Predating
the Dungeons and Dragons Red Box Basic Set I owned, the Module B1 In Search of the Unknown
was designed to be extremely customizable. Later introductory edition modules gave
starting Dungeon Masters much less work to do to as they learned their craft
with many more details provided. I took the layout of the
finished upper level and unfinished lower level of the well-designed “dungeon”
in that module, ignored the suggested back story completely, and replaced all the references
in it to characters I had played or known. The reason was I decided that fortress was the
abandoned Stronghold of my first character Gonzo the Halfling. Coming up with
the encounters, traps and treasures was a matter of letting my creativity run wild
while having stuff based on memories of my old adventures provide the seeds of
ideas.
The
unimaginatively named town of Ellivned worked the same way. The retired, oversized,
ugly and pungent warrior who ran the weapons shop was my old Half-Ogre character
B.O.. Thorpendorf was the town Jesse’s Dungeon Mastered adventures originated
out of. This demonstrates where I learned my Dungeons and Dragons naming creativity from:
"Thorp"- Old English for a village or hamlet, its etymology being a modification of the Dutch “Dorp” which came from the German “Dorf.”
As
the gang all got better at puzzle solving and role-playing through the Silver Princess rescue, the party’s adventures through my version of B1 led to multiple
entertaining afternoons.
After
several sessions we had a long break. Therefore, I gave the party a written summary to
remind them how far they’d gotten in the previous explorations, what they’d
learned and what they’d collected. It is now annotated to highlight just how
many inside jokes were included solely to make me laugh. These annotations will
be in [brackets]. I have resisted the urge to try to improve upon the write up
I gave them, hence the long and rambling nature of some of the annotations.
Long and rambling should no longer be a surprise in my writing.
"Thorp"- Old English for a village or hamlet, its etymology being a modification of the Dutch “Dorp” which came from the German “Dorf.”
Or
Where the heck were we?
[B3 Palace of the Silver Princess was the team’s first adventure. Now that I think about it, I don’t recall telling them anything about an actual princess being rescued. I hope she wasn’t one of the two female thieves?]
[Gonzo, Barf, and Calibos were that first, Basic Set D&D adventuring group I was a part of starting in fifth grade. None of those characters had been used for about two decades at this point. However, there was never an indication by the three of us that they had retirement goals- hence the abandoned location.]
[Stellar writing there, younger Jeff. Nice pointless repetition, also why did I keep calling it a Fortress when I knew it was a Stronghold, per the rule books?]
Along with the boulders came demands, in very broken common, for the return of “Family Jewels.”
[Besides what was for sale in the the armory, as listed in the gaming books for players to purchase, B.O.s signature weapons were hung in fancy racks and cases on the walls. His giant samurai sword was proudly displayed behind the main counter. The double bladed battle axe balanced for throwing and the trident firing crossbow were a bit higher up on other walls. The steel tipped club was stashed out of sight near the check out location, in an easily accessible place in case of unruly shoppers…
And the bullwhip was tightly restrained in a sealed case, for obvious reasons.]
[While the party had coins, gems & jewelry, provisions, weapons, armor, and mounts, they had been basically pitching camp outside wherever they travelled on the way to and from dungeons. A home base was needed. This is especially true considering how terrible they were at remembering to post a guard. Again, there is a reason I let so many characters have pets/ familiars/ animal companions.]
[After having Wally kill more monsters than most of the party in some early encounters and realizing he would probably be devoured rapidly and painfully while trying to save his owner in a higher-level adventure, we decided to balance things out a little.]
Hey, it can’t all be story based. It always makes me laugh seeing the Monster Manual listing as "Rat- Giant (Sumatran)" which is a Firesign Theater reference.
A) “Centipedes are gross.”
B) The same misunderstanding I had about “Giant” centipedes the first day I ever played this game. They are a little over a foot long, the party (and I in the past) assumed “giant” meant they were the size of an average pack animal.]
[A
section of the map on the first floor spiraled inward until it reached a dead
end. I stole an idea modified an entry in one of the Grimtooth’s Traps
books. There was a sign on the wall at the dead end in the center of the spiral
with very small print. When they reached close enough to read it, it said, “Sucks
To Be You” and a Gelatinous Cube was released from the ceiling earlier in the spiral, which they
could hear sliding towards them. I believe the Magic User Freynarfir had enough
monster research under his belt to recognize the sound. I did give the low level characters
a way out. The Thieves, El Chicho and Johny Bigfeet, were able to figure out there
was a mechanism connected to the sign. Pushing on a hidden latch on the sign dropped a section of
floor that the Cube fell into. However, it started rising again so they had to
run to get over it. Part of the mechanism to lower the floor also lowered the
ceiling in a different section a couple of feet, which Smokey the Barbarian didn’t
notice until he sprinted, forehead first, into it.]
The TV movie Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark terrified the hell
out of me as a child. Therefore, I told my younger sister about it in detail,
and without seeing it, it scared her even more. All I had to do was whisper, “Saaaaaally”
like they did in the film, and Kim would freak out in abject fear. Originally
appearing in module D1, and then in the Fiend Folio were the Jermilane.
The drawings looked very much like I remembered the tiny, evil, light fearing creatures
that terrorized Kim “Sally” Darby in that film. Therefore, I felt the need to
include them hiding in and around my old Magic Using travel companion’s bed
chambers. As we played, I would describe skittering noises and regularly, if quietly
whisper, “Saaaaaaaallly.” The ordinarily brave and focused Paladin Murcielaga
would alternate between shrieking and attempting to get everyone to dash out of
the room in a total panic. When the creatures finally were discovered, she led
a horrifically violent assault turning the twenty extremely small and
minimally armed (but evil) beings into a large amount of paste.]
Once
you got through them, you discovered a section of his journal mixed in with
other papers that read:
“I have met with failure yet again in the construction of the Impervious Shield of Boo. I shall have to abandon my work on this, as the strain is taking its toll. I have been hearing voices in the walls and am starting to cast spells in my sleep. No major damage so far, but I shall have to stop before I destroy more than my blanket”
[ Barf’s journal entry, except for the noises in the wall part (“Saaaaaalllyyyyyy”) will make more sense later.]
“I have met with failure yet again in the construction of the Impervious Shield of Boo. I shall have to abandon my work on this, as the strain is taking its toll. I have been hearing voices in the walls and am starting to cast spells in my sleep. No major damage so far, but I shall have to stop before I destroy more than my blanket”
[ Barf’s journal entry, except for the noises in the wall part (“Saaaaaalllyyyyyy”) will make more sense later.]
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