Hi,
Someone (Vlark, in fact) just linked this (http://boingboing.net/2012/01/24/homemade-dd-module-1981.html) over on Mythmere's Swords & Wizardry boards. I just thought that I would post it here too in case someone else hasn't already.
There is a link here (http://rendedpress.blogspot.com/2012/01/plagmada-hosts-fan-module-from-1981.html) to the blog where a shared pdf of the module is being hosted (uploaded with author's permission as I understand it).
Awesome.
Brilliant! Blue-eyed PCs wandering into the kitchen are greeted by six irate hill giantesses, attacking them mercilessly with their kitchen gear. Once done with throwing glasses at them, the giantesses get on with the (quote) "hand to hand" action.
That's the stuff that's missing from modern D&D modules, the sheer goofiness and yet utter credibility of such situations.
God I feel like a kid again - that's amazing! I remember banging away at the old Selectric myself, but somehow had forgotten that part over the years. The maps may as well be stuck in one of my old folders as well...
Dammit, I'm gonna make a dungeon now, just need to find some spare time.
Ever since the Encounter Critical hoax, I can never be sure when I see this sort of thing whether it wasn't just invented by some hipster last week.
RPGpundit
Quote from: RPGPundit;509470Ever since the Encounter Critical hoax, I can never be sure when I see this sort of thing whether it wasn't just invented by some hipster last week.
RPGpundit
The hell is Encounter Critical?
Quote from: Rincewind1;509471The hell is Encounter Critical?
http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/encounter-critical.htm
Ah, that. Had it bookmared, never bothered to check it out.
Quote from: RPGPundit;509470Ever since the Encounter Critical hoax, I can never be sure when I see this sort of thing whether it wasn't just invented by some hipster last week.
I did wonder myself. Aesthetically it seems like it might be a little too good to be true but for now I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt.
Also, I'm thinking that
hoax is a little strong for Encounter Critical. It was hardly ever intended to be the old school equivalent of the Hitler diaries.
Don't care if it IS a hoax, it still hits the right buttons.
Quote from: Werekoala;509528Don't care if it IS a hoax, it still hits the right buttons.
That warmed my heart with a burst of pleasurable nostalgia. Have to admit though, with the GM I had back then I don't see any way any of our characters could have survived that module. Its a real killer!
The author should run this at GaryCon.
A few years ago, I was going through some old files and found notes I wrote for one of my high school campaigns. Ugh, it was painful to read, but I remember us having lots of fun.
That is quite awesome. Reminds me of my childhood dreams. Like a handmade card from a child, it's precious in its nostalgia and enthusiasm. I'm beginning to see how older parents have a difficult time throwing away their grown child's scrawling handwriting from early childhood.
Quote from: RPGPundit;509470Ever since the Encounter Critical hoax, I can never be sure when I see this sort of thing whether it wasn't just invented by some hipster last week.
And that would be a problem because...?
I mean, how would that curtail your enjoyment of the end product?
Quote from: Werekoala;509528Don't care if it IS a hoax, it still hits the right buttons.
My thoughts exactly.
I have a module from around that era that I made, hole-punched into a big orange report cover, that I've managed to keep all these years. Perhaps I should scan it and send it on over to that website. I have no idea what's in there, other than some graph paper with dungeon maps for sure.
I don't think "hoax" is too strong a word for describing Encounter Critical. Not given that it was originally presented as a "little known RPG" published in 1981 or something like that, and utterly seriously presented as though it was a rare find of truly garage-publishing old-school, and only LATER did the authors reveal that the whole thing had been fabricated as a clever trick.
I'd say that's the very technical definition of "hoax".
RPGPundit
OK I got out my old orange folder and went through it.
There is a complete module I wrote, I think from 1982 or 1983. It's hand written, and then most of it is also typed. I have the full hand written version, and then 11 of the 13 rooms are typed as well. Not sure if the last couple pages are lost, or if they never got typed up. The map is hand drawn on graph paper.
I also have several other hand drawn maps, some out doors and some dungeons, and four character write-ups. I don't have any recollection at all of the character write-ups. It's theoretically possible those are someone else's work from a convention or something, though the paper looks identical to the module paper which I know was my work. So, could be my work as well.
I'll see if I can get them scanned soon. Looks at least worth posting to that website. Sadly, no cool monster drawings, though there is one new hand written monster write-up.
