Basic D&D - I never knew!!!

[kenjib]

I've been reading the D&D Basic Set - the Red Mentzer rules with the Elmore cover. I never realized how completely awesome that game was. I grew up playing 1st edition AD&D, but we always ignored half of the rules anway - all that clunky junk like segments and miniature movement and weapon/armor type modifiers. Now I finally realize why we did that. The people I played with must have learned on basic D&D first and then kept a lot of those rules when they moved to AD&D - all before I started playing with them. I always thought I was playing AD&D when really I was playing a fusion of the two. I strongly suspect, in fact, that a large percentage of AD&D players did exactly the same thing and were really playing a hybrid of D&D and AD&D when they played 1st edition. Basic D&D kicks butt! It's simple and streamlined to do what it sets out to do in a very efficient manner. That's definitely what I'm going to use when I start playing D&D with my boys. I can always back-port any stuff I like from AD&D, like some of the monsters and spells.

Did anyone else play AD&D the same way, ignoring half of the "advanced" rules?

[Malechi]

Yes, I started with the basic white box version with the 3 little mimeographed pamphlets and an odd (at that time) collection of dice. We too moved on grudgingly to AD&D because it expanded the Monsters and Classes. Had they simply expanded the Monsters and Classes we would have stuck with Basic, but they had completely rewritten the rulebook and, along with it, the stats ...

[Grungebob]

You described something very similar to my experiences growing up. We started with the old old pale blue box basic D&D, and when we finally started using AD&D we still kept things simple closer to basic and just used the extended charts and monsters items and stuff.

[Rodriquez]

it's been well over a decade since ive really played D&D..and we used the Red Books at the time..

very easy to use and learn for sure..


cheers
Rod

[AgentX-127]

Same here.

I started on the blue basic set too, and then my group just transferred our characters over to AD&D.

The sad thing is that I had one of the original sourcebooks, Blackmoor by Dave Arneson:
http://home.flash.net/~brenfrow/dd/dd-sup2-9.jpg

I traded it for the Basic D&D set with the full color cover. :duh:

I'm still kicking myself over that.

[InfinityMax]

I started on the red box, way back before AD&D, and never did upgrade. I read the DMG and the PHB, and the rules were huge! I could get whatever we needed from the red rules, and at one point we even bought the rules compilation book that combined all those early basic boxed sets.

Man, we had some good times. Third Edition just doesn't have the same kick any more, and there are SO MANY rules.

[Joah]

I started on the red box, way back before AD&D, and never did upgrade. I read the DMG and the PHB, and the rules were huge! I could get whatever we needed from the red rules, and at one point we even bought the rules compilation book that combined all those early basic boxed sets.

Man, we had some good times. Third Edition just doesn't have the same kick any more, and there are SO MANY rules.

My first box was Violet(IM :wink: ) as I remember.

Here's one; What was your first character class?

Cleric for me.
Half-Elf.

[atmospro]

I started with cough ... Chainmail ....cough. I'm such an old guy. Then work my up the line as they were released. I still had all that stuff up until a year ago when my brother asked for it. He still plays a lot of RPG and I don't, so off it went. Both games were good for different reasons.

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

As a young'un, Silverstoner tried to DM me through a game. Gosh we were young and lost interest some ways through the first session.
I convinced my mom to buy me the basic box set of D&D. When I got home and opened the box, a lot of the booklet pages were all screwed up. Looked like a printing error. The text was doubled and overlaying each other on the entire page.
I was disappointed and actually shelved the game. It didn't occur to me at the time to return the darned thing. My attempts to play the game faded and I was on to something else.


It wasn't until '87 that my sister had a boyfriend ( who eventually became her husband) who helped me roll up some characters and teach me the game.

Here's one; What was your first character class?

Cleric for me.
Half-Elf.

Two clerics. Even before I actually ever played the game & the books and figures were just eye candy, I was fascinated by the cleric characters. Choosing two of the same character classes probably wasn't a smart way to familiarize myself with D&D, but I knew I'd soon be playing with my DM's other players, so I could round out an adventuring party.
I still have Fitzgerald, my first cleric. Named after the F. Scott Fitzgerald who wrote The Great Gatsby - the book I was reading at the time in high school.

I started with cough ... Chainmail ....cough. I'm such an old guy.

My Bro-in-Law has those chainmail books!

I still have some photos from what used to be our bi-annual D&D game nights:
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/232023160xEZJhH
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/549793455dhupIb

[Malechi]

Here's one; What was your first character class?

