Farewell to Jim Roslov

Grognardia has reported that former TSR artist Jim Roslov has died at the age of 65. Not all that old considering he was born the same year as my father.

While the news is certainly sad...especially for his loved ones, I'm certain...Mr. Roslov has left an indelible print on the hearts and minds of those who grew up playing (and who continue to play) these old games. For me at least, he remains my favorite "old school" artist (all apologies to Erol Otus and Larry Elmore). I've blogged before of my appreciation for Roslov's artwork. While the cover to the updated D1-D2 is probably my single favorite piece, it is his spare treatment of low level combat on the cover of B2: The Keep on the Borderlands that stands out most in my mind...not just in remembering Roslov's work, but in remembering B/X D&D or any of my childhood gaming.

How often did I stare at that cover as a kid, just taking it in. Much of it is reminiscent of a Japanese woodcut (the cherry tree, the landscape, the samurai-like armor of the hobgoblins)...and like an old woodcut, I always felt something tranquil about illustration, despite its subject. Even though I found it puzzling that there was no apparent "keep" in the image, despite the title of the module.

Ah, well...as with Gygax, Arneson, and Moldvay, Roslov's death marks the passing of yet another "great" from the formative years of the role-playing hobby's history. I know his family and friends will miss him more than I (who have never known him) ever could. But I can't help but be glad that he shared his art and creativity with us during his life. He provided a great deal of inspiration to many young minds, including my own.

Rest in peace, Mr. Roslov. Thank you.

Old School D&D = Ridiculous Headgear

If there was ANYthing that would interest me in buying Pathfinder (it won't happen, but hypothetically), the ONE thing that might would be the great artwork used to illustrate the character classes. Really, the "class art" is some of the coolest, most inspiring pieces I've ever seen.

Not all of them. Specifically, I like the barbarian, the cleric, the paladin, and (God help me) the halfling druid-chick. The bard looks like a gnome on crack and the wizard reminds me of the dudes I see at astrology conventions (though less bald) and the other class pictures (the anorexic rogue, the monk with the curved sickle, etc.) are fairly "eh" ...but those first four are totally dope.

[why is it the chick pictures that are so cool? hmmm...another post for another time]

I know that some "old schoolers" absolutely hate the "fantasy chic" of Pathfinder and D20 and 4th Edition...not medieval enough or too "fantastic" or "unrealistic." You know what I mean: Over The Top. "Cheesy." Etc.

I myself have said much the same. Hell, at least Elmore's artwork had some semblance of decorum, right?

Well, the last week I've revised my opinion. Oh, not enough to buy Pathfinder (or 4E) for the pretty Final Fantasy-esque pictures alone (it will be a cold day in Hell, my friends...), but I have come to the conclusion that D&D fantasy is waaay crazier than what I was previously picturing it.

This inkling that has blossomed into a full-on epiphany started...oh, I don't know when. It's been bubbling along under the surface for months, I suppose, as I've blogged and read and researched the various books and trappings of the Old School...those pre-1983 works. After '83, Elmore and Easley and all the rest helped color the face of D&D turning out the art upon art upon art that made the game tame.

What the hell am I talking about? Jack Vance, folks. The Dying Earth. Michael Moorcock on acid. Psychedelic fever dreams, probably best illustrated by Erol Otus.

Here, go read this over at Axe and Hammer, if you haven't done so already. You see how weird-ass crazy those games were? How downright silly in some regards? It's like reading a Vance Dying Earth story, with pelgranes and demodands and bizarre incantations and fairly amoral treasure seekers. This isn't just "pulp fantasy." This is tripping balls on mushrooms.

And even if those early gamers were playing the game entirely straight, the adventures they wrote and published (things like Tomb of Horrors and White Plume Mountain) are cut from the same cloth. Yeah, they break the rules. Yeah, they are "un-balanced." Yeah, they are totally silly at times, completely illogical and resting on half-baked foundations.

But none of that gets in the way of them being a total blast to play...so long as you can go with the weirdness.

I think those early mid-western gamers, who gamed in so many different diverse styles, making up their own rules to fill in OD&D's blanks...I believe they were at a serious loss as far as understanding what the game was all about. Because the tone of the writing and the artwork that accompanied those first, Little Brown Books failed to convey the weirdness.

I think that the artwork by those late 70's early 80's artists (Otus, Roslov, Dee, etc.) were both closer to the spirit of the game as Gygax intended (in a true Vancian/weirdness style) and apt enough at their artistic chops that they could express it in the artwork of those early modules.

