RPG Retro Review: B1 In Search of the Unknown
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- Опубліковано 6 гру 2018
- Another Classic module in review this week! The much loved introductory adventure, "In Search of the Unknown!" Check it out!
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The bit about breaking off a piece of stone and eating it, much like the room full of pools of liquid, is set up in the legends & rumors roll in the beginning. One of the false rumors suggests that the stone is magical and will grant a person who chips off & eats a piece of it a wish. Another false rumor says that Rogahn and Zelligar hid all of their treasures in a pool of water. The players are meant to hear these at the outset and remember them, so they'll act accordingly (re: stumble right into deadly traps) when they reach these areas of the dungeon.
Back in 1981 I had this module along with T1 Hommlet and essentially ran it as T2 - using the basic set- I had it that Lareth’s cult had taken over the dungeon as a base of operation. I still have it with my pre-teen hand writing in the encounter boxes (rendering the module worthless on ebay).
me and my friends have just gotten into DnD and watching your videos at night is really nice
I am planning to include this location nearby my starter town in a hexcrawl I am planning. I'm flipping between using straight up B/X, OSE with the advanced stuff, or Dungeon Crawl Classics. I'm enjoying all your reviews, thanks.
Yes! Another upload, I know when that music starts I am going to have 17 minutes and 36 seconds of fun!
Got it in the big Original Adventures Reincarnated book from Goodman Games that also includes The Keep On The Borderlands. Both in original and 5th ed versions in the book. Good stuff.
Awesome video and great adventure. It was my first adventure in the game, and I've had a soft spot for it ever since. I love all of the advice that Mike Carr gives about playing the game (much of it standing the test of time). IMHO, the defining moment is encounter area 53 "Grand Cavern of the Bats". Pretty self-explanatory. It's the biggest area in the map, and is a huge underground cavern which serves as home to thousands of bats. It's not on the map, but an opening high in the north wall allows the bats to feed each night.
I got rid of most of my old D&D stuff when I upgraded to version 3.0 many years ago, but I kept this module. I'm pretty happy I did. Now if only I had kept all of my other stuff as well :(
I too went third ed and have now gone back to AD&D 1st ed.
Back in 1978 an upper classman introduced me and my buddy to this module after school down in the cafeteria. We never did finish it but the fond memories & exciting experiences of the several times we played it still lasts with me unto this day...
Very nice txt. A firm handshake from Brazil.
Been waiting for this one a long time. Thanks for the recent bevy of uploads Capt. Great to see you at full steam!
Love these reviews, thanks for sharing Captcorajus
So happy to find this channel, its disgusting that all I can find are videos on 5th edition. Even just AD&D (1st or 2nd editions) material is hard to find now.
The first adventure that I ever ran! ...In 2014 :D I have a special place for Basic D&D in my heart. It was my first exposure to the game. And I love this adventure. Unfortunately we never finished it as Scheduling got in the way of our fun, but i have since run a game set in Mystara using 5e, and am now running the sequel to that adventure, and i think that I am going to try to work this in to my campaign somehow!!!
This channel is just great! Best thing on the internet right now!
Loved this module as an Idea Mine and used it as the basis for a pre-introductory module that I mashed up with ideas from the Judges Guild Trial by Fire module.
We may have played this once. I remember the teleport room as if I had played it once. Expanded the Mushroom room and did away with the pool room.
Great review!
And can I just say that I love the funky organ music at the opening of each clip. Nice touch!
I never had the opportunity of playing Old DnD but I really enjoy watching your videos. Please never stop :D
Yahoooooooo! Another amazing video from the best of the best, on my absolute favorite - and first - module ever! Thanks Captain!
Thanks for another great module review, well researched and informative as always. Really appreciate your highlighting of Jon Pintar's Realistic Maps series, I wasn't aware of his work before, and having powerfully evocative maps will really add some shine to my roll20 sessions. Already looking forward to your next video!
Best old school dnd candle l just bought the module a few day ago great reviews:)
Sweet! I always look forward to your videos!
Was checking it out today, and the art does make me smile. Think I will run this for my Grognard group.
Wow! Nailed the name correct! You are a truest of the true DM! Seriously, another great review, keep'em coming!
Great review! I like the history you included! And I love the rumors included, especially false ones.
Awesome video! I've actually started an AD&D campaign and this is the module its firstly based around. I've already had 2 sessions, but we'll hopefully soon be ready for the party to hit the dungeon at last. I'm hoping. Also first time DMing anything period.