An Elf Theif
I always enjoyed playing theives in D&D, and it was the thing I hated most about HeroQuest; No Theif Heroes!

Now here's another question:
What was your first character's name?

Mine was easy to remember ... Malechi!
It was the first time I used the name and it stuck, not too many people get to choose their own nicknames! But, my favorite names by far had to be a couple of Halfling Theives going by the names of Bota Baggins (he had a drinking problem) and his cousin Babbling Brook!

[kenjib]

My first character was a magic user named Morphekein. I re-used that name/character several times later. He was backstabbed and killed by an NPC cleric/thief who we thought was an ally. *#$!*$&#!*!!! Hehe.

[Malechi]

... He was backstabbed and killed by an NPC cleric/thief ...

He probably wanted that hat ...
http://www.heroscapers.com/community/images/avatars/19168811704510c375b9cb9.jpg

[kenjib]

Yeah, it's a sweet hot dog hat +1, +3 vs. owl bears. I guess I shouldn't have blamed her for kicking me in the nads and stealing my hat.

[Kepler]

When I was a kid we started out with the Basic and Expert D&D rules, but we eventually switch to AD&D. We did ignore some of the AD&D rules and played a hybrid of D&d/AD&D as well.

Then later I got into a group that sort of made up its own rules and combined the things it liked from several systems (D&D, Runequest, Palladium, etc.).

I would like to play some D&D with my kids when they are older too. I will probably use a simplified version of the 3rd ed rules.

[kenjib]

I will probably use a simplified version of the 3rd ed rules.

Have you checked out Castles and Crusades? The goal as I understand it was to keep the feel of basic D&D with some of the modernized advantages of 3rd+ edition. I don't have it but it sounds pretty cool from what I've read.

http://www.trolllord.com/candc.htm

[Kepler]

I will probably use a simplified version of the 3rd ed rules.

Have you checked out Castles and Crusades? The goal as I understand it was to keep the feel of basic D&D with some of the modernized advantages of 3rd+ edition. I don't have it but it sounds pretty cool from what I've read.

http://www.trolllord.com/candc.htm

No I haven't, but I'll take a look.

[InfinityMax]

I don't remember my first character, because as the older brother, I always had to run the game. Plus it was a long, long time ago.

[Sweetcurse]

What edition is the box set Dragonquest?

[Kepler]

I will probably use a simplified version of the 3rd ed rules.

Have you checked out Castles and Crusades? The goal as I understand it was to keep the feel of basic D&D with some of the modernized advantages of 3rd+ edition. I don't have it but it sounds pretty cool from what I've read.

http://www.trolllord.com/candc.htm

No I haven't, but I'll take a look.

I did some quick researching on this and it sounds like exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.

The PHB is only $13 so maybe I will get a copy and check it out.

[eldurand]

I started with cough ... Chainmail ....cough.

Same here, in fact I still have that book. I had all the small D&D books that came in the white box, as well as most of the supplements (Blackmoor, Grayhawk, Eldritch Wizardry, etc.) but I sold those a long time ago. Somewhere, deep in the bowels of my basement, I am sure I still have the Basic red book and a bunch of modules, waiting for my kids to be little older.

Oh, and my first characters were a half-Elven fighter named Bronalin, and a Human magic-user named Girondys.

[cavie]

I did the same - AD&D and then gave up on it. I've recently looked at the Basic D&D (that I purchased after all by AD&D stuff) and thought the same thing - this could be cool again. My son seconds that opinion.

One of my first characters, a paladin, named Parsen. Painted the mini for him too and still have a bunch of others as well. All that time and effort to create stats and paint, etc. for 1 character make HS seem so lame.

"Son......back when I was a kid, we had to PAINT our figures AND we had to make up our own stats by rolling dice and writing them on paper. Then we had to......."

[outtakontroll]

My first character was a Halfling Thief. It was only because I joined a game that my friends were playing and they were getting killed by traps in one particular section of the dungeon. I started the game with leather armor, a dagger, and a lock pick set. I named him Rellik (which I now use for all my videogame rpg characters) Needless to say, I died that night due to a trap set on a door I tried to pick the lock on.

.............outtakontroll

[Kepler]

I will probably use a simplified version of the 3rd ed rules.

Have you checked out Castles and Crusades? The goal as I understand it was to keep the feel of basic D&D with some of the modernized advantages of 3rd+ edition. I don't have it but it sounds pretty cool from what I've read.

http://www.trolllord.com/candc.htm

No I haven't, but I'll take a look.

