My Top Ten Adventures: Honorable Mentions

Every top 10 list has honorable mentions, right? Of course they do. So, who am I to buck the trend? Well, I often do buck trends; in fact, I kind of prefer to do so. But in this case, we'll go along. Let's see what we have. These are adventures that I really like, but that couldn't muscle into the Top 10 Adventures.

This one was really close to making it, but I already had B1 on it, and I think that's a slightly better introductory kit than this one. Not that this one isn't great; it's got a ton of advice for DMs to get started, and the dungeon is really not that complicated. It's certainly challenging, particularly with BECMI rules. And, unlike B1, this one ties into the Known World/Mystara setting, being directly set in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Along with its follow-up, B12 Queen's Harvest, these make a great introduction to the setting for beginners. My only caveat is that this adventure would be too simple for experienced players to enjoy, but it's still a great adventure. The premise is simple; the party arrives at the village of Stallanford in time for a festival celebrating the long-dead king Halav. However, orcs have raided the village and kidnapped the local priest, and the party are asked to help. Finding him isn't hard, although there are plenty of orcs to dispute the party's claims on the priest. When rescued, he heals the party as best he can, and he tells the party that there is more to the dungeon than they have seen, that even the orcs don't want anything to do with. There's a secret door, of course, and the party finds some nasty undead and the like down there, along with some nice treasure. Again, it's a straightforward adventure, a good introductory dungeon crawl. Highly recommended.

Remember when I said that there were plenty of railroad-type adventures in early D&D, even if they weren't called that at the time? Well, this is the exception that proves the rule. This is a great, packed module with lots of stuff going on and many different plot threads for players to unravel. There's the mongrelmen and the captive magic-user. There are the yuan-ti, in their first-ever appearance. There are tasloi and bugbears, bullywugs and an aboleth (also making its first appearance). There are multiple ways into the city, all with their own perils. The first part of this adventure was used as a tournament module in 1980, and Dave Cook wrote the rest of the module around that. This 32-page module could have supported a party for months, if not years, of gaming.

If you're wondering why this is so great, I'll simply point you to the two words at the top of each of the modules. Hollow. World. I came really close to putting this in the list, but Volturnus demanded a spot. Still, this trilogy is a full campaign arc that takes characters inside Mystara to the Hollow World and the continent of Iciria. And there, they will encounter monsters and cultures that have been extinct on Mystara's surface for centuries, millennia, and even millions of years. They'll meet and have to deal with Azcans, who are basically Aztecs. They'll find the lost kingdom of Nithia (ancient Egypt), complete with pyramids and the like. They'll journey to an island that has an Indian culture, and I don't mean North American; I mean Indian sub-continent. Oh, and they'll also get involved in an Immortal plot to corrupt magic throughout Mystara, both on the surface and below. This is epic fun.

Alright, that's my honorable mentions. Next up, I'll bring you the grand finale, the all-time greatest adventure I've ever owned, played, or heard of. And believe me, the voting was not even close. I'm sure you already know what it is, because this is everyone's favorite. And no, it's not Keep on the Borderlands.

Top Ten Adventures: #2, DL1 Dragons of Despair

The year is 1984. TSR is now ten years old, and is the undisputed king of RPGs, not only with Dungeons & Dragons, but games in a bunch of other genres. Boot Hill, Metamorphosis Alpha, Gamma World, Top Secret, Star Frontiers, Gangbusters, the new Marvel Super Heroes game...but everything was about to change in a way no one had anticipated.

The top-secret plan was to do something D&D had never done in the previous decade: Base a set of adventures around dragons. It makes sense; the game is called Dungeons & DRAGONS, after all. But when you look through the classic TSR modules, including the ones written by Gary Gygax, you won't find many dragons. And you certainly won't find any taking center stage. So, when Tracy Hickman approached the TSR brass about doing a dragon-based series, they went with it.

This was a huge production; the modules were only a part of it. There were novels, calendars, miniatures, Dragon magazine tie-ins, the works. The trade dress for the modules was unique and eye-catching. The cover art was done by men like Larry Elmore, Clyde Caldwell, and Jeff Easley, who were the second wave of TSR artists following the earlier artists like Erol Otus, Jeff Dee, and Dave Trampier. Margaret Weis came in to help write the novels, the first that TSR would publish. It was a new aesthetic, and it worked. Boy, did it ever.

The first novel, based on the first two adventures of the series, became a New York Times bestseller. And while the second adventure rightly gets labeled a railroad, the first one was a magnificent module that combined storytelling with exploration and mystery, things that D&D had always done well.