This module, to ma back in 1978, is what D&D is. Exploration, mystery of the unknown, high fantasy. Before TSR and then beyond started adding politics and heavy roleplaying scenerio's. I was so wide eyed fascinated by what was found here when I ran it as a DM. I felt like a player running this for my players. Everytime i even look at the cover I think, this is D&D.
What is funny, my brother tried to run it as a 1st time DM and forgot to key it. So his buddy was half way through it and asked him where all the monsters were lol.
Yah I still fondly remember this as my first D&D experience with two high school buddies in the cafeteria after hours back in the Fall of 79. But sadly even though our two F/M-U High Elves got up to Level 3 we never did get to finish it... :(
Thank you for reviewing this, one of my favorites from way back when. A great source of inspiration whenever I start dreaming adventures.
Jody B Very true. Those were the days!
OMG, the amount of things I got from KayBee hobbies on the cheap. The best was I got the monster card sets for .99 each, as well as the Mystara boxed sets for $4.99. lol. those were the days.
I enjoy these mod reviews.
Aw yiss! Makes my weekend perfect.
Just wanted to say thank you for your channel. I started playing D&D back in cir. 1979 with the Gygax/Arneson/Holmes D&D Box Set and your videos bring back many fond memoirs. If I could be so bold to give a few requests . . .
1) Personally, I would love to have more spoilers in your reviews. I now have little time for D&D but I would love to hear your commentary and thoughts on the major plot points of the classic dungeons. I understand your desire not to give things away, so maybe a "spoiler" section at the end of a video? Or separate videos which are an overview of a module instead of a review?
2) A review of (in my opinion) the greatest module of all time: "T1 - Village of Hommlet" is most needed.
3) You mentioned that "S2-White Plume Mountain" is one of your favorite modules. I would be interested in your thoughts on it, since I wasn't a fan; albeit my opinion is from junior high.
4) More "top ten lists" would be fun. You did "Top 10 Retro RPGs 1975 to 1990" which was a blast. How about "top ten retro modules" or "top ten classic monsters" or "top ten best single module encounters"? I could go on.
Again, thank you for your labors and your videos, they are greatly appreciated.
You're right, a review of the Village of Hommlet is long overdue. I keep referencing it in my other videos. lol.
Idk if it's been answered already but in reference to the eating chips of the glowing stone in lvl 2 of the complex, one of the rumors players can receive tells them to eat a chip to be granted a wish. Although it's false, it implores the player to do so. Great content. Looking forward to running this module for the first time with a few friends soon.
I used to use a highlighter on these early modules.I used the same for the early Gamma World modules.
10:00 I recall in 1980 when I got this module I changed this room. Instead of breaking and eating pieces, which was really strange to me and something no PC would do, I filled the cavern with small rocks glowing different colours and if they pick them up I'd make the random roll.
I did a similar thing with mushrooms and fungi in the room instead.
B1 was my biggest desaster as a DM .
What happened?
I was the only one who DM'd this way back in middle school, when the first crew got started. 1979, 6th grade 8>D We'd run from the bus to get our D&D stuff after school! The fact that this module WAS so open and required the DM to flesh it out to make work probably is why I ended up within a few years being the forever DM. Still the essence of D&D to me. To this day, I don't do 'Social Encounters' in the modern parlance. There's NPCs and bargaining, negotiating and such, but some bard with 20+ modified charisma doesn't get to tell the night watch guards to step aside if you know what I mean. 8>D
Wow...I had this set, along with D1. Great Memories.
👀 Oh, man! I seriously believe this was my first ever module that I played… I had completely forgotten about it, it most likely being drowned under Tomb of Horrors etc. Thanks, man! 🙏🏻
Awesome! You are the best, cant wait until you do this and D&D full time, I want that for you, you deserve the best life ever.
Fixed! Thanks for the heads up!!
Cap, I love your channel, keep those great videos coming!
You mentioned the magical stone on level 2 and wondered why any PC would think to chip a piece off and place it in their mouth. In the Legends Table, there is a false legend which states that there is a magical stone somewhere in Quasqueton which will grant a wish to someone who does that.
Yes, that is true, but I was sort of going by the idea that unless you roll that on the legends table no one would know.
@@captcorajus Gotcha! I'm running my group through a modified version of B1 now, so I just made sure it was one of the legends that one of the PCs knew, even if I had to fudge a dice roll.
