RPG Retro: Review In Search of Adventure
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ย. 2024
- This week I take a look at the supermodule "In Search of Adventure" released for the Basic D&D game in 1987.
In Search of Adventure PDF and POD: www.drivethrur...
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It was the Jukebox musical of D&D compilations
Yes, I would agree. "In Search Of Adventure" is not a good or full compilation of the B1 to B9 Mods. Yet, as you said, it presents a good way into making the B1 to B9 Mods into a Sandbox Campaign Adventure. :-)
I got this as a kid and still have it. great book.
This book was my entry into D&D. The red box donated by a friend, I received this and the blue box as my starter pack. I never tried to make a campaign out of it as you basically cannot. You easily reach level 4 before you clear 2-3 of the modules. I was gutted once I discovered that some of the content were only tastes of the actual original dungeons - Especially the Lost city!!!! So it was a good introduction, but in no way replaces the individual modules and you will probably end up getting them as well.
Yes, absolutely agree!
Very much a 'toolkit' only compilation with brief touches on the highlights of all the original B series module - my current method of using it is as a 'connection tool' to turn the B series into a campaign. POD version via DriveThru and the full PDFs to hand if players take different hooks outlined in them individually. Great review.
"In Search of Adventure" was the first D&D module I purchased with my own money (I was 11 years old), and as such I have many fond memories of playing through and running these adventures with my other childhood friends at the time. Nostalgia absolutely colours my glasses on this one, though every point you bring up about it being much less than it could (and should) have been is spot-on. One minor correction though: the original version did not have a map booklet like A1-4, T1-4, and GDQ1-7. They were all printed full-page inside the adventure on perforated pages you had to tear out or photocopy yourself. :)
Excellent video as always, Captain, and I look forward to your next sojourn through TSR's back catalogue! :)
It’s also 100% compatible with 5e. The module tells you that the party fights a dragon and they’re level 3; grab a wyrming and they fight a dragon. It’s up to them to leave if things get’s dicy or it leaves after so taking so much damage 30-50%. Then you can have them fight it later as an adult or ancient.
This was the first book that I ever played a D&D game out of. My first module ever was Clearing of Castle Caldwell when I was 9. It started a livelong obsession. I miss TSR though since it feels like Wizards of the Coast no longer wants our money. I saw one of these in a local comic shop's retro section for $80 but I didn't have the extra cash at the time.
Definitely can't wait to hear your review of osric. I've already bought it, but I still want to hear your thoughts on it.
Completely agree with your review. IMO It just feels...”off”. The individual modules had more flair to them as standalone. I picked up the rules cyclopedia, in search of adventure, and creature catalog couple months ago. Well worth the price for a campaign. Hope you do the creature catalog soon. 😊
you know I should? I bought the POD of that like over a year ago. Its sitting on my shelf of many things. lol
I feel like this Adventure collection should have been a straight reprint of all the B Series adventures with a chapter or section devoted on how to tie the adventures together and layout the campaign using each of the modules into a complete game and less so the stitched together affair that it was.
I was thinking the same, except that by the time you’d done B1-4, your characters would probably have got well past level 3, so you’d be looking at starting on the X series.
@@jameswight6259
True, thought from my memory and looking at some B/X clones, it shouldn't be too hard to scale the rest of the B series to meet the level of the party, but you're right looking at the X series since it would be easier to do that.
This book is so firmly of its era. I like the IDEA of it, but it feels poorly strung together. Had I found it at the time of publication, though I'd have loved it.
Yeah you were probably better off just doing what most of us did in the late 70's and 80's and using the modules in their outline form and filling in everything you wanted to do to string them together honestly. Any module I used which I used many, were simply used as a springboard/foundation for whatever I was creating for my group for my long running Thieves World based campaign.
The loss of material and artwork is a major disadvantage.
Did you ever wonder why TSR didnt make a compilation like this for the X series of expert adventures?
got it from the golden years and love it. For us italian kids it was laso the only way to have some of the old adventures in italian, as some of the single adventures were only published in english (e.g. veiled society, caldwell, etc.).
I've noticed a lot of books on ebay I suspect are POD versions lately, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
yeah, some jerks trying to make extra money.
There is mapping problems trying to fit them all on the Mystara Map. Over the years some folks have fixed the map but it does mean changes. Just fyi.
Your very generous. I would be harder, but love your reviews.
Hello CaptCorajus, I don't remember this super module. Probably wasn't playing D&D at this time. I barely remember Journey to the Rock, will have to look that one up. I agree you 100% on your review of this super module. It seemed to me, the module is clumsy and lazily done.
Thanks CaptCorajus you have a wonderful day!
Yeah, not the best of the supermodules by any stretch, but also, in 2021 probably more useful then it was when released.
