I was 11 years old when I played my first game of D & D. It was Keep on the Borderlands. I was simple and dumb. God I loved it. We must have played that through several times.
My first character died at the hands of orcs in the Caves of Chaos circa 1980, , although I did noy know the name of the module until decades later. I remenber the character fondly because he was a dwarf fighter with 18/93 strength straight rolled on 3d6 and one percentile roll. Actually the party fled after my characters death and never returned to the caves they were too scared. It was the first PC game death we had. The caves were pretty deadly for low level parties.
The blue of the maps is known in the industry as non photographical blue. Print shops use it for markup during the pre-press stage because it will not show up on black and white negatives.
Great review, as you say I think the different printings were designed to appeal more to collectors, but yeah it does make the book a weighty beast LOL
I wish they had chosen only one version of the original modules. That being said I would have been a bit disappointed if they didn't choose "MY" version.
I don't agree with them having 2 versions of the originals. That's lame. Having one copy is spectacular though. I do really like this series, I think they were still finding the right format with this first one.
The monsters are there due to the shrine of evil chaos. It's not spelled out for you but it isn't hard to figure out. What's bad in this regard is the Return to the Keep on the Borderlands. Leaderless Kobolds still in the caves 20 years later while Gnolls have fled to the woods.... That one is really bad and they tried to actually use more modern monster ecologies.
Nice review. I own both the originals (I was a BECMI player in the 80's, didn't get into AD&D). In 5e, the player would roll, not the DM... and its an investigation check... not a perception check :-P
wait, what? who roles perception to search a body? maybe roll on a "I search the body" table (thank you Raging Swan.) This may be a culture thing and not a 5E thing
I truly didn't make this up. Take a closer look at some 5E adventures. Many times you'll see the call for a player to make a perception roll to find something on a corpse. I have to chuckle because whatever it is (usually a gem or a key) is almost always hidden in a boot. So even if you said you're taking the boots off during the search, the player still has to pass the check.
@@Thegaminggang I would call that a "cultural" implementation and not a 5E specific rule or directive. I understand what you are talking about (i was being a little hyperbolic in my original post :) ), 5E has so many sub-cultures that have some weird views on things, but hey, I'm old school myself :)
@@Thegaminggang I do agree with you however about what is included makes the book a bit unwieldy at the table. I think they should of split it into two, one for the history and versions of the old modules and a second book for the 5e conversion.
@@Thegaminggang There were 6 print runs of B1 and two are presented in the book, the second and sixth print runs. The difference being in later runs the references to ad&d were removed. You can see this on page 19 of the book.
I was 11 years old when I played my first game of D & D. It was Keep on the Borderlands. I was simple and dumb. God I loved it. We must have played that through several times.
My first character died at the hands of orcs in the Caves of Chaos circa 1980, , although I did noy know the name of the module until decades later. I remenber the character fondly because he was a dwarf fighter with 18/93 strength straight rolled on 3d6 and one percentile roll. Actually the party fled after my characters death and never returned to the caves they were too scared. It was the first PC game death we had. The caves were pretty deadly for low level parties.
I agree 100% it’s overkill to have every single print run in the book.
That info was incorrect.
The blue of the maps is known in the industry as non photographical blue. Print shops use it for markup during the pre-press stage because it will not show up on black and white negatives.
"Non-photographable Blue" Thanks for the heads up!
Great review, as you say I think the different printings were designed to appeal more to collectors, but yeah it does make the book a weighty beast LOL
My DM was using the Caves of Chaos in a game we just played a few days ago! heh
Wonderful cant wait to watch this whole
I have the pdf. :) I have almost everything becmi. for thos wondering what becmi is, its basic/expert/companion/master/immortal.
I wish they had chosen only one version of the original modules. That being said I would have been a bit disappointed if they didn't choose "MY" version.
I don't agree with them having 2 versions of the originals. That's lame. Having one copy is spectacular though. I do really like this series, I think they were still finding the right format with this first one.
Definitely stealing "Rene Zellwegger" as my next evil sorcereress.
I am desperately trying to buy these reprints. I really wanna play the original dungeons and dragons and the olive edition of ad&d 2e.
The monsters are there due to the shrine of evil chaos. It's not spelled out for you but it isn't hard to figure out.
What's bad in this regard is the Return to the Keep on the Borderlands. Leaderless Kobolds still in the caves 20 years later while Gnolls have fled to the woods.... That one is really bad and they tried to actually use more modern monster ecologies.
Nice review. I own both the originals (I was a BECMI player in the 80's, didn't get into AD&D). In 5e, the player would roll, not the DM... and its an investigation check... not a perception check :-P
wait, what? who roles perception to search a body? maybe roll on a "I search the body" table (thank you Raging Swan.) This may be a culture thing and not a 5E thing
I truly didn't make this up. Take a closer look at some 5E adventures. Many times you'll see the call for a player to make a perception roll to find something on a corpse. I have to chuckle because whatever it is (usually a gem or a key) is almost always hidden in a boot. So even if you said you're taking the boots off during the search, the player still has to pass the check.
@@Thegaminggang I would call that a "cultural" implementation and not a 5E specific rule or directive. I understand what you are talking about (i was being a little hyperbolic in my original post :) ), 5E has so many sub-cultures that have some weird views on things, but hey, I'm old school myself :)
It doesn't contain every version of the modules.
Never said it did.
@@Thegaminggang 8:30
@@Thegaminggang I do agree with you however about what is included makes the book a bit unwieldy at the table. I think they should of split it into two, one for the history and versions of the old modules and a second book for the 5e conversion.
A print run isn't the same as an edition. There are supposed to be three major print runs of B1 and they're reproduced in the book.
@@Thegaminggang There were 6 print runs of B1 and two are presented in the book, the second and sixth print runs. The difference being in later runs the references to ad&d were removed. You can see this on page 19 of the book.
1st comment lol