Quote from: km10ftp;509509Also, I'm thinking that hoax is a little strong for Encounter Critical.
It helps if you keep in mind that part of the RPGPundit persona is an extreme paranoia that somebody, somewhere is trying to pull one over on him.
Quote from: km10ftp;509325Hi,
Someone just linked this (http://boingboing.net/2012/01/24/homemade-dd-module-1981.html) over on Mythmere's Swords & Wizardry boards. I just thought that I would post it here too in case someone else hasn't already.
There is a link here (http://rendedpress.blogspot.com/2012/01/plagmada-hosts-fan-module-from-1981.html) to a shared pdf of the module (uploaded with author's permission as I understand it).
Hi! I'm the guy hosting the PDF. Could the original poster please revise the link so it posts to my blog post rather than directly to the file? Here's the blog post where the file is posted:
http://rendedpress.blogspot.com/2012/01/plagmada-hosts-fan-module-from-1981.html (http://rendedpress.blogspot.com/2012/01/plagmada-hosts-fan-module-from-1981.html)
Quote from: Vlark;509938Hi! I'm the guy hosting the PDF. Could the original poster please revise the link so it posts to my blog post rather than directly to the file? Here's the blog post where the file is posted:
Done and done and happy to. Thanks for making this available by the way. I was planning to leave you an 'awesome' over on the S&W boards, in fact, I will go and do it now. :D
Best of luck with the blog, I've added it to my bookmarks list. Sorry, it was a little thoughtless of me to link directly to the file. Credit where credit is due after all.
Quote from: Mistwell;509820OK I got out my old orange folder and went through it.
I'll see if I can get them scanned soon. Looks at least worth posting to that website. Sadly, no cool monster drawings, though there is one new hand written monster write-up.
If you do scan it and submit it to PlaGMaDA, I'd be happy to host a PDF version at my blog along with the other scans.
Quote from: km10ftp;510002Done and done and happy to. Thanks for making this available by the way. I was planning to leave you an 'awesome' over on the S&W boards, in fact, I will go and do it now. :D
Best of luck with the blog, I've added it to my bookmarks list. Sorry, it was a little thoughtless of me to link directly to the file. Credit where credit is due after all.
Much obliged!
This is very cool. Someone had placed an ad for Plagmada soliciting old dungeons on the board at the flgs. I wondered what that was all about, and how things would be archived.
It's a cool idea. I have mountains of old PeeChee folders full of all kinds of wierd stuff from the 70s and 80s. I don't know how you'd go about recovering them, but I bet I have a bunch of five and a quarter floppies from the eighties with a mighty awesome Black Phraint incursion campaign. I wonder if I could find a working Commodore 64.
Maybe I'll have time this summer to go through that stuff for something worth archiving.
I'd love to see your old stuff, Stu.
Quote from: Justin Alexander;509834It helps if you keep in mind that part of the RPGPundit persona is an extreme paranoia that somebody, somewhere is trying to pull one over on him.
No, actually, I didn't mean it to be in a disparaging sense. I thought it was really an extremely clever trick on their part. I had a bit of suspicion when it was first "discovered" in that it seemed just a little too perfect, touching just a little bit on all of the tropes one would want in that kind of a game, though I can't honestly go so far as to say that I "knew" it was a trick or something. So I give EC kudos for its genius. But I don't understand how one could say it wasn't a hoax?
It was a great sort of hoax really, one where the architect of the hoax admitted it.
RPGPundit
I finally got around to scanning the module I mention above.
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7DNjAmimrzuZTIxYzRkMjgtYmYzMi00MzYyLTg5NmEtYzZlYjViODExZWFm
It's an AD&D module I wrote in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Half typed, and half hand-written (apparently I never finished typing it up, though I have the full hand-written version). It includes a hand-drawn map at the end. It appears incomplete, as a few of the last rooms are missing descriptions. But for the most part, it looks playable (though is probably awful, as I'd have been age 10 to 13).
There are several more maps in the folder I found them in, along with at least one new monster write-up, and I think some Marvel superheros stuff. I'll probably scan some of those in another time.
Quote from: Mistwell;516058I finally got around to scanning the module I mention above.
