The Dungeons and Dragons Basic set is a tried and true introduction to the D&D game. Since the first Basic set, written by John Eric Holmes, was published there have been included adventures.
The first was the aptly named, In Search of the Unknown, and had the code B1. This was and still is my go to adventure for starting out a new campaign of first level characters. The plot, as much as there can be one, is thin. There is a castle that has been abandoned. Let's go check it out!
The next Basic Set, and really the start of the whole Basic line of D&D was the one from Tom Moldvay. This set introduced us all to the Caves of Chaos and the titular Keep on the Borderlands. There are estimates that close to 1.5 Million copies of B2 Keep on the Borderlands were printed. An entire generation of gamers visited those caves in search of glory, gold and experience points.
The B-series of modules would go one to produce some of the best and most memorable adventures ever printed. There was the controversial first print (orange cover) of B3 Palace of the Silver Princess which had all copies destroyed and now fetches top dollar on eBay. This was followed by the sublimely weird B4 The Lost City, which along with B2 made the list of the top 30 D&D adventures of all time.
I ran all these first four for my kids over the last few years and it was a blast. I never played in or ran the remaining 8 (yes 8!) adventures. But all are designed for starting level characters, levels 1 to 3 and most importantly starting Dungeon Masters learning their new craft. I know own them all, and really want to play them sometime. I am planning on running Rahasia (B7) as part of my "War of the Witch Queens" campaign someday. I'd also like to run B5 Horror on the Hill and B8 Journey to the Rock as well.
Links
The adventures at the Dungeon Masters' Guild:
Links
- Retro Review & Commentary On The OD&D Adventure Module B1 In Search of the Unknown
- Actual Play Of The OD&D Adventure - B3 Palace of the Silver Princess With The Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea Game
- Retro Review & Commentary On The OD&D Adventure Module - B4 - The Lost City
- The 30 Greatest D&D Adventures of All Time
- Grognardia Retrospective: In Search of the Unknown
- Grognardia Retrospective: The Keep on the Borderlands
- Grognardia Retrospective: Palace of the Silver Princess
- Grognardia Retrospective: The Lost City
The adventures at the Dungeon Masters' Guild:
- B1 In Search of the Unknown (1978)
- B2 The Keep on the Borderlands (1979)
- B3 Palace of the Silver Princess (1981)
- B4 The Lost City (1982)
- B5 Horror on the Hill (1983)
- B6 The Veiled Society (1984)
- B7 Rahasia (1984, 1979)
- B8 Journey to the Rock (1984)
- B9 Castle Caldwell and Beyond (1985)
- B10 Night's Dark Terror (1986)
- B11 King's Festival (1989)
- B12 Queen's Harvest (1989)
11 comments:
Of these adventures, Keep is the only one I'm really familiar with. I just finished running it in 5E.
Another cool history. Thanks!
The original version of Palace of the Silver Princess was actually available for free on wizards.com several years ago. Looks like it isn't there anymore...gonna have to see if I can track down my digital copy...!
Tom Moldvay? That sounds like a Hungarian name...
I am starting to realize that I played a lot of D&D, but I never played any of the "basics"... :D
@TarkabarkaHolgy from
The Multicolored Diary
MopDog
Could not afford these "Games" , so wrote my own ... would spend all week writing up games for them to play on that weekend... Cool Post, and a great weekend to you and yours.
I've never played D&D, but my son has. I wonder if he used any of these basic games.
@ Tim:
Really looking forward to Monday's post on this theme ('course, I'm making a presumption you'll write something about the C series, an under-appreciated batch o adventures).
BTW:
Are you familiar with the Toad-Witch series of books by Christiana Miller? And if so, would you recommend them? They've had fairly good reviews, but you're my go-to guy for all things witchy.
; )
I'm going to admit this now - I have never played D&D, even though I grew up on sword and sorcery books and movies. Good to learn about the origins of something that was an icon of my formative years :)
Sophie
Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles | Wittegen Press | FB3X
Congrats on being on top with your posts.
Best wishes
Nilanjana
Madly-in-Verse
So why were all copies of the first print of B3 destroyed?
Nice to know there are beginner sets ... I always wondered how one got into D&D :)
Tasha
Tasha's Thinkings (72) | Wittegen Press (74) | FB3X (AC) (75)
Hi there!
I’m stopping by from the #AtoZChallenge. My son was big into these types of games growing up but never played D & D. I, however, was more a Pokemon player although I spent a couple of years playing Evony and enjoyed it immensely before my writing career took over...;~)
I have two blogs in this challenge…my author blog at THE STORY CATCHER (www.donnalmartin.com) and my KICKS Kids Club blog (www.kickskidsclub.blogspot.com) . If you get a chance, check them out and good luck with the challenge!
Donna L Martin
'An entire generation of gamers visited those caves in search of glory, gold and experience points.'
And got their asses handed to them by a bunch of kobolds hiding in (spoiler ommitted) ten minutes in...
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