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Post by davegibsongreyhawkdm on Jun 20, 2018 13:00:36 GMT -5
Gary stated on-line previously: "I'd like to think I have the ability to write superior adventure material, although all I create is not a masterpiece."
He mentioned that he thought NECROPOLIS, FORLORN CORNERS, THE HERMIT, and HALL OF MANY PANES fit the qualifications he set.
I'm not familiar with any of these at all, so I cannot share an opinion?
How about his best work via TSR dungeon modules?
Here are the ones I consider his best creations:
The Village of Hommlet
The Vault of the Drow
Hall of the Fire Giant King
The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun
Tomb of Horrors
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
Shrine of the Kuo-Toa
If I cheated a bit, I would add The Keep on the Borderlands attached to the Village of Hommlet, because I view these as a related/connected dungeon module...
I don't include The Temple of Elemental Evil - If only Gary had been able to fix this one!
The best work of other TSR dungeon module authors? It is a shorter list for me:
White Plume Mountain
Tomb of the Lizard King
The Ghost Tower of Inverness
The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
The Secret of Bone Hill
Castle Amber
What's on all of your lists?
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Post by davegibsongreyhawkdm on Jun 20, 2018 13:12:00 GMT -5
I just re-read Tomb of the Lizard King, and am thinking about how to eventually use this in the current campaign...
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Post by geneweigel on Jun 20, 2018 14:58:39 GMT -5
In regards to using LIZARD KING multiple times as I just mentioned had also ran CASTLE AMBER multiple times as well but the 2nd time around was more of "stucco-ing" of what I didnt like.
As for THE HERMIT and HALL OF MANY PANES, if you had problems with TOEE then dont expect this grand thing. I was smoking the Gygax herb too much when those came out. All that energy that youre putting into Hommlet might be largely wasted. I've tried to use them but you might get more mileage using a Gord short story as an adventure module. I've tried to my wrap my head as to what was the cause but its hard to blame his staffers. I mean those guys stuck with him the whole time. As obnoxious as a few of them were its hard to cast blame. My theory is that they used their style sense to de-horn his verbosity and it was a misfire along the lines of the infamous BEHOLD THE MONKEY Spanish church mural restoration. Because, honestly? Gary still sounded like Gary last time I talked to him in 2007 very verbose and vibrant so I just assume that he didn't get around to editing.
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Post by Scott on Jun 20, 2018 18:05:35 GMT -5
Gygax TSR: Village of Hommlet, Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, and Hall of the Fire Giant King.
Gygax other: Necropolis
Not Gygax: The Lost City, Mordenkainen’s Fantastic Adventure, Bottle City, Dwellers of the Forbodden City, Labrynth of Madness, Temple of the Frog (original)
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Post by geneweigel on Jun 20, 2018 19:12:51 GMT -5
I define Gary's D&D modules as system extensions rather than shit that I can fix up to some degree. I've plowed over B2 into atoms. I've trainwrecked D1-3, and I slipped T1-4 a mickey and wrote I AM A BOOGER all over its face so I mean if I were to stand back and judge standing over all this I'd say as much fine excellent detail went into S3 EXPEDITION TO BARRIER PEAKS I just never went back for any reason except to extract sci fi. It always seemed finite.
So B2 is the most replayable so that is choice.