I did some quick researching on this and it sounds like exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.

The PHB is only $13 so maybe I will get a copy and check it out.

I did more reading about this game over the weekend and the more I read about it the better is sounds. I ordered the PHB (should be in tomorrow).

[kenjib]

Cool. Let me know what you think. I've had my eye on it for a while too.

[Hendal]

I started out playing AD&D, but we skipped some of the more complicated rules ( weapon speed being the main one ), so it was more a watered down version, but man it was fun, we had a blast, but that was so many years agao, I still have all the books though, even played a little a few years ago here in costa rica, but I had to always be the DM, and HS it so much better IMO - no homework for me and I get to play. I got to go to my first gencon in 1981, it blew me away, can´t wait to go back some day to play HS there, and of course get lots of the exclusive figures, he he.

I made 2 characters up and had them for a long long time. A Paladin named Romulin, and his best friend Hendal the dwarf fighter. Hendal is the dwarf from sword of shanara.
We also played a lot of gamma world at the time and loved it.

I was trying to make my own RPG game based on the world from Thundar the barbarian - but never got really far on it.

[AgentX-127]

I was trying to make my own RPG game based on the world from Thundar the barbarian - but never got really far on it.
No way! Thundarr inspired my GURPS world story...
Moon broken in two and civilization as we know it collapsed as the return of Magic transformed the Earth.

But I my first D&D character before Thundarr...
I had a Half-elf Thief/Magic User named Derrick Wildstar...
(guess the reference :?: )

[lonewolf]

Ravenloft, Tomb of Horrors.....many fond memories of AD&D.

I had those first edition rules...the little brown books, they all went up in a fire.....man I wish I still had those.

[TheMightyAargh]

Oh this brings back lots of old memories. Jazz and I grew up on AD&D (first edition). I think the only rules we really ever used were the ones on how to make up a character and of course the mighty THACO charts....oh, oh, and in the Monster Manuals...what each type of treasure a creature would have.

That was about it though. It's not like we were playing competitively though, moreso we were just weaving a fun tale and whoever was the DM would just go with common sense and "bending" the rules to make the game more fun.

I haven't played at all in a long time. But I'd really like to take a glance at those basic rules. They sound like fun. Too bad you can't download them just to give it a look over.

[Cavalier]

anyone else think Hendal and AgentX-127 are twins seperated at birth? I mean, just look at their avatars :P

[deadeyedan42]

You're right!

[kenjib]

Thundarr the Barbarian! I loved that show.

[Hendal]

My avator is from the books of Kane - karl edward wagner, still probably my all time favorite fantasy Hero - to me he blows away Conan - how good it he, in Dragon magazine they did book heros into D&D characters and guess who was there very first hero to be used -- you got it Kane. I think it went on to be a molly hatchet cover also.

Yea thundar rules, I actually have them all on DVD's, I had a friend who taped them all long long ago, and for my b-day a few years back transfered them to DVD, so I actaully watch them every once in a while , mainly when my nephews show up.

As a kid I played so much D&D , still love it. I tried playing in college for a while, but the group wasn't into it like I was, then a few years back I was playing with a group in Costa Rica, but I got tired of being the only DM around and having to do all the work with out getting to play myself.
I went ot my 1st gencon when I was 14 in 1981, or something like that, and was blown away, but man did I love being there. Went with my best friend who was a year older and we where all on our own, great experience. Hoping to hit one in the next few years, but more for the HS games now.
We are actually thinking of moving state side next year ( Have been here for about 14 years now ), and if I could find a group, I would so play again, I woldn't mind dm'ing some of the time, as long as someone else did part time also.

Me and the other dm had all the monsters so memerized that we had to make up all our own new monsters or the other guy would know all the stats, and bi**h if they had the wrong weapons ( hey wait a minute the MM says they don't use those weaopons, or no way he has got to be dead they only have 2+2 Hit points ).

Hey Agentx-127 - darn they found us out, now we may have to take them all out.

[cbs42]

I'm happy to say that I have the old "white box" set as well as all the supplements:

http://home.flash.net/~brenfrow/dd/dd-sup1-12.jpg
http://home.flash.net/~brenfrow/dd/dd-sup2-9.jpg
http://home.flash.net/~brenfrow/dd/dd-sup3-9.jpg
http://home.flash.net/~brenfrow/dd/dd-sup4-4.jpg


I also have some miniature rules for land and a rare (non-D&D) set of rules for ship combat:

http://home.flash.net/~brenfrow/dd/dd-sas.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1b/Dont_Give_Up_The_Ship_Cover.jpg/431px-Dont_Give_Up_The_Ship_Cover.jpg

I also have cabinets full of old adventures, supplements, Dragon Magazines (back to #15!), Dungeon Magazines, and third party resource materials (anyone remember the "Judge's Guild" line of D&D resources? Great stuff!)
:)

That's just my D&D stuff. I have even more cabinets full of other RPG games and resources. Chances are, if you've heard of it, I have it. If you haven't heard of it, well I probably still have it.

