What's everyones opinions / advice regarding this?
It's been years and years since I've played or run these, and I was thinking about having a go at it with my current group.
The conversion to 3.5 won't be a problem, but what I'm wondering is are there any specific advantages to using the stand alone modules (S1, S2, etc...) as opposed to picking up Realms of Horror and using that?
~RD
well, I have the entire set; one of them takes place in a space ship; make sure you want to have that sort of thing in your game before you pick up the entire set. Also, I thought the weapons were a bit blah so I enhanced them a bit; ie Blackrazor and Whelm and I forget the other one.
well, I have the entire set; one of them takes place in a space ship; make sure you want to have that sort of thing in your game before you pick up the entire set. Also, I thought the weapons were a bit blah so I enhanced them a bit; ie Blackrazor and Whelm and I forget the other one.
I think the space ship / ray gun / power armor adventure is Barrier Peaks, S3. That one is right out. I didn't intend to do all of them. S1 and S2 are my main interests.
~RD
Vale, ya beat me here to ye old mod nostalgia!
The last one is "Wave", the trident dedicated to a Death god and has a cube of force attached to it.
You gotta do S4 (Caverns of Tsojcanth) too...though it seems like you had to do one thing seven times (unlock 7 seperate doors??) before you could get to the lower level and the shadow lanthorn. You might condense the upper level down before running it.
S1 (Tomb of Horrors) is friggin unpossible! Maybe in 3.5 with taking 20 on every search, knowledge check...EVERYTHING, you MIGHT survive.
My advice is use a bunch of pre-rolled characters from Lilith's free website to sacrifice to the deviltry in those killer modules!
If you don't want to spend the time converting them, some have already been updated to 3rd edition.
S1: Tomb of Horrors should still be available as a download at the WOTC site;
S2: White Plume Mountain: ditto;
S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks: no update; might not be your cup of tea, flavor-wise;
S4: Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth: as you're probably aware, is being updated this very month for the 1st edition of their new online Dungeon.
If you've no experience w/ Tomb of Horrors, yeah, it's meant to be a killer dungeon. Just a word of advice. But it's an iconic dungeon crawl, that's for sure...
Creative Director
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What's everyones opinions / advice regarding this?
It's been years and years since I've played or run these, and I was thinking about having a go at it with my current group.
The conversion to 3.5 won't be a problem, but what I'm wondering is are there any specific advantages to using the stand alone modules (S1, S2, etc...) as opposed to picking up Realms of Horror and using that?
~RD
If you're wondering about buying Realms of Horror versus buying the original four adventures... no contest. Avoid Realms of Horror at ALL COST.
Why?
Simple; in order for them to fit the content of the four adventures in Realms of Horror into its pages, they had to cut HUGE sections out of the original adventures, and they had to toss out most of the art. The dungeon in Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, for example, only has about 2/3 or maybe even only 1/2 of its contents reprinted (despite the fact that the map booklet in Realms of Horror reprints ALL the maps... making it look like they accidentally left out a few levels from the text).
The four adventures in question have been updated several times in various incarnations, from the late 2nd edition "Return to" line to several of the 3rd edition online versions. All of those are VASTLY superior to Realms of Horror as well.
So yeah. Avoid Realms of Horror. It's in my personal top 3 least favorite D&D products of all time, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
Are you serious? G~*#&%, I HATE abridged versions of anything! What is the point of that? Well, there's yer answer Realms DM. I say you should get the originals (or .pdfs of them).
yeah, i have the originals and really like the little booklet of all the art that come with it.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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(Oh, look, it's a second shoe falling from the sky, just as the first one had done....)
Just out of curiosity, James, what are your other two least favorites?
If we asked people in general, I'd wager that one of the generally least-beloved products has "Vecna" in the title....
Avoid Realms of Horror at ALL COST.
So yeah. Avoid Realms of Horror.
Thanks for the no holds barred answer. This is just what I was looking for.
~RD