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Table Manners -Preparing for a Hyborian Campaign 21:03.496
 
Game Mechanics – Limiting magic and magical items in Hyboria 50:26.141
 
Creature Feature Theater – Nika  1:02:17.592
RS1 Red Sonja Unconquered pg

The Dragon’s Hoard – Belt of Marcol 1:10:05.617
RS1 Red Sonja Unconquered Module pg

Outro – 1:19:53.597
Hyborian Age D20 Campaign Site – hyboria.xoth.net/

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I had the honor to sit down with her and interview her on the Save or Die Podcast, located saveordie.info/?p=173

Sage Advice 36:42.396
Seeking Sage Advice? Contact RFI via our call in line 570-865-4210 or
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From Tim, “Does AD&D 1E have rules on Exorcisms? and if so, would a cleric be able to use it versus a demon or devil?”

Player’s Handbook pg 48
Bastion’s of Faith

From John, “is there a Necromancer Class for 1E? or do players just have to do the whole Evil cleric control undead to pretend he is playing one?”

White Dwarf Issues 35-36

dangerousbrian.blogspot.com/search/label/Oriental%20Adventures

MegaPowersDude: “Can you tell me about Snow Elves? I remember reading an article about it in dragon a long time ago, and was wondering what the difference was between that and normal elves..”
“In the Frost and the Snow” Dragon Magazine Issue 155 pg 26

Table Manners – Kensai 50:37.005
Oriental Adventures pg 16

Armor of the Far East – Dragon Magazine Issue 31 pg 23
Arrows of the Far East – Dragon Magazine Issue 146 pg 80
A Step Beyond: Shogun – Dragon Magazine Issue 122 pg 18
Oriental Adventures: Class Combinations – Dragon Magazine Issue 289 pg 80
Update Oriental Adventures Eastern Flavor – Dragon Magazine Issue 318 pg 32
Earn Those Heirlooms – Dragon Magazine 151 pg 22
Sou-Swords and Spirit-Slayers Dragon Magazine Issue 198 pg 82
Lords and Legends – Dragon Magazine Issue 123 pg 42

Game Mechanics – Using the “Fate Spell” 1:03:15.219
Oriental Adventures pg65

Creature Feature Theatre – Shan Sao 1:12:55.797
Oriental Adventures pg 127

Dragons Hoard – Minyan 1:19:50.532
Oriental Adventures pg 134

10Foot Pole / Outro – 1:26:37.368
In a fight to the death (or worse to suffer the fate of the Drider), which dark elf would win? The Greyhawk Drow or the Forgotten Realms Drow?

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Sage Advice – 11:00.409
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Table Manners – Gnomes 16:41.199
Player’s Handbook pg 16

“Gnomish Point of View” – Dragon Magazine Issue 61 pg 28
“All about Krynn’s Gnomes” – Dragon Magazine Issue 103 pg 18
“Gods of the Gnomes” – Dragon Magazine Issue 61 pg 31

Game Mechanics – Cursed weapons 33:51.340

Beware of Quirks and Curses” Dragon Magazine 34 pg 30
Nasty Additions to the DM’s Arsenal Dragon Magazine Issue 77 pg 20

Creature Feature Theater – The Roper 46:43.833
Monster Manual pg 83
“Ecology of the Roper” – Dragon Issue 232 pg 42

The Dragon’s Hoard – Efreeti Bottle – 56:34.297
Dungeon Master’s Guide pg 143
Monster Manual pg 37

Outro / 10 Foot Poll 1:05:58.000

“You’ve just run into the Big Bad Evil Guy at the climax of your adventure and the fighters are charging into battle…what 3rd level spell will the Magic-User cast first?”
 A. Fireball (who cares if the warriors get a little singed)
 B. Protection from Evil, 10′ Radius (Those guys are going to need a little help in their melee)
 C. Monster Summoning I (Let’s get some expendable pawns into the game)
 D. Haste (Let’s get this over with more quickly)

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B4 – The Lost City by Tom Moldvay

I have hosted this module only a few times in the past 25 years or so simply on the premise that it is not one of my favorites as a desert adventure. It does lack some critical components to make it a fun desert adventure but that will be covered later on as I review it.

THEME: The basic theme of the module is that the player characters are travelling in a desert, eventually discovering an ancient, but abandoned (thus far) city, exploring a large mysterious pyramid, finding the underground city teeming with life, and encountering some very strange people of a dying civilization. The module’s introduction basically has it already set that the player characters are part of a desert caravan until a terrible sandstorm struck resulting in the separation of the player characters from the caravan. As the party travels lost through the desert, they eventually will come across the remains of an ancient and ruined city apparently devoid of any life except for the occasional desert reptile or insect. As the players explore the ruined city, they will find a huge pyramid that juts from the landscape and it beckons the players forward in which they will find a secret door that allows them entrance inside. As the party explores the interior of this 5-tier pyramid, they will encounter hostile monsters, deadly traps, and a bunch of factions of humans who can be friends or enemies of the player characters depending how they react to their presence. Eventually, as the players continue to explore the pyramid, they will find passage to the hidden city underneath the burning sands of the desert. The underground city is a special extended part of the adventure and it will be covered later on in this review.

NPC’s: As stated earlier, there are a couple of factions that reside within the pyramid. These factions are the dying remnants of the civilization that built the city in the desert and the city under the ground. The civilization of the Cynidiceans is explained briefly from its birth to its eventual decline. The fall of the civilization was preceded by the heavy use of hallucinogenic drugs/wines and the rise of a mysterious evil(?) cult that wreaked havoc among the citizens and the infrastructure of the city. The cult worshipped some horrible monster named Zargon and considered it some form of god of which they sacrificed human victims to it in horrible ceremonies. As the city on top of the surface begin to decline due to the chaos created by the cult and Zargon, invading barbarians attacked the city in its weakened condition and those Cynidiceans who survived were forced to retreat to the catacombs underneath the pyramid. From there, they lived in a huge cavern sustained by a large lake and underground vegetation. Eventually, the destroyed city was reclaimed by the desert and covered in sand and forgotten in the passage of time.

The surviving Cynidiceans lived for generations underground and begin to change in appearance due to lack of exposure to the sun. Their skin is very pale and they managed to evolve with infravision to see in the darker environment. When encountered, they are normally all the time wearing highly decorated stylized masks usually of an animal or a human face. They wear fancy clothes, pretty jewelry (cosmetic), and carry short swords. The use of the hallucinogenic drugs/wines is still very prevalent among the surviving but decreasing populations of Cynidiceans.

Each of the factions will have a different reaction to the player characters as they are encountered and there will be opportunities for the players to join a faction if they see fit to do so. The DM will have to really know how each faction will react to the players and adjudicate each scenario when these factions are encountered. Player’s reaction to the factions will vary as well but it can be handled in two different ways. When I hosted this module, I had the players learn some of the history of desert region they were in with a smitter and a smatter of ancient civilizations. Other DMs can just throw them into the mix with no knowledge whatsoever and let them role with their actions. Either way will do.

