I and a friend created. He was the DM. I was excited about being a part of two gaming groups at once(I was in 9th grade at the time). But he was a less than stellar DM, it turned out, and the people we'd gathered to play were awful. We were using the pregen characters and the only vivid memory I have is of the halfling thief, Blodgett, doing a cannonball into a pool of sewage, on purpose.

So that group didn't last long. I think we pretty much finished the module, but that was it. For some reason, I think the DM insisted on playing the module using the "tournament style" version, but he didn't even do that right, so there were just a lot of empty rooms and areas.

A4 for another one-shot with a group I wasn't used to playing with. We started playing and I created a cool character (I thought) and put a lot of thought into his equipment. So then we're dumped into this module, where we have all our stuff taken away and forced to be happy when we find a rock. It's a fine idea for a module, but as a guy who DMed all the time and just wanted a chance to play for once, I wasn't thrilled by the "change of pace." I didn't want a change of pace--I wanted a normal adventure!

So, for the longest time, I thought the A series was a crappy series. Then, eventually (in college, I think) I read them, and found them to be really cool. I liked the drawn out story arc, and the ultimate encounter at the end.

And just what is a normal adventure?

 

[miniaturehoarder]

How important is A4 to the rest of the modules? If running the modules as part of a campaign, would it be feasible to keep A4 as a reserve IF the party gets defeated?

 

[miniaturehoarder]

Been running A1 in 5E. I must say I was disappointed with the ghoul's performance for their CR, but paralyzing foes generally are generally all or nothing. Swapped the giant Sundew for a cluster of semi intelligent mimics acting as gatekeepers for their area, which made for a delightfully brutal fight, but I've tried hewing close to the rest of the module's population. Though I decided the Gruumsh statue would animate as a Cyclops with a nasty divine eye beam if any treasure was looted from the temple chamber, rather the troll in poorbox trap from the original module.

 

[miniaturehoarder]

And man some areas are just a cluster-f, the Orc's area from A1's sewers, especially the non tourney sections are wall to wall orcs in spots and i'm not sure if the Stables (7a) in A2 have enough room for the stable hands, let alone the wagons after the baker's dozen horses and half a dozen oxen. Of course A2's (7a) seemed added after the fact since it's like 20 feet away as the ankheg burrows from said ankheg!

 

[Jharet]

I'm getting ready to run A1 in Pathfinder, set in Rifts.

 

[Argyle King]

Ninth thread of a series on the old classic Dungeons & Dragons adventure modules. It is interesting to see how everyone's experiences compared and differed.

Slave Pits of the Undercity

Did you Play or DM this adventure (or both, as some did)? What were your experiences? Did you complete it? What were the highlights for your group? Did you play the other 3 modules in the Slavers series? Secret of the Slavers Stockade, Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords, In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords

Quasqueton

Strangely, this series of adventures is part of how I learned to play GURPS. The DM at the time was using Greyhawk, with GURPS rules.

I highly enjoyed it. Though, tbh, part of that may be due to what I perceive as being lucky enough to have an excellent DM. It was by far one of the most enjoyable tabletop experiences I've had in my life. The campaign lasted multiple years.