Great and Fair review Cap. I agree that POD is the way to go. Not sure how some folks justify paying $100 for a 30 year old adventure path?
It's always the evil cousin...
Looking forward to OSRIC. Hoping to run a few of the old AD&D modules. I’ve got the 3 original rule books, but they seem so labyrinthine in their user unfriendliness. Ranks up there with Bushido on that score.
Had this. Worked for me. But yes not the same as original stuff.
captcorajus, please do reviews of "Reverse Dungeon" and "FR2 Moonshae".
Bought this from drivethru rpg the other day. Of the 3 adventure paths, I think the 3rd (Rahasia, Lost City, and Veiled Society) is the best - partly because it avoids any of the Castle Caldwell stuff and Journey to the Rock, both of which are pretty weak. Personally, I think it’s a pretty good attempt at linking the B series stuff together.
I don’t have my copy to hand, but as I recall, B4 The Lost City only includes the top 5 levels of the pyramid and none of the city itself, which is a shame.
It also includes the pyramid from B4, "The Lost City," and even calls it the lost city, but lacks the actual lost city -- very misleading. I got the original printing but had to replace it after it was lost to time. Having homebrewed dungeons early on and never bought the original B modules so I thought they were all there until much later (big disappointment).
It's not misleading. The city is truly lost from this compendium.
😁
Does the In Search of Adventure clearly state in does NOT include all of the modules? If not... I would be upset getting this thinking it was a complete aggregation of B1 through B9
It says it "includes the BEST of the B Series... " which is highly open to interpretation. Which is why I laid it out so specifically in my video.
@@captcorajus the ‘best’, but no Lost City?!
I find it very misleading, really. To me, "B1-9" implied I was getting those modules in their entirety.
Thanks for the review!
My buddy had this book and it was awesome!!!
Anyone who intends to _play_ a module is wasting their money if they want an original. Collectors are wasting their time if they think that D&D modules will one day go up in value like old Superman comics.
PDF and print-on-demand versions can be acquired for free, or for just a few bucks. That is what you play!
Useful review, thanks!
I've found DTRPG to be hit or miss on the scanned reprints of old modules -- I got one recently (S4) where some of the pages had crisp text, other pages in the same module were fuzzy, and other pages so over-contrasted that the art looked like black silhouettes, practically. Have you not seen that at all, or am I just picking the wrong modules...?
So essentially just get the individual modules and fill in the blanks. Way to construct TSR.
I remember the joy and excitement I felt when I bought this "supermodule" along with the sadness and disappointment when I discovered that they left out the actual "keep" of the Borderlands.
I felt cheated & not long after moved over to "Advanced" D&D. Sad to find out there was even more missing.
By the way, I bought the Rules Cyclopedia off Drive thru & a lot of the text is rather fuzzy. Also got Gaz 1 Grand Duchy of Karameikos and there's this annoying "Chess rook" water mark on damn near every page. Was this in the original booklet? Was it at least not so predominant on the page? Feels like they had Getty Images or Photo Bucket do their printing for them.
My Rules Cyclopedia POD was quite clear. And yes, the rook water mark was in the original and yes it was annoying then too.
Good stuff
i would have given it a 10/10/14 but in general i agree with your assessment. i would never run the b9 stuff though, it's awful.
I think this is really cool but they should of said "inspired by these modules" as they take elements of them all. Id run this with AD&D and add ny own stuff to it set up a small camp turn into a small keep area over time as a base between areas. I also like long travel between places myself
* Hey, how's it going? Say, I was just wondering if you would be interested in reviewing modules for the following really old role-playing games: "Kara-Tur: The Oriental Adventures(modules)", "Top Secret", "Top Secret/S.I.", "Boot Hill", "Star Trek The Role-Playing Game 2nd Edition(by FASA)", "James Bond 007: On Her Majesty's Secret Service Role-Playing Game(by Victory Games)", "Aliens: Adventure Role-Playing Game(by Leading Edge Games)", and the "Indiana Jones: Adventures Role-Playing Game(by West End Games).
Those are all really good topics for reviews. We'll see! Interest in videos non D&D related typically get poor views, but you never know!
@@captcorajus * Thank you. I ran a ninja character in a 3.5 Oriental Adventures campaign in the Forgotten Realms for a while. Then I got to play the character of Ethan Hunt in the Top Secret game. That gaming group was using it as the "Mission Impossible" role-playing game. For "Boot Hill", I got to run Clint Eastwood's "The Man with No Name"(Joe Manco) character for a while.