AREA MAP: The module is broken into three specific parts when it comes to the area where the players will be exploring. The first part is the half-buried ancient ruins in the desert. The second part is the huge pyramid on the surface in the ruined city. Finally, the third part is the underground city.

The ancient city on top of the desert is very easy to explore and not much detail has been given to it therefore allowing a DM to expound on it if he/she desires. The weakness in this module is that point alone because it more or less forces the players to head directly to the large pyramid where the majority of all the action is going to take place. When I hosted this module the few times I ran it, I created a decent sized ruined city with ruined and almost destroyed buildings. I allowed the players to explore these ruins as much as possible while fighting a few creatures here and there and finding some minor loot and such.

The huge pyramid is the meat and bones of the module. It is comprised of 10 tiers HOWEVER the module suggests only the 1-5 tiers as a normal adventure with tiers 6-10 being an expanded portion of the pyramid. The encounters on the first 5 tiers are simple to medium in difficulty but the encounters on tiers 6-10 are VERY dangerous and can equate into a TPK. A DM needs to be very judicious as far as how the players are to proceed on tiers 6-10.

The underground city is comprised of 19 areas. The players will encounter a variety of monsters in these areas plus the stronghold areas of the various factions that may be encountered by the players.

LENGTH OF MODULE: This module is not a short module. There are a lot of role-playing opportunities and that alone will certainly lengthen the time to complete the adventure. Back in the day when I hosted this adventure, my friends played on Friday nights and all day on Saturdays and it took them a good three weekends to complete it.

BOXED TEXT: This module comes with boxed text. Unlike most modules that have boxed text, it is imperative that a DM really read this module thoroughly anyways. There are a lot of unknown variables due to the number of factions that can be encountered in this module.

MONSTER GENERATION: This module has some critical issues missing or wrong with it as far as monsters are concerned. First, where are the desert monsters and/or creatures??? There are none. This was probably done so that the DM will force the players into the pyramid much faster than usual and allowing less time to get familiar with their surroundings. As a DM, I created my own wandering monster chart for desert encounters and allowing the players to explore the top part of the ruined city for a few days and nights. What is up with some of the monsters in the giant pyramid? The party will encounter sprites, white apes, ogres, killer bees, a giant gecko, and a few others that are very highly unlikely to be found in such a place like a pyramid in the middle of a desert. In the underground city, there are goblin and hobgoblin communities. Some of these things really did not make sense but a good DM will either roll with the punches or adjust by replacing some of the flawed elements as far as monsters are concerned.

GAME CONVENTION POSSIBILITIES: Highly unlikely considering the heavy role-playing element.

SUMMARY: Overall, this is a good module. It serves its purpose well and introduces a lot of good role-playing elements not normally found in other modules. There are some good combat portions and with the extended adventure hooks, make it more a very challenging and deadly module. The desert environment is a fun place to adventure with many diverse opportunities both beneficial and dangerous to the party as a whole. The role-playing opportunities among the various factions will provide lots of enjoyment provided they are utilized properly. One of the better points of this module is the section that has a bunch of alternate options for the DM to use for reasons for the players to explore The Lost City. Plenty of opportunities and plenty of ideas presented in the module coupled with the unlimited imagination of a DM can make playing in this module a memorable event.

GREEN VERSION and ORANGE VERSION: This review is on the Green Version of the module reprinted in 1981. There is also an Orange version of the module and it has an interesting history. The Orange version has different monsters and some rooms of note within that made it infamous (and eventually pulled from being sold). I will cover more of the Orange version later on in this review.

Like B2 – Keep on the Borderlands, I have played in this module about 2 dozen times and DM’ed it about 3 to 4 dozen times in the past 30 years or so. This is perhaps one of my favorite modules because this is what adventurers are born to do; slay evil monsters, find great treasures, and save the princess and her kingdom from the bad guys. This module is for player characters levels 1-3 and more experienced players. Since I run the majority of my modules in the Forgotten Realms, I did some special things with this module I rarely do with any other that I have hosted as a DM. The events of the module will take place 500 years in the past in another location far from where the adventurers are currently at. The “protector” of this mystical land known as Haven does not exist in the current timeline of the player characters. It is less a myth than anything else since nothing exists of this former civilization and its peaceful inhabitants. So, Thendera, the Protector of Haven, will meet with all of the player characters individually in their dreams when they are sleeping in an inn or even near a campfire in the wilderness. I will pass each player the “background” which basically gives the players some idea of this place called Haven, the peaceful and benevolent Princess Argenta, the dwarves of Haven and their finding of a huge red ruby the size of a fist, a fateful wedding day, a terrible disaster at midnight, and an invasion of evil humanoids. From there, Thendera will plead for help short of begging the players. If they accept, they will be instantly teleported back to the past in the middle of a road that leads to the Palace of the Silver Princess.

NOTE: As a player of this module, there have been numerous issues with how Thendera’s expectations would conflict with the party as a whole. First off, this is not a dungeon crawl where one can just explore the castle and its rooms and loot the place of all treasure and not expect some type of dismay at that behavior. The players might be looked at as thieves and looters and face quick and certain punishment for their crimes. Another issue was dealing with the evil humanoids and other monsters in the castle. Do the players slay every evil creature with no mercy or can they take some who surrender as prisoners and let the Princess deal with them if she is saved from the evil threat? So, as I can recall a few times, players simply looted the palace as they explored and of course, killed most of the monsters encountered without any chance of parlaying or role-playing. This is fine and the DM should take appropriate action once the Princess is saved and she realizes what the so called “heroes” have done. As I usually play LG characters, I have reminded players that this is a rescue mission, not a free-for-all and loot as we explore.

As a DM, I gave the Protector a more terse tone as she explained the situation of Haven. I even went far enough to tell the players that they must slay all evil creatures if they cannot be driven away. The Protector made it clear they can keep what treasures the monster carried but not destroy or vandalize the castle or they are just as worse as those evil creatures. If there was a paladin in the party, she charged him/her to ensure there was order and discipline under threat of severe punishment from the Princess and her guards. There is a lot of loose treasure in this module so looting the castle is not even worth the trouble if captured at the end when the Princess is freed. If she is rescued and learns that the players were very greedy, she must just give them a simple thanks and tell them to leave the lands since their kind are not desired there. Experience points gained from treasure can be denied if the loot is part of the castle and not of the encounter itself.

THEME: This module has a very simple theme. The kind and benevolent Princess Argenta who lives in a castle that shines likes silver when the sun sets on it has disappeared after a huge explosion rocks its edifice. A ruby red glow surrounds the palace and slowly spreads outward throughout the lands of Haven killing all plant and animal life that dares enter it. After the mysterious explosion at the castle which destroyed parts of its walls, a huge invasion of evil humanoids raided the countryside and made residence within the broken walls of the palace. The countryside is in disarray, the common populace is confused, and even the great “protectors” have seemed to disappear.