Sutherland? Too serious. He had the gritty, down-and-dirty, semi-medieval hardscrabble going, but Dungeons & Dragons is MORE than this. Hell, I think Gary may have had a hard time even getting it across in his writing of the AD&D books (damn his need to be so dry and clinical) except in his occasional "light humor" touches.

I think D&D is supposed to be Over The Top fantasy. The Vancian magic system only works in that environment. The idea of ancient cultures leaving behind their sprawling dungeons is totally post-apocalyptic (as another blogger recently mentioned...not that I can find the frigging link!), much as Vance uses it in his Dying Earth stories.

[this is yet another reason why I am totally at ease with psionics in D&D]

Hell, it's certainly more like the way I used to play as a kid. Man, if anything rubs me the wrong way, it's trying to put some sort of "sane" world culture/background on your D&D campaign (you know, like the Forgotten Realms, etc.). Commercializing Greyhawk may have been the biggest creative mis-steps Gygax made, assuming the world of Oerth grew OUT OF his original D&D campaign (similar to what Maliszewski has done with the world surrounding Dwimmermount). By codifying it and selling it he said: look this is what you do! Create a whole world with factions and nations and religions THEN try to figure out how "your heroes" fit in!

That's the worst and hardest thing ever. It's what makes my head swim as a DM. So much easier to create the world a piece at a time, as needed, as the weirdness allows. So much more satisfying (to me at least)...and dammit, easier!

Otherwise, you're taking the game...a fun game, a sometimes silly and ridiculous game...waaay too seriously. Which is what I think Pathfinder (and D20 and AD&D2 somewhat) does, I'm afraid. 4E does something different, of course...it just shits all over the entire scope of the D&D legacy. But those other editions, they miss the crazy-ass weirdness. The guy trying to get the giant spider/rot grub/green slime off his back while his buddies douse him with oil and try to burn it off with torches? That's just whacky, deadly, hilarious fun. Those dudes aren't worried about Eberron or whatnot...they are just trying to save their buddy (kind of) and keep the spider/slime/grubs from jumping them next. While searching for loot.

If you want to play D&D the way God and Gygax intended (I don't know enough about Arneson to even guess at his preferences...) it might behoove you to get a silly hat for your character. You'll notice none of those cool looking characters in Pathfinder are wearing a ridiculous hat (though many of them do appear to use some sort of "product" in their hair). Meanwhile look through any old copy of D&D product circa 1977-1982. How often are the depicted characters wearing some sort of head piece, hood, hat, or helmet? Most of 'em. That right there I would call Old School Aesthetic 101. It is very Vancian/Dying Earth to covet or blow money on something fancy for your noggin...hell, to worry about your character's features at all! Check out the pre-gen character descriptions in WG5:Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure:

"Bigby's attire is unassuming: a simple hooded dark grey robe. When this hood is thrown back from the usual covering of his face (for Bigby is a somewhat retiring and secretive man), his lean and healthy features will be exposed: studious brown eyes, light brown hair, and a laugh that precedes jokes on almost a forced level. To those who do not know him well, he might be viewed as oddly nervous (or paranoid), but this is nowhere near true..."

This for a module that might be considered pretty much a straight "dungeon crawl;" there's no over-arching theme or story after all, simply a fantastic adventure. Why give a rip what color a character's outfit, or how he wears his hair? Or what his personality is? Or how he talks. I know WotC/Hasbro wouldn't give a shit about such trivia.

I didn't get all that many comments of interest in my earlier tables for "customizing B/X characters with special features." Well, I'm not done with the tables yet, as part 2 of this post will show you (call it random week). Unfortunately, THAT will have to wait until the morning. Forgive the rants and typos...I'm a little sleepy...zzzzzz...

Scourge of the Slave Lords (Part 4)

[continued from here]

And finally we come to the 4th and last module in the Slaver series, the whole reason I decided I wanted to write about these four modules, A4:In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords, written by Lawrence Schick (author of the excellent S2:White Plume Mountain, of which much has been written) and largely illustrated by Erol Otus (again, of whom much has been written). So let me ask straight off the bat:

Were Schick and Otus the "cool kids of school" in the TSR workplace?

'Cause I'm reading through this thing and it feels a lot like the whole was mainly brainstormed from their minds, probably developed while dropping 'shrooms or smoking a fat joint and listening to Grace Slick sing about the White Rabbit.