Dragons of Despair was the first adventure that not only provided pre-generated characters, but expected you to play with them. Not as much as later adventures would expect (it was just recommended here), but the module flat-out says, 'this is a story' on the first page. And it was the first module that tweaked the rules and made the setting feel different from a normal D&D module. This wasn't Greyhawk; this was Krynn. And the setting had rules to enforce that. No clerical magic, no dragons, gold is worthless, and halflings are now kender, and you will be annoyed by them. They even got new special abilities: Immunity to fear and Taunting. So they could be even more annoying.

I'm sure you know the characters: Tanis Half-Elven, Flint Fireforge, Sturm Brightblade, the twins Raistlin and Caramon Majere, and Tasslehoff Burrfoot, later joined by Goldmoon and Riverwind. In time, they would become legends. Here, they're just mid-level D&D characters ranging from 3rd to 6th. Raistlin is the weak link (in more ways than one); he's just a 3rd-level magic-user. Meanwhile, his twin brother Caramon is a 6th-level fighter with more than four times his brother's hit points. Note that the recommended level range for the characters is 4-6. Raistlin just refuses to conform to expectations.

The 'back story' for this adventure is contained on the backs of the tiny character cards. The party, old friends from the town of Solace, have been wandering for five years, seeking signs of the true gods, and everyone came up empty. Now they've gathered together again, and things are about to change. They meet Goldmoon and Riverwind, fight some hobgoblins, and learn of a mysterious blue crystal staff that mysterious armies are searching for. The party has to escape with the staff and find its resting place, where they will then discover the greatest treasure the world has ever known.

The settings in this adventure alone are evocative and amazing to see. The Darken Wood, which terrifies even the most stalwart of heroes; the village of Solace and the town of Haven, the destruction of Que-Shu, and the ruined city of Xak Tsaroth, buried in a swamp and infested with gully dwarves. And of course, the dragon. An ancient black, Onyx is one hell of a challenge for a party of this level. And this is just the kickoff to the saga.

So, why is this my second-favorite adventure of all time? Oh, there are plenty of reasons. First, as I said, it's the first part of an amazing epic series, but it's playable on its own if you really want to do that. There's a definite beginning and ending here, although there's a final bit of boxed text that hints at what is to come.

Second, the maps. Xak Tsaroth is a brilliant design, a dungeon in three dimensions as there are multiple levels all shown on the same isometric map. The elevator, the gully dwarf king, the tube slide...there's so much here. And the rest of the maps are inspirational, too.

Third...the music. Yes, the music. Remember the Castle of the Blind Sun, that had recommended classical music selections? This one does it one better. There is actual sheet music in this adventure. Seriously! And it's playable and sounds great! I'll prove it to you. Check out a live performance of Goldmoon's Song and tell me that doesn't have you feel the D&D oozing through your veins. There were several other adventures that included music; off the top of my head, I can remember songs in DL2, DL4, and DL8.

Finally, the story itself. It was a different kind of adventure from what we'd seen before then. There were stakes that went beyond 'don't get killed while you're trying to loot the dungeon'. And sure, adventures like Against the Cult of the Reptile God had stakes, but that was local stuff. These stakes were world-shaking. And yes, there were some railroady bits here and there, such as the looming dragon armies that would herd the characters in the right direction if they strayed. But let's be honest, the earlier dungeon modules were often railroady in nature as well. You had to get to the Frost Giant Jarl, or travel through the Underdark in search of the drow, or escape from the dungeon of the Slave Lords wearing nothing but a loincloth. This used the railroad aspects to drive the adventure forward; the cool stuff was in Xak Tsaroth anyway, so why not go there?

Now, I know a lot of people dislike this module because of the change in gameplay that it portended. After all, this was indeed a shift, and it was a very popular one. The sales figures were through the roof. People wanted what Dragonlance was offering, so TSR made sure to give it to them in spades. The location-based sandbox-style was diminished, and storytelling gaming became the thing. Was that a good thing for the hobby? Yes and no. It broadened the game's appeal, but it was a change that many old-schoolers never accepted. To each their own; I'm just going by this particular adventure.

So, that brings us to #1. But before I do that, I'm going to post some honorable mentions, modules that I like a lot but don't quite make it to the top ten. In the meantime, Happy Valentine's Day, and game on.

Top Ten Adventures: #3, The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb (Dungeon 37)

Another 'first' for me, this was the first issue of Dungeon Magazine I ever bought. And boy, was it a good one. There was a yuan-ti lair for mid-level characters, a destroyed wizard's tower for levels 1-3 starring an imp, a Celtic-style adventure hunting a dangerous beast, a side-trek starring some pet leucrotta...and The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb, a high-level (10-14) adventure that rivaled the Tomb of Horrors for player challenge and devastation. I absolutely love this adventure.

Seven or so centuries ago, a cult of magic-users who mixed water and earth magic into a bizarre style of sorcery that earned them the derisive nickname, 'mud sorcerers' from the more sophisticated practitioners of the magical arts. They were students of the long-dead, totally deranged, lunatic wizard-priest Jezule, and they were fanatical about secrecy. Therefore, little was actually known about them except their style of magic.