The chain of events that led to all of the chaotic events came from the dwarves of Haven finding a huge red ruby. The RED RUBY contains a powerful and evil entity known as Arik. Arik is a very evil being who was at times worshipped as an evil god. Because of his evil nature and crimes, Arik was punished by the Protectors and banished to a magical dimension within the RED RUBY effectively making it his prison. When the red ruby was brought to the palace by the unsuspecting dwarves as a gift to Princess Argenta, it was then that Arik made his move to take over Haven by sending in the invasion of evil monsters led by an evil cleric and cover the countryside with the poisonous red glow.

The Protectors have sent Thendera to find a group of good adventurers and bring them to this timeline to hopefully defeat the evil machinations of Arik, the evil cleric, and the evil monsters in the castle.

NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS: The players will encounter a few NPC’s in this module. Some have been driven insane by the power of the evil that has taken over the castle, others are just foraging for loot, some are led by the evil cleric, and some will be helpful to the players. Depending on the players reaction to some of the NPC’s will dictate the necessity for combat or just driving them off hopefully to never be seen again. It is possible to imprison some in the palace jail and that is just as acceptable. The one NPC that might give the players a shock is Ellis the Strong who actually rides on a white drake. In the very beginning, it sounds as if the disaster began as soon as he came to the kingdom to meet the Princess Argenta. This might be the red herring a DM can play to the max until the the finale when the players encounter the Red Ruby.

NOTE: As a player, even I thought the rider on the white drake was evil because I thought that all white dragons are evil. I just equated drake with dragon and that was it. I was shocked later in that very first game to learn that Ellis the Strong was actually not who he appeared to be in the beginning of the game.

LENGTH OF MODULE: This is a long module. The palace consists of two main floors with some rooms going deeper under the place in a cavern area. Some parts of the palace will inaccessible due to the explosion that rocked the eastern portion. The entire module is comprised of 76 rooms and caverns. The palace is neck deep in monsters therefore combat will be a common denominator in the majority of encounters as the players explore the palace. As a DM that has hosted this module, it took me 2 weekends to successfully run groups through and playing an average of about 8 hours per day. I have hosted this adventure in shorter periods depending on how the players explore the area and if they find the right items to destroy the Red Ruby.

BOXED TEXT: This module was done to my liking and that is boxed text. Boxed text made it easier to host as a DM especially considering some of the contents of the rooms. A time will come when too much info revealed (happens a lot in modules without boxed text) sometimes ruins the encounter or the room.

MONSTER GENERATION: As the players explore both levels of the Palace, they will run into a wide variety of creatures. The wandering monsters on the floor level are typically much easier to deal with but the ones on the 2nd floor are extremely dangerous. The players as they explore the palace will find many stone statues of the former residents. This may create the illusion that someone or something is turning people to stone. One of the wandering monsters on the 2nd floor happens to be a medusa. The truth is that the former inhabitants were turned to stone by the curse placed on the palace by Arik, not a medusa. A good DM could use this knowledge to keep the players alert and on their toes against a threat that does not exist (the medusa).

NOTE: One of the big disappointments I had with this module was the placement of certain monsters. It just did not make sense at the time to place a particular monster in that area. I will cover more of that as I describe certain rooms/areas of interest.

GAME CONVENTION POSSIBILITIES: Any D&D module can be used at a game convention but with the understanding it might not be possible to complete it in its entirety unless the players are doing a one nighter or perhaps two nighters. Like B1 and B2, this module can be modified to be run and completed at a convention or at a tournament.

SUMMARY: Palace of the Silver Princess is a hack and slash module with some puzzle solving areas required to be solved in order to complete it in its entirety. The monsters are cruel and ruthless and will stop at nothing in destroying the player characters as they explore the palace. The player’s greed will be tested at many levels. The opportunity to die horribly is present in many forms by various traps and poor decision making especially when combat is concerned. This is a TPK module if the players do not have a plan on dealing with the current evil inhabitants of the Palace. In any sense, this is a very fun module to play because it has a wide array of elements to keep the players on their toes, allows them to play a detective role (covered later on in the review), encounter illusions that are deadly (or so it seems), and deal with new monsters never seen before. With some minor modifications by a DM, the experience the players will have by completing this module will be treasured especially if they have not been through one such as this.

EXTRA INFO:

Original “banned” orange cover
Although the removed artwork included subject matter such as “The Illusion of the Decapus” by Laura Roslof, wife of Jim Roslof, in which a woman was tied up by her own hair, on the whole the objectionable art was rather tame relative to that released in some other products of the time, so the specifics of the recall are a matter open to speculation.[6]

Frank Mentzer, the editor of the module, recalls events differently. In his recollection, it was Brian Blume, not Kevin Blume, that ordered the module to be pulled from publication; and the reason for the pulling was a particular piece of artwork by Erol Otus on page 19 of the module, depicting 3-headed monsters called ubues whose heads are caricatures of the three directors of TSR (the Blume brothers and Gary Gygax) rather than objectionable artwork elsewhere in the module.[7]

The original version of the module had treasure and monster listings left open for the Dungeon Master to fill in, while the second printing was a more standard dungeon and lacking the fill-in encounters.[5]

Only a few copies of the orange cover version survived.[3] The limited number of copies made this edition a very collectible item.[5] At the 1984 Gen Con game fair auction, a copy came up for sale and went for $300.[2]

I have personally played through this module about 2 dozen times and DM’ed it a good 3 dozen times in the past 30 years or so. In most instances of me being a player, the DM had set it up that our gaming group was travelling toward some city and that we were privy to rumors of a serious monstrous threat to a large keep that “bordered” the lands of good and evil. There were some other instances as a player that we started in the Keep itself. To expedite the game, starting in the Keep is a good method but I also like the option of travelling, knowing the land, a few random encounters along the way (good or bad), and just having a good time at the table with some friends. Now, As a DM, I always used the method of travelling to the Keep because this enabled me the ability to let NPC’s join the party because the party will need them especially if they are just 1st or 2nd level.

KotB is like B1 – In Search of the Unknown an introductory module for new DM’s and new players. This module is a bit more tougher on a DM because now he/she has a lot of decisions to make concerning the various factions that reside in the Caves of Chaos, the evil NPC priest, and the most important of all things, time management (especially if the party is in the Caves of Chaos area with a ton of monsters running around).

THEME: The theme of Keep on the Borderlands is very simple. As it is explained in the module, the players are leaving their various cities or abodes to seek fame, fortune, and/or possibly their deaths by travelling to the Borderlands that is described as corrupt, full of evil monsters, and rich full of treasure for the taking. The players will learn one way or another that the best place to enter the Borderlands is an area where a large and majestic Keep has been built to prevent the overflow of evil monsters from running rampant into the more peaceful countryside.

