# Best 1e/2e/original D&D low-level dungeon crawl?



## orcgirl (Jun 27, 2009)

Hello peoples,

I was wondering if anyone could suggest some good LOW LEVEL (i.e., 1-3) 1st edition or original D&D dungeon crawls in the spirit of the sample in the DMG and D&D DM's guide?

Thanks in advance!!

orcgirl


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## Keldryn (Jun 27, 2009)

I've always been partial to B7 Rahasia by Tracy & Laura Hickman (Basic D&D, levels 1-3)

The Shattered Circle by Bruce Cordell (AD&D 2e, levels 1-3) is good as well -- more than a little in common with The Sunless Citadel.


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## Brandigan (Jun 27, 2009)

I have to go with my very first dungeon crawl: Against the Cult of the Reptile God! (AD&D first edition)


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## ggroy (Jun 27, 2009)

In Search of the Unknown B1

Keep on the Borderlands B2


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## the Jester (Jun 27, 2009)

For straight dungeon crawlie experience, I'd have to say the Temple of Elemental Evil, especially the moat house in T1.


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## jdrakeh (Jun 27, 2009)

ggroy said:


> In Search of the Unknown B1
> 
> Keep on the Borderlands B2




Seconded. These modules are broad enough in scope that they can be customized to taste, generic enough that they don't tend toward highly realistic or balls-out wahoo, simple enuogh that first-time DMs can run them without snags, and entertaining enough that I still like them almost three decades later.


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## LostSoul (Jun 27, 2009)

It doesn't get much press, but N5 Under Illefarn was awesome.


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## Hjorimir (Jun 27, 2009)

ggroy said:


> In Search of the Unknown B1
> 
> Keep on the Borderlands B2




Thirded.


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## grodog (Jun 27, 2009)

In my rough order of preference:

T1 Village of Hommlet
L1 Secret of Bone Hill
B2 Keep On the Borderlands
B4 Lost City
B1 In Search of the Unknown
N5 Under Illefarn
N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God


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## Agamon (Jun 27, 2009)

grodog said:


> In my rough order of preference:
> 
> T1 Village of Hommlet
> L1 Secret of Bone Hill
> ...




Awesome list.  I'd rearrange it a bit, but all good choices.


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## Orius (Jun 27, 2009)

I'll recommend The Shattered Circle too.  It's very late 2nd edition, but still a pretty good dungeon crawl.  Otherwise, I wasn't playing when the old classics were released, and 2e didn't have a lot of short memorable adventure modules (most of the better adventures were either campaign specific or big boxed sets).


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## Agamon (Jun 27, 2009)

Orius said:


> I'll recommend The Shattered Circle too.  It's very late 2nd edition, but still a pretty good dungeon crawl.  Otherwise, I wasn't playing when the old classics were released, and 2e didn't have a lot of short memorable adventure modules (most of the better adventures were either campaign specific or big boxed sets).




Or Dungeon mag adventures.  I find that most of the 2e published stuff was generally not so good, otherwise.


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## Olli (Jun 27, 2009)

Rahasia is great, but i think a party of 1 lvl Characters without generous Henchmen will get wiped out (i think it was written with BIG parties in mind).

Oh, and i can´t let a thread like this go pass without pimping "The lost City", which is plain kewl!!! Oh, and of course the "Keep of the Borderlands".


Olli


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## Remathilis (Jun 27, 2009)

There is an old BD&D box set called _The Goblin King_, which is a level 1-3 set of mini adventures dealing with, you guessed it, goblins. While its designed for newer DMs (and comes with fold-up "minis" and three poster maps) its still a difficult set of modules to get through. What's nice is that its broken into three "locations" which allow PCs to level between modules and rest and restock; key things in low-levels of D&D. Its follow up, _the Haunted Tower_ is equally as good IMHO (3-5). 

Beyond this, most of the good ones have been mentioned.


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## rogueattorney (Jun 27, 2009)

Olli said:


> Rahasia is great, but i think a party of 1 lvl Characters without generous Henchmen will get wiped out (i think it was written with BIG parties in mind).




The outside cover says it's for levels 1-3.  The inside text says it's for levels 2-3.  

My favorites...

B1 In Search of the Unknown
B2 Keep on the Borderlands
B4 The Lost City
B5 Horror on the Hill
B7 Rahasia
L1 Secret of Bone Hill
T1 Village of Hommelet

Rahasia (as already noted), Horror on the Hill, and Bone Hill are all probably too tough for 1st level parties.