Very informative video.
On the Roman numerals, they used to be more part of basic education (they aren't hard to learn after all). My young students, simply aren't taught them in other classes, so I pass them along. We find them in all sorts of literature in the 1800s and 1900s, so a reader would have experience with them outside of D&D.
Thanx for the review. I feel this is a better introductory module the B2 Keep on the Borderlands as it is easier to get straight into the action, just my opinion.
I remember there is a picture with the fighter and the mummies and a thief backstabbing, when I was young and had this module I traced the fighter and the thief so that it looked like they were fighting. I would pour over the basic set art as it really did a lot to spark your imagination as a new D&D player.
Goodman games “Into The Borderlands”
2:40 r/dndstories intensifies
5:33 interesting thing is that, while the Orcs in the B/X rulebook have a speed of 120/40, in the B/X version of this module, they are listed as 90/30. Accounting for the leather armor?
this shows a bit that the encumberance rules, however important they seem to enforce some sort of realism without relying on too much of Referee's fiat, they were de facto considered optional, and so, the monsters weren't really balanced for them. Running away from a horde of orcs while you both have equal speed, so you need to shake them off by turns and doors, or dropping some goodies (or baddies, like caltrops, burning oil etc) behind is nice, but imagine doing it while you are always slower than them, because you wear *any* armor.
6:27 like some overgrown centipedes, idk
7:38 >more than 50 coins of weight equivalent
this is a typo.
THIS HAS TO BE A TYPO.
In what editions of D&D carrying 5 lbs of stuff counts as being heavily encumbered? Propably even dudes with Strength 3 in AD&D could carry this without any issues...
8:40 ah, yes, the mapscrew techniques
But you know what's worse? The arc visible on the right. Try describing THIS to the players so they draw it correctly.
This is one of those moments the referee/DM might just have to draw it themselves.
*and the second level is eeeveeeen wooorse*
9:58 Would you like a piece of tasty rock?
12:15 because there's never enough low AC cannon fodder to soak up the punishment.
13:00 we had to wait HOW MANY YEARS for this crucial story development? XD
13:22 Three Thieves and one Fighter
THREE THEVES
man, the Referee who'd run this party would have to be really lenient with Thief Skill rolls...
I actually played this one *yup we got TPK'd, we are just a bunch of 5e kids*
I think this was the first adventure I went on... one of the best IMHO!
Serious Math = Serious Skills ! :-)
Remember, this was before most calculators, computers, & smart phones - you had to use your Head ! :-)
Yeah, more reviews.
This was my first module I ran... and being an ADHD addled preteen noob DM in 78ish preparation was not my forte. Still I loved the pool room and still try to think of ways to randomly reward players with things like the glowing stones table. It also probably explains why, even when playing 5e with a newly prefabricated adventure I prefer homebrewing it... :)
I've still got 2 copies of the original green cover version from waaay back in the day.
In spite of your errors in description (for example, it isn't five dead adventurers at the intersection, it clearly states in every edition I have that it is three adventurers and two guards), I enjoyed the review of this adventure.
The DIS & DAT/DS cover art was vastly superior to Darlene's art in my opinion. No knock on Darlene, as I love her Greyhawk maps, I just prefer Sutherland's artwork overall. Trampier did put out some amazing artwork too. His Emirikol the Chaotic artwork from the 1st edition DMG was realistic art that I still love. Though he often did more cartoony style artwork, his Wormy comic strip from Dragon magazine was legendary cartoon art.
This was the adventure I got in my Holmes Boxed set decades ago (spring 1979), and though the original copy is battered, bedraggled, and weather stained from being taken on every Boy Scout hiking or camping trip for my six years in Scouts, I have it and treasure it still. I've used it time and time again, for adventurers of many levels low to high. And it is to my mind the best teaching module for any DM ever.
Ooops, ya got me on the number of dead adventurers in the description. Should I turn in my Grognard card?
@@captcorajus 😀 Never. 😛
Ah, good memories. Me and my buddy had other players. We traded off running B1 over and over for the other guy that ran an entire party of PCs. Changed the encounters of course. The pool room was always a random power fest and risk tasting session.
Had "no" other players I meant to type. Just 2 person D&D.