Sadly, I've not played RPGs for over a decade now, but it's still fun to go through all that old stuff and re-live the memories of long nights of adventures with my buddies. I'll never sell that stuff. I'll let my kids have it if they're interested -- and I hope they are!

[Kepler]

Nice collection.

[kenjib]

Yeah, that is really nice! So what's your favorite module of all time cbs42? I'm going to go with Dwellers of the Forbidden City myself, though I know it's not one of the more popular ones.

[Grungebob]

Does anybody remember an old official D&D module that had the party camp out on a hill only to wake up in an alternate dimension/place where there was this twisted family living in a strange mansion. You had to accomplish these three tasks involving finding certain artifacts in order to get back to your camp... I know it is a long shot, but that was the best module I ever played.

[Homba]

The two-parter, Master of the Desert Nomads, and Temple of Doom was my favorite D&D module. Anybody play it? DM'd it twice, once for me and my brother when we were little, once for my HS group. What fun. We had a great group back in HS. Great meaning we didnt BS around with it. Had the Basic (red) set, Expert (blue) set, Companion (Green) set, and Master (Black) set. We played by the rules mainly, but did evolve our own rules too. The Weapon Mastery stuff in the Master set was ridiculous, we settled on something much simpler and not game-breakingly powerful. Unlike AD&D you could basically carry all the D&D rules in your head - we almost never consulted the rulebook while playing. We switched off DMing so everyone got to play, and the DM normally had a character in the party as well who would kinda go along on auto-pilot. In trying to play some later in life with other friends (we tried Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil with new 3rd Edition AD&D not too many years ago), it just never had the same buzz as it did back in HS with that group. Good times, back when time didn't matter. Now with real life intervening constantly, I prefer a start-to-finish boardgame much more than an open-ended D&D campaign. Still I think some times about doing a one-day module or something just to play. The best games were about 4th to 14th level I think - lower than that and you die too easy and higher than that it sorta got over the top sometimes with being so powerful. Did anybody play any with that "Immortals" Set they came out with in a tan box after the Master set?

H

[kenjib]

Does anybody remember an old official D&D module that had the party camp out on a hill only to wake up in an alternate dimension/place where there was this twisted family living in a strange mansion. You had to accomplish these three tasks involving finding certain artifacts in order to get back to your camp... I know it is a long shot, but that was the best module I ever played.

Castle Amber. I've heard from others that it's really great as well but I've never had the good fortune to run through it. I'll definitely have to run it for my kids some day!

[Grungebob]

Does anybody remember an old official D&D module that had the party camp out on a hill only to wake up in an alternate dimension/place where there was this twisted family living in a strange mansion. You had to accomplish these three tasks involving finding certain artifacts in order to get back to your camp... I know it is a long shot, but that was the best module I ever played.

Castle Amber. I've heard from others that it's really great as well but I've never had the good fortune to run through it. I'll definitely have to run it for my kids some day!Yes it is a masterpiece of story telling high quality role playing. The characters are distinctive and the mudule feels a little more epic because there are several tasks that must be accomplished. These present themselves like chapters and the fact that these tasks must be done is a mystery that the party must solve along the way.

[Grungebob]

I just went and did a search. Castle Amber was for the Expert set. I may be alone, but I absolutely loved the D&D Expert set. We never really got to the point where we needed anything more than that. Sure we bought the AD&D books and used them but our characters never reached levels that weren't covered by the Expert set. It was essentially all you needed.

[cbs42]

Yeah, that is really nice! So what's your favorite module of all time cbs42? I'm going to go with Dwellers of the Forbidden City myself, though I know it's not one of the more popular ones.

I was totally blown away by the elaborate presentation of "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks." Interestingly enough, the game didn't go over too well with the group because several people didn't like the sci-fi elements to it. I'll admit, the droids and such were a stretch for a fantasy setting. The module still remains a favorite of mine if for no other reason than just looking awesome.

