OSR What's the best introductory BX/OSR scenario for new players and DMs?

[Voadam]

Which is weird and funny considering that Gary went into some detail on it in the 1979 DMG. You'd think that advice would have been incorporated into TSR published designs, as a rule rather than as an exception.

Although perhaps part of the issue is that after about '81 or '82 TSR may have been aware that their primary buying demographic was trending younger and younger. More and more middle school-aged boys, fewer of the college students and adult wargamers who made up most of the market in the '70s. In that context, simple "the monsters attack!" encounters make more sense, for kid gamers to run.

Yeah, the 1e DMG is for advanced while most of the intro modules are in the B series for basic. But even B2 is set up for possible faction play with multiple different groups of humanoids. I don't remember a lot of advice in B2 but it seems inherent in the setup. Also B/X has the whole reaction roll thing going on so that hostilities are often possible but not a default always thing RAW. Mostly that was left up to the DM to free form though is my recollection of it.

I remember some discussion of factions and responses in the AD&D Temple of Elemental Evil and I certainly ran it that way in the 80s as young teen as the AD&D party I was running moved on from starting in B1 to multiple assaults on the Moathouse and the New Master.

AD&D had a bunch of competition modules that set things up to be fairly linear and static to provide similar challenges to wide varieties of groups running under different DMs at a tournament and allow judging and competitive ranking based on module performance.

 

[Gus L]

Which is weird and funny considering that Gary went into some detail on it in the 1979 DMG. You'd think that advice would have been incorporated into TSR published designs, as a rule rather than as an exception.

Although perhaps part of the issue is that after about '81 or '82 TSR may have been aware that their primary buying demographic was trending younger and younger. More and more middle school-aged boys, fewer of the college students and adult wargamers who made up most of the market in the '70s. In that context, simple "the monsters attack!" encounters make more sense, for kid gamers to run.

Yes, it's precisely that B5 is a post 80's TSR product.

I don't think AD&D does much better given the general disorganization, though as you say there are some good passages in the DMG about running less linear games. Unfortunately the circumstances of AD&D's production (as a collection of accreted table rules, bundled together and given to editors to get out quick at least partially as part of a litigation strategy by Gygax) don't help, and the adventures produced for it vary widely in both style and design.

For sure though by the mid-1980's (and B5 is on the cusp of this) one sees the more "Trad" style of adventure design taking over - the design style often associated with the Hickmans (though to be fair to them they manage to write far better adventures then most of their emulators) - that relies on rather linear narratives and forced moral decisions. The whys and hows of this happening are interesting, but I think that places like r/OSR seemingly heading down the same path now (at least as far as praising things like B11 indicates) are an interesting eternal reoccurrence style event. Perhaps in 2051 we'll be seeing the emergence of the OSRR (Old School Renaissance Revival) where folks on forums are excited about rediscovering Sleeping Place of the Feathered Swine and Anomalous Subsurface Environment.*

*This is unlikely as Google will undoubtedly scrub blogger from existence as soon as it finishes using all of our blog posts as AI corpus.

 

[cavalier973]

There is “Falkrest Abbey”. It’s fairly short and straightforward.

I recommend that you create your own dungeon. Draw around ten rooms of varying sizes, connect them with twisting hallways, and use the rules for stocking dungeons to populate it.

If you have time, make a second and third level, also with around ten rooms each.

Don’t have the monsters always attack. Don’t have them just standing around in rooms, picking their noses, either. Not all the time, anyway.

When the PCs encounter some goblins, have the goblins trying to move a desk down a narrow corridor, blocking the way.

Have the PCs enter a room and see a giant toad sitting on top of a large bed. A gnome is hiding beneath it, and begins to beseech the PCs for help.

The PCs come across a dead kobold, that has a note gripped in its claws. The note is a message to the dwarf queen, asking for a meeting to discuss a cessation of hostilities.