What a fantastic channel! As a fan of OSR and especially BX and BECMI your reviews are very helpful. Just getting back into the hobby and introducing my daughter to BX, which seems to be the system she has picked up the easiest and engaged with the most. I would love to hear what your favourite basic module to run is for newer players, and suggestions as to what you would follow it up with? Thanks again however for your great content!
Well for me, I ran the 'Tower of Zenopus' from the blue book basic Holmes edition and then keep on the borderlands. I've done videos on both of them. Thanks for the comment and welcome to the channel!
@@captcorajus Thanks for the quick reply. I will watch the videos and do some prep! Regards
Micah
50 BUCKS!! What?! Here's an idea. I go to local libraries and they have books for sale from 25 cents to a dollar. One time I walked in and there were a bunch of modules for 10 cents each, including :
A1 - Slave Pits of the Undercity
S2 - White Plume Mountain
I4 - Oasis of the White Palm
B2 - The Keep on the Borderlands
B3 - Palace of the Silver Princess
B1 - In Search of the Unknown
I1 - Dwellers of the Forbidden City
I5 - Lost Tomb of Martek
N3 - Destiny of Kings
I6 - Ravenloft
and I know I bought Castle Amber, but I can't find it on my shelf right now. I hope I still have it. All of those for just one dollar and ten cents. Check out you local library!
Anyway, in B1, the kid before me wrote in room III, Dining Room, one Kobold carrying 3,000 copper coins, which seems like a lot for a Kobold. In room XXV, Rogahn's Chamber, a 30'x40' room, is 10,000 gold coins guarded by a Red Dragon. For a First Level Party. A Red Dragon. Sitting on the bed, so maybe it's a small Red Dragon. Bear in mind the other rooms have skeletons, orcs, dwarves, hell hounds, doppelgangers, a griffon, so it seems like a good first level adventure. Then room XXX, Access Room, leads down to the caverns, guarded by a Fire Giant, carrying 5,000 electrum and 5,000 gold. I don't know, maybe Fire Giants were smaller in 1978. So he could sneak into this castle and hide in this room. Now, if you find the secret door to room XXXII, you find a Black Dragon, guarding 30,000 gold. In a 30'x30' room, a Black Dragon lounges perhaps on a bed, waiting for you to find the secret door. First Edition D&D was a trip, man.
Wow way better than Ebay.
@@biffstrong1079 The only problem is it's totally up to blind luck. But if it happens once, it MIGHT happen again......that's what triggers my dopamine response in my brain. Like a gambling addict.
@@paulcoy9060 Yup nothng worse than a random reinforcement schedule.
used this so many times.
Still the best module out there in my opinion. I've run it for everything from 1st levels, to 8-9th, the setting was amazing.
How do i miss this one?!
RE Drowning: If you are carrying even 25 pounds, you are going to sink, and will not be able to swim back up without some kind of assistance.
Hello, could you please tell, can I play this adventure via Lamentations of the flame princess system?
Cool video,I never saw this one before.I was wondering one thing Cap,why did they never finish The World of Greyhawk? I saw something about it being converted to 5ed. and I know that Tsr/Wotc went with the Forgotten realms and that is now the default D&D world.But i really loved Greyhawk and the later gazateers and wanted it to get finished or at least expanded somewhat.Any input would be helpful as you are connected to that time like me and everyone else just talks about how great 5ed is.Thanks again for all the good times you bring back for me.
Greyhawk was the world created by Gary Gygax. Gygax was forcibly outed from TSR in 1985. Thus all the planned expansions for Greyhawk never materialized.
@@captcorajus ah,ok .I wondered if it was a legal thing.Thanks.
The folks in charge should do the right thing and release a 400 page sourcebook of Greyhawk material, dedicated to Gary. Instead, we got Ravnica, because Hasbro/WotC wants to combine their Magic The Gathering card game intellectual property with D&D, because of "corporate synergy", or some other legal nonsense. @@captcorajus
@@paulcoy9060 Well, to be fair, there's quite a bit of published material on Greyhawk. Easily gotten on pdf. There's NEVER been a crossover between the MTG worlds and D&D, and people have been asking for it since WOTC purchased TSR 20 years ago. Ravnica is currently one of their best selling books, so, certainly there was a demand for it, so I won't begrudge them that. It would be great if they revisited Greyhawk though.
On a personal level, I just like the idea of having a thick hardcover sourcebook on my shelf of Greyhawk., and hell, why not include Blackmoor? Get all the old settings of the original creators? With cover art from the originals, like "Art and Arcana", but Greyhawk specific.@@captcorajus
You can tell the creators of elder scrolls played in search of the unknown. Especially in Elder scrolls 3 Morrowind.