NOTE: The theme is extremely open-ended to allow the DM no restrictions on how the players start the game, meet each other, journey together or separately to the Keep, and role-playing with random NPC’s along the way. If a DM chooses this course of action, the DM must ensure they read up and familiarize themselves with the area the players will be playing in and travelling. This is the most opportune moment to ensure the players are prepared because this module is very deadly without some type of strategy in facing the monsters at the Caves.

THE KEEP: The Keep is huge and is well stocked with supplies, weapons, and NPC’s to defend it well. It is basically a small city with all the amenities as usually encountered in a locale of its kind. This is perhaps one of the best parts of the module that it provides the DM a really detailed area where the players can interact almost anywhere and get some type of result which in most cases will be positive. There is a Loan Bank that can exchange money or gems at a 10% fee, store a players wealth for free if left for a month, provide loans to players with an interest rate of 10%, and so on. There is a smithy, an armorer, all sorts of stores that provide equipment for adventurers in need, stables, the Inn, the Tavern, guild houses, and a church/chapel. It is very specifically stated that the majority of the inhabitants of the keep are LAW-ABIDING citizens and that any behavior that is indicative of criminal/boorish activity is extremely frowned upon. This is not the place to cause trouble.

NOTE: The map of the Keep is well done as is the description of the aforementioned places above. There is a ton of role-playing ideas provided the DM has fleshed them out or just reactive to how the players themselves deal with the civilians within the Keep. It should be noted that there are many guards in various locations throughout the Keep to include the Tavern to ensure there is no trouble from any of the many visitors that come there. Over the many years of being a player and a DM, I have had my share of experiences of players who were playing thieves and they wanted to pickpocket some of the civilians (I say let them do it….LOL). I MUST emphasize that the DM read very carefully about some of the main NPC’s in the Keep because there are some evil elements that have embedded themselves into the populace (the evil cleric and his acolytes in the PRIVATE APARTMENT area) and also allows the player characters to interact with the more influential and powerful lawful citizens (the Curate in the CHAPEL).

NPC’s: KotB can be a very deadly module and I have seen TKP’s with groups because they were too quick to rush to the Caves of Chaos not really knowing what they were going to face. The TPK’s could have been alleviated had the players been just a little patient and learn from those who have resided at the Keep for many years. Also, the DM will have to adjudicate the strength of the players group and decide if NPC’s will complement the group to make it more balanced (less challenging) or even be ruthless by allowing the evil priest to join the party and really throw them for a loop. If the players encounter the Curate in the CHAPEL, there is no doubt that the players will be suspicious of the evil priest tipping him off to where he will either avoid the players or slip away in the middle of the night to alert the residents in the Caves. If the players do not encounter the Curate or basically ignore his concerns about the evil priest, the evil priest could possibly join the party without the players having any idea of what is to happen later.

NOTE: Role-playing is important in the Keep. Let the players explore and chat it up with the residents. Give the players some time to learn about where they might be going. Let them make decisions on hiring some henchmen. If the group is too small, make it obvious to the players that there is strength in numbers. I think it is very important for the players to know that they are NOT the first group of adventurers to go to the Caves of Chaos.

AREA MAP: Unlike B1 – In Search of the Unknown, KotB provided an area map for the DM to allow the players to travel to the Caves of Chaos and stumble upon some set encounters that have no bearing on their destination. These set encounters are just experience points, treasure, and magical items. The primary encounters were the Mound of the Lizard Men, the Spider Lair, the Raider camp, and the Mad Hermit. Each of these encounters is going to be normally hostile unless the players are extremely creative and acute in role-playing especially with the Mad Hermit and the npc’s at the Raider Camp.

Note: As a DM, while the players were at the Keep trying to learn as much as possible about the Borderlands, I threw in rumors about the lizard men and the Mad Hermit. The raiders camp held a few kidnapped NPC’s that if released would give the players a reward for finding them ALIVE or use them as henchmen (if they perished in the Caves, no reward). The Spider’s lair contained the desiccated remains of an elf of which I left clues that revealed her to be the daughter of one of the provisioners in the Keep. So, I tried to keep everything tied together to give the players more than enough reason to go back to the Keep and make more allies.

CAVES OF CHAOS: The starting area for the Caves consists of 4 special areas. Each of these areas is controlled by a faction(s) of humanoid monsters or by one lone monster such as the Ogre cave. The other three areas are controlled by 4 separate tribes of kobolds, goblins, orcs, hobgoblins, and their allies. Before the players arrive to the Caves, the DM will have to plan ahead and decide how each separate tribe reacts to one another, who are allies, who are enemies, who do the gnolls support, who do the bugbears support, and so on. Once the DM makes note on the humanoid tribes that reside in this area, the DM must then figure out how the evil cleric from the Keep will be entered into that equation. There is also an ogre to deal with and a minotaur that resides inside the Caves as well as a slew of other nasty creatures like stirges, giant rats, undead, and evil spellcasters. There are a lot of intelligent monsters in this area and they are not stupid. If they see a threat to their power struggle, they will come out full force and annihilate the players. The ogre chooses the side that pays him the most but will sometimes just take the gold and go back to his cave. I must note that the Caves themselves are layered in three levels and that it is very important the DM keep track of where the players are at any time wandering monsters are encountered. Should I also mention the medusa that is being kept prisoner as well???

NOTE: The DM will really need to jot down the notes on all the questions I mentioned above especially with the alliances and enmities the opposing factions might have with one another. I, as a DM, made the minotaur the boss over the gnolls and hobgoblins. The goblins were allied with the orcs in trying to eradicate the kobolds (because we all know that kobolds are not humanoid in nature, they are reptilian) but this was also to protect them from the hobgoblins and their gnoll allies from being eradicated themselves. The evil priest was left alone because the undead creatures protected him and his acolytes although the minotaur felt that one solid frontal assault by his minions would kill the human presence and destroy the undead (but feared it might weaken his small force to the other factions and the ogre). There are many ways to play out this scenario but this is the one I like the most for the majority of the groups I ran through KotB. The DM if anyone must keep in mind that these factions in more than one way have been fighting each other and alongside each other for quite some time now. They are battle ready 24 hours a day.

LENGTH OF MODULE: KotB encompasses a large area. You have the Keep which consists of 27 possible areas of exploration; the Area Map consists of 5 possible areas of interest to include the Caves of Chaos, and the Caves themselves with 64 possible areas of exploration. It took my groups about a good month to complete and that was 4 sessions of between 8-10 hours of play. I suspect with less experienced groups will complete it in less time when they suffer a TPK.

BOXED TEXT: I am a huge fan of boxed text however with KotB, it is not really required. The majority of the caves are very simple in nature and that includes its contents as well. The DM can easily create notes for some of the more difficult rooms especially those of the evil cult that resides within the Caves. There are some rooms that have special properties and might affect the characters adversely.