Oracles predicted the downfall of the cult, so their leadership came up with a plan to thwart this future. The leaders of the mud sorcerers would be entombed in huge, labyrinthine crypts in temporal stasis so as to await a time when their faithful followers would take advantage of the renewed chaos of society and awaken their masters. Unfortunately, a strong leadership rose to power in the region and hunted down the cultists with zeal and ferocity, purging them from the land through execution. Thus, the tombs of the mud sorcerers were forgotten for centuries.

Nice background, isn't it? Apparently, about 30 of these tombs have already been found and plundered, but there are quite a few more that are still hidden. And the lucky player characters get to find one themselves.

Like the Tomb of Horrors, there are some ground rules that will change the tactics of the players, such as wards that prevent spells like teleport and passwall, so the party can't skip ahead. Even blink doesn't work in here. Also, undead can't be destroyed, only turned, and even that is only hedging them out of a 10' radius circle. The Dark Side is strong in here. If the party is casting water or earth-based spells, there's a chance they'll summon a mud grue that will be laser-focused on killing the caster regardless of how many party members get in the way. And divination spells are hindered or reduced in power as well. So, this will be a bit of a slog. Enjoy.

If the party is smart enough to consult a sage before delving into this tomb, they'll get some helpful hints, like 'prepare for lots of poison', and 'expect traps even if you don't find them'. They'll also learn of the cult's predilection for using false sepulchers, which might help them avoid thinking they've cleared the tomb too early.

The main difference between this adventure and the Tomb of Horrors is that this one has more monsters to fight. There are hill giant mummies, a spirit naga, an annis hag, water weirds, a ghost, some clay golems, and more. There's also a neat little twist at the end if the party actually does get all the way to the end and find the actual mud sorcerer's hiding place.

All in all, this is a really fun and dangerous adventure that will test the party's abilities and the skill of the players. It's a great homage to the Tomb, with the addition of clues about an ancient cult that plans to return to wreak havoc on the world. Maybe the party will be inspired to seek out more of these tombs in the future.

Two left! My second-favorite adventure started the greatest campaign in D&D history. I'll tell you all about it next time.

My Top Ten Adventures: #4, N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God

Terror by night! The village of Orlane is dying. Once a small and thriving community, Orlane has become a maze of locked doors and frightened faces. Strangers are shunned, trade has withered. Rumors flourish, growing wilder with each retelling. Terrified peasants flee their homes, abandoning their farms with no explanation. Others simply disappear...

No one seems to know the cause of the decay--why are there no clues? Who skulks through the twisted shadows of the night? Who or what is behind the doom that has overtaken the village? It will take a brave and skillful band of adventurers to solve the dark riddle of Orlane!

This module is designed for 4-7 characters of first through third levels. It includes a map of the village and a description of its buildings and occupants, an overland journey to a challenging underground adventure for especially brave (or foolhardy...) characters, and a list of pre-rolled first-level characters.

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S3 was the first adventure I ever played in; I knew nothing of what was going on. As I got more into the game and bought the Advanced rulebooks, this was the first adventure I ever bought myself. The nasty lizardmen, coupled with the text I copied above from the front cover, was all I needed to plop down my paper-route money and snatch it up. After returning home to read it, I wasn't at all disappointed with what I found inside.

This is a Douglas Niles adventure from 1982. Niles was a prolific contributor to TSR in those days; off the top of my head, I can think of a few things he worked on, such as DL2, Dragons of Flame, the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide, and the War Machine mass combat rules from the BECMI Companion set. I know there's more, but those are the ones I remember the most.

Niles was a proponent of the more 'story-based' gaming style that would come into its full flowering with the Dragonlance Saga. And while this predates that series by two years, it definitely shows hints of that style. This is a mystery, not a hack-and-slash adventure. The party comes upon the town of Orlane, and things are just as bleak as the cover text suggests.

Although the adventure suggests 1st-3rd level characters, I wouldn't take first-level characters into Orlane, especially with beginning players. There is a lot of stuff going on here that the characters won't know anything about, and they're going to have to be very careful to avoid getting caught up in the cult's clutches. Beginners will struggle, no question.

But as an adventure for more experienced players, this is fantastic. Exploring the town will take time and patience, and gaining the trust of any of the townsfolk will be rough going. But there are clues, and there are allies to be found if the party is cautious and clever.