No really...mushroom people that work with fungal alchemy and sit in bonding circles while sharing a group hallucination? The mechanics of the thing is one issue, but the Otus's psychedelic artwork is positively inspiring...which came first in this vision, Schick's words or Otus's drawings? I can't help but thing they did it together building off each other's craziness.

Not to take anything away from Jim Roslov, whose art I love and which is present throughout the module, but you'll notice the treasure of the Slave Lords includes a drawing by Ool Eurts (an obvious anagram), not Mr. Roslov. Schick and Erol are in cahoots, folks.

Well, maybe more on that in a bit. Let's talk about the adventure itself.

I can't for the life of me remember where I was (recently) reading about NOT allowing your players to be captured. How this was a VERY BAD THING. It was in some recent RPG I picked up, or perhaps an adventure supplement, but I can't seem to find the reference anywhere...perhaps it was in a book I was thumbing through (like the Serenity RPG) that I didn't actually purchase.

ANYWAY, the gist of this game's advice was to never have players captured, that capturing players was WORSE than killing them...that at least if they died, they could always make new characters. Capturing player characters is a method of de-protagonizing them after all...cutting their balls off, so to speak.

I wonder if that game designer ever had a chance to play A4:In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords.

For those that haven't read, played, or heard about A4 here's how it starts: the player characters are captured, knocked out, stripped of all possessions (including clothing) and left in a lightless, underground cavern complex. Even the spellcasters are left without spells.

Let me quote Schick's take on the whole "capture" thing:

Many players think of their characters in terms of their powers and possessions, rather than as people. Such players will be totally at a loss for the first few minutes of play. It is likely they will be angry at the DM for putting them in such an "unfair" situation. They will demand or beg concessions. DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY HELP, even if they make you feel sorry for them, Inform the players that they must rely on what they have, not what they used to have, and that this includes their brains and their five senses. Good players will actually welcome the challenge of this scenario....

...To escape, the player characters will have to make the best of the opportunities offered by the contents of the various encounter areas. These opportunities may seem meager to the players at first, but this dungeon contains more than enough material for the players to escape from any of the exits if they have the wits and resourcefulness to recognize and utilize it. However, this module is also a test of the ability of the Dungeon Master! It is a virtual certainty that good players, forced to rely on their own initiative, will attempt to use what they find to do things not covered by the rules. In these situations, it is entirely up to the DM to handle these requests with fairness, objectivity, and imagination.

Hot damn! I wish I'd had this module as a kid. THIS is a perfect example of "challenging the players" rather than the character or stat block. It's also a great example of what is possible with the older editions of D&D.

Schick has created a challenging and exciting adventure that really does force players (including the DM!) to use their wits. There ARE plenty of "found objects" throughout the dungeon that can be used to equip and outfit the characters, as long as the referee uses "fairness, objectivity, and imagination."

But can you imagine how this module would work with D20/Pathfinder? It wouldn't. Unless characters had some sort of "craft spear" skill they're going to be using their fancy feats with bare fists.

And what would they be using those bare fists against? A 3HD badger is plenty tough for 7th level character in AD&D that's fighting naked, but would barely register on the Challenge Rating meter in D20. After all, the whole CR system takes into account PC's "expected equipment for level." They're not supposed to lose their gear. Cries of an "unfair" situation? You bet...'cause D20 ain't designed to challenge the player.

Ah, well...I don't play D3 or 3.5 anymore so it's a non-issue.

Schick has done such an excellent job with this capstone module that I want to play the whole series just to get to A4...psychedelic mushroom folk or not (and by the way, I remember the myconid from the Monster Manual II, but I never used 'em...here I would). I was slightly disappointed that Schick decided to blow up the whole Aerie of the Slave Lords....areas like Dragon Meadow and Drachen Keep were left un-detailed in A3 with the admonishment to keep players from exploring these parts of the map as they'd be "descried in the follow-up module." Instead Schick just covers 'em with lava and magmen and worries about his own little adventure. Which is cool 'cause his adventure is great, but it is a little annoying.

I'm reminded of the Phillip Jose Farmer-edited series The Dungeon, each novel penned by a different author. Author #1 introduced a green-haired love interest for the main protagonist and author #2 killed her off in the 1st chapter or so of the 2nd novel. Which would have been just fine (a series of novels with different authors will naturally evolve different from how the original author intended)...EXCEPT that Author #1 also pens the final novel of the series and has the protagonist once again waxing sadly for his green-haired lady friend...even though no other author has mentioned her in four books.

