Here is a slightly oddball question.
What are your favourite Holmes-style adventures which aren't dungeons?
That is: in your opinion, are there any adventure modules out there which apply the ideas and elements of Holmes-era D&D outside dungeon exploration?
The mini wilderness of B2 is the first thing that comes to mind. It was written for Holmes & packaged with later printings, and has some DM guidance by Gygax on running the outdoor areas.
ReplyDeleteThe original version of B3 Palace of the Silver Princess has a wilderness map by Jean Wells that is similar to the one in B2, but that is more artistic and shows a larger area without a grid. It's accompanied by evocative descriptions of the locations. Per Frank Mentzer, Wells originally wrote B3 for Holmes and then updated it for the new Basic rules.
ReplyDeleteThose are good, but I forgot to mention "aside from the TSR classics" - I am looking for materials for a new campaigns, and most of my players already know those. In fact, we played B3 in the Spring. .)
ReplyDeleteI think it's actually a B/X module but X1 Isle of Dread always felt like a Holmes module to me.
ReplyDeleteCameron DuBeers That's an interesting point because, as pointed out by a recent K&KA thread, X1 went through quite substantial changes between its first release and the Mentzer edition.
ReplyDeleteknights-n-knaves.com - Knights & Knaves Alehouse • View topic - Early editions of Isle of Dread
Okay ... "not classic TSR" ... Moritz Mehlem's "Village of Larm" (Brave Halfling Publishing) had a mildly Holmsian flavor.
ReplyDeleteThere haven't honestly been many (any, actually) good intro modules that I've seen come out of the spate of OSR modules released in the last few years (a lot of creative stuff, just not a lot for low level play).
ReplyDeleteOf the old TSR stuff, B2 as already mentioned. B1 as well, which can be run with a lot of sword & sorcery flavor if one chooses and has enough dangling plot hooks to fuel further adventures). With a little work, I think L1 (Secret of Bone Hill) could work well for a Holmes campaign; especially if paired with Restenford as a hardscrabble home base (I'd ditch the plot of L2 and just use it as a village setting). T1 would also work well (with or without the moat house, Hommlet makes a good starting village); as would N1 (Against the Cult of the Reptile God) with or without the adventure plot / dungeon (or using the plot but with different villains). U1-U3 (the Saltmarsh) series would also worked well with Holmes with a little retooling from AD&D to Holmes rules; given the pirate hook, you could substitute the dungeons of Zenopus adventure for the haunted house portion of U1 and then segue straight into the rest of the series with some reworking of foes and magic.
I've actually kicked around the idea of setting up a small sandbox consisting of the seacoast and hinterlands, with B1 - B2 - L1 - L2 - T1 - U1-3 all in the sandbox area as linked adventure locations, with the theme of lurking evil and dark cults being the overall theme making it hang together.
Almost forgot.. never ran it but a lot of folks liked it - Night's Dark Terror.
ReplyDeleteAnother vote for B10 - Night's Dark Terror , a criminally unknown/under rated adventure.
ReplyDeleteen.m.wikipedia.org - Night's Dark Terror - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The DNDClassics.com pdf is pretty decent.
Andy C At the risk of tootin' my own horn, I wrote an introductory module, suitable for both first level players and beginner role-players. And ... germaine to this discussion, it was influenced heavily by Holmes' Blue Book dungeon (though it has no wilderness area to accompany it, which is why I didn't bring it up). Something Rotten In Riverton: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1EkzJN_zT8uYW9RSTYzV25Wcjg
ReplyDeleteGabor Lux Corsairs of Tallibar ( #judgesguild 1982) follows the B2 model in that it has a one page small-scale map for the wilderness in which the dungeon is located. In this case it is an isolated island. It divides the island up into zones based on topography (swamp, mountain etc), each with different wandering monster tables and 1 set piece encounter. It's more on the naturalistic side of low-level D&D so there's not much that's fantastic except for the monsters. The wandering monster tables are just short lists with stats, no interesting details added. Oh, and it's in the annoying later JG Universal System, so you need to puzzle out which D&D monster they are referring to and find the stats.
ReplyDeleteZach H That's an interesting candidate. I own Corsairs of Tallibar, although I wouldn't have pegged it as something in the style of the Holmes set. I agree it is a bit too mundane - the abandoned pirate lair is mostly ruined equipment and scavengers, if I remember correctly. However, it is a functional, solid adventure, just not an outstanding one.
ReplyDeleteI'm running an extraction of the dungeon for a con next weekend, so I've been spending a lot of time with it. As I mentioned elsewhere it reminds me of B1 crossed with Room M of the Holmes Sample Dungeon. A former dungeon stronghold like B1, with the decaying living quarters of the former inhabitants described in fine detail. There's even a "Room of Pools". And it has the pirates-in-a-dungeon vibe of Room M plus some encounters that seem inspired by it, notably a giant octopus. Also an undead pirate hand (possibly the most inspired encounter) that behaves somewhat like the animated dagger in Room N.
ReplyDelete