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Post by davegibsongreyhawkdm on Jun 20, 2018 22:29:10 GMT -5
I define Gary's D&D modules as system extensions rather than shit that I can fix up to some degree. I've plowed over B2 into atoms. I've trainwrecked D1-3, and I slipped T1-4 a mickey and wrote I AM A BOOGER all over its face so I mean if I were to stand back and judge standing over all this I'd say as much fine excellent detail went into S3 EXPEDITION TO BARRIER PEAKS I just never went back for any reason except to extract sci fi. It always seemed finite. So B2 is the most replayable so that is choice. Yes system extensions - everywhere I look with EGG it's system extensions - the core books extend Hommlet, Hommlet extends the core books, the WOG folio is a massive system extension! There has to be dynamic epic collaborative adventure, there has to be elements that ring of (mythological/literary/philosophical/religious) truth, but what was often missing in other creators was the embedded expansionary atmospheric mystery...that's what haunts and makes one appreciate the weight of the creation. EGG's masterpiece creations have a feel of greater 'shadows' alongside, that are both malleable and ominous. Did EGG enjoy Hemingway? Because I feel like he is subscriber to EH's iceberg theory - like Hemingway would write a story and leave out of that the main character had just returned from the war... |
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Post by davegibsongreyhawkdm on Jun 20, 2018 22:31:27 GMT -5
Gygax TSR: Village of Hommlet, Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, and Hall of the Fire Giant King. Gygax other: Necropolis Not Gygax: The Lost City, Mordenkainen’s Fantastic Adventure, Bottle City, Dwellers of the Forbodden City, Labrynth of Madness, Temple of the Frog (original) There's much on your list I have no exposure to - I will have to check out your recommendations - thanks! |
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Post by grodog on Jun 20, 2018 22:35:13 GMT -5
Gary stated on-line previously: "I'd like to think I have the ability to write superior adventure material, although all I create is not a masterpiece." He mentioned that he thought NECROPOLIS, FORLORN CORNERS, THE HERMIT, and HALL OF MANY PANES fit the qualifications he set. I'm not familiar with any of these at all, so I cannot share an opinion? The Hermit is perhaps the worst EGG-written text I've ever read. I'm not familiar with Forlorn Corners. I've read parts of HOMP but not the whole thing and it struck me as very over-written, like Yggsburgh and CZ largely were. I haven't read Necropolis in ages, and did start to convert it to AD&D BITD, but never finished and never ran it. It's one of Trent's favorites, which makes me want to re-read it again. How about his best work via TSR dungeon modules? My favorites: - G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King by Gary Gygax (D&D; TSR) - T1 Village of Hommlet by Gary Gygax (AD&D; TSR) - WG4 Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun by Gary Gygax (AD&D; TSR) - D3 Vault of the Drow by Gary Gygax (AD&D; TSR) - S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth by Gary Gygax (AD&D; TSR) - D1 Descent into the Depths of the Earth by Gary Gygax (D&D; TSR) - WG6 Isle of the Ape by Gary Gygax (AD&D; TSR) The best work of other TSR dungeon module authors? My favorites: - Maure Castle (Paizo)/WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure by Rob Kuntz (AD&D; TSR) - A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity by David Cook (AD&D; TSR) - Maze of Zayene #4 Eight Kings by Rob Kuntz (AD&D from Creations Unlimited, or d20 from Different Worlds) - Dark Druids by Rob Kuntz (1e/Guy Fullerton's Chaotic Henchmen) - Starstone by Paul Vernon (OD&D; Northern Sages) - Caverns of Thracia by Paul Jaquays (D&D; Judges Guild) - Return of the Eight by Roger E. Moore (AD&D 2nd edition; TSR) - Tomb of Abysthor by Clark Peterson and Bill Webb (d20; Necromancer Games) - "Treasure of the Dragon Queen" by Rutgers University Gamers (D&D convention tourney c. 1983; Rutgers University Gamers; details on my site @ www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_tourneys_dragon_queen.html)- Maze of Zayene #1 Prisoners of the Maze by Rob Kuntz (AD&D from Creations Unlimited, or d20 from Necromancer Games) - Castle Zagyg: Dark Chateau by Rob Kuntz (d20; Troll Lord Games) - Beastmaker Mountain by Bill Fawcett (AD&D; Mayfair Games) - R1 To the Aid of Falx by Frank Mentzer (AD&D; TSR) - Crucible of Freya by Clark Peterson and Bill Webb (d20; Necromancer Games) - CH12 Seren Ironhand by Tom Moldvay (AD&D; Challenges), as well as the two other modules in the Morandir series CH-1 The Morandir Company and CH-3 The Mountain King) - B1 In Search of the Unknown by Mike Carr (D&D; TSR) - B4 The Lost City by Tom Moldvay (D&D; TSR) - X2 Castle Amber by Tom Moldvay (D&D; TSR) - X4 Master of the Desert Nomads by David Cook (D&D; TSR) - X5 Temple of Death by David Cook (D&D; TSR) - B4 Lost City by Tom Molvay (D&D; TSR) - Three Days to Kill by John Tynes (d20; Atlas Games) - Demons & Devils by Bill Webb and Clark Peterson (d20; Necromancer Games) - The Abduction of Good King Despot by Will and Schar Niebling (AD&D; New Infinities Productions) - The Original Bottle City by Rob Kuntz (AD&D from Black Blade Publishing in 2014, OD&D from Pied Piper Publishing in 2007) What's on all of your lists? Quite a bit more is on my blog @ grodog.blogspot.com/2018/05/these-are-few-of-my-favorite-things.htmlAllan. |