Fortunately, the Slaver series finishes with a bang and doesn't retread the ground Cook laid down, though I suppose one might consider an exploding volcano to be fairly reminiscent of Schick's own White Plume Mountain ending. Oh, well. Personally, I think that A4 offers something entirely new from other TSR modules of the time, and a real challenge to players, comparable even to the S modules...hell, moreso as players need to think outside the normal boundaries and parameters of the game, not just figure out colored key cards or riddles.

It's too bad there're no monks or assassins in B/X play...I'm afraid conversion of the slaver series would be exceptionally difficult much as I'd like to do it. Maybe I'll need to dust off my old AD&D books.

; )

Scourge of the Slave Lords (Part 3)

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All right, this series is running a bit longer than I'd originally anticipated (a problem with stream-o-consciousness blogging I suppose), and I've got plans for this evening (movie, then drinkies with friends)...hopefully I'll be able to bang this out and do it justice.

Continuing right where we left off:

A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords, despite having what I consider to be the worst cover art of the whole series, is actually the first module in the series that piqued my interest in the series as a whole...and that's saying something. One should not underestimate the value of cover art in helping someone decide to make a purchase and I'm sorry that Dee's color painting isn't nearly as good as his black-and-white stuff (oh, and just for the record, I found Roslov's art...especially the Elf!...on the cover of A2 to be the best of the series).

A3 has a LOT to recommend it. I said in my prior post that I think that the best published adventures each offer something new that helps inform play and gets players (and especially DMs) to take their level of play "up a notch." Aerie of the Slave Lords does that in several ways.

1) It's a challenging adventure, especially considering the level of characters involved. The storoper is not a total "F-You" type monster (it's auto-non-save attack only works twice), but it's pretty vicious. The shambling mound (a personal favorite) is pretty f'ing tough for the pre-generated characters or PCs of a similar power level. And the traps (especially in the entry level are pretty tough). A LOT of the monsters are of the "lone, tough" variety...the golem, the minotaur, the mimic...as opposed to the lesser "horde monsters" (orcs and hobgoblins) seen in the first two modules...and how sick of those are we by the time we get to A3?

2) In addition to two dungeon areas, the module offers a complete "Slaver City" in the form of Sunderham. Granted earlier modules (T1, N1, D3) offered cities as part of their adventures but Sunderham combines the completeness of the Village of Hommlet (or N1) with the wickedness of Vault of the Drow. If you're playing A3 in a non-tournament style (i.e. sans time limits), Sunderham is a great town to explore and hang out...hell, evil PCs might even be tempted to switch sides and join a slaver guild!

3) The use of NPCs. I'm scratching my head, but I can't think of another earlier module that makes better use of NPC adventurer-types as villainous "monsters." The illusionist is excellent (and probably a necessary warm-up to A4!) and a great encounter for an under-utilyzed PC class. But the final battle with the Slave Lords is the piece de resistance. A showdown against five high level NPCs? With coordinated tactics mapped out? That's not something you see every day in an adventure module and is the truly "new" thing A3 has to offer. Other adventures offer one or sometimes a pair of adventuring class NPCs (a pair of monks in C1, a couple of high level Drow with lesser fighter "minions"). But the combination Fighter-Assassin-Cleric-Magic-User-Monk is pretty badass, and gives PCs a taste of "their own medicine" as they get to feel what your typical monster experiences when faced by heavily armed adventurers of different stripes working in concert.

I REALLY like A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords. At under 30 pages, it packs quite a whallop of adventuring goodness.

Red Wine, Chocolate Cupcakes, and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks

I've been thinking a bit about what I wanted to say about S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks...truth be told, I couldn't think of a single profound thing (go figure...I told you folks I was a hack!).

Considering the fact that I've had it as long as any of my oldest modules, it is in fairly good condition...minimal creasing on the cover, no pencilled marks inside, the only rip being on the illustrated booklet. Part of the reason for the good condition is that this module was picked up new, along with several others in a four-pack set (I know that two of the other modules were S1: Tomb of Horrors and S4: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth), rather than from a used bookstore in Montana. I must have acquired it around 1985 or so.