MONSTER GENERATION: As the players are exploring the Caves, they (especially the dwarf if there is one in the party) will find that the caves are not on one level. Some of the caves are deep in the ground while others are further up near the surface. A wandering monster chart is part of this module but has some significant flaws such as the harpies and/or blink dogs being in a cave three levels down. The deeper the players go in the Caves, the more powerful the monsters encountered. A judicious DM might just want to choose what monster is encountered and lower the number encountered. Again, the Caves are extremely dangerous to a low-level party of players.

Note: Anyone who has completed this module would well know about the medusa that is being kept prisoner by the evil priest. When I hosted this game as a DM, the medusa is extremely hostile to all creatures in this dungeon and if let loose will attempt to escape while turning everything to dead stone if possible. I had her set loose by an acolyte hoping that she will spare his life since the players had just managed to kill the evil cleric. Of course, she turned him to stone and she escaped with no problems and even managed to turn the ogre who lived outside into stone. Even though she escaped, this allowed me to create an adventure hook for her later on in another module as a very vengeful enemy.

GAME CONVENTION POSSIBILITIES: This is certainly not a tournament module per se because of the length it will take to complete HOWEVER it could be modified to serve such a purpose. Possible scoring would certainly be based on ROLE-PLAYING ABILITY, KILLING OF MONSTERS, FINDING TREASURE, AVOIDING TRAPS, SETTING LOOSE PRISONERS, DESTROYING THE EVIL TEMPLE, and/or DESTROYING A FACTION COMPLETELY.

SUMMARY: Unlike B1 – In Search of the Unknown, Keep on the Borderlands is NOT a hack and slash module however with great risk of being a TPK, it can be treated as such. I like this module because it added new elements not found in B1 such as the pre-constructed Keep, NPC’s to role-play with the players, an Area map with encounters not related to the adventure (this also allowed the players to explore without really having to railroad them straight into the Caves), the concept of factions among various humanoid races, the ability to overcome physical conflict via parley, and unknowingly meeting the evil bad guy (evil cleric) and allowing him to join the party under the guise of being an ally. My main issues were the wandering monster chart and the minor role of monsters such as the minotaur (who in my opinion should have been more of a factor as far as its physical presence and the medusa. Either way, any and all issues with this module can easily be changed by a DM to fit his/her needs and have fun. Keep of the Borderlands is a very fun adventure provided the players and DM have an open mind on how to deal with various challenges using the mind via brawn. Gary Gygax’s intellectual genius shines very brightly with this module.

ROOMS/AREAS of INTEREST:

The Keep of the Borderlands is broken down into three areas of significance; The KEEP, the AREA MAP, and the CAVES of CHAOS. As a player of this module, I can remember that we normally just went straight to the CAVES after we were finishing up exploring the KEEP. It was not until I ran into my mentor who taught me the finer arts of being a DM that we played the module in its entirety.

THE KEEP: The Keep is simply a stroke of genius. Everything that a player could possibly find is within this Keep. The Keep is comprised of some 27 areas of which some are basically duplicates of another area. For the players, only a few locales within the Keep should be of any importance unless the DM has another plan for the players. The only areas that I think are pertinent to the module as a whole are the TRAVELERS INN, the TAVERN, the CHAPEL, and the PRIVATE APARTMENTS.

NOTE: Depending on the DM, the players will either be leaving their respective home cities or whatnot and may be travelling to the Keep or the DM may have the adventurer’s just start in the Travelers Inn or the Tavern. I always had the players travel a good distance to the Keep because it served two purposes; experience points and rumors of the area of where they are soon to be exploring.

THE TRAVELERS INN: This is where the players will be resting throughout the adventure provided they return back to the Keep after every excursion into the Borderlands wilderness or the Caves themselves. This also gave the DM an ample opportunity for the players to meet other NPC’s that could be hired to accompany them to explore the Borderlands.

THE TAVERN: The Tavern is an important place for the players to lounge around and do some role-playing with some of the permanent citizens of the Keep who are more less providing security for the Keep. This is also another ample opportunity for the DM to insert a NPC or two looking to explore the Borderlands area if offered enough gold or whatnot. This is one of the better locales within the Keep to learn some rumors as well. It is through these rumors where the players might learn about the MOUND of the LIZARD MEN (SEE NOTE), The SPIDERS’ LAIR, The BANDIT CAMP, the MAD HERMIT, and of course, the CAVES of CHAOS. The players might also have the opportunity to meet the PRIEST that resides in the PRIVATE APARTMENTS with two of his always silent acolytes by his side.

NOTE: The Mound of the Lizard Men is basically an unknown area that exists on the AREA MAP. My mentor had it where we learned a rumor about these lizard men from an NPC that had joined the party to avenge the death of his family when their farm was raided by the reptilian horrors. The PRIEST and his two acolytes are spies sent by their evil cultist leader who resides within the Caves of Chaos. They are here under the guise of a benevolent religious travelling group spreading the “good” word while actually maintaining strict surveillance of all of the Keeps permanent citizens and all visitors. If the players actually begin a dialogue with the PRIEST here in the Tavern, it is VERY LIKELY he will offer to join the party in their quest to rid the Borderlands of the humanoid threat in the Caves.

THE CHAPEL: The Chapel is one of the more identifiable buildings inside the Keep. There is no doubt in my mind that the players will visit this building from time to time to get healing done while the players are exploring the Borderlands. The key NPC here in the Chapel is a 5th level cleric aptly titled the Curate. This cleric is actually a bona fide Lawful NPC and will assist the players provided they make charitable donations from time to time. The cleric is very distrustful of the priest (see TAVERN and PRIVATE APARTMENTS for more information) but is really vague on why he is so distrustful except for the fact that he serves another religious organization (the DM decides what it can be). The cleric will not join the players group as he is one of the more important permanent residents of the Keep. If the players do some excellent role-playing, they might be able to convince him to let one of his loyal acolytes to accompany the party for some treasure and converts.

NOTE: If the players encounter the cleric in the CHAPEL first before they encounter the priest in the TAVERN, it is possible they might let on to the evil priest that the cleric has some distrust of him for unknown reasons. This in turn will allow the evil priest with his two acolytes to leave the Keep in the dead of night and head off to the Caves of Chaos to inform the cultist leader that the players are headed there. If this happens, the players will be in for a rude shock when they find a good portion of the inhabitants prepared for them as it was done to my group as a player and those groups when I was the DM.

PRIVATE APARTMENTS: There are a few of these in the Keep but the two largest ones are the dwellings of a Jewel merchant and the PRIEST. The players, in any case, should not really encounter the priest in the apartment but as they wander through town asking the permanent citizens questions, they might learn that a wandering priest lives there with two of his acolytes.

NOTE: If the Priest is encountered before the players meet with the cleric in the CHAPEL, he will join the party as they travel to the Caves of Chaos. At the most opportune moment when the players are involved in combat versus the residents of the caves, the priest will then attack the players supported by both his acolytes. If the fight is a losing battle, he will flee deeper into the Caves to warn the cultist leader and his minions.