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foster1941
Warlock
Duke of California, Earl of Los Angeles, Knight Bachelor
Posts: 475
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Post by foster1941 on Jun 21, 2018 11:46:41 GMT -5
All of Gary's TSR adventures are top-notch, even though in the later-published ones you usually have to ignore some imposed linearity (which I suspect was likely suggested by Frank Mentzer) to get to the open-ended sandbox underneath. It's unsurprising that, as the (effective) creator of the game Gary had a deep and instinctive understanding of its potential and what worked best within its paradigm even though he wasn't necessarily able to explain it in a comprehensible manner and may not have even been conscious of all of it. The description of Gary's adventure modules as de facto "system expansions" is totally true - there's not really a line between the rules' description of a town and T1/B2, the wilderness and S4/WG4/WG6, other planes and EX1/EX2/WG6, monster lairs and G1/G2/G3/B2, dungeons and S1/B2/S4/WG4/T2-3, etc. (and of course D1-3 and S3 both expand the scope of the game in completely new directions). They are all exemplary and quintessential and they flow seamlessly from the concepts in and flavor of the rules (which is also why it becomes clear with time that we didn't really need Greyhawk City and Greyhawk Castle because, in some sense, we already got a pretty good version of them via the rulebooks' talk about towns and dungeons (which is also why Ed Greenwood's Waterdeep and Undermountain feel like flagrant rip-offs of Gary's work even though he wasn't doing so consciously and developed them independently by following the model of and extrapolating from the material in the D&D rulebooks)). None of the other classic-era stuff from other authors feels the same way - it's all missing something essential, a deeper-level "grokking" of how D&D actually works in campaign-mode. They all feel too shallow and artificial, and don't give the same sense of actually being part of an imagined fantasy world. Even the good stuff (e.g. Moldvay, Jaquays) tends to feel too self-contained and disconnected from larger context - something like Castle Amber or Dark Tower or The Abduction of Good King Despot is a complex and flavorful adventure to play through, but I can't really picture any of them having an ongoing role as a location within the campaign, someplace that it would make sense to visit or refer to otherwise than in the specific context of the published module in the way that all of Gary's stuff is (again, after you jettison the imposed linearity). Len Lakofka's modules have more of that sense, and in that regard are perhaps the closest to Gary's, but they lose points with me because I find them so boring and mundane. Of Gary's post-TSR adventures, Necropolis is totally in line with the above and IMO probably the best thing he ever produced, even though the specifically Egyptian flavor isn't quite AD&D/Greyhawk compatible - I've pondered for a long time how to adapt it to that paradigm, and only recently realized that the answer is not to do so: rather than trying to shoehorn it onto Oerth it makes much more sense to send the PCs to Aerth (after inserting a high-level hook that if Rahotep is able to complete his plans he would become so powerful as to be a cross-dimensional threat, and might perhaps even team-up with Iuz, Iggwilv, etc.). Alas, the later Lejendary Adventure and Castle Zagyg stuff isn't nearly as good. I'm not sure if it's because his heart wasn't really in it anymore, or because he was taking too much bad advice from his latter-day collaborators and hangers-on, or what, but the quality simply wasn't there. Hall of Many Panes was especially disappointing because you can feel the potential for something really good within it, and there are scattered moments of good stuff, but on the whole it's a really terrible mess  |
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Post by grodog on Jun 21, 2018 13:58:57 GMT -5