However, a main part of the reason for its good condition is that I simply haven't used it much. I think I've run it all of twice, maybe three times (and that maybe is very iffy). Fact of the matter is, I never liked Expedition to the Barrier Peaks very much. Certainly not as a DM.

Now if my little spot poll means anything, that definitely puts me outside the norm...I'm the only one (so far) that's voted for "DM; eh, so-so." Considering 15 out of 19 who bothered to respond answered with the "loved it" answer, and the fact that it was named #5 on the greatest all-time list by Dungeon magazine (2004), I must be pretty silly. Even Stephen Colbert, whom I have immense respect for as a comedian, actor, and humanitarian considers it his favorite adventure module, at least according to wikipedia...high praise indeed!

So what's my beef?

Well, it's hard to say. I can list a number of things that bothered me as a kid. Never was it the problem with mixing genres...my players happily time-tripped to the 20th century, Boot Hill, even the Marvel Universe. Hell, we may have even had a stint in Gamma World but my memories of thos days are hazy. No it definitely was not the inclusion of space ships and lasers that bugged me. Let me see if I can put it into words...in no particular order:

1) The front cover. I like Erol Otis art, though I appreciate it much more as an adult than I did as a kid. I liked the black cover (this was the only black covered module I owned...badass, in other words). But goddammit! You stick a picture of a dude shooting a laser pistol on the front and another guy wearing some sort of techno-helmet and you've given the whole game away! Any player with half a brain (and believe you me, my players had big ol' brains!) is going to know right away what they're in for when they see the cover.

[side note...I absolutely love the Roslov back cover, on the other hand....what is it about this guy? He totally "tickles my fantasy." I should research him some...]

2) The module is too easy/too hard. This is my memory from childhood, so may not stand up to the test of maturity, were I to run the module again as an adult. I ran this for characters of slightly higher level (if I remember correctly) and they breezed through pretty much every challenge...besides the froghemoth, of course. But for characters of slightly lesser level this (i.e. the recommended levels) it was too f'ing hard, especially considering that they would get trapped inside the dungeon upon entry. And certain encounters (especially one of my all-time favorite monsters: shambling mounds) proved especially deadly for any level party, seeing as how no group ever took a druid into an underground dungeon!

Now granted: in re-reading the module yesterday, I realized that adventure is meant to be played with a party of 15 characters. It is specifically designed for a large party, with the adjuration that players use two or even three PCs each! If I knew this as a kid, I'd since forgotten it, but I'm about 91% sure I missed this, and the parties that ran this module (admittedly not many) were fairly small (4-6 character parties).

3) The best stuff is hidden. I realize that part of the Old School dungeon design philosophy is to reward good play and thoroughness. Characters in my games tried hard and generally played pretty smart, but they were not always thorough...the chances of them finding a single grey security card and unlocking the locker with the power armor was pretty damn slim without DM fudging (I don't remember fudging by the way...I don't think anyone got the truly cool goodies).

Someone commented earlier that those locked doors drove him crazy as a kid/player. I think one party of youngsters (from when I was a youngster) couldn't figure out the doors at all until I gave them A LOT of hints (they just didn't get the whole door/security card concept, even with the illustrations and boxed descriptions). Jeez. I like the cool stuff to get found. That way players get to experience the cool stuff (though I realize it is the extreme of this attitude that leads to "story path" adventures and rail-roading).

4) It's too big. I understand that this is a persona preference, but as I've mentioned before, I was a self-taught Dungeon Master who cut his teeth on B/X. The "mega-dungeon" was not my experience or the norm. The Keep on the Borderlands would have been too big without the Keep to use as a sanctuary. The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, the Tomb of Horrors, White Plume Mountain...these were the size of dungeon I was used to. When I wrote my own dungeons, 95% of the time they were a single level (albeit a tough level, geared to high level PCs). Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is six full levels. For a young DM, as I was then (or a lazy DM as I am now) that is a ton of material with which you need to familiarize yourself.

This is, of course, not even taking into account the plethora of extra rules regarding new technological items, new monsters, new systems for determining how to figure out those techie items, and the numerous un-numbered encounters.