One of the rumors the PCs can hear is about eating chips off the rock, so that is why they may think to try it.
yes, that is true, though its a 1 in 20 chance to roll that rumor, so pretty obscure chances non-the-less. :)
yep I heard the same rumor when I played this! and yes a few characters in the party did eat a chip off the rock! I think had a +1 to one of my stats, and another had to save vs poison. Nobody wanted to chance it after the poison, in case the effect was worse.
ever notice that they incorporated the first level of this dungeon map into the 1st level of undermountain map?
Yup! :)
There are no 'N's in Quasqueton
ok
It's Quasqueton, not Quasquenton.
And Mike Carr's game was not "Give Up The Ship", it was "Don't Give Up The Ship".
Um...okay thank you for the correction on a made up name of a place that doesn't exist. Not sure what you're hearing other then my dialect. 3:42 ???????? How much of this video did you actually watch?? 1:38 graphic shows the title.
@ captioncorajus. I listened to all of it a couple of times while driving. (Quasquenton also 4:55 and 6:00). Guess you're right, not important to get made up fantasy names right.
Hey there capt, I noticed that this video is listed with the creative commons tag on youtube. If that is intentional I would like to use your video in my own content.
I'm sorry, but you are mistaken. All my videos have the standard UA-cam license agreement. None are marked as Creative commons.
That said you are more than welcome to use small snipets of my videos in your content for review purposes and I won't hit you with a copyright infringement claim. I only ask that you attribute the content to me, and provide a link to my channel in the description.
Thanks!
I’d maybe have bite marks in the stone? Lol. Idk. A dead body with stones in its stomachs) (skeletal body so stones can be visible? Honestly I don’t think I’d ever consider having one of PCs eat a piece of stone lol.
Best solo d&d to start? I'm a totally noob
So.... If you are searching for the unknown, how will you know if you find it? Unless "the Unknown" is a proper name or something. 😁
That's because its a known unknown, so if you find it, you'll know. As opposed to an Unknown unknown, which is something you don't know, you don't know. Ya know?
1:55
Look familiar?
Undermountain, lev. 1.
Yep. I think the similarity has to do with what appears to be use of dungeon geomorphs to create some sections. lol
I always pronounce it as Kwaz-kwa-tahn.
Me, too. It was named after a city in Iowa. I have no idea how they pronounce it.
If you look at this module as training on how to behave, it is exactly wrong. "Take the risk of putting random things in your mouth"?
Years later, that same player plays S1 - and dies. They followed the tutorial on how to play the game. It's not their fault. There needs to be a tome or a piece of lore that tells them that this is even a choice".
Christ, he edited the AD&D core books? They're hilariously disorganized.
No idea why Goodman Games is charging $50 for their reprint. Better to buy an original on eBay if you ask me.
I was stunned as to how bad this module was. Extremely lacking in detail and I did not find the guidelines set to be helpful at all. B2 is pretty much effectively B1.
That's OSR. The module doesn't give you the flesh, that's left to the DM and the players to make what they want out of it.
@@captcorajus I understand but you need more than a map and some fancy (and weird) traps to make a module. Who's going to EAT that wall? LOL Note that they never made a B1 again. Everything after was properly stocked with monsters and treasures. What is OSR?
@@TheLoyalOfficer Old School Role-playing or Renaissance depending on who you talk too.
I agree that the 'training' aspect of the module doesn't work here, and I said as much in the video, and certainly it has its faults, but there's a lot to work with.. this was a very early module in TSR/ RPG history and it shows.
@@captcorajus Fair enough... I don't blame you for it's crappiness, of course - hence my thumbs-up to your video. Another point - this was a very difficult module to find back in the 1980s too. I never saw it on a shelf in any form and always wondered what it was... "Is B1 as awesome as B2? Could it be even better? Some sort of prequel?" Imagine my disappointment!
@@TheLoyalOfficer Yeah, if you read B2 and then read B1 certainly it is no where near that level. I always used B1 as the 'Cave of the Unknown' on the B2 map
Also the music is cancer
Everyone loves the music!
Everyone dies not.like the music
The guy could draw mushrooms but those cartoon characters were complete crap! It was wise to replace it. People of that age wanted realism, not that War of Warcraft cartoon crap.