All of Gary's TSR adventures are top-notch, even though in the later-published ones you usually have to ignore some imposed linearity (which I suspect was likely suggested by Frank Mentzer) to get to the open-ended sandbox underneath. It's unsurprising that, as the (effective) creator of the game Gary had a deep and instinctive understanding of its potential and what worked best within its paradigm even though he wasn't necessarily able to explain it in a comprehensible manner and may not have even been conscious of all of it. The description of Gary's adventure modules as de facto "system expansions" is totally true - there's not really a line between the rules' description of a town and T1/B2, the wilderness and S4/WG4/WG6, other planes and EX1/EX2/WG6, monster lairs and G1/G2/G3/B2, dungeons and S1/B2/S4/WG4/T2-3, etc. Great points, Trent---another blog post in the making?  None of the other classic-era stuff from other authors feels the same way - it's all missing something essential, a deeper-level "grokking" of how D&D actually works in campaign-mode. They all feel too shallow and artificial, and don't give the same sense of actually being part of an imagined fantasy world. Even the good stuff (e.g. Moldvay, Jaquays) tends to feel too self-contained and disconnected from larger context - That further reinforces the built-in/designed-in expandability that Gary did in his best work: you can take what he designed and build upon it based on how the adventure plays out in your campaign. Gary provided a baseline intentionally built for expansion, through both DM inspiration (oh look, I can add a water level to S4) and through play (oh look, my PCs helped the pechs complete their digging into the upper cavern). Len Lakofka's modules have more of that sense, and in that regard are perhaps the closest to Gary's, but they lose points with me because I find them so boring and mundane. I've not read L3 or the DF versions of L4-5 in detail, but I like L1 in particular, and think that Len builds out for expandability-during-play, but less so for inspiring DMs to build upon his foundations. I think that other authors who build this expandability-for-campaign play into their work (both foundational inspiration during prep and for in-play response to PCs doing stuff in the environ) include Rob Kuntz (perhaps to a fault, given the multiple series pieces he kicks off but doesn't complete) and Dave Cook (when he's on his A-game). Moldvay's and Jaquays' works feel more complete and finished to me---fun and very cool to run/play, but they're more like extended set-pieces that once you're done with them, you're done---based on what they provided in the adventures, you're not likely to create more levels for Thracia, or build out some more CAS encounters in the Castle Amber wilderness. Allan. |
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foster1941
Warlock
Duke of California, Earl of Los Angeles, Knight Bachelor
Posts: 475
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Post by foster1941 on Jun 21, 2018 14:46:38 GMT -5
I draw a distinction between implicit room for expansion/modification - you can imagine that there are additional interesting things beyond the edge of the map, and reasons for PCs to come to this location/interact with this environment other than the canned plot-situation of the module - vs. the sort of "here's a bunch of dangling plot threads and sequel hooks for you to fill in yourself" that's characteristic of Rob and Zeb's modules. The latter feels directed and forced - "I'm telling you what your creative contribution should be" - while the former is more organic and inspirational. Instead of being told explicitly "this product details X and Y and leaves Z as an exercise for the reader," with Gary's stuff the room for expansion isn't necessarily immediately obvious but grows naturally out of reading, thinking about, and playing in those environments (B2 is an obvious exception here, but that's because it was explicitly positioned as an instructional aid for new DMs and part of that is being explicit about things that were assumed/implicit in products aimed at more experienced readers). The more time you spend in the mindspace of, for example, T1 the more stuff you realize can be added to it, both expanding outward and going deeper into what's already there, not because you have to in order to make the adventure complete and playable, but because it makes sense to do so - it feels like part of a larger whole, so it seems natural to grow and expand it, for it to become not just a self-contained episode but a "real" part of the holistic campaign environment. Perhaps this will get expanded into a blog post after all  |
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Post by geneweigel on Jun 22, 2018 13:44:50 GMT -5
I've had a lot of personal crap on my mind these past three days so I've been not thinking D&D at all.
I think looking back that when I bought the solo adventures MSOLO1 BLIZZARD PASS and MSOLO2 MAZE OF THE RIDDLING MINOTAUR that I thought these were going to be popping and they were big duds. They had new content but the way they were written was kind of like YEAH, WE WORK AT D&D YOU CAN FIGURE OUT THE REST when it should have been the opposite of full immersion with lots of detail but you weren't even approaching that Gygax immersion level.