You know, over at the Revolution, Odyssey has been blogging about the role-playing that's been going on in-between the monster hunter...that is to say, the character development of PCs with NPCs when not busy with the normal "business" of adventuring. In my old campaigns, this kind of RPG action was par for the course, as we had long-running campaigns with long-established characters (with fairly strong personalities and detailed histories)...having to worry (as a DM) about a bunch of extra, module-specific material got in the way of "the juice" of the campaign. Trust me...if you HAVE high level characters (10-12 or high) that have been advanced over many months of play, there will be party dynamics greater than "okay the fighter's going to tank while the cleric heals him and the wizard lays down the heavy support fire." At least if you're bothering to play an Old School game where character gets developed outside of an intricate stat block. S3 as a tournament module with high-level pre-gens may be fun...S3 with developed characters can be a tedious nightmare.

5) Psionics. A bit of a delicate subject perhaps. Many of the most potent monsters in the various monster manuals (including all the high level challenges, like demon princes and arch-devils) have psionics to some degree or another. And yet few PCs (1% or better depending on stats) will have ANY psionic powers at all. In all of my old campaigns, there was a total of two, possibly 3 if I remember correctly...and only one of those characters had "traditional" psionics as per the Player's Handbook (the other that I remember for sure had a type of home-brewed pyrokinetics....remind me to blog about Dark Flame one of these days).

I never had a major problem with psionics (the one PC with "traditional" psionics? Mine), but I didn't like running a module with major antagonists being mind-fuckers and no one else having the stuff to go up against 'em...or having mind-killers that could not use their best abilities because of a lack of party psionicists.

6) No big finale. Tomb of Horrors has a showdown (albeit, one-sided) with Acerack. White Plume Mountain has several possible climactic scenes (my favorite? Being blown out the top of the volcano?). Even Lost Tomb of Tsojcanth (which I think suffered in several regards), had a final showdown with the baddest vampire ever (yes, Vlad is a pansy compared to Igwilvv's daughter). What's the end result of Expedition to the Barrier Peaks? Um...you get thrown out the cargo hatch by a couple robots. Oh...and then you fight a sleepy bulette. A bit anti-climactic after the froghemoth and shambling mounds, if you ask me. Certainly not what I'd call especially heroic or "Special" (isn't the S series the Special series of modules?).

ANYWAY...as I said, I have some complaints, and they aren't in any particular order, but they include some pitfalls I'd like to avoid as I design my own, new module. I emailed my buddy some of my ideas this afternoon and I'm waiting to get his feedback, so the jury is still out as to whether or not we'll be collaborating (I'm keeping my fingers crossed). I wish I could have the balls to call my module "S5" or something (kind of like Carcosa's "new" OD&D "supplement") but I fully intend the module to be for B/X play, not A&D...and I'm a stickler for tradition.

Whoops! The beagles are up to no good in the other room; gotta' go folks! Prost!

Descent Into The Void

The in-laws have headed for home and I may now resume my normal blogging schedule...well, I may after I've resumed my normal sleep cycle. Yowza!

In looking back over my various posts from August, I see that I've completely neglected to fulfill my "pseudo-promise" (there's a better word, but I AM pretty sleepy right now and the phrase doesn't spring readily to mind) of detailing the why's and wherefore's of my Top Ten Adventure Module list. Tonight I want to look at #7 on the list, Gary Gygax's D1-D2 Descent Into the Depths of the Earth. Now as I said, I'm calling these as I purchased them, and when I got D1-2, they were one module combined. Yes, I realize they were originally published as two. Enough already! As I said, let's look at it...I mean LOOK at it! What a piece of cover art! Right there, the image is enough to stick it in my top ten. No giant, grinning blue man on the front, just a badass battle between several shady looking adventurers. Of course, the cat getting his brain sucked out on the back cover is pretty sweet, too...more Willingham goodness. For those who haven't played D1-D2, it is the middle section of Gygax's epic G-Q, 7 module series (yes, I realize Gygax didn't write Q1...Q1 is a different post folks). I don't think one could call a series of adventure modules an "opus;" not when the guy writing 'em has penned the DMG and the PHB. But there's no doubt the series is a classic. So why then do I only single out D1-2 for my top ten list? What about G1-3 or everyone's beloved Vault of the Drow? Is it just the cover art? Nah...though of the whole series, I find the Roslov illustration on D1-2 the best of the bunch. No it's the adventure. See, I've run the whole series...what...MAYBE three times? Q1, as I said, is a whole 'nother story necessitating its own post (some day, some day). I've actually owned the D series longer than I've owned the G series...hell, I had access to Q1 through a friend prior to finding a copy of G1-3 (and guess where? yeah, that little used book store in Missoula, Montana). So D1-3 I've run individually more than others, and of them, the first two are the creme de la creme for me.  I mean, come on! A wilderness adventure underground? Drow back when they were totally evil? Mind flayers? No, there are no dragons in the caverns of the troglodytes...but there is a badass lich.

