
The Lost Caverns of Tsojconth – Gary Gygax’s first published D&D module - nevster
http://www.dndchronologically.com/the-lost-caverns-of-tsojconth-gary-gygaxs-first-ever-published-dnd-module/
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grawprog
I've got a copy of the re-release s4 module of this still in the box of D&D
stuff I inherited (kinda just took with me.....) from my dad. 1st edition ad&d
with the stacks of hand written custom tables and rules they created over the
years is still my favourite way to play, when I can find people who'll play it
with me.

I remember as a kid just sitting there going through his d&d collection. He's
got so many random things scattered in there. I used to love just reading the
dungeon modules and the books looking at the maps and artwork and reading
through the books.

I'm kind of disappointed with the way the game went after wizards of the coast
bought up d&d. I never really liked the 3rd edition rules and the books,
though beautiful and colourful, weren't as appealing to me. There was
something about those dark gritty black and white line drawings in those older
books that still looks better to me.

As far as I can tell now, it's not even really the same game any more. It
looks more like a pen and paper version of an mmorpg than d&d these days from
what I can tell by the bit i've looked at the latest rules.

It also seems to focus on being a 'hero simulator' rather than being a sword
and sorcery adventure simulator than it was before. I've always prefered low
fantasy sword and sorcery stories to the long sprawling wheel of time style
epic sagas. Stuff like Conan and Michael Moorcock's books. That's what the
game used to be more like.

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lordleft
I would like to point out that there is a movement within tabletop games to
create new games that are either refined clones of old-school D&D (particular
B/X Moldvay-Cook D&D) or capture the spirit of those older games.

It's called OSR and stands for Old School Revival/Renaissance. Titles include:
Old School Essentials, Dungeon Crawl Classics, Labyrinth Lord, OSRIC, and many
others.

~~~
grawprog
Oh cool. I hadn't heard of any of that. Thanks I'm going to check out some of
this old school tabletop revival.

~~~
amp108
We have a subreddit: [https://reddit.com/r/osr](https://reddit.com/r/osr).

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glangdale
This later, with a good deal of expanding, becomes "S4: The Lost Caverns of
Tsojcanth". Despite considerably higher production values, the nonsensical
core remains - get teleported away from the central room N times for no
particularly good reason, then go kill the sexy vampire lady in the middle of
the place and get a humunguous pile of game-unbalancing loot. That's our Gary!

Sexy vampire lady in the middle has some connection to the whole tangled pile
of Greyhawk intrigue, if I remember correctly, but I don't think the module
bothers to disclose any of this.

I always enjoyed the lectures in 1st Edition Dungeon Masters' Guide about
balance and stinginess, then you play a Gary Gygax module and your players are
staggering out under the weight of all the nifty new artifacts and mountains
of treasure.

~~~
ourmandave
_...your players are staggering out under the weight of all the nifty new
artifacts and mountains of treasure._

That's when you pull out the 'ol Gygax _Tomb of Horrors_ and do a TPK reset.

~~~
RodgerTheGreat
And don't forget: D&D 1st edition is in general rather brutal and punishing.
Fail a saving throw? Dead. Fall to zero HP? Dead. Gold is XP (and vice versa).
Your level 1 magic user can be handily murdered in one swipe by an average
housecat.

~~~
tunesmith
A couple of weeks ago, the 1e group I'm DMing visited a dungeon they are
overpowered for, as it's for levels 1-3, and the party is a mix of level 3 and
4.

Except for the Level 2 NPC magic-user. Random wandering monster. Rolled a
Giant Weasel - should be no problem, only 18 hit points against an entire
party. Combat. Weasel attacks random party member - oops, it's the magic-user.
Except, the die fell in a crack right after, so I secretly rerolled. Magic-
user again. Oh well. Attack - weasel wins initiative. Attack hits. Scores high
damage. And the weasel is clamped on to the magic-user, sucking blood. Argh.
Magic-user isn't dead yet. Party's turn - thief hits! Ranger... chooses to
fire her bow. Hits, but there's a chance the arrows hit the magic-user. The
dice roll favorably, and she hits the weasel. Weasel is still alive. Cleric
hits. Our fighter misses, argh. Druid hits, but the weasel is still alive, but
just barely. Giant weasel is still sucking blood and doesn't need to roll a
to-hit roll next round. Magic-user will automatically go below zero on the
next round unless the weasel is killed first. Roll initiative. Simultaneous
initiative! Argh! Magic-user falls to -5 HP, weasel dies.

The party healed the comatose magic-user's surface damage to full health,
dragged him to the surface, and camped out in the swamp for a week fighting
off creepy-crawly swamp creatures while nursing him back to health. Guess
they'll explore the dungeon next time!

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coldpie
Wouldn't it be cool if the author could post scans of the material alongside
their analysis so you could follow along? Without 1978's copyright extension,
they could have! These documents would have become part of the public domain
in 2006 (or 2034 if the authors chose to renew in 2006; seems unlikely). Our
current state of copyright-length-insanity is actually very new. It didn't
have to be this way.

[https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2020/shrinking...](https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2020/shrinking/)

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ArtRichards
This is super cool, I love seeing the history of modules. I recently published
my first module on [https://Paper-Minis.com](https://Paper-Minis.com) . Its
specifically for First Time DM's (or d&d players who want to run a one-shot
for the group) It needs zero prep and includes minis, maps, puzzles. My
experienced DM friends like not needing to go through hours to run a oneshot,
and its great way to bring new groups into the fold. I wondered how many
people want to become a DM or run a one-shot but can't break in, and thats why
I made this :)

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monk_e_boy
You should throw it up on
[https://www.drivethrurpg.com/](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/) and
[https://www.dmsguild.com/](https://www.dmsguild.com/) that's where I tend to
look for modules.

~~~
ArtRichards
Thanks! Honestly im looking to find a different niche than the standard module
by including literally everything. I hope to mke it as fun for the DM to
experience on the fly as the players. Does that make sense? Basically for
people who dont have alot of XP or Time to be able to run a game for their
friends.

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dnd-fan
I think it is important to credit Rob Kuntz who did the original adventure of
the Lost Caverns. You can find his original hand drawn map on Grodog's
informative site. [https://grodog.blogspot.com/2018/10/module-challenge-
day-11-...](https://grodog.blogspot.com/2018/10/module-challenge-
day-11-s4-lost-caverns-of-tsojcanth.html)

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thordenmark
Seeing some old-school D&D love here on HN first thing in the morning is a
pretty great start to the day. Gygax inspired so much of my own imagination, I
even publish OSR homages on
[https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/6385/Night-Owl-
Works...](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/6385/Night-Owl-Workshop)

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SideburnsOfDoom
Lost and yet heavily populated

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guyzero
I was thinking about this module just last week and had ascribed its
terribleness to just being an old dungeon crawl but didn't know it had
previously been a tournament module. That makes a lot of sense. The S4
published version has a ton of weird open-ended bits throughout which must
have been added after for general publication.

