What adventures are there out there that would fit in this old school campaign?

Question

In a few weeks I'm starting a game of old school D&D for a group of fairly new players, and I'd like to be able to have a few published modules to drop on my hex map, so I can mix it up a bit and run something a little different from my own stuff. I have Death Frost Doom, Tower of the Stargazer, *Hammers of the God,* and the first 4 issues of Fight On!, but the weird science-y central conceit of Stargazer wouldn't work at all in my campaign, and I'm not sure I want to inflict DFD on this crew just yet. Hammers of the God is a possibility but it's a little too high level, at least for the start of the game, and while a few of the Fight On! dungeons might work, I'm wondering what else is out there. I know I'm not aware of every old school module that's available right now.

Can anyone recommend some low-level (1-4), site-based old school D&D adventures? (I'm specifically running Lamentations of the Flame Princess: Weird Fantasy RPG, but anything written for Basic, OD&D, AD&D 1e or 2e, or one of the retro-clones should work fine. As long as it's still in-print or not so badly out of print that I can't find it on Ebay.) I'm particularly interested in: ancient tombs, ancient evil temples, anything that used to be one of the former but that something else has since moved in to, a desert/wasteland theme, a deep-in-the-forbidden-jungle theme, the sewer/underworks of a city (preferably despotic, but I can provide my own despotism if necessary), anywhere Conan would hang out, snake people, jackal-people, vaguely medieval angels-and-demons a la Diablo 2, and vaguely Mesopotamian/Ancient Egyptian architecture or style.

Answer 1

Here are some original old school D&D modules that should be easy to find and not cost you an arm or a leg if you buy them online:

I1 The Forbidden City (TSR, 1980): Old school AD&D sandbox setting in a "lost" jungle city inhabited by snakemen (yuan ti), frogmen (bullywugs), and lots of other weird and dangerous creatures. Lots of room for development here and no two adventures will play alike (due to multiple adventure paths and foes).

B4 The Lost City (TSR): This old school original D&D module consists of a pyramid buried in the desert sands which holds various degenerate groups battling each other for control of the underground empire.

X1 Isle of Dread (TSR): Lost island sandbox setting with lots of different adventure ideas

WG4 Lost Temple of Tharizdun (TSR): written by the master himself, EGG, this AD&D adventure takes place in a long abandoned temple to a dark god hidden in a mountain valley. Initial conflict is against monsters who now inhabit the structure, but if the party delves deep enough they will run into Things Best Left Undisturbed.....!

Axe of the Dwarvish Lords (TSR): This AD&D supermodule written in the 90s takes place in an long abandoned Dwarvish citadel now inhabited by an army of goblins.

Gates of Firestorm Peak (TSR): This 90s AD&D module takes place in a weird, otherworldly mountain that has connections to a "Far Realm" of madness and insanity. Sounds like it would fit right in with Raggi's stuff!

Not as easy to acquire are the classic Judges Guild modules Caverns of Thracia and Dark Tower (however, the 3.5 reprints should be a lot easier to find and are backwards compatible). Both are great and concern ancient, underground empires with lots of evil things lurking about.

Answer 2

Don't forget the entries for the One Page Dungeon contests. There's at least one (Tomb of Song) in the first compilation that might work for you.

Answer 3

Ruins of Ramat by Brave Halfling will work well. It has a pair of demonic creatures (low level) so the referee can definitely present it as a bit of weird fantasy. I ran it successfully at several conventions and in my campaign.

For older material you can get

Book of Treasure Maps

City State of the Invincible Overlord, the new version is good as well and not very 3.5 specific despite the blurb.

Book of Ruins

Answer 4

I would even suggest T1 Village of Hommlet or B2 Keep on the Borderlands. These two adventure are great places to start and have the potential of building into larger adventures later on.

And as mentioned above, the one page dungeon collection. Those are a lot of fun and are small enough (most of them) to do in one or two sessions to get your new player acclimated to the game.

Answer 5

Dragonsfoot is a pretty good resource, too. Their adventure section has a lot of adventures, including low level adventures.

In the 1-4 range, I like:

• DF14: Goblins Tooth I: Moonless Night by Lorne Marshall, for 6-10 characters of level 1-3
• DF18: Where the Fallen Jarls Sleep, by John A. Turcotte, for characters level 3-5
• L4: Devilspawn, by Len Lakofka, for characters level 3-5
• DF21: Beneath Black Towen, by John A. Turcotte, for characters level 4-6

Answer 6

The original Palace of the Silver Princess, which TSR pulled, is still available for free download from the WotC website although not easily found.

While it has some uneven bits I think it fits a well in the broad LotFP WFRPG very well and could find a place in your hex map or WNW if you're using it.

For deserts/wastelands TSR's Lost City for Basic (B4) would be a good choice. You can find it on eBay and used book stores fairly easily. Like many of the TSR greats there is a ton of space for you to customize it.

Jungle adventures are a bit rarer although you could adapt I1, Dwellers of the Forbidden City. Like B4 it has a lot of space to fill in. The problem is it is more set for levels 4-7 so might require some downgrades, especially for WFRPG.

Others in the B series that I think fit what you're describing are Rahasia (B7) and Dark Night's Terror (B10 or 11).

All of the above should be easy to find on eBay except the first which can be downloaded at the link.

Answer 7

You might also try adapting X1 - Isle of Dread

Answer 8

It's worth looking outside your chosen game system, as you might find that there's a Runequest or MERP scenario which would work really well.

I'd also suggest scouting out some of the older gaming magazines. There are some great scenarios in pre-#100 White Dwarf for example, such as the Irillian setting/campaign.

there are a couple of good site-based scenarios in the Dungeon Crawl Classics line, but I'm blanking on the names, I'm afraid. There was a "let's read" rpg.net thread about the line which may offer some pointers.