I'm not even going to talk about the DM's option of crafting his own Underdark adventures by allowing the PCs to explore side passages...I, myself, never went though the trouble to detail "the rest of the map," though I think it's a fairly cool idea.  However, for the record, I think the first two scripted encounters (the Drow outpost and the Mind Flayer lair) are two of the best I've ever laid eyes on in a published module. Each encounter is like its own mini-adventure...you need brains and tactics to defeat both, and if your PCs have never encountered drow or mind flayers before they are in for just a vicious surprise.

And yet, the encounters also perfectly showcase what these two classic monster-types are all about. You get a taste of the drow, their matriarchal society, their clerical and magical powers, their weird magic, their purses filled with platinum.  You get mindblasted and brain-sucked by the illithid...holy crap! 

I should probably do a whole post about the mind flayer. It breaks my heart that I can't stick 'em in my B/X Companion (no psionics, no IP material). I had probably used or thought about using a mind flayer prior to owning/running D1 (I did have the Monster Manual, though I may have "winged" the psionics without a copy of the PHB).  But what happens when you throw one mind flayer at a party of adventurers? You get a dead mind flayer, no shit.

But throw TWO mind flayers at a party? With their wererat thralls as canon fodder/distraction? You get a LOT of dead party members, is what you get...ha!

Vicious, vicious, vicious...D1 taught me to respect the illithid for the terrible foe they are.

And the lich in the great cavern...how many of my players got encouraged to venture into its lair and start "detecting magic" by yours truly?  All of 'em, that's how many...no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to use such a powerful monster...hell, that's excellent XP for PCs and excellent loot to boot! Why stash something so cool in a hidey-hole. That lich is the most powerful being in the caverns, it only makes sense he'd be running the joint.

[just by the by...in Paul Kidd's Descent Into the Depths of the Earth that's his take as well, and I respect him immensely for it, even if I don't like what he did later in the book]

Anyway, I've wasted a ton of blog space on D1, and it's not even my favorite part of the module...that would be D2: Shrine of the Kuo-Toa. I LOVE the Kuo-Toa; don't ask me why.  They have a draw and appeal to me that is similar to the draw and appeal of H.P. Lovecraft's works...certainly there are marked similarities between the Kuo-Toa and HPL's "Deep Ones." Not to mention Blibdoolpoolp the Sea Mother...she could easily have been one of Lovecraft's elder gods.

But I found D2 and the Kuo-Toa long before I found H.P. Lovecraft.  And I dig 'em. I love their weird amphibious nature. I love how, while tool-users, they wear no garments besides harnesses for their weapons (how very Burroughs...). I love how they have this weird priest-hood and character classes including assassins and "whips." I think it is especially creepy and weird how they "grow with age" so the more powerful ones are larger than man-sized and imposing compared to the younger, grunts...I find that just disturbing and yet totally fitting for the weird pulpy "city" that Gygax has created in D2.

I mean, I could really go on for a long time. Jermalaine? Love 'em. Getting teleported to Blibdoolpoolp's elemental plane of existence? How could you not love it!

There ARE flaws to the module...I found much of the underground stuff more time-consuming as a kid than fun (I wanted to get to the action, not worry about wandering trolls!). The Svirfneblin are just "okay" in my book...I don't find it necessary to have some sort of short, good-aligned allies in the Underdark (dammit, it's too deep underground for "good" to exist!).

And I really don't like the whole Kuo-Toa boatman encounter. Not because the rogue monitor isn't a cool encounter, what with his chance to go berserk and his giant gar and all (who doesn't love a giant gar?). But I think it "gives away the farm" too fast.  Ideally, I would prefer the PCs to not have ANY contact with the Kuo-Toa prior to finding the Shrine. Having one that is "kind of friendly in a professional if slightly crazy way" down-plays the weirdness and inhumanity of the Kuo-Toans. In my opinion, tt would have been better for this encounter to have occurred AFTER the shrine (as in, on the way down to the vault) where the strangeness of a "friendly monster" would have been more felt (after invading and fighting hordes of the things).

All right, I should probably talk about why D3: Vault of the Drow FAILS to make my top ten list when it rates so highly with others. However, this post is already running pretty long, so I'll save it for another day.