The first part of the adventure takes place in Orlane, where the party first has to discover the existence of a cult that is kidnapping villagers and bringing them to the 'reptile god', the spirit naga Explictica Defilus. There, they are either charmed by the naga's gaze, or they are killed and thrown to the reptiles or reanimated as zombies. Either way, it's not good. Those who are charmed return to the town to swell the ranks of the cult; by the time the party arrives, about one-quarter of the populace are now cultists, including the constable, the blacksmith, and the entire staff (and clientele) of the Golden Grain Inn. Oh, and the temple's priests are also converts. Good luck with the healing.

Assuming the party is able to gain information on the cult and make some friends in town (including a ranger and a reclusive wizard), they can discover that the cult's headquarters is in the Rushmoors to the east. They might, if they are persuasive and in sufficient need, convince the reclusive wizard, Ramne, to accompany them on the journey. Sort of like Gandalf, except he's old and decrepit and will slow the party down significantly on the journey. But his magic might be the only thing that keeps the party alive.

Once they get into the moors, there are encounters to be had before they find the cult's lair. Inside, they will have a two-level dungeon to explore, parts of which are underwater, and the entire thing is inescapably damp and smelly. There are cultists as well as prisoners down here, along with troglodytes, harpies and crocodiles. Eventually, they will come face-to-face with the evil serpent, and it is here that Ramne will prove his mettle as he has both a minor globe of invulnerability and a dispel magic spell to offset the naga's magic. Because she's got a fireball, and she's not afraid to use it. I don't need to tell you what a 5-dice fireball can do to a low-level party, do I?

Ramne will be the party's ace in the hole; he'll throw a lightning bolt if he can, but his primary purpose (aside from the globe) will be to dispel the naga's charm magic if she gets too many party members with it. But they are still going to have to take her on in melee to beat her, and she's more than happy to oblige. She is, after all, a spirit naga with 9 HD and a poison bite, so if she's not feeling the magic, she'll chew them up. Literally. This will be a tough fight, to say the least; 3rd-level characters stand a much better chance.

If the party survives and defeats the naga, Orlane is saved. The cultists will all be freed from the charm, and while it will take time for people to regain the trust and friendship they once had, it might still be possible. And of course, the party will be recognized as heroes for their efforts.

So, what did I like about this adventure? The mystery, of course, and the epic feel of that final battle. For a low-level party, this is like fighting a dragon; all that's missing is the breath weapon. The treasure is quite generous, but not excessive. And this adventure covers all the basics: town adventuring, wilderness, and dungeon.

One odd note, though: Despite being charmed and worshiping the naga as a goddess, the clerics in the temple are still getting spells from somewhere, and not just the low-level ones that only require meditation and rest; Abrama, the highest-level cleric in the Temple (7th level) is still casting 3rd- and 4th-level spells. So, what deity is backing the naga's play and giving her clerics spells? There's a question to ponder...

And there it is. I still have my top three to go, and #3 will be yet another Dungeon magazine entry. I'll see you then.

My Top Ten Adventures: #5, XS2 Thunderdelve Mountain

One of the disadvantages of being very non-social is that D&D is a social game. And sometimes it's difficult to find a group of people to play with. Fortunately, D&D did release a few modules designed for solo play, such as Blizzard Pass, Lathan's Gold, and Mystery of the Snow Pearls.. This is the best of the bunch: Thunderdelve Mountain.

This adventure is written for a solo dwarf, between levels 7 and 9. The goal is to rescue the lost Keeper of the Force of a dwarven stronghold that was attacked and destroyed by a fyrnasca, an underground flame serpent. Simple, yes? Well, not so much.

This is a 'choose-your-own-adventure' type of module, with numbered entries for you to follow (if you go east, go to entry 25; if you go west, go to entry 54, etc.). There are six pre-generated characters, and a blank map that you can fill in as you explore; the rooms are drawn out in the entries where you first enter them. In addition, there is a runic alphabet, along with a bunch of inscriptions for you to translate that will give you clues as to what lies ahead in your explorations.

The adventure also has an 'Event Log' that keeps track of things that happen; if you kill the creature in room 74, for example, you mark off Event C in the log. Later on, you might be given a choice based on an event you may or may not have completed. It gives the story a good, organic feel as you go through and actually see results and consequences of what you've done.

The adventure is actually in two parts; there's the 'rescue the Keeper' part, but there's also an ancient artifact, the Hammer of Vitroin, that wants you to kill the fyrnasca. And since it's an intelligent weapon, it can take over your will and force you to obey. Even that is handled well in the game, though, and it doesn't limit your player agency except that you just can't leave the place until you've killed the beastie or died trying.

Since this is a BECMI module, don't expect the pregen characters to have stellar stats; two of them have Constitution scores of 10, and one of them has no scores outside the average range of 9-12. But, they're dwarves, so they automatically have great saving throws, and they're all tough fighters. Any of them has the potential to succeed in the adventure if you are careful.