THE AREA MAP: The AREA MAP is comprised of various set encounters (Mound of the Lizard Men, the Spiders’ Lair, the Bandit Camp, and the Mad Hermit) and possibly random encounters as well depending on how long the players will explore the wilderness area. The wilderness area is very diverse in its makeup with swamps, rivers, forests, and hills. If the players stay in the Keep long enough, they might learn a few rumors about the set encounters on the Area map. The Area Map is a great place to explore because it allows the DM to improvise if the players decide to go out on their own before visiting the Keep. Gary Gygax added another location which is completely devoid of any information called the Cave of the Unknown. This area is for personal use of any DM who wanted to add something else unique to the Area Map. The players might be able to obtain a rough map of the Borderlands from various sources at the Keep but it will not reveal anything of great interest since the Borderlands are practically unexplored for the most part. It is possible as they are role-playing with the permanent residents of the Keep and acquiring rumors in the process, a rough map can be generated for some of the specific area encounters. I did not make it too easy on the players and let them explore as they see fit so they might be able to accumulate experience point and respect the untamed wilderness as it fitfully is.

MOUND of the LIZARD MEN: As mentioned earlier in this review, the Mound is unknown to the general inhabitants of the Keep so the DM has two options and they are: the players will either discover them as they search the Borderlands area or they might hear a rumor or two while staying at the Keep. I used the Mound as a jumping off point for another module in my 15-part campaign (I2 – Tomb of the Lizard King). As a DM, if the players discover the Mound and eliminate the lizardmen within, they will eventually find some disturbing clues about an imminent lizard men threat in some far way land known as Eor. The only other purpose for the Mound is to allow the players to earn some experience points, some treasure, and magical items.

SPIDERS’ LAIR: Most players that play D&D in my groups have an aversion to spiders therefore for this particular encounter; I changed the large spiders to large Black Widows. I have a strong belief that black widow spiders generate a universal fear because of their deadly, infamous reputations in real life and a favorite movie of mine aptly titled Curse of the Black Widow (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_Black_Widow). Depending on how rumors are learned in the Keep, the players might learn about a rumor of an elf adventurer that has disappeared. If the players do defeat the black widows in their lair, they will find the remains of that missing elf. This is a very dangerous encounter because of the Save versus poison or die. Black widow spider poison is much more deadly than that of a plain large spider.

The BANDIT CAMP: There are about a dozen or so bandits in this camp. The area where they are located (inside a forested region) is actually one of the primary reasons they can easily be defeated. If the players surprise the bandits and attack them from within the confines of the forest, the spearmen and bowmen bandits will almost be ineffectual with their ranged and melee (spear) weapons forcing them to fight with daggers and swords. This is also a great opportunity to release possible prisoners held for ransom and/or have NPCs join the party to fight the evil humanoids in the Caves themselves.

THE MAD HERMIT: The Mad Hermit is simply a NPC that the players might encounter on either good terms or bad. Being that the Hermit is mentally unstable, I gave him a percentile of 25% to dictate whether or not he will turn on the players each day he is with them. Provided he is remains stable and lucid, he could join the players with his pet puma and provide some comic relief from time to time. If he goes mad, then he will attack the players to his death. In my 15-part campaign, this NPC is the brother of a mad druid in the module C4 – To Find a King. If the Mad Hermit is killed in the first encounter with him, there will be subtle clues to this druid within the hermit’s dwelling inside the tree.

CAVES OF CHAOS:

FACTIONS: There are a few factions within the Caves of Chaos that prevent the humanoids from actually being a true threat to the Keep. If the DM really wanted to be a true and total antagonist, he/she would allow the strongest of the factions to organize all the humanoids and form a formidable fighting force of chaos. I have done this before and it worked out quite well. Basically, the players then would be helping the permanent inhabitants of the Keep by defending it against that large mob of monsters trying to break in and slay every living man, woman, and child. Either way will work provided the DM plans accordingly and allows for the players some marginal chance of success since this module is really a very dangerous one for a hack and slash group.

The Factions are:

The Kobold Faction
The Orc Faction
The Goblin Faction
The Hobgoblin Faction
The Bugbear Faction
The Gnoll Faction
The Cultist faction

Monsters not part of any Factions:

The Ogre (Cave E)
The Minotaur (Cave I)
The Medusa (Cell #64)
The Owlbear (Cave G)

I, as the DM, allowed for certain members of the factions to be spellcasters such as low level mages and low level clerics. This allowed the factions to heal those damaged members in the event the players retreated from the caves to heal up, rest up, spells, and so on.

Monsters such as the Ogre and the Minotaur could be bargained with provided that the players meet the demands of those hideous creatures and that in turn would call for questioning of the players alignments. The Medusa will try and slay any creature she encounters if she escapes from her cell to include the ones who release her. The Owlbear just kills and eats anything that comes near it.

Depending on the experience of the Dm and the players, this is a killer module. If the players treat the module as a hack and slash, they are going to end up getting killed by the factions that reside within the Caves. Even though some of the factions are not in good terms with one another, they will band together to annihilate an opposing force dedicated to slaying them. Now, if the players use guile and deceit, it is possible to bribe some of the factions to help fight alongside them but in turn might be attacked by those they just paid to assist them. Some of the weaker factions might just be content in wiping out a stronger enemy faction, pack their bags, and just leave the Caves for fear of retribution (and end up coming back later to haunt the players). The options to the players are almost limitless.

I, as a DM, used the Ogre and the Minotaur to control the stronger factions such as the hobgoblins, bugbears, and the gnolls. The cultist faction despises the evil humanoids for their petty bickering and war mongering because it brings unwanted attention from the inhabitants of the Keep. One of the main intents of the cultist leader is to send his small undead force into the Caves and start wiping out the evil humanoid presence with their dead bodies filling the ranks of the undead.

The players will have plenty of opportunities to make temporary alliances and add additional NPC’s to their ranks if they visit the right places within the caves. There are a few prisoners who are just itching to get a hold of some weapons and punish their captors for the abuse they have been receiving. The moment those captors have either fled the Caves or are slain, those NPC’s might just attack the heroes out of bloodthirsty spite.

As a DM who has hosted this module many times, I think it is very important to know where each leader resides in the Caves of Chaos. The times that I have played this module as a player, DMs have generally treated the monsters and the leaders as dumb, unorganized, and just outright lame as true threats. A few DMs played these monsters with exceptional intelligence and therefore making them very deadly threats if they are onto the players invading the Caves. Just remember that if the players DO NOT annihilate the inhabitants in one shot, they will go to other factions to shore up their defenses against the players.

Cave A – Kobold Cave

There are close to 60 kobolds that live in this cavern area alone. They have giant rats as pets that will help the kobolds defend this area. The sheer number of kobolds probably prevented the more powerful factions from wiping this colony outright.