Don’t try to give guidance to the players about what they should do. Just keep asking, “What do your characters want to do?”

When populating a dungeon, starting out, include at least one particular smell, one particular sound, and an area where the climate changes. “There is a faint odor of spice coming from the hall to the east.” “You periodically hear the scraping of wood on stone, followed by a string of expletives.” (This sets up the encounter with the desk-moving goblins). “Suddenly, the air gets warm and moist”.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Assume that the rules being used are OSE Advanced Fantasy, so AD&D1e or OSRIC scenarios might be ok too. But the important thing is that both players and DM are new.

Frankly, I've always been happy with a no-holds-barred bar fight. Or a set of caves with a bunch of goblins or orcs or whatever. "Your PC's have ALREADY met and are hanging out/traveling together. Regardless, now you're HERE and this is the situation. GO." You don't need a whole, 24-page adventure to follow. The biggest chunk of rules for everyone new to the game to get a grip on is COMBAT. So get into it. Just throw together any scenario that quickly pits PC's against bad guys. Get some dice rolling and EXPERIENCE those surprise and initiative mechanics, casting spells, using special abilities and magic items. Then do it again. A couple of times. The rest of the game will naturally start to find its way in between combats.

 

[SpellObjectEnthusiast]

There is “Falkrest Abbey”. It’s fairly short and straightforward.

Falkrest Abbey is phenomenal. It's excellent for new players and GMs, and unlike most normal OSR module suggestions, its actually short enough to finish in a single 4h session.

 

[haakon1]

Get Goodman Games Original Adventures Reincarnated "Into the Borderlands". It's B1 & B2 woven together with additional story and encounter areas. It's great. It's reprinted Basic, plus 5e conversion. The new stuff is in 5e, but it can be converted to whatever version you prefer and it's more about story than rules. They have about 5 different versions of stocking B1, too.

 

[Gus L]

Frankly, I've always been happy with a no-holds-barred bar fight. Or a set of caves with a bunch of goblins or orcs or whatever. "Your PC's have ALREADY met and are hanging out/traveling together. Regardless, now you're HERE and this is the situation. GO." You don't need a whole, 24-page adventure to follow.

This is basically antithetical to how I run and play OD&D and B/X. The combat in these systems is messy and it feels important to emphasize to players, especially new players at low levels, that direct, fair, face to face, combat will likely end with the party losing members even if they win. To me the heart of these systems is exploration, so a scenario that emphasizes this, and the problem solving associated with exploration obstacles is a good first scenario. Even for combat rich scenarios in older games I find "trick monsters" a better choice then pure bags of HP to slash at. That is monsters who can be tricked, negotiated with, or overcome by learning their weakness. Direct combat is always an option, but it should rarely be the best option in my opinion.

This is why there's a room with 523 zombies in it in the last starter adventure I published...

The biggest chunk of rules for everyone new to the game to get a grip on is COMBAT.

It may be the longest part of the rules and so the most hemmed in by rules and procedure, but the play in older editions often emerges from the spaces there aren't too many rules - successful play or PC survival is often about avoiding those merciless dice. Problem solving, cleverness, faction intrigue and stacking the odds in ones favor are to me the hallmarks of good play in my preferred older editions - they simply aren't built for the sort of heroic hack n' slash that modern editions are.

That said if one wants combat heavy scenarios in early editions I find it useful to treat it more as a skirmish game: large parties of semi-disposable PCs, retainers - a commando raid rather then adventure archelogy.

 

[JamesFullard]

Ruined Tower of Zenopus

 

[TerraDave]

I guess Village of Homlet and Lost City are not as new DM friendly, though they offer strong RP opportunities and, while potentially deadly, more of a learning curve for the PCs.

New DMs, don’t be afraid…

 

[Reynard]

When I was 10, I learned everything I ever needed to know playing through the dungeon in the Metzner red box followed by The Isle of Dread. They are explicitly designed to teach you to.GM and are still unsurpassed to this day.