Exploring the Underworld of Holmes Basic Dungeons & Dragons > Modules, Scenarios and Settings > B2 Keep on the Borderlands
Trivia On page 12, Gygax suggests that a 'friendly talking magpie' tell the party they are moving in the wrong direction if they attempt to move off the map. European magpies have a long history in folk tales and superstitions. See this Medival Bestiary. The first Heckle and Jeckle cartoon from 1946 was called The Talking Magpies. A magpie is found in western North America, occasionally as far east as Wisconsin. A facsimile version of B2 was re-printed in 1999 and included in the TSR Silver Anniversary Set (along with a Holmes Basic rulebook). This version of B2 is reported be a strange frankenstein of the Holmes and Moldvay versions, having the cover and reference sheets of a Holmes version and the rest from the Moldvay version. See Also B2 index by Demos Sachlas - index of forum, website & blog posts An interesting series of posts related to The Borderlands on the Wizard in a bottle blog (snorri of OD&D74): Hexmap - Geography - Bugbears & Catnip - Agriculture - Archaeology - Burials - Congregations - Eight Variants of Caves of Chaos Maps Wilderness: Player's Map by paleologos. See also the divided 'hextant' version. B2 Wilderness Map re-imagined in hexes - by isomage. Thoughts on adding the 1E DMG Sample Dungeon to B2 with an annotated Map showing a possible location for the 'seldom used road' leading to the ruined monastery. Caves of Chaos map re-imagined in a modern style by weem. |
Exploring the Underworld of Holmes Basic Dungeons & Dragons > Modules, Scenarios and Settings > B1 In Search of the Unknown
The original version of B1 gave the following suggestion for placement of the module in The World of Greyhawk: 'the stronghold can be considered within any one of the following lands - The Barony of Ratik, The Duchy of Tenh, or the Theocracy of the Pale' (pg 6). This note was deleted when the module was revised. Another popular suggestion is to place B1 where the undescribed Cave of the Unknown is indicated on the wilderness map in B2. The format of B1 served as a template for the introductory module included in the Top Secret boxed set, TS001 Operation: Sprechenhaltestelle (1980). The sections of the module and DM guidance mirror that of B1. This RPGnet thread briefly mentions the similar fill-in-your-own monsters & treasure format of TS001 and B1.Demos Sachlas (paleologos of Dragonsfoot) has assembled a mighty B1 Campaign Sourcebook (link is for pdf download; linked here with permission), which is subtitled 'a collection of original work and material gathered from the pages of Dragonsfoot and elsewhere on the internet'. It contains retrospectives, interviews, reviews, and practical advice for using B1 by various authors; each author gave permission to have his work included. Demos has also compiled a B1 index of forum, website and blog posts, last updated in Dec 2012. Printing History at the Acaeum Artists - Original monochrome version: David C. Sutherland III - cover (as DIS), all interior illustrations David Trampier - cover (as DAT) The cover drawing is credited to both artists. See here for Trampier's original drawing which was used for the background. Revised brown cover: Darlene - front and back cover Interior illustrations identical except that a dragon by Sutherland (recycled from a Dragon magazine ad) is added on page 6, replacing a brief section on using the module with AD&D. Here are Sutherland's illustrations placed in chronological order by bliss_infinite. Discussion Dragonsfoot Review by rogueattorney (with 7 pages of comments) Dragonsfoot Poll by Geoffrey (with 8 pages of comments) Resources Discussion of the Quasqueton Tower by Shadow Shack, which can be found in the B1 sourcebook. DF thread with link to simplified map of the first dungeon level. Interviews with the author Mike Carr Q&A with Geoffrey (in the B1 sourcebook linked above) - October 2008 Interview with Harvard at the Comeback Inn - August 2010 Save or Die podcast interview (audio) - December 2010 (Fascinating interview, about 1.5 hours long; B1 is discussed just after 30 minutes in). Relationship to Original D&D (OD&D) Discussion of whether B1 was originally written by Mike Carr with OD&D in mind rather than Holmes Basic, which is confirmed by Frank Mentzer here: 'Mike wrote B1 pretty much based on OD&D but modified it a bit when Holmes was finalized.' Mike Carr originally played in Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign. In the OD&D Discussion Blackmoor forum, aldarron described thelinks between B1 and Blackmoor. He also previously compiled the rule additions for Holmes Basic found in B1. Based on this, I mused that B1 is the Blackmoor supplement for Holmes Basic, whereas B2 is the Greyhawk supplement. Deconstructing Quasqueton - analysis by paleologos of the tricks/traps/dungeon features of B1 versus those suggested in the third volume of OD&D. Trivia Quasqueton is the name of a town in Iowa. 'In Search of the Unknown' is also the name of a 1904 novel by Robert Chambers. His The King in Yellow is a highly regarded collection of weird fiction, whereas In Search of the Unknown is a collection of lighter stories about a zoologist searching for lost & strange animal species. The TV series 'In Search of...' (1976-1982), hosted by Leonard Nimoy, was on the air at the time this module was written and released in 1978. See this blog post juxtaposing the two. Subpages (1):Lists of changes to B1, monochrome versus color cover |
Try a new game in the New Year! In celebration, this title has been marked down by 25% or more! For more new games, visit our New Year, New Game sale page. Module B1: 'In Search of the Unknown,' forms a complete adventure for use with Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set. It is especially designed as an.