The favorite early module of the whole group was probably "Steading of the Hill Giant Chief." In all honesty it was a pretty average adventure, but the DM (a buddy's older brother home from college for the summer) just blew us away with his storytelling abilities.

In later years, before we all went our separate ways in life, my group enjoyed the Ravenloft campaign setting very much. Ravenloft still has a bittersweet tinge to it for me, because it was the beginning of the end for my game group. I never really played RPGs after that point. I was busy with college and jobs. Then I got married, and now I have two small children. I hope to re-discover my old gaming collection when they're old enough to appreciate it. Until then, the only thing I really have time for is boardgames and such -- hence my love of HeroScape, and my soon-to-be addiction to BattleLore.

I live in a small suburb, and the one thing that completely kicked butt when I was a kid was that our local library had an RPG section. You could check out modules and sourcebooks. That just blew me away. Then some zealots complained that the library was encouraging Satanism by having that section, so it went away. Luckily for me, that didn't happen until I was pretty much done with RPGs, but it still made me sad.

[kenjib]

Expedition to the Barrier Peaks was an all-time classic, though the copy I had was in an anthology of the whole S series (S1-S4) so it seems I missed out on some of the cool presentation. Great stuff. That sucks to hear about your library. It's always sad to see a place cave in to ridiculous demands like that. :(

[mrbistro]

I just went and did a search. Castle Amber was for the Expert set. I may be alone, but I absolutely loved the D&D Expert set. We never really got to the point where we needed anything more than that. Sure we bought the AD&D books and used them but our characters never reached levels that weren't covered by the Expert set. It was essentially all you needed.

Dungeon Magazine named Castle Amber the 15th greatest adventure ever written. For the heck of it they listed the 30 greatest as:

30 The Ghost Tower of Iverness
29 The Assassin's Knot
28 The Lost City
27 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
26 City of Skulls
25 Dragons of Despair
24 City of the Spider Queen
23 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizun
22 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
21 Dark Tower
20 Scourge of the Slave Lords
19 Against the Cult of the Reptile Gods
18 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
17 Ruins of Undermountain
16 The Isle of Dread
15 Castle Amber
14 Dead Gods
13 Dwellers of the Forbidden City
12 The Forge of Fury
11 The Gates of Firestorm Peak
10 Return to the Tomb of Horrors
09 White Plume Mountain
08 Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil
07 The Keep on the Borderlands
06 The Desert of Desolation
05 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
04 The Temple of Elemental Evil
03 Tomb of Horrors
02 Ravenloft
01 Queen of the Spiders

[mrbistro]

I'm happy to say that I have the old "white box" set as well as all the supplements:
http://home.flash.net/~brenfrow/dd/dd-sup1-12.jpg

My Carr Loves Dund strip actually started life as this Erol Otus drawing. The warrior was the straight man, and the beholder was the viscious jerk with the barbed tongue. I used to make a new one every time I emailed one of my friends. I later cannibalized the idea (and many of the comics) for Carr Loves Dund.

[Grungebob]

WOW WOW WOW!! You guys seriously have hit that way back nerve with me here!! Kenjib THANK YOU!!! Mrbistro I have adventured through about half of the modules you have on your list!! But the names and details have been buried until tonight!! Jeez! I can't believe what a treasure trove of info this is!! I am not surprised Castle Amber made the list and the Barrier Peaks was an outstanding and complex adventure that just required a DM with enough skill to run it properly. I remember one of our party members killed himself when he picked up one of those laser pistols and did not know at all what it was.. I think we saved him somehow (Like always we had some kind of back up insurance like a resurection scroll or something). What memories!!

[atmospro]

Very interesting list Mr.B
I have DM many and read through just about all of the adventures on the list. The top 3 are very interesting. Ravenloft I consider a master piece, but Queen of the Spiders and Tome of Horrors despite there popularity both are unfair.

My favourite not the the list would be Needle.

Llywelyn's Tomb tournament module later releast as To Find a King, and Bane of Llywelyn was always a favourite of my players.

And just a general statement lower to middle level adventures alway seem to have more playability than starter or high level stuff put out TSR.

Oh one more thing Dungoen magazine had some of the best adventures of all, I wish I could remember some of the names, but alass the only one I can come up with is "A Rose for Talarka" (not sure if the names right). This one was a real gem, about a Princess and an Anti-Paladin.

[mrbistro]

Oh one more thing Dungoen magazine had some of the best adventures of all, I wish I could remember some of the names, but alass the only one I can come up with is "A Rose for Talarka" (not sure if the names right). This one was a real gem, about a Princess and an Anti-Paladin.