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Post by davegibsongreyhawkdm on Jul 2, 2018 12:12:09 GMT -5
Gary stated on-line previously: "I'd like to think I have the ability to write superior adventure material, although all I create is not a masterpiece." He mentioned that he thought NECROPOLIS, FORLORN CORNERS, THE HERMIT, and HALL OF MANY PANES fit the qualifications he set. I'm not familiar with any of these at all, so I cannot share an opinion? The Hermit is perhaps the worst EGG-written text I've ever read. I'm not familiar with Forlorn Corners. I've read parts of HOMP but not the whole thing and it struck me as very over-written, like Yggsburgh and CZ largely were. I haven't read Necropolis in ages, and did start to convert it to AD&D BITD, but never finished and never ran it. It's one of Trent's favorites, which makes me want to re-read it again. How about his best work via TSR dungeon modules? My favorites: - G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King by Gary Gygax (D&D; TSR) - T1 Village of Hommlet by Gary Gygax (AD&D; TSR) - WG4 Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun by Gary Gygax (AD&D; TSR) - D3 Vault of the Drow by Gary Gygax (AD&D; TSR) - S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth by Gary Gygax (AD&D; TSR) - D1 Descent into the Depths of the Earth by Gary Gygax (D&D; TSR) - WG6 Isle of the Ape by Gary Gygax (AD&D; TSR) The best work of other TSR dungeon module authors? My favorites: - Maure Castle (Paizo)/WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure by Rob Kuntz (AD&D; TSR) - A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity by David Cook (AD&D; TSR) - Maze of Zayene #4 Eight Kings by Rob Kuntz (AD&D from Creations Unlimited, or d20 from Different Worlds) - Dark Druids by Rob Kuntz (1e/Guy Fullerton's Chaotic Henchmen) - Starstone by Paul Vernon (OD&D; Northern Sages) - Caverns of Thracia by Paul Jaquays (D&D; Judges Guild) - Return of the Eight by Roger E. Moore (AD&D 2nd edition; TSR) - Tomb of Abysthor by Clark Peterson and Bill Webb (d20; Necromancer Games) - "Treasure of the Dragon Queen" by Rutgers University Gamers (D&D convention tourney c. 1983; Rutgers University Gamers; details on my site @ www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_tourneys_dragon_queen.html)- Maze of Zayene #1 Prisoners of the Maze by Rob Kuntz (AD&D from Creations Unlimited, or d20 from Necromancer Games) - Castle Zagyg: Dark Chateau by Rob Kuntz (d20; Troll Lord Games) - Beastmaker Mountain by Bill Fawcett (AD&D; Mayfair Games) - R1 To the Aid of Falx by Frank Mentzer (AD&D; TSR) - Crucible of Freya by Clark Peterson and Bill Webb (d20; Necromancer Games) - CH12 Seren Ironhand by Tom Moldvay (AD&D; Challenges), as well as the two other modules in the Morandir series CH-1 The Morandir Company and CH-3 The Mountain King) - B1 In Search of the Unknown by Mike Carr (D&D; TSR) - B4 The Lost City by Tom Moldvay (D&D; TSR) - X2 Castle Amber by Tom Moldvay (D&D; TSR) - X4 Master of the Desert Nomads by David Cook (D&D; TSR) - X5 Temple of Death by David Cook (D&D; TSR) - B4 Lost City by Tom Molvay (D&D; TSR) - Three Days to Kill by John Tynes (d20; Atlas Games) - Demons & Devils by Bill Webb and Clark Peterson (d20; Necromancer Games) - The Abduction of Good King Despot by Will and Schar Niebling (AD&D; New Infinities Productions) - The Original Bottle City by Rob Kuntz (AD&D from Black Blade Publishing in 2014, OD&D from Pied Piper Publishing in 2007) What's on all of your lists? Quite a bit more is on my blog @ grodog.blogspot.com/2018/05/these-are-few-of-my-favorite-things.htmlAllan. What is 'Starstone'? Does anyone have this adventure? Is it available anywhere? Anyone played this? |
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Post by grodog on Jul 2, 2018 20:40:01 GMT -5
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Post by Merkholz on Jul 3, 2018 1:53:48 GMT -5
I think that in a way, Gary was, ironically, more about the story than the Crunch and as time passed he seemed to feel a need to write adventures more Verbatim like his intended story than he used to. That could be why his short, rather terse giant modules without background and no read-aloud parts turned into the Hermit and HoMP. That might also be the reason why Castle Greyhawk never got released - there was brief notes on paper and a great "story" in Gary's head but putting that story to paper was likely too large a task.
