I picked up some classic modules at an estate sale the other day. There are numerous reviews and retrospectives of these guys. Here are some:
So, I am just gonna look at some pictures.
Steading of the Hill Giant Chief
This first picture is what Steading of the Hill Giant Chief is all about. It's not about unknowable inscrutable monsters in an alien underworld. It's a Jack and the Beanstalk tactical simulator. The description for the Kitchen says it is "a typical giant kitchen." I wonder what background knowledge about the "typical giant kitchen" Gary expected us to have.
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
This picture is what Expedition to the barrier peaks is all about. You think you are playing dungeons and dragons and then the dm shows you a picture of a sexy android or something and he is working out. It's 1981 so you roll with it. Then you get hit by a dumbbell for 2-20 points of damage and you are pissed. You complain and the dm says that the shirtless humanoid tells you "to hustle or you won't make the team." Later a rabbit or something kills you.
Or maybe you get hugged to death by vegetables while monkeys laugh at you. The Dm is not laughing at you though. He is a neutral referee.
I present this image without comment.
Queen of the Demonweb Pits
I wonder how I would have felt in 1980 if I bought this adventure, took it home, opened it up and found out this was the map. The map does not show the rooms described in the adventure, which is crazy. I also don't understand how the levels interact with each other. The adventure says that they are on different levels of the abyss and you change levels through teleportation gates. If that is the case what is the point of having them overlap like this. Let me check and make sure I'm getting this right. Ok. that is wrong there is a whole section on how to climb up and down the levels. cool. But also weird. page 7 describes how to climb up/down the web to different levels and then page 8 says that the "number of the level does not refer to elevation, but only the progression (by way of teleportation rooms)." Confusing.
On a more positive note, all driders should resemble overweight elves. I want a mini that looks like this as opposed to all the drider minis with abs.
I like the juxtaposition between the quasi historical castle in the foreground and the far out over the top fantasy stronghold in the back. This picture encapsulates a lot of what dungeons and dragons is all about.
Surprise. This is another sci-fi adventure! You're on an inter-dimensional space(?) ship. On this metal dimension hopping ship with control panels and voice tubes, there are ogres who sleep on beds of straw. It's a ship hewn from pure chaos, so you should abandon any preconceived notions you might have about what belongs on a high tech ship created by a god. Gods love to hang out with ogres and bugbears.
I enjoyed reading this. All of these things seemed awesome when I was 10, and still do.
ReplyDeleteI largely agree with a few caveats. In g1 I want the female giants to fight the party with giant frying pans instead of running away. S3 is of course perfect so no caveats there. Q1 should have diagrams of the rooms and better advice on how to run the other dimensions.
DeleteThe art in all of these is fantastic.