Yes, they excluded their own adventures from the list, but did make a list of Dungeon's top 10. They are:

10 Siege of Kratys Freehold
09 The Forgotten Man
08 The Lich-Queen's Beloved
07 The Lady of the Mists
06 Eye of Myrkul
05 Life's Bazaar
04 Into the Fire
03 Kingdom of the Ghouls
02 The Harrowing
01 The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb

[kenjib]

Dungeon Magazine named Castle Amber the 15th greatest adventure ever written. For the heck of it they listed the 30 greatest as:

13 Dwellers of the Forbidden City


Hey cool! I'm actually surprised this made the list at all even though it's my favorite. I thought it was really overlooked but apparently not by the Dungeon folks. Here's what made it cool for me:

1. A model for early open-ended module design when most modules had very linear adventures: You get in to the hidden city, there are numerous power factions inside, and they can all work with or against each other in numerous ways. You could create dozens of different goals that the PCs start with for different games and each one would be a very different adventure. You could also run a long stretch of a campaign there or just a quick adventure into the city and out.

2. Cool Pulp Era Feel: Got the whole Shangri-La thing going but in a distopian sense. Really cool classic pulp era feel to the module with strange monstrous cults, mysterious gods, snakes coiled around pillars, and adherence to the old "Lost World" paradigm. There is also a neat fallen garden of Eden thing going on as well with the Yuan-Ti. Lots of rich stuff to work with.

3. I think it was the first appearance of Yuan-Ti, Aboleth, Mongrelmen, Tasloi, Cave Fisher, pan lung dragons, bullywugs, and possibly others that I don't recall. Wow!

[Malechi]

My group would always round-robin the DMing, and I don't remember a single one of us ever using one of the pre-made adventures. Most of us would read them for ideas and such, but they were never used, not even once. I think it was more to have complete control and not have to refer to the DM Notes included with the adventures. Basically, if you've created the world, any question the players could possibly ask has an answer sitting right there within your head! The Dm usually took as many notes, if not more, than the players.

[Hendal]

we did a few modules, and a couple from the Dungeon magazine but mainly we made all our own also. As Malechi stated, there is no argueing when the world is from the DM´s head, hey it is my world and that is the way it is. My one friend bought a lot of pre-made stuff and we would look thought them for ideas, but at that age half the fun was making it all up yourself. Of course that was long ago when time wasn´t such a factor, we would get home from school and head to one of our houses to continue the adventure. It would be hard to get a group that could dedicate that much time to a long running adventure. That is a lot of the draw in HS for me, make the game as long or short as you want by the points of the game.
We had a friend who played now and then with us, not a great player by any means , but OK. He so wanted to try his hand as DMíng, and we kept trying to tell him it is a lot of work and harder then you think, well he finally made up his own adventure, and we gave it a shot, he was lost behind the screen and I actually fell asleep at the table, I felt really bad cause I hurt his feeling, but it was the only game I had ever played that just dragged so much, he was resigned to just playing after that.

[mrbistro]

I too always relied on homemade material. It's only now that I've come to appreciate the craft of dungeon design. I collect adventures like a madman.

[InfinityMax]

I liked a lot of the pre-made adventures. Siege of the Slave Lords was fun as hell. There was an introductory adventure for basic D&D that was great - you travelled all over Karameikos, defended a castle from goblins, stopped slavers, ran like hell from gnolls, and explored an ancient civilization. Wish I could remember what it was called.

There are some new adventures being made for d20 that are also excellent. There's one where a bunch of hobgoblins are attacking a vale, and you have to stop them. I actually have it, but don't remember what it's called, either.

Plus they just released an updated Castle Ravenloft that is outstanding. Very loose, with very few prescripted events and the capacity to be anywhere from a one-night run to a whole three-month campaign. Plus it utilizes the Three Dragon Ante deck, which I think is really cool.

[Cavalier]

Keep on the Borderlands has always held a spot in my heart. It was the module that I learned to play on. I still have a copy and have used it to introduce others to the game...not that I have had a good D&D game in about 10 years.

[cbs42]

For those of you who liked the module listing, Wikipedia has a HUGE collection of modules listed. Most of them are hyperlinked to additional info and graphics about the adventure.

Check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dungeons_%26_Dragons_modules

[dra(gon)]

strage some modul artworks seem taken by the german copy of d&d . das schwarze auge (dsa) in amerika known as dark world.

http://www.ciao.de/Abenteuer_12157_4 here a lit of all 148 modules

i must say i have never seen a d&D in my child hood but dsa was in every store. d&D only in special stores.