So, what do I like about this adventure? First, the atmosphere. This is Wagner meets Tolkien at the Sword-and-Sorcery Tavern. Sometimes it feels like you're in the Mines of Moria; there's a definite gloom about the whole place. Second, the runic writings scattered around. They are conveniently collected on a back page (and the back foldout of the module cover), and while it takes time to translate them, it's worth the effort. As I mentioned earlier, there are clues and warnings as to what awaits ahead in these runewords, so don't skip them.

Finally, it's fun to just relax and play a solo game once in a while. Not a lot of RPGs offer solo play, so it's nice to not only have that type of adventure available, but to have one of this quality. And yes, there are suggestions for group play as well, but it's recommended that you play through the solo adventure first before running it for a group. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to take Goin Cleftfist on an adventure.

My Top Ten Adventures: #6, Tallow's Deep (Dungeon 18)

Dungeon Magazine provided a lot of entertaining adventures over the years, across all editions up to 3.5. It also provided a lot of slop that didn't read well and played just as poorly. But sometimes, there is an adventure that really grabs you and gets back to the old-school feel of 'the DM against the players'. And here was a great one: Tallow's Deep, a 1st edition adventure for levels 4-7. And this adventure answered the question, 'if goblins are such wimps, why are there so many of them?' Turns out that the answer is, 'they aren't wimps'.

Back in Dragon magazine 127 there was a legendary editorial called 'Tucker's Kobolds'. It was about a sadistic DM whose kobolds were deadlier than dragons despite having d4 hit points. He used them tactically, and gave the kobolds enough of a cunning strategy that they could wipe out even high-level parties by using traps and ambushes. This adventure did the same thing for goblins.

The adventure starts off with the party arriving at a small frontier mining town which has fallen on hard times. Turns out that the silver mine was near a goblin lair, and when the miners broke through, the goblins wiped them out. Then they wiped out the search party that went to find the miners. Now, the townsfolk are scared to death and need adventurers to clear out the goblins.

However, these goblins have carefully studied Sun Tzu and Clausewitz, and they are loaded for bear. Imagine the Vietnam War, except you're in a series of tunnels that are too small for you (unless you're a halfling or gnome). And the enemy is hitting you from all sides...including above. Ever had a dozen giant centipedes drop on your head? A better analogy might be the Mines of Moria, except the rooms are a lot smaller. Balin's Tomb is your destination, complete with suspenseful drumming as the goblins hunt you down. Murder holes, arrow slits...the goblins are ready and waiting.

There's no heavy plot here; there's no big bad to fight at the end. However, there are 85 goblins in a single room, including their leader, Grishog and his pet worg (along with six others). The one saving grace the party might have in this room is that 1st-edition fighters can attack one goblin a round per level (a 5th-level fighter can attack five goblins in a single round). And after that, there's a long, dark passage that leads to goblin undercities where the Goblin King is planning war on the surface...

There is some nice treasure to be found at the end, but many parties won't ever get to it; the traps and ambushes are lethal and intended to be so. To beat this adventure will require tactical skill, tremendous fortitude, intelligent spellcasting, and no small amount of luck. This is a meat-grinder of an adventure, sort of like the Tomb of Horrors but with more monsters and fewer no-save traps.

So, why do I like it? Because I like all those things. I had a party go through this adventure with only one survivor, and he was lucky to get out alive. He was a gray elf fighter/magic-user, with all the arrogance that goes with that race. Well, the arrogance went away in a hurry after this nightmare of an adventure. Dwarves and gnomes would love this adventure, of course, and it could lead to a military campaign as the goblins come storming out of the lower caverns to destroy the local settlements and wage war on the surface folk.

Next time, I'll head back to the BECMI line for an adventure that bears some similarities to this one.

My Top Ten Adventures: #7, SF0-2, The Volturnus Trilogy

I never specified they were all D&D adventures, did I?

Sorry about the delay; I literally worked twenty hours in the kitchen yesterday preparing for two farmer's markets today, so I didn't get a chance to post. But despite exhaustion, I'm making this post so I don't fall two days behind.

Anyway, the Volturnus trilogy is for the Star Frontiers game. Or, for those who bought it after 1982, the Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn boxed set. Star Frontiers was a science fiction game that really hearkened back to the pulp science fiction adventure stories. Not the sterile, 'men with screwdrivers' stories of Astounding and Asimov, but the action-packed adventures of planetary romance, or E.E. Doc Smith's Skylark in Space and Lensman series. The stuff that inspired Star Wars.

The original Star Frontiers (and later Alpha Dawn) was not focused on spaceships at all; that wouldn't happen until the release of the Knight Hawks boxed set. Rather, it was more in line with the stories of John Carter of Mars, or Leigh Brackett's planetary stories. Spaceships did exist, of course, but they were abstract; they were ways to get to where the adventures actually were. Alpha Dawn was about Tatooine and Endor, not X-Wings and Tie Fighters.