Cave B & C – Orc Caves

Depending on the DM, there can be over 60 orcs residing in this area. As a DM, I allowed the female orcs to fight players characters if they felt their young were in danger of being slain.

Cave D – Goblin Lair

Same as the Kobold cave with just at 60 or goblins (including fighting females). There is a slight possibility that allies of the goblins will be encountered in the form of four hobgoblins.

Cave E – Ogre Cave

This ogre serves as a “hire me and I will crush your enemies” ally. Currently, he is in favor of assisting the goblins and the hobgoblins. The ogre has assisted others before provided the gold was good. There are a lot of nice items inside the ogre cave for a brand new adventuring group.

Cave F – Hobgoblin Lair

There are about 50 hobgoblins in this area. They are well armed and very organized. A few points about this area is the small prison where some allies for the players can be found including a crazy gnoll who has went insane. I allowed the gnoll to assist the party in the event they needed more firepower. I dismissed the notion that it will attack the players upon being released and armed because sometimes, monsters are not all that crazy. Another good area to examine is the armory. There are plenty of weapons and armor to be found here and may supplement the players and their allies.

Cave G – The Shunned Cavern

This is a very dangerous place to explore especially if the players have low level adventurers. The Owl bear and the gray oozes deal heavy amounts of damage and will spell instant defeat for the players if not approached with some type of planning.

Cave H – The Bugbear Lair

There are about 20 or bugbears in this lair to include females. They are a formidable foe to face by low level adventurers. There is a slave pen within this lair and again, provides to the players some help if needed.

Cave I – The Minotaur Caves

This small cavern area consisting of a few small caves is dangerous to the players because a minotaur resides here and it is extremely hungry. Some of the other inhabitants are a flock of stirges and nests of fire beetles.

Cave J – The Gnoll Lair

There are about 40 or so gnolls that reside in these series of caves. They are highly organized and prove very deadly to the players even if they are at max level for this module. They are well armed and well defended. If the players are using any type of visible light source while clambering to this area, the guards will notice and the entire gnoll lair will be on the defensive.

AREA K – The Shrine of Evil Chaos

There are a lot of undead that inhabit this area all created by the small cultist group that live here. If the evil cleric spy left the Keep because the party let on they were suspicious of him, he will have travelled here and let the head cultist know they are on the way to destroy them. There are about a dozen or so cultists (and a human fighter) in this cavern complex led by the cultist leader. They will have numerous defenses set up in the event they are forewarned about the players. Again, this is a very deadly area and a TPK will be imminent for any group who are foolhardy enough to attack it in low numbers.

The Evil Chapel and the Temple of Evil Chaos are two dangerous areas not because of possible monster threats but by the vile evil presence that created these areas. DM’s must really read on these two areas and be familiar to maximize the threat to foolhardy and/or greedy players.

Within the caves are a wight and if the players have never encountered a level drainer, the DM will have fun with this encounter. For what it is worth, defeating the wight is well worth the treasure it is protecting. There is also a gelatinous cube roaming the area. DM’s really need to pay attention to these two encounters because it might help the players with the greatest threat of them all, the medusa that is being kept prisoner by the cultist leader.

The Medusa is angry as hell because she is being kept prisoner by the cultist leader who intends on blinding her and sacrificing it to his evil god. The medusa is not happy with this particular arrangement and will parlay with the players to influence them to release her so she can get away from him. She promises the players not to turn them to stone and even has a way to turn those turned to stone back to flesh if they let her free to escape. Of course, this is all a lie and once she is released, she will attempt to turn ANYONE to stone as she makes her escape out of the Caves of Chaos area. She is highly intelligent and will avoid any undead who might be not be prone to her stony gaze such as the skeletons but no matter what, she will consider every living thing in this area her mortal enemy.

B1 – In Search of the Unknown is one of my top 10 modules to run as a DM. This is the module that I use every single time I DM with an entirely new group of players for the sole purpose to learn how they will play with one another in critical moments, combat scenarios, solvng puzzles, and overcoming other nefarious obstacles. Most important of all though, I use this module because it is by far the simplest one to modify at the merest whim.

I have a 15 module campaign titled Fall from Grace. Within that 15 module campaign, I have inserted many 1st and 2nd edition modules so that the players will have multiple options when it comes to the question on where to go next. If the players go off track, I insert the appropriate module for that area, throw in a few clues as they adventure to get back on track, they earn experience points, find a few minor magical items, and continue on.

So here we go:

THEME: The theme of the module is very simple. Two powerful NPC’s, a fighter and a magic-user constructed a small stronghold on top of a hill. The stronghold consisted of the upper floor on top of the hill and the bottom floors inside the rocky hill. Both NPC’s disliked civilization so not much is really known about the pair except through various random rumors of which the players might learn in a bar. In any case, the greatest story of these two NPC’s is that they pooled their resources, defeated a large invading barbarian army from which the grateful people rewarded them with great amounts of treasure not to include the spoils from their victory over the invading horde. After this great battle, the two best friends retired and used that wealth they obtained to continue work on their stronghold. Well, it did not last long because the two friends decided to deal the barbarian horde a killing blow, pack all their belongings, and leave the stronghold with the majority, if not all, of their henchmen to this distant land of the enemy to never be seen again. There are rumors of a great battle that ensued and possibly the defeat of the two NPC’s since they were never seen again. Curiosity arose from the abandoned stronghold and the many treasures that may lie within but general fear kept many adventurers at bay in the event the unexpexted return of the great fighter and his best friend, the spell slinging magic user.

Note: As you can see, a very simple theme with some other possibilities for the DM to expound upon if need be. Of course, the DM could also simply just scrap the whole theme and make up something else which is good to go.

THE DUNGEON: A very simple dungeon consisting of two floors within the rocky hill. Since the stronghold has been abandoned for a number of years, the structure on top of the hill is pretty much reduced to nothing. The UPPER LEVEL is completely finished with smooth walls and smooth floors all carved from the rock. This speaks much for the workmanship of the dwarves and gnomes who once worked here (Adventure HOOK for players). The LOWER LEVEL is partially complete with the majority being an unworked cavern system.

B1 is a special module whereas it allowed the DM himself/herself to stock the dungeon with monsters, possible treasure, and other mundane items. This practically forced the DM to read the module, place the appropriate monsters, treasures, items, and therefore made him/her very knowledgeble on what the party will encounter and find. To date, i do not know of any other module that utilized this special format. This is the PRIME module for a NEW DM to practice how to make a decent adventure with all those little nuances like placement of traps, treasure, monsters and special areas.

INTRODUCTION to PLAYERS: After character generation, I had all the players in or near a large village of about 1200 people. As they are there buying common adventuring items and whatnot, they eventually will hear rumors about an abandoned stronghold that has been overrun by horrible monsters guarding great riches. I placed the abandoned stronghold a good two weeks or so away from the village so that the players will have some role-playing experiences along the way with an occassional wandering monster and so on. This also allowed the party to earn some experience points.