[cbs42]

Yeah I'm pretty sure TSR didn't focus much attention on the international gaming market during the 70s and 80s. At the time, even the USA gamers were a bit of a niche market. Of course, all of this changed in the 90s and beyond, when the full growth potential of the gaming field was realized. I still think the market is growing, as more and more people (particularly in the USA) realize that there is more to "gaming" than Monopoly and Chess. The kids of the 70s and 80s were the first young generation to be exposed to RPGs, and they have kids of their own to teach now.

[Agent Minivann]

Yeah I'm pretty sure TSR didn't focus much attention on the international gaming market during the 70s and 80s. At the time, even the USA gamers were a bit of a niche market. Of course, all of this changed in the 90s and beyond, when the full growth potential of the gaming field was realized. I still think the market is growing, as more and more people (particularly in the USA) realize that there is more to "gaming" than Monopoly and Chess. The kids of the 70s and 80s were the first young generation to be exposed to RPGs, and they have kids of their own to teach now.

That reminds me of the Danish exchange student we hosted in the 90-91 school year. He spoke excellent english right off the plane at age 16. He was an avid D&D player and they pretty much could only get stuff in English. So they bought everything in English and had a good reason to learn the language.

That list of the top modules brings back memories. I loved playing White Plume Mountain and Tomb of Horrors, but we never got around to playing Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.

[Kepler]

For those interested in classic D&D (or 1st or 2nd edition AD&D) stuff the website below has most of the pre-3.0 edition stuff available in pdf format for $4.00 a pop.

http://paizo.com/store/downloads/wizardsOfTheCoast

[ej]

I considered the thick white D&D book a real treasure. Now, though, there's no way in hell I can play... I hardly have time for Heroscape. Although I'm considering creating some scenarios where I have a prebuilt army and set up a goal for my kid to play "against" me.

[Sweetcurse]

What edition is the box set Dragonquest?

I think my question got lost in the shuffle. Can anyone tell me?

[kenjib]

What edition is the box set Dragonquest?

I think my question got lost in the shuffle. Can anyone tell me?

I'm sorry but I'm confused - what is Dragonquest? The basic D&D game had many different versions of various boxed sets. There is an edition history here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editions_of_Dungeons_%26_Dragons

I think the original D&D game (as opposed to AD&D) was always a boxed set until the rules cyclopedia came out.

[AgentX-127]

What edition is the box set Dragonquest?

I think my question got lost in the shuffle. Can anyone tell me?

I'm sorry but I'm confused - what is Dragonquest? The basic D&D game had many different versions of various boxed sets. There is an edition history here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editions_of_Dungeons_%26_Dragons

I think the original D&D game (as opposed to AD&D) was always a boxed set until the rules cyclopedia came out.I don't know much about it either,
but I found your answer here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DragonQuest


History

DragonQuest appeared in four editions: first edition and second edition, a revised second edition in conjunction with Bantam Books, and a third edition published by TSR when they acquired SPI. As of 2006, the game belongs to Wizards of the Coast, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hasbro, through acquisition of TSR.

[Hendal]

Hey SweetCurse,

I remember DragonQUest, RPG, big white book with a fighter holding the head of a Dragon, we played some, borrowed some of rules to add into our D&D game, I actually think I still havee the books in Ohio somewhere.

Is the the Dragonquest you are referring too?

That was way too long ago, I remember some game we played had the killer charts for damage from weapons, stuff like " and it's a bleeder, take so much damage and more each round from the bleeding ", but not sure if that was DragonQuest????

[ZODGILLA!]

If it wasn't for Basic D&D, and The Keep on the Borderlands, I would not know all of you wonderful people! I can trace a direct 20+ year path from that product to this site. (:note: What a looooooong, strange trip it's been...:note: )

[Tiberius]

Hendal, I thought that was rolemaster that had all the critical hit charts and the critical misses.

My favorite, you trip over an invisible turtle and are out for 3 months with a pulled groin. Your opponent is out for 3 rounds laughing.

[markwars]

I just went and did a search. Castle Amber was for the Expert set. I may be alone, but I absolutely loved the D&D Expert set. We never really got to the point where we needed anything more than that. Sure we bought the AD&D books and used them but our characters never reached levels that weren't covered by the Expert set. It was essentially all you needed.

