D&D Adventure - B1 In Search of the Unknown (1979) [/]
Mar 13 2023
In Search of the Unknown is the first D&D Basic Set B-series modules. The version you buy from DriveThruRPG is from 1979 and it must be for Holmes Basic Set because their advice section talks about Lawful/Chaotic Good, Neutral, Lawful/Chaotic Evil alignments, the henchmen section demihumans (elf, dwarf, halfling) have the same professions as humans, and there are references to Greyhawk which became an AD&D world while B/X and BECMI D&D went with the Known World of Mystara. It is a scan of that version and only has a couple of marks on the upper level map.
This module presents a dungeon with a history: two great heroes built this as their base but they disappeared three decades ago on an expedition against the barbarians. The dungeon itself has a built upper level of almost 40 rooms and a caverns lower level of about 15 rooms.
Each room has a description and then a blank space to enter the monster and treasure. There is a monster list of 25 entries and a treasure list of 34 entries. A GM is supposed to pick 16-20 monsters and 15-25 treasures and sprinkle them into the dungeon, hopefully in a way that makes sense though I guess not necessary.
This does mean it's an easily replay-able module. The upper level is a bit confusing with lots of maze-like areas and hidden rooms (our two heroes were not into usability: storerooms that are a couple hundred feet away from any other room were just fine to them). So a second run through the players will have a better idea of the layout but the random monster and treasure placement will keep it interesting (and each treasure is supposed to be hidden/protected though that's suggested without giving any guidance.
As the first D&D module it also has some advice sections. There are notes on creating a dungeon, preparing the module, time, experience, and how to GM. I like the section on generating random henchmen/hirelings: roll for class, roll for each of four personality traits, and for each class roll for arms/armor/spells each with their own tables.
This is an example of an old-school dungeon. The dungeon itself has lots of tricky corridors and secret areas so the PCs are expected to be good at mapping. Monsters are randomly strewn about and there is no story or plot that ties the monsters together. As such B2 is a much better introductory module and I'll take a look at it next week.
Overall I think this is just fine as an intro module for the time but even updated for BECMI Basic Set a couple of years later I doubt it aged well.
This module presents a dungeon with a history: two great heroes built this as their base but they disappeared three decades ago on an expedition against the barbarians. The dungeon itself has a built upper level of almost 40 rooms and a caverns lower level of about 15 rooms.
Each room has a description and then a blank space to enter the monster and treasure. There is a monster list of 25 entries and a treasure list of 34 entries. A GM is supposed to pick 16-20 monsters and 15-25 treasures and sprinkle them into the dungeon, hopefully in a way that makes sense though I guess not necessary.
This does mean it's an easily replay-able module. The upper level is a bit confusing with lots of maze-like areas and hidden rooms (our two heroes were not into usability: storerooms that are a couple hundred feet away from any other room were just fine to them). So a second run through the players will have a better idea of the layout but the random monster and treasure placement will keep it interesting (and each treasure is supposed to be hidden/protected though that's suggested without giving any guidance.
As the first D&D module it also has some advice sections. There are notes on creating a dungeon, preparing the module, time, experience, and how to GM. I like the section on generating random henchmen/hirelings: roll for class, roll for each of four personality traits, and for each class roll for arms/armor/spells each with their own tables.
This is an example of an old-school dungeon. The dungeon itself has lots of tricky corridors and secret areas so the PCs are expected to be good at mapping. Monsters are randomly strewn about and there is no story or plot that ties the monsters together. As such B2 is a much better introductory module and I'll take a look at it next week.
Overall I think this is just fine as an intro module for the time but even updated for BECMI Basic Set a couple of years later I doubt it aged well.