Thursday, November 23, 2017

The Lost Dungeon Crawls of 2nd Edition

2nd Ed AD&D gets shat on a lot for being too railroady, overly story-focused, full of broken options, and a total departure from earlier versions of the game. I really don't think that's true. First, the overarching narrative plot can be found in many of the classic older D&D modules. Second, here's a list of modules as evidence.

Unlike some of the other 2nd ed adventures that I like (Swamplight, Tales of Enchantment, Fighter's Challenge) these are pretty much for a dungeon crawl style of play. Yes, they do include some extra elements of backstory that you won't find in earlier modules. Are they all quality? I've only run part of one of these. But I'd love to add Shattered Circle to my repertoire of beginner adventures, and both Dragon Mountain and Axe of the Dwarvish Lords look pretty epic. Firestorm Peak does as well, but the dungeon didn't seem as big/loopy at first glance. Baba Yaga's hut has been redone a few times but could also be exciting, just haven't been running things in the right setting lately.

Dragon Mountain (1993)
Temple, Tower, & Tomb (1994)
Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga (1995)
Labyrinth of Madness (1995)
Undermountain: The Lost Level (1996, Dungeon Crawl series)
Undermountain: Maddgoth’s Castle (1996, Dungeon Crawl series)
The Gates of Firestorm Peak (1996)
Undermountain: Stardock (1996, Dungeon Crawl series)
Hellgate Keep (1998, Dungeon Crawl series)
Lost Shrine of Bundushatur (1998, Dungeon Crawl series)
Dungeon of Death (2000, Dungeon Crawl series)
The Shattered Circle (1999)
Axe of the Dwarvish Lords (1999, Tomes series)

This list doesn't even mention the rehashes:

House of Strahd (1993)
Return to the Tomb of Horrors (1998)
Return to the Keep on the Borderlands (1999)
Return to White Plume Mountain (1999)
Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff (1999)

Basically, when you look at the old B/X, BECMI, and 1st ed modules you see a few mentioned over and over as either classics actually good: a lot of others ignored. I think some of these modules I listed above get ignored just because they're second edition, and probably deserve a closer look (nothing from 2nd ed showed up in Tales from the Yawning Portal!). This doesn't mean that some of these might be stinkers: I'm looking at you, Stardock! Just that perhaps some of the baby has been thrown out with the bathwater of 2nd Edition, and while the 90s are known for heavy-handed plot and adventures on rails, there was a good amount of the old-timey dungeon crawl as well.