In Search of the Unknown (Dungeons & Dragons, TSR, 1981) | Retro Adventures

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Beyond the Mountains of Madness (Call of Cthulhu, Chaosium, 1999) | Retro Adventure
• Beyond the Mountains o...
Skills | House Rules
• Skills | House Rules
Description: Many years ago two wealthy adventurers, Roghan the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown, built a hidden complex known as the Caverns of Quasqueton. From this base they conducted their affairs away from the prying eyes of civilization. While of questionable ethical standing the two drove back a barbarian invasion and gained the support of locals. Eventually they gathered their own army and went on an expedition against said enemies where they met their demise.
The player characters enter the story at this point hearing a variety of rumors provided in the module. Each PC knows one or more of the stories although the veracity of them is somewhat questionable. The rumors mostly involve a great treasure hidden somewhere in the Caverns of Quasqueton.
#rpg #dungeonsanddragons

[@mjd8366]

I've gone back and totally converted my group from 5e to BECMI. Castle Mistamere is my first adventure, and then going to run this one next, followed by B2 depending on level. I'm begining to think BECMI/BX is the best version of D&D ever made. It's the perfect mix of lite mechanics and procedural play. It's a great foundation that you can build on to shape the game the way you want to play it (vs like AD&D or 5e where you have to cut stuff out, add other stuff back in... Basic is pretty much just adding.) I love how it's deadly too adding a lot more tension, and your characters don't start out as overpowerd heroes, but have to learn first how to survive and then how to play their class.

[@RPGGamer]

3e remains my favourite edition, but recently my group went back and played through Tower of Inverness using BECMI, and we had a load of fun. But we were glad to move to a newer version again afterwards, as it did feel limiting in what characters could do as they were pretty stuck in their roles.

[@allluckyseven]

Oh, I would totally play this using the old Basic rules for that extra nostalgic feel... :D
Speaking of basic rules, I was surprised to find recently that the Thief (later renamed to Rogue) in the BECMI rules set used a d4 for his hit die! Poor guy probably couldn't fail a single remove traps check (which was only 10% at first level!). I guess that's interesting as it didn't single out the Wizard as the weakest character of all, but then they gave the Thief a d6 in AD&D and 3.X and kept the WIzard at d4...

[@RPGGamer]

My group recently played through Tower of Inverness using BECMI, it was a whole load of fun, but I definitely came out of the experience glad it was just a one off.

[@allluckyseven]

@@RPGGamer Did you feel it was too simple? Too limited?

[@RPGGamer]

@@allluckyseven It just felt strange, but I will admit that might be because I decided to play something I'd never really played before, a really traditional old beardy Wizard.
For example, in part of the adventure you end up appearing deep under water, and have to swim to the surface, and the way the adventure laid it out, swimming was all down to what armour you were wearing, so my Wizard, wearing only robes had it really easy, and it just felt weird that the Old Beardy Wizard was swimming like a fish compared to the big muscley fighters (because they were wearing chain or plate). It was just moments like that which threw me out (usually to my benefit I must say), just moments where the rules were just strange enough to break my immersion in the story.
So as I say, it might just have been I was playing an unfamiliar class, or it might have been an unfamiliarity with the rules, but I was just glad to put it behind me, although it was a whole load of fun to play through.

[@SavageGreywolf]

Instructions unclear, summoned a demon in my living room

[@RPGGamer]

Well give it some tea and biscuits and be a good host, next time it visits it might bring you something nice.

[@johnsimcoe2081]

Thanks for the look -- I actually have this, but I haven't opened it in a decade or more!

[@RPGGamer]

I've been so tempted to go through all my old D&D adventures, but one of the GM's in my group is running us through a bunch (Isle of Dread at the moment) and I'm definitely not going to spoil the fun as I've forgotten most of what happens.

[@allluckyseven]

Freddy, here's something that might be of interest to you... Free League launched a Kickstarter yesterday for the English version of Drakar och Demoner (called Dragon Bane in EN), an oldschool Swedish RPG, and they have made available a Quickstart. Giving it a rather quick look, it seemed to me that it's sort of an amalgam of 2nd Ed. AD&D + Basic Roleplay + Free League's own Year Zero Engine. It's a d20 roll-under system, with a advantage/disadvantage mechanic, and skills are very much like the Proficiences in BECMI D&D (can't remember if they worked the same way in AD&D, other aspects reminded me of that system). The art of the book is quite pretty, as it is usually the case with Free League stuff.

[@RPGGamer]

Fantastic, thanks for letting me know. I've downloaded it, and made a couple of videos, they'll be up next week.
The rules are so reminiscent of 5e, I really think this would be a great game for people who have only played that one system to get into. I think I might pick up the full version, as I'm desperate to find out more about the Mallard and Wolfkind cultures.