Dungeonland and the Magic Mirror

When I was running my Queston campaign in the late 80's for my high school friends and college buddies, I used parts of DUNGEONLAND to fill out the mythical continent of (this is a mouthful) Mythophantarealean (!)

I used the Smilodon Cat, the Mad Hatter and the Caterpillar atop the mushroom to great effect.

I have no experience with BEYOND THE MAGIC MIRROR, but it looks like it comes from a similar vein and could be of great use in any madhouse dungeon.

Gary Gygax must have used these (or similar) in Castle Greyhawk.  Here's part of the introduction from MAGIC MIRROR:

ENTERING THE LAND BEYOND THE MAGIC MIRROR

The entry point for The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror will be

shown on the proper level of the Greyhawk Castle Dungeon

series when it is finally done. As that is likely to be years from

now, it is probable that you will be inserting this module into

your existing campaign.

I don't know if he ever reference these modules in Castle Greyhawk (or elsewhere).

DOWNLOAD BOTH MODULES HERE BEFORE THEY ARE GONE!

Judges Guild Goodness

I won some eBay auctions and it's just like going back in time to 1983!

Five out of six ARE STILL IN THE ORIGINAL PLASTIC!  Wow!  Awesome!

I'm so looking forward to reading these.  JG products have a charm all their own.  Sure, they're quirky -- but so are the dungeons that I made myself.    :)

click to embiggen

It's hard to read, but the LL corner is "Of Skulls and Scrapfaggot Green" -- Just HAD TO BUY that one so that I'll know what it's all about.

White Plume Mountain - variant

Over at GeekDad, they just got done reprinting a series from 2008-09 about 10 old modules the author found in storage while looking for Christmas ornaments.

The finale is White Plume Mountain.

I post it here because it has an alternate encounter map for Wave.  It swaps the giant crab for a mist dragon.  I found it interesting to look at another DM's take on this legendary dungeon.

Personally, I find it interesting that he didn't swap out for the swinging disks -- those things are brutal!

The Portraits of Tegel Manor

Tegel Manor, the classic Judge's Guild module, is filled with enchanted family portraits.  Many are tricks, traps and are downright hostile to the party.

I found these strangely disturbing portraits over at io9.  I think they could serve as wonderful handouts, if printed, to show to the players as they explore the manor.

This one is exceptionally disturbing; perfect for a matron of the Rump family.

Enjoy!

The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth

I was looking through my D&D and AD&D modules this week (unpacking them onto a shelf) when I stumbled upon The Lost Caverns.

I've never run this module, don't even know if it's any good at all, but some of its elements have been KEY in my Queston Campaign for years.  Very odd.   I never really thought about its impact on me until now.

Here are some of the bits that play or have played a big role in my games since the module came out --

• Graz'zt, the demon prince.  Was the focus of a major campaign where the heroes ventured to the Abyss to destroy him and...
• Fraz-Urb-Iuu, the demon prince.  A temple to Fraz was actually one of the first adventures I ever wrote/ran in 1983.  I still have my copy of the dungeon.  Maybe I'll update it and upload it some time. 
• Dretch.  These little demon buggers were very useful as hordes of minions.
• Cooshee.  One of the elf PC's had one as a pet.
• Chasme.  These demon bugs were popular fodder in the Abyss and in other abysmal areas.
• Derro.  They became the evil dwarves in my campaign.
• Behir.  A challenging non-dragon dragon.  I've used one in nearly every campaign I've ran since.
• Gorgimera.  Frequently used as a major challenge to PCs and another non-dragon dragon.
• Daoud's Wonderous Lanthorn.  Although I never used it, I did make a number of equally complex magical artifacts for my campaign. 
• Magical Diagrams.  I actually created my own set of diagrams based upon Mr. Gygax's work.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the module.  I find them very inspirational.