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7DNjAmimrzuZTIxYzRkMjgtYmYzMi00MzYyLTg5NmEtYzZlYjViODExZWFm
It's an AD&D module I wrote in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Half typed, and half hand-written (apparently I never finished typing it up, though I have the full hand-written version). It includes a hand-drawn map at the end. It appears incomplete, as a few of the last rooms are missing descriptions. But for the most part, it looks playable (though is probably awful, as I'd have been age 10 to 13).
There are several more maps in the folder I found them in, along with at least one new monster write-up, and I think some Marvel superheros stuff. I'll probably scan some of those in another time.
This is awesome! Can I add it to my archive on Dropbox? I'll post a link to your Google Docs version, too, and link back to this forum in a post on the blog.
Quote from: Vlark;516067This is awesome! Can I add it to my archive on Dropbox? I'll post a link to your Google Docs version, too, and link back to this forum in a post on the blog.
Sure, and thanks!
Quote from: The Butcher;509612And that would be a problem because...?
I mean, how would that curtail your enjoyment of the end product?
My thoughts exactly.
I agree as well. This thing is awesome :D
Quote from: Mistwell;516058I finally got around to scanning the module I mention above.
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7DNjAmimrzuZTIxYzRkMjgtYmYzMi00MzYyLTg5NmEtYzZlYjViODExZWFm
It's an AD&D module I wrote in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Half typed, and half hand-written (apparently I never finished typing it up, though I have the full hand-written version). It includes a hand-drawn map at the end. It appears incomplete, as a few of the last rooms are missing descriptions. But for the most part, it looks playable (though is probably awful, as I'd have been age 10 to 13).
There are several more maps in the folder I found them in, along with at least one new monster write-up, and I think some Marvel superheros stuff. I'll probably scan some of those in another time.
Very nice Mark, thanks for sharing it :) Love the old stuff.
Quote from: RPGPundit;510154No, actually, I didn't mean it to be in a disparaging sense. I thought it was really an extremely clever trick on their part. I had a bit of suspicion when it was first "discovered" in that it seemed just a little too perfect, touching just a little bit on all of the tropes one would want in that kind of a game, though I can't honestly go so far as to say that I "knew" it was a trick or something. So I give EC kudos for its genius. But I don't understand how one could say it wasn't a hoax?
It was a great sort of hoax really, one where the architect of the hoax admitted it.
RPGPundit
You do have a point Pundit, and I agree it's a very cool kind of hoax. I get the vibe, however, hat this is not although it wouldn't really matter to me in the end anyway. It's awesome regardless.
Over in this Acaeum thread (http://www.acaeum.com/forum/about12250.html) PlaGMaDA curator Tim Hutchings reports that he has tracked down the author of the module:
QuoteHis name is Gaius Stern, he'd made the book when he was 14 years old, and the other four or five books he'd made were thrown away by his mother. Alas!
I had the pleasure of going with Tim to visit
scribe who donated the module, and so have seen the original (as well as literally thousands of other old TSR-era publications, zines, etc.). If it's a hoax it's a remarkably thorough one; I am no expert on the fading process of scotch tape, but the bits that were used to stick the maps to the inside of the manila-folder cover sure seemed authentically twenty-one-years-old to me.
Tim and I were going to run Habitition as a PlaGMaDA fundraiser at I-Con, but missed the deadline for fundraiser events. Maybe at Gen Con or Origins!
"Gaius Stern"?
Now I disbelieve even more.
To paraphrase an old saying: "A wiser man would have gone with John Smith".
RPGPundit
Brings to mind the old Heavy Metal movie :D
Quote from: Mistwell;516058I finally got around to scanning the module I mention above.
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7DNjAmimrzuZTIxYzRkMjgtYmYzMi00MzYyLTg5NmEtYzZlYjViODExZWFm
It's an AD&D module I wrote in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Half typed, and half hand-written (apparently I never finished typing it up, though I have the full hand-written version). It includes a hand-drawn map at the end. It appears incomplete, as a few of the last rooms are missing descriptions. But for the most part, it looks playable (though is probably awful, as I'd have been age 10 to 13).
There are several more maps in the folder I found them in, along with at least one new monster write-up, and I think some Marvel superheros stuff. I'll probably scan some of those in another time.
Hey Mistwell, what's going on with the faint text beneath the text on the last typewritten page? It looks like a page from another adventure rubbed off, or a page behind the scanned page. I can make out some stuff about an amulet of life and poision needle trap. Did you type on the page and then erase a the typescript and start typing all over again? Or is there another adventure to come?!