As was customary for TSR's boxed set games of the era, an introductory adventure was included. It was SF-0, Crash on Volturnus. It came wrapped in a map of a part of a starship that was the transport vessel taking the PCs to another place; there's a pirate attack, and the PCs are forced to abandon ship. Their escape pod is damaged, and they crash on an unknown world, which is Volturnus.

The rest of the module involves finding a way to survive in the hostile desert environment, and the party will encounter the Ul-Mor, a primitive alien race that will take the party in and allow them to join the tribe if they pass a test. Before they get to that, however, they have to pass through an underground cavern complex, and of course there's an earthquake and they are separated from their guides, and have to make their way through the complex alone. TSR's dungeon crawling roots die hard, don't they?

So, they eventually pass the caverns and the test, and become part of the Ul-Mor tribe. This leads to the following adventures, where the party discovers a threat to the planet and must unite the other indigenous tribes of Volturnus, including the Kurabanda and the Edestekai, in order to fight off a Sathar invasion. They can also encounter two other races: The Mechanon, a highly-advanced robotic race, and the Eorna, who are evolved dinosaurs and are the remnants of an advanced technological civilization. Assuming the PCs can get these disparate groups to get along, they have a chance to fight off the Sathar. But it won't be easy.

So, what do I love about this series? As I said, it is a tribute to the pulp stories of old, and I love those pulp stories. There's a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense; why are the Eorna so weak, or how did these different forms of life all develop sentience on this world? And you know what? It doesn't matter. Who cares? It's FUN. And it really captures the essence of what the Star Frontiers boxed set was trying to convey. It's not hard sci-fi; it's entertaining sci-fi. The science serves the story, not the other way around.

Plus, Star Frontiers was a great science fiction game for kids and teens. It wasn't nearly as hardcore as Traveller, nor did it have the philosophical depth of Star Trek. The goal was playability and fun, and it succeeded at that. I think it would have had a much longer shelf life had Gary Gygax not lost control of the company to someone who owned the Buck Rogers IP and thus canned Star Frontiers while it was just getting a facelift.

And that's it for this one. I'll get back to D&D again next time with another obscure but awesome adventure from Dungeon Magazine.

My Top Ten Adventures: #8, The Castle of the Blind Sun

Well, I never said they were specifically modules, did I? This 2nd edition adventure appears in Dungeon #49, and was the cover feature for the magazine that month. The origins of the adventure are quite interesting; it started with some pieces of art. The story is detailed in the editorial, but basically it was an attempt to reverse the normal process of adventure design, where an artist would interpret the writings of the author. Now, the artist would provide the pictures, and an author would write an adventure around them. The result was this adventure. It's a high-level affair, for levels 10-15, and a bard is highly recommended.

So, the Castle of the Blind Sun is the home of a high-level bard named Gangwolf, who as he aged lost his sight. His friend, the wizard Kamalotus, helped design a castle that would sustain the bard in his retirement, while being invisible and incorporeal to those outside of its walls. The only time it would be accessible was during a solar eclipse.

Unfortunately for Gangwolf, a charlatan named Octavia tricked her way into the castle and poisoned him. He died a week later, and Octavia now has the run of the place. However, she can't get to the treasure; it's too well guarded, and she's just a bard, albeit a high-level one. However, there are other treasures in a bard's castle: Compositions! She would be the greatest bard in the world thanks to those unknown masterpieces.

There's more background involving elves and a magical recorder, but basically, the party gets involved because of one of the peasants on their land tells the court that the swamp to the west is now a beautiful forest, and a blue-feathered griffon ate one of his cows. Clearly, sorcery is to blame.

The swamp was actually a disguised elven forest. If the party investigate, they'll end up captured by an elven priestess who has a blue-feathered griffon in tow. Turns out that the griffon is actually a polymorphed elf, and the priestess needs the party's help in freeing him and restoring the swampy disguise of the forest. They find the ruined tower that belonged to the wizard who built the castle (and disguised the elven forest), but he's long dead thanks to a retributive strike (he broke his staff of the magi in a fight with his rival) that blew up the tower. However, there is a music box that is a key to the Castle of the Blind Sun.

Eventually, the party will get into the Castle, where they will meet Adagio, the flesh golem butler. The whole castle is a wondrous place, filled with the treasures and memorabilia of a high-level adventurer, including an actual grand piano (imported from another world via spelljamming ship). Sweet! Anyway, eventually they will have to deal with Octavia. It is possible to resurrect Gangwolf, but Octavia did feed his body to a pack of harpies, so it might be tough to track down his actual bones to do it.

So, what's so awesome about this adventure? Is it the fact that I think bards are really cool? No. Is it that the antagonist is diabolically clever? No. Is it the castle itself and how amazing the whole thing is? No. Is it the encounters? No.