* In Star Trek I ran a Vulcan Science Officer character named "Mr. Selok" aboard the Enterprise-B in the year 2328(it's last 5 year mission). I ran a "Double-O Agent" in the "James Bond 007 Role-Playing Game" named "Andrew Sterling 001". First I tried to run the Bond character, but it was impossible. No one can run James Bond successfully in a role-playing game lol.
* In the "Aliens Adventure" role-playing game I ran a "Colonial Line Infantry Marine" who studied aliens at the "University of Weyland-Yutani" before joining the Colonial Marines. He specialized in the study of alien life, and he also specialized in "Bug-Hunts". He served aboard a Joint-Weyland-Yutani Corporation/Colonial Marines Corps Cruiser patrol craft/surveyor that prioritized, and its priorities could change at a moments notice.
* Some of the aliens we encountered were the "Morphers", the "Xenomorphs", the "Harvesters", "Arcturians", a "Yautja", and even "The Thing" lol. For the "Indiana Jones" role playing game, we went back to 1921, and started there to explore his background. Since Indiana Jones pretty much only does his adventuring in the summertime. That's basically only 1 adventure per year(if that). I think the first adventure was called "Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Mummy's Tomb".
Don't you end up with characters at too high a level once you are half way through this? I already have B1 reskinned B2 with a big cave of the unknown , B3 reskinned , B5, N1 , Bradonsford and Salt Marh as potential early adventure points in my homebrew Amalgam of Hardesty campaign.
I think I have what I want without trip to the rock and Rahasia and Caldwell.
Though I hear Rahasia may be worth playing. Ill have to look up a review
Thanks for the retrospective.
*Grand Duchy Of Karameikos
Yep
how does cost of the individual modules on DTRPG compare to this compilation?
The Lost City, Palace of the Silver Princess are pretty expensive, just those two modules. Not counting the others.
If you don't mind missing a few pieces, especially if you just want dungeons to run, it is a good deal (in terms of quantity of material).
You said that the original came with a map booklet and the pod has them compiled in the back. You are wrong. I have an original that I've owned since the 80s and the maps are all compiled in the back. The last few pages are perforated to tear out as they contain player handouts. There is no separate booklet.
Not a good one, but they tried..
Thank you!!! You cleared up a lot of the confusion surrounding this “super-module”. It looks to me that In Search of Adventure served better as a reference guide to Karameikos than it did as a campaign module. And good lookout to people getting duped by fake “originals” of this online. 👍🏼
Thank you for this honest run down.
I would be interested to know how experience scaling was handled. This is a compilation of Basic (i.e., low level) adventures, completing any one of which could advance a party well toward Expert level play. By the time a group played through (more or less) *nine* Basic adventures, the challenge could be expected to have long since tapered off, without some serious adjustment of the opposition. ='[.]'=
This is my main question, too.
Honestly, I never had a problem with it. If an encounter is too easy, raise the AC, increase hit points, or hit die, etc. Easy enough to do on the fly.
I understand much of the disappointment, but I can kinda see the target audience: back without a search engine, this aggregated most of the good stuff from Mystara, had stuff to run for now, and could point you where to go in the future.
For the beginner who had the patience but not the experience needed to stitch together a campaign, whether for your friends or anyone else skulking around the hobby shop, it made sense. Especially as a kid who had to buy modules slowly and wisely, this could be vital.
Then you have my dumb self, who hoarded anything Domains of Dread related from I6 onwards, so who am I to judge.
I found things a bit of a disappointment... I mean quasquenton is just a map! lol... There are some missteps there. I mean, its existence is justified just by what you said, but I think what TSR thought was the 'best of' differed greatly from what other people did.
I just bought this POD from drive-thru rpg last week! Thank you so much for the review! I love your channel. Truly one of a kind.
We played the shit out of this until starting an Oriental Adventures campaign
what an insult, it’s title is a riff on the classic “In Search of the Unknown” and it essentially skips that module!
That's a terrible book unfortunately... There a few similar compilations of adventures yes, but not of the BECMI line. AD&D did a better job of this with Desert of Desolation (I3-5) and Queen of the Spiders (gdq1-7) and a few others as you mentioned - but I only know these well. I am not going to say those are perfect, but lightyears away from In Search of Adventure. I was very sad about this, since at some point a few years back I was obsessed with the BECMI line. :(
I have the original and the pdf version too... I was very disappointed. (Not with the review. Your review was good :) This is just my opinion.)
Odd, my post vanished. Google getting weird. Anyhow, good overview of the module, and yeah over all I'd rather own the individual modules B1 through B9 personally. As I mentioned in my lost post for those who want to own the "In Search of Adventure" module but want to to easily reference what's missing, Wikipedia had a breakdown list.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Search_of_Adventure
Been enjoying your videos for the past few months since discovering the channel. It's been a fond walk down memory lane of the old days of tabletop gaming. :)