IMO, Gary's adventures are all good due to the details and suggested ambiance. The best are IMO G1-3, D1-3, S4, WG4 and T1. I like S1, S3, WG6, T1-4, B2 and Necropolis but feel like they could use a brush-up or editing. The rest are still good but not masterpieces.
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Post by geneweigel on Jul 3, 2018 5:51:30 GMT -5
I see the pattern. The hand off stage in wg5 is apparent because its mostly Kuntz material. UA was a hand off and OA was the first legal-based sign that hand offs were the norm. Add in that he was aware of brightly covered booklets featuring little to nothing could make millions at that point. I think the DJ era was a deliberate dodge and his handing off is what brought the legal doom as the participants pulled everything towards D&D. So by the time we got to LA then D20 LA he is aware of legality and market trends for "covers sell" and he is handing even more off to keep it diluted. You can take THE HERMIT and strip it down and it would be a masterpiece if rebuilt in G1-3 structure. But the assistants he had were all about D&D trends and as long as they kept it diluted and not too "Gygax nuggety".
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Post by GRWelsh on Jul 5, 2018 12:45:05 GMT -5
What made Gygax adventures masterpieces was a quality that always makes you want to return to them, study them more, and build off of them -- and that is because at their best they give enough detail to fire your imagination yet not so much that they feel constraining. There may be hints of story but there is no scripted outcome. Sounds simple, but not so easy to do because it requires restraint.
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Post by davegibsongreyhawkdm on Jul 5, 2018 13:20:06 GMT -5
What made Gygax adventures masterpieces was a quality that always makes you want to return to them, study them more, and build off of them -- and that is because at their best they give enough detail to fire your imagination yet not so much that they feel constraining. There may be hints of story but there is no scripted outcome. Sounds simple, but not so easy to do because it requires restraint. True!!! EGG said online I believe something to the effect of liking to add 'connotation' versus not adding 'denotation' into his works...his evocative open-ended writing gives tremendous adventure-play flexibility to the inquisitive, creative DM. In that way, returning to study and build off his works is a DM's own exploratory adventure! Correct about no scripted outcome, however it is fascinating to me to dig into possibilities that could have initially fired his imagination to place various specific nuggets into his inspired texts... |
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Post by geneweigel on Jul 5, 2018 13:45:15 GMT -5
I think also the whole persona that Arneson could not even imagine living up to. Gary is getting feedback and reacting with this creative peer ignorance of how to approach material within his scope of TSR in almost every issue of Dragon. When Arneson finally "got the mike" with BECMI BLACKMOOR we found out that he was more of a forgotten figurehead and not the spirit of old that legends told of. Gary however had other flaws. He was the Aragorn of old in the lost sequel FALL OF GONDOR with any use of kingsfoil drawing the attention of the eye sure. However, I think his desire for a restoration of this "career" instead of biting the bullet and moving on was his big mistake. He should have considered just being a consultant and made the best of it until opportunities arose again instead of this digging into plowed lands that lesser gaming companies did. Now we've been stuck in this limbo hell of desire without reciprocation for a long time but I think we can recover without him at least physically as long as his intentions can be studied and brought up over and over that is! |
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Post by davegibsongreyhawkdm on Jul 6, 2018 8:42:29 GMT -5