So, what is it?

Well, it's that this was the first adventure I ever read that came with a soundtrack. I'm a classical music aficionado, and this adventure is peppered with recommended music for different scenes. Most of the suggestions I recognized and can see how they fit; some of them were less familiar, but I tracked them down nonetheless. For example, when the party starts exploring the elven forest, the recommended music is "Summer" from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. What a great mood setter! And when they explore the ruins of the wizard's tower and encounter the spectre that used to be his rival, it's Night on Bald Mountain from Modest Moussorgsky (that's the one at the end of Disney's Fantasia). When the party encounters the aforementioned harpies? Richard Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries (also known as 'Kill da Wabbit' for you Looney Tunes fans). There are nearly a dozen of these recommendations, and they really add to the mood of the adventure.

So, yeah. As an adventure, it has some interesting parts, but it's not a classic that will be remembered like Tomb of Horrors or Temple of Elemental Evil. Still, that music elevates it to a different level, all the way into my top ten.

Next, I'm going to go way off the beaten path. See you then.

My Top Ten Adventures: #9, B1 In Search of the Unknown

I'll preface this one by saying that if anyone is expecting to find the successor to this module, Keep on the Borderlands, on my list, you will be disappointed. I may be the only gamer on the planet who doesn't like that module, but that's okay. It's responsible for my least-favorite gaming memory, which I won't get into. Suffice it to say that in my opinion, this module was a much better introductory adventure for beginners than B2.

B1, In Search of the Unknown, is one of the earliest adventure modules ever published by TSR. Written by Mike Carr (his only D&D credit), it was included in later editions of the first Basic D&D Set (Holmes Basic, first published in 1977). It was designed as a way to introduce players and Dungeon Masters to the game in a way that gave the DM a certain amount of agency in setting up the encounters within the structure of the module. It was first published in late 1978, with a monochrome cover (the cover above is the new trade dress, first printed in 1981). By 1979, however, it had been replaced in the Basic set by the Keep on the Borderlands.

Modern gamers would have a tough time with this module; it's got absolutely no plot to it. It's just a couple of large maps of an abandoned adventurers' stronghold, originally built by the legendary adventurers Roghan and Zelligar, who disappeared years ago on some adventure. Now the characters have found a map leading to this abandoned place, where they can seek their fortune among the vast treasures that surely lie within.

And that's it. No one to rescue, no Mcguffin to find, nothing. It's just an exploratory adventure where you look for things to kill and take their stuff, the way D&D was meant to be. This hearkens back to the pulp adventures that inspired the game, where Conan or Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser would be seeking mysterious treasures. And while it's not the pulpiest adventure TSR produced, it certainly gave a clear idea of the style of game that was expected at the time. Sure, the DM could certainly put something in the complex that the characters need to find, but that's entirely on the DM, not something the module expects.

So, what made this such a great introduction to the game, and why do I wish I'd started with this instead of last night's adventure? Well, this one gives a lot of advice for DMs. Six pages of it, in fact, at the start of the module, and the text is dense. Subjects such as module preparation, time, experience points, effective DMing tactics, a legend table...it's all there, stuff to help a beginning DM get his feet underneath him before running a game for players. There's a bit of background, some of which can be related to the players as rumors and stories about the caverns of Quasqueton (pronounced KAS-ke-tawn by me). The maps are supposed to be fairly easy to map, although the caverns on the second level will be a pain.

At the back of the adventure is the player's section. It's just one page, back and front, so it can be removed from the module and passed to the players. It includes basic tips on game play, as well as background on the adventure that they would have heard about. Oh, and there are also a bunch of named characters for them to pick from if they want to just grab-and-go. Of course, it only gives the character's name and class, so there's no idea as to what their stats might be. Those appear earlier, and there are twelve for each of the four classes (seven, including the races). So, you might decide that you want to play a cleric, and Wilberd the Silent looks like a name you would want. The DM then looks up Wilberd's stats on his list, and there you go. Wilberd actually has decent stats, by the way. These lists can also be used for hirelings and henchmen, if the party decides to hire them. So, there's lots of great advice for beginners on both sides of the DM's screen.

The main feature of this module, though, is that the monsters and treasure aren't placed; that's for the DM to do. Each room is given a description (and occasionally a very small treasure, like a comb worth 1 gold piece or a coin in a drawer), but no inhabitants. Instead, there is a list of monsters in the back that the DM can choose from. And he is expected to put no more than 16 to 20 of them in the module, leaving some out altogether. Bear in mind, there are 56 rooms (or caverns) in this module, so only about a third of them will have any monsters to fight. This leaves plenty of stuff to explore without having o fight for your life.

