Friday, April 1, 2016

A to Z of Adventure! A is for Against the Slave Lords

A is for Against the Slave Lords

Welcome to the A to Z Blogging Challenge for 2016!

Let's start this off with one of the earlier adventure series and consequently one I am currently wrapping up for my kids.

The Slave Lords series was marketed under the "A" module code. The series included four adventures, A1 to A4.
Back in 2013 Wizards of the Coast published a new A5 The Last Slave Lord in Dungeon Magazine #215. In 2015 a new hardcover of the adventure came out which included an introductory adventure A0.

The "A" series came from the adventure "Assult on the Aerie of the Slave Lords".  Though for me I always thought they were "A" since they were for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, even though other adventures came before it.  Of course my DM also was confused why it was called "A" so he did what he usually did, he added a bunch of Assassins to it.

These adventures were used as tournament level play at the AD&D Open Tournament for Gen Con XIII (1980).   The adventures were then published in 1980/1981.  I played it myself around 81 or 82.

Ask 10 gamers and you are likely to get 10 different opinions on these adventures.  I remember having a character die in it a trap in one of the various traps found in these.

So far my kids are doing well, but it has by no means been a cake walk for them.  We are down to the last adventure in the series.  I have to figure out if I want them to go through the first part without all their gear or not.   I get why it is there, but it isn't something I *need* to do with them right now.



Here are some other postings on this module. Always interesting to read what others have experienced.
http://www.metagamemastery.com/2011/09/26/annotated-a1-slave-pits-of-the-undercity/
http://www.thedelversdungeon.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=227
http://bloodofprokopius.blogspot.com/2012/02/re-imagining-slave-pits-of-undercity.html
http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/11/retrospective-slave-pits-of-undercity.html
http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/search/label/a1-4
http://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.com/2014/12/review-a1-4-scourge-of-slave-lords.html

And Peter's detail into each adventure.
http://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.com/2014/10/review-a1-slave-pits-of-undercity.html
http://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.com/2014/10/review-a2-secret-of-slavers-stockade.html
http://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.com/2014/10/review-a3-assault-on-aerie-of-slave.html
http://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.com/2014/11/review-a4-in-dungeons-of-slave-lords.html

The A series was also made part of the D&D 5 playtests, so it was possible to grab all the conversion needed.  So far playing this with D&D 5 in 2016 is just as fun as playing it with AD&D 1 in 1982.

Buy it at DriveThruRPG, A0-A4: Against the Slave Lords (1e).



19 comments:

Tasha Duncan-Drake said...

When I was younger I never could get my head round why people would play a game where your character could just die :). Took me until Uni to figure out sometimes that's what made it fun. Do a bunch of Assassins make things more fun or more difficult? :)
Tasha
Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)

Pun Isaac said...

I've never played Slave Lords. I have In The Dungeons of the Slave Lords (picked it up from Half Price Books). I think it sounds like a fun series of adventures. I may pick up the compilation sometime.

A Tarkabarka Hölgy said...

"Added a bunch of Assassins." Lol! Just for the alphabetical consistency? XD
Fun start! I never heard about this module, but I like well used traps.
Happy A to Z!

@TarkabarkaHolgy from
The Multicolored Diary
MopDog

Jonathan Linneman said...

Nice overview! Love the links to words about A1 around the web. Looking forward to the rest of the alphabet.

Peter D said...

Thanks for linking my reviews.

I really do love these adventures. As soon as I saw the cover image over on Google+ I dropped what I was looking to do so I could come and read yet another look at them. That says something about their enduring impact on me.

The Silver Fox said...

Wow, you sure are a long-time gamer. Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Nicola said...

Interesting post, thank you. Looking forward to learning more as the month goes on. Have a lovely weekend.

Jazminn Skye said...

I recently have gotten into more serious and role playing games, it's hard but I love it.
I'm a closet imaginarian and fantasy addict.

Interesting post.
Jazminn
Under Jazminn Skyes

Unknown said...

Have never really gotten into the whole gaming thing, but I can tell my son has that potential. He's always coming up with gaming type ideas.

JB said...

Ugh...I forgot it was A-Z month! Thanks for the reminder!

caz greenham said...

Great A-Z post. @CazsBooks http://cazgreenham.blogspot.com Welcome aboard Greenham's yacht

Piper Presley said...

I'm not a gamer at all, but fun!

Romance Author Piper Presley
A is for Anthology: Blogging for A to Z Challenge

Unknown said...

wow great info. I haven't played/experienced D&D in quite awhile...may have to revisit. Have an awesome day!

mshatch said...

I tend to go more for PC games these days but I remember staying up to the wee hours playing D&D.

Anne Young said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anne Young said...

Thanks for visiting my blog Tim. I look forward to following yours during this month. My son used to play D and D regularly when he was a teenager and we have lots of books :)
Regards
Anne
your blog challenge neighbour (#67 at present)
http://ayfamilyhistory.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/b-is-for-barque-bloomer-arrived-1854.html

with an l

Debra Renée Byrd said...

Phew, this is over my head. lol I guess I should know there were these types of things involved.

Archana said...

My forays to computer games are limited to Solitare! I guess your posts will update my knowledge... :)
@yenforblue from

http://yenforblue.blogspot.in/">Spice of Life!

Karen Baldwin said...

Thank you for your Comment on my A-Z Challenge blog post. I will be following yours also.