NOTE: This is why I love a character backstory because I can use tidbits of information to get one or more players involved and give them some reason to go there. In my most recent game, one of the players is playing a dwarven fighter/cleric and that character was looking for a lost relative who may have possibly been working at this stronghold. Well, the father of that player’s character went insane after finding a large jewel(of unknown origin) and the clue to that jewel was known to that dwarf who is rumored to have worked at that stronghold in the employment of the great fighter and magic user… So with that said and known, the players decided to go there and see if they can help their friend plus maybe find some treasure despite the many dangers rumored.

LENGTH OF MODULE: The module has two floors with a total of 56 rooms and/or areas to explore. Some will take a few minutes while others might take up to 30 to 45 minutes. I have DM’ed this module a good 30 to 40 times in the past 26 years and on average, it took 2 days to go through it completely and that was about 5-6 hours each day. It could be completed quicker depending on how the DM stocked the floors with monsters and whatnot.

This is a simple dungeoncrawl module. There were no NPC’s per se except for what the players may have encountered in the village or on the way to the stronghold therefore saving time.

GAME CONVENTION POSSIBILITIES I have designed many a gaming convention module and B1 would not be appropriate for such an event because of the length of time it would take to complete it. Generally, all tournament modules I have played in or developed were 4 hours in length. However, after reading and looking into it, it is possible that it can be used but scoring would be based on how far the group as a whole completed the adventure, find certain items, kill a set amount of monsters, bypass traps, and so on. It is impossible only in the fact of trying to go through the entire module, for example, the POOL ROOM(the room with many pools) will be a big time killer in a convention.

EXTRAS: I am certain that many of you probably already own this module so I just wanted to mention a few of the extras contained within its pages. As I stated earlier, this module was primarily designed for beginning DM’s and players alike. The last few pages of the module has some interesting ideas such as the use of retaines/npc’s that could accompany the player characters with a small chart to determine randomly their personality. That opens the door to a fledgling DM and give him/her different roles to play if DM’s decide to use NPCS. There will also be 4 pages dedicated to the classes, races, items possessed, spells, names, and stats of these NPCS. The Player Background Sheet I did not use because I had my own campaign and I wanted the players to learn for themselves instead of just giving it to them for free.

I would suggest not using some of the NPC names because they are just lame such as PRESTO the elven magic user, EGGO of the Holy Brotherhood, LEFTO the halfling, and certainly not THE MYSTICAL ONE. LOL

BOXED TEXT: I am a big fan of boxed text. This module does not have boxed text therefore it might be a bit of a task for NEW DM’s. I am a firm believer that if you DM a module with no boxed text, you best read it, reread it again, and take notes otherwise you will read something your not supposed to. I prefer boxed texts because it made it simpler to run the encounter or describe to the players what is in a room. Please TAKE NOTE of my conversion of this module to 3.0/3.5. It is in boxed text. In any event, if you want to DM this module, please read the descriptions of the rooms and their contents beforehand.

MONSTER GENERATION: Monster generation is very simple. There are a few places in the dungeon where it is very obvious on what kind of monster is there, others are not so apparent. The module was designed for player characters of 1-3 levels therefore I used a variety of monsters utilizing the tables contained in the module and I even added some that were not mentioned to ensure no one would have prior knowledge about B1.

For example, inside the SUPPLY ROOM: Room #11, among the contents of this room are a stack of stone blocks 6″ x 6″ x 12″. I told the players after they started to search the room, that on top of the pile of stones blocks is a large block of discolored stone. The block was 6′ x 6′. Unknown to them, i decided to place a dormant GELATINOUS CUBE in this dungeon. It had not eaten in a while so it layed there dormant until contact with warm flesh enabled it to wake up and attck the first player which in this case was the thief. LOL That is the kind of surprises I like to throw at gamers from time to time…;D

TRAPS: There are a few traps in the module. Some are easy to find, others not quite so. One particular trap is extremely deadly in the fact it will require the characters to utilize hacksaws (found in the dungeon) or physical strength to break through. In one particualr case, if the DM was utilizing the BASIC rules for D&D, the author of the module made it plain and clear that if the players tried their Bend Bars/Lift Gates and FAILED, that was their only attempt. If all players failed and they had no hacksaws, the party was doomed to starvation. Rule of thumb, you find tools, take them because you never know when you will need them….LOL

SUMMARY: This is basically a dungeoncrawl and hack and slash module with very little motivation to really go there. I used a player’s backstory to motivate the players to investigating this place and find new information to move the story along. Again, I use this module solely for the purpose of meeting a new gaming group and seeing how they gel as a group. If they are terrible players with personal conflicts, the group comes to an end otherwise those players who are not fitting the bill are asked not to come back. it is a simple but very fun module to play for those who just want to kill monsters and explore an abandoned dungeon. I recommend this module to any FLEDGLING DM and players. Also, this would not be a bad module for younger kids to try and run with assistance of course from someone with more experience under the belt.

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Table Manners – Bards 12:54.092
Players Handbook pg 117

Game Mechanics – Ability Score Generation – 32:34.558
Dungeon Master’s Guide pg 11

Creature Feature Taer – 48:27.607
Monster Manual pg 117

Dragon’s Hoard – Ring of Elemental Command 58:20.894
Dungeon Master’s Guide pg 129

Outro – 1:11:35.755

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Intro o:ooo
Castle of the Mad Archmage greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com/2010/07/castle-of-mad-archmage-final-release.html

DM Matt’s review of Heroes of the Feywild – diehardgamefan.com/2011/12/06/tabletop-review-dungeons-dragons-player%e2%80%99s-option-heroes-of-the-feywild-fury-of-the-feywild-fortune-cards/

Sage Advice – 19:04.270
Dragon Magazine issues covering the Underdark:
The Wanderers Below – Dragon Magazine Issue 152 pg 28
To the Center of the Oerth – Dragon Magazine Issue 131 pg 22

 World of Grewhawk Map

www.highprogrammer.com/alan/gaming/dnd/greyhawk/map/

Glub

FREQUENCY: Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1-5
ARMOR CLASS: 8
MOVE: 0′
HIT DICE: 3
% IN LAIR: 100%
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: 0
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 0
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENCSES: See below
MAGIC RSISTANCE: 35%
INTELLIGENCE: Non
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
SIZE: S to M
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil

The Glub are a weird plant growth found in subterranean areas. It looks like a large glob of blue slime. It will always stay in one place as it’s underside acts as a sort of glue, this glue will spill out from the Glub when it is killed, and a saving throw vs acid must be made, doing 1-12 hit points of damage if saving throw is not made. It’s only attack will electrify any creatures who touch it. This electric zap can travel through any sort of metal. Causing 2-20 hit points of damage. No saving throw.

Game Mechanics – Placement of Magical Treasure 41:08.901
Dungeon Master’s Guide pg 92

Outro 1:04:32.005

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