I can agree 100% with this. By the time my best friend, his two brothers, and me reached this level it just blew us away. We literally spent every spare moment to play play play. I remember getting the Master level rules but they didn't seem to add much more that we wanted to add. And the Immortal Rules are just ridiculous.

I think that our group moved from the Expert Rules onto 2nd Edition AD&D. I had absolutely every books for 2nd Ed. stuff. I loved to just read those books for hours at a time and admire the amazing artwork included with it all. And when I wasn't playing I was reading every single Dragonlance book as it was released. Ah, those were the days.

When the 3rd Ed. stuff came out a few years back I bought it, read it, thought about playing again, and then realized I was married, out of college, had a kid, was working a real job, and it was entirely impossible to play D&D again. Instead I bought Neverwinter Nights and tried to relive it on some level on the PC. I still miss playing.

The closest I ever seem to get is creating Scape scenarios for my son to play. Maybe that's why I love Heroscape so very very much.

[kenjib]

When the 3rd Ed. stuff came out a few years back I bought it, read it, thought about playing again, and then realized I was married, out of college, had a kid, was working a real job, and it was entirely impossible to play D&D again. Instead I bought Neverwinter Nights and tried to relive it on some level on the PC. I still miss playing.

The closest I ever seem to get is creating Scape scenarios for my son to play. Maybe that's why I love Heroscape so very very much.

You can still play with all of that. I'm at the same point in my life with 4 kids aged 3, 3, 6, and 6 and I play bi-weekly with some other parents. Sometimes we skip a session because one of us has scheduling conflicts. We are all busy so we all understand how it goes. I don't leave the house until after bedtime, but it's the same way for all of us so we start playing around 8:30 and end around 12:00 - 12:30 or so.

Seriously, if you do really want to still play you can make it work and you should.

[Onacara]

I bought the new Basic Game for my son in hopes to get him hooked on D&D the way I was...and I was sorely disappointed with the new game....when I played some 25 years ago....figures were just a nice little visual and were hardly ever a part of the game and now the entire thing is more of a board game then a RPG

[Hendal]

Tiberaus,

I think you are right, rolemaster, that chart so rocked, I can still get my one brother to laugh when someone gets hurt and I say " and it's a bleeder ", he knows exactly what I am talking about.

So we must have played that also, I remember DragonQuest for some reason also, the book cover I can still picture. We played a lot of games a few times though, just to try them out. BootHill, a spy game, Traveller..

[Dennys]

Tiberious, that was a 66 Fumble with slings.

I still have all my rolemaster stuff, started with the color boxed basic set, and became our groups DM because I was the first to buy te DMG. (I still have all the books, including Deities & Demigods with Cthulu).

Favorite time was playing a samurai using the Dragon Magazine (#46?) rules before Oriental Adventures came out. Me and Pally knock out an orc guardpost. Lumbering orc comes down corridor, Pally swings high, I go low, and orc sits there at 1HP, falls to his knees and says "no kill I".

So I say to pally "you kill him, would be dishonorable for me to", Pally says "hey, I'm lawful good, I cant kill him, he surrendered" So we both look at each other and say "Lets get Mikey (RL player of Valis the one armed elf), he'll kill anything.

Laughter ensued for about 20 minutes

[Onacara]

Hendal...is the "spy game" you refer to Top Secret? I played that one too

[Tiberius]

Hendal, I have played boot hill, fun game, my friends had a wild west fetish going for a while. We also played Ninja's and Superspies, that was a good spy game but like every other game from those guys, it took forever to make characters.

[Dennys]

Top Secret, Boot Hill, and Gamma World.

Powered Assault Armor vs Red Dragon = Dragon Hash

[SilverBlade]

Well, this has been an interesting read. I'm just as nostalgic about classic D&D as you guys (started around '81) but I actually graduated to 3rd ed AD&D pretty easily. Got married in 2000 and the wife was enthusiastic. We don't play much these days because its just the two of us and that gets old. I'm going to put an ad in the next local Con in March to see if I can build a gaming club to get back into it.

I have a plan to get my kids interested. I found a copy of Marvel Super Heros RPG on ebay. I figure my 8yo already loves super heros and playing games with dad so he'll take to that pretty quick. We've fought a few battles so far and it seems to be working.

The thing I don't like about d20 RPGs today is that they're all equally complex. In the old days you had D&D for the really immersive stuff and then you had Star Frontiers, Boot Hill, Gamma World, and Twilight 2000 for a lighter experience. Now gone are the thin booklets and everything is hard core d20. Even so, its been 25+ years and my roleplay days are far from over, if I have anything to say about it. :)