Gary stated on-line previously: "I'd like to think I have the ability to write superior adventure material, although all I create is not a masterpiece." He mentioned that he thought NECROPOLIS, FORLORN CORNERS, THE HERMIT, and HALL OF MANY PANES fit the qualifications he set. I'm not familiar with any of these at all, so I cannot share an opinion? The Hermit is perhaps the worst EGG-written text I've ever read. I'm not familiar with Forlorn Corners. I've read parts of HOMP but not the whole thing and it struck me as very over-written, like Yggsburgh and CZ largely were. I haven't read Necropolis in ages, and did start to convert it to AD&D BITD, but never finished and never ran it. It's one of Trent's favorites, which makes me want to re-read it again. How about his best work via TSR dungeon modules? My favorites: - G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King by Gary Gygax (D&D; TSR) - T1 Village of Hommlet by Gary Gygax (AD&D; TSR) - WG4 Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun by Gary Gygax (AD&D; TSR) - D3 Vault of the Drow by Gary Gygax (AD&D; TSR) - S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth by Gary Gygax (AD&D; TSR) - D1 Descent into the Depths of the Earth by Gary Gygax (D&D; TSR) - WG6 Isle of the Ape by Gary Gygax (AD&D; TSR) The best work of other TSR dungeon module authors? My favorites: - Maure Castle (Paizo)/WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure by Rob Kuntz (AD&D; TSR) - A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity by David Cook (AD&D; TSR) - Maze of Zayene #4 Eight Kings by Rob Kuntz (AD&D from Creations Unlimited, or d20 from Different Worlds) - Dark Druids by Rob Kuntz (1e/Guy Fullerton's Chaotic Henchmen) - Starstone by Paul Vernon (OD&D; Northern Sages) - Caverns of Thracia by Paul Jaquays (D&D; Judges Guild) - Return of the Eight by Roger E. Moore (AD&D 2nd edition; TSR) - Tomb of Abysthor by Clark Peterson and Bill Webb (d20; Necromancer Games) - "Treasure of the Dragon Queen" by Rutgers University Gamers (D&D convention tourney c. 1983; Rutgers University Gamers; details on my site @ www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_tourneys_dragon_queen.html)- Maze of Zayene #1 Prisoners of the Maze by Rob Kuntz (AD&D from Creations Unlimited, or d20 from Necromancer Games) - Castle Zagyg: Dark Chateau by Rob Kuntz (d20; Troll Lord Games) - Beastmaker Mountain by Bill Fawcett (AD&D; Mayfair Games) - R1 To the Aid of Falx by Frank Mentzer (AD&D; TSR) - Crucible of Freya by Clark Peterson and Bill Webb (d20; Necromancer Games) - CH12 Seren Ironhand by Tom Moldvay (AD&D; Challenges), as well as the two other modules in the Morandir series CH-1 The Morandir Company and CH-3 The Mountain King) - B1 In Search of the Unknown by Mike Carr (D&D; TSR) - B4 The Lost City by Tom Moldvay (D&D; TSR) - X2 Castle Amber by Tom Moldvay (D&D; TSR) - X4 Master of the Desert Nomads by David Cook (D&D; TSR) - X5 Temple of Death by David Cook (D&D; TSR) - B4 Lost City by Tom Molvay (D&D; TSR) - Three Days to Kill by John Tynes (d20; Atlas Games) - Demons & Devils by Bill Webb and Clark Peterson (d20; Necromancer Games) - The Abduction of Good King Despot by Will and Schar Niebling (AD&D; New Infinities Productions) - The Original Bottle City by Rob Kuntz (AD&D from Black Blade Publishing in 2014, OD&D from Pied Piper Publishing in 2007) What's on all of your lists? Quite a bit more is on my blog @ grodog.blogspot.com/2018/05/these-are-few-of-my-favorite-things.htmlAllan. I saw on your blog "The Lost Abbey of Calthonwey" - what is the approximate level of this adventure? What type of foes, demons? Is this possible to find anywhere? I'm not familiar with the Morandir series (CH-1, 3, 12) either - are any of these low-level introductory adventures? What does the 'challenger' series mean - high level or solo adventures? Beastmaker Mountain is another one I'm unfamiliar with - what are the details about this adventure and what level range? I remember Caverns of Thracia, but it's been forever since I read that one...has anyone ever inserted this into Greyhawk, or else how have you used this one - campaign adventure or one-off adventure? Starstone looks like it is very difficult to get, but looks interesting? Three Days to Kill looks interesting and available - I may need to pick this one up! I had not seen/read Dark Chateau or Crucible of Freya/Tomb of Abysthor before...what experiences do you all have with these? There's a lot of other mid to high level adventures on your list to look into, thanks for the recommendations! I guess I've missed a lot of interesting ones... |
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