The treasures are also listed in the back, ranging from as small as 20 silver pieces all the way up to magical weapons and armor. There are 34 of them, but only about 20 should be placed in the module. And the DM has free reign to put anything, monster or treasure, anywhere he wants in the complex. And while the rooms don't come with monsters and treasure, there are some classic and memorable rooms here for players to discover. There's the classic Pool Room, with fourteen pools of liquid, some of which are magical, some of which are deadly...and the only way to find out is to either dip your finger in or taste it. Good luck. There's also the teleporting room, the garden, and the cavern of the mystical stone, for example. All of these will test the characters in some way, and all can be customized for the DM's needs.

It's a Basic module, so it's for character levels 1-3. However, this is a true beginner module; 1st-level characters are the best choice, simply because the challenges here aren't generally going to be overwhelming. Even the toughest monsters on the list (the ochre jelly and the black widow spider) don't have to be included if the DM doesn't want to. So, even if a player has the module and reads through it, there's absolutely no way for them to know where to expect monsters and treasure, because the DM stocks it himself. And no two expeditions are going to be the same.

So, why is this #9 on my list? Aside from all of the above, as I said, it's probably the best introductory module D&D ever had. Yes, it's better than Keep on the Borderlands. This module strips the game down to its most essential form: the dungeon crawl. In a sense, it's a mini-megadungeon, with only two levels to explore. However, enterprising DMs can certainly expand it if they want to; who knows how deep Rogahn and Zelligar delved while building and expanding the Caverns of Quasqueton? This is the adventure I used to teach my son to play D&D, too. So, it deserves a place on this list for that reason alone.

My Top 10 Adventures: #10, S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks

I've seen a few countdown videos about people's favorite RPG adventures, and I decided it was time I did one of my own. I'm going to limit this to TSR products, so no 3rd edition adventures; those would be discussed on my other blog anyway. So, these are old-school adventures, starting with the very first D&D adventure I ever played in.

Old-school gamers are looking at this like, 'that's where you started?!' Yes, it is. When I was twelve, my parents decided I need to get a (social) life. My father heard about a Dungeons & Dragons club at the local library. Despite my lack of interest in a social life, he brought me to the library and got directions to the room where the club was meeting. Turns out it was just one small group of players, a couple of whom I knew from school; the others were much older, being in high school and clearly far more wise and experienced than I was.

So, this was in 1982. The 1st edition Dungeon Masters Guide was on the table, and old-school gamers know that there is a section in that book that talks about introducing new players to the game by giving them a separate adventure where they can learn the basics as a low-level character. This was not how I was introduced to the game. Instead, I was handed a small strip of paper that had been cut out of a book that had some arcane writing on it. I reproduce it below:

Any old-schoolers recognize that? Fortunately, they at least took the time to write out what the various numbers meant: Lvl, S, I, W, D, C, Ch, Align, AC, HP, and Move. Perfectly clear to the neophyte gamer, right? I had absolutely no clue what I was doing there. And as you might guess by the picture at the top of this post, we were in the buried spaceship underneath the Barrier Peaks. Yes, my very first experience in fantasy role-playing was in a science-fiction spaceship. I love the 80s so much.

So, what do I remember about this? Not a lot; as I said, I had no clue what we were doing. I had never seen a rulebook. I had never seen any dice that weren't six-sided. And they didn't really give me much to work with. I do remember the vegepygmies and the lasers. The library did have a copy of the old Moldvay Basic rulebook on hand, but the group (who were, as I mentioned, much older and wiser) told me that wasn't the 'real' rules. After all, they were playing Advanced D&D. Well, I was a beginner, so I borrowed the Basic book from the library and read through it in a couple of days. It was absolutely fascinating, although I didn't see any vegepygmies in there, nor did I see any laser pistols. Still, it was amazing, and set me on a life-long journey of fantastic adventure and imagination.

So, why is this module on my list? Because it was the first. And I found a copy of it in a pawn shop in Charlottetown last summer, so of course I had to get it. It's the only 1st edition product I currently own. But it is a wild ride of an adventure regardless of my own nostalgia. There's not a lot of treasure in there, certainly not in comparison with other high-level adventures of that era. In fact, there is not a single magic item within. That's not surprising, since it is a long-buried spaceship, after all. But the monsters...oh, the monsters within. Aside from the vegepygmies, this module also introduced the aurumvorax, bloodthorn, choke creeper, forester's bane, froghemoth, russet mold, brown pudding, squealer, tri-flower frond, twilight bloom, webbird, and the wolf-in-sheep's-clothing. All of these would eventually be included in the Monster Manual II. More than half of these are plant monsters, which is pretty cool. After all, when even the local flora are hostile, it's definitely a wild adventure location.

Oh, and that character up above that I had no idea how to play? He's from the G-series of modules, appearing as one of the pre-generated characters for the original tournament. And as silly as the name is, don't blame me; I just played him.