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Author Topic: Original Scenarios Resurrected  (Read 326 times)

JoeNuttall

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Original Scenarios Resurrected
« on: August 07, 2022, 05:52:34 AM »
While producing my complete timeline of 1970s D&D scenarios, I realised that many of them are out of print and are extremely difficult and expensive to obtain, and it was a shame that they were unavailable - so I've been working hard with some of the authors to make their adventures available again as free downloads.

To date we've republished four scenarios, under the title Original Scenarios Resurrected and there are several more in the pipeline. They're all out-of-orint D&D scenarios from independent UK publishers from the late 70s/early 80s, and because I've worked with the original authors they often have extra previously unpublished additional contemporary material (extra levels / original drafts etc).

So far we've got:

Original Scenarios Resurrected I: The Solo Dungeon (1977, Richard Bartle)
A solitaire adventure from 1977 by Richard Bartle (creator of the first ever MUD, MUD1). Here it is presented alongside the original manuscript, and a transcript of the original introduction. Unlike the more usual Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style, where you cannot deviate far from a preset script, this is an implementation of a dungeon crawl where you wander around mapping the dungeon free to make choices that your character could.

Original Scenarios Resurrected II: The Complete Barbarian (1977-79, Brian K. Asbury)
Brian K. Asbury wrote dozens of articles in the late 70s/ early 80s, contributing to White Dwarf, Imagine, Fiend Folio, and several UK fanzines (Trollcrusher, Chimera, Underworld Oracle, Demonsblood). He wrote the first ever Barbarian Character class, published in White Dwarf #4, together with a Barbarian-only adventure "The Halls of Testing" published in Underworld Oracle 4. Here I present the dungeon together with the character class, and the updated version for AD&D from White Dwarf #13.

Original Scenarios Resurrected III: The Temple of Psaan (1980, Andrew Ravenscroft)
Andy Ravenscroft provided me with a lot of the information for scenarios in 1970s fanzine for my Complete Timeline of Early D&D Adventures, and here is one of his own scenarios, from The Beholder #11. This is a short scenario, based on the first chapters of L. Sprague de Camp's novel "The Fallible Fiend". Unusually for fanzine submissions we have here the original manscript which shows how a personal dungeon was fleshed out for publication. Both the original manuscript and the published version are included.

Original Scenarios Resurrected IV: The Complete P'teth Tower (1978/79, Brian K. Asbury)
This is Brian Asbury's (author of Kandroc Keep, The Asbury System, and The Barbarian) solitaire adventure from Trollcrusher #13 and #17 combined with a previously unpublished part III, a revised part I, maps added, and all combined into a single solitaire. Brian prepared this for publication in 79/80 but Games Publications went under, so it was never published - until now, 43 years later!


JoeNuttall

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Re: Original Scenarios Resurrected
« Reply #1 on: August 22, 2022, 05:22:42 PM »
Part V is now up - a continuation of P'teth Tower.

Original Scenarios Resurrected V: P'teth Tower - the individual parts (1978/79, Brian K. Asbury). This contains the original three individual parts of P'teth Tower - the first two parts how they originally appeared in Trollcrusher. This provides some context to the creation of the scenario, and prompts discussion of the origins of Ability Saves.

I've got a several other scenarios to go, with some surprises, and am actively scouting for more.

JoeNuttall

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Re: Original Scenarios Resurrected
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2022, 03:19:23 PM »
After a short delay due to some building work (never again, never again!) I've now put up the next republished original 1970s D&D scenario - Original Scenarios Resurrected VI: Clearwater Caverns (1979, Andrew Ravenscroft) from Demonsblood #4. This is a short low-level cavern exploration adventure that shows a naturalistic approach to dungeon design, including possibly the earliest RPG cave map that looks anything like a real cave system. I've included the whole of Andy's original subzine "The Raven Croaks #2", with explanatory commentary and a couple of associated bonus monsters.