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## Goblinoid Games (Jun 27, 2009)

We just released a new Labyrinth Lord module for levels 1-3 you might check out here. There are also a number of other modules here, some of which are free!


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## Eridanis (Jun 28, 2009)

I've always wanted to run L1/L2, but have never had the chance. My wife is expressing an interest in trying 1E to find out what she missed, and I hope to use that as the starting sandbox. Fights, intrigue, mystery, it's got it all.

B1 and B2 are classics for a reason. They have tons of things to do, but tons of things for the DM to customize for his own game, too. (My very first D&D game included fighting a gelatinous cube in B2... I still hate paralyzation.)


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## grodog (Jun 28, 2009)

Eridanis said:


> I've always wanted to run L1/L2, but have never had the chance. My wife is expressing an interest in trying 1E to find out what she missed, and I hope to use that as the starting sandbox. Fights, intrigue, mystery, it's got it all.




I think of L1 as the ideal realized of what T1 could have been, if T2 had been published separately to cover the wilderness environs surrounding Hommlet (Sobanwych, the gnomes, etc.) leading into Nulb:  a good town setting, one or more good dungeon settings, and some excellent wilderness. 

This set-up is also one of the reasons I love Wizard's Amulet/Crucible of Freya so much (although it's pretty sparse on the town side of things IIRC):  good dungeons and good wilderness in tandem!  (You need the freebie downloads from NG for the wilderness stuff, of course).

"Trouble at Grog's" is another wonderful adventure for 1st level novice PCs (from Dungeon #4).


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## Remathilis (Jun 28, 2009)

Eridanis said:


> I've always wanted to run L1/L2, but have never had the chance. My wife is expressing an interest in trying 1E to find out what she missed, and I hope to use that as the starting sandbox. Fights, intrigue, mystery, it's got it all.
> 
> B1 and B2 are classics for a reason. They have tons of things to do, but tons of things for the DM to customize for his own game, too. (My very first D&D game included fighting a gelatinous cube in B2... I still hate paralyzation.)




If you're willing to pay out the nose for it, you could find a copy og L3 (Deep Dwarves Delve) as well. It was only released in the TSR anniversary collection.


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## Dyson Logos (Jun 28, 2009)

B1 In Search of the Unknown – My module of choice « A character for every game

B1 Remains my module of choice.

The benefit for me is of course that I can stock the module as I want to suit the feel of the game I’m running. I’ve pulled out Quasqueton at least a dozen times over the years – it has been a place to explore, a place to escape from, a target for a hit-and-run mission, the home to a small city of gnomes, a goblin fortress, and even the home to the big villain of one of my campaigns – a powerful naga wizard that the party had to destroy to end it’s reign of terror and the campaign around level 10.
 For me, In Search of the Unknown has all the old-school reminiscence of the Keep on the Borderlands, but with incredibly flexibility built right into the module. You can change the whole feel of the module without once actually changing a single element of the written material in the booklet.


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## Ed_Laprade (Jun 28, 2009)

Keep on the Borderlands
Village of Hommlet

The first I run if I want more monsters and less town, the second if I want the reverse. The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh would also be on the list if I had it, but I never did pick up a copy.


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## Nikosandros (Jun 28, 2009)

Remathilis said:


> If you're willing to pay out the nose for it, you could find a copy og L3 (Deep Dwarves Delve) as well. It was only released in the TSR anniversary collection.



Unless you are a collector, I don't advise buying this module. As mentioned, it's very expensive and nothing special. IIRC, Len Lakofka's original manuscript was lots and the published version is a sort of remake that the author has disavowed.


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## grodog (Jun 30, 2009)

Nikosandros said:


> Unless you are a collector, I don't advise buying this module. As mentioned, it's very expensive and nothing special. IIRC, Len Lakofka's original manuscript was lots and the published version is a sort of remake that the author has disavowed.




Worse:  Len spent a fair amount of time cleaning up the original ms. to be published as part of the Silver Anniversary set, but then something happened at WotC and they either lost that cleaned-up version, or forgot about it, or something, and what they published had nothing to do with Len's redux/update to the original 

I'm sure the exact details are over on DF somewhere.


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## Nikosandros (Jun 30, 2009)

grodog said:


> Worse:  Len spent a fair amount of time cleaning up the original ms. to be published as part of the Silver Anniversary set, but then something happened at WotC and they either lost that cleaned-up version, or forgot about it, or something, and what they published had nothing to do with Len's redux/update to the original
> 
> I'm sure the exact details are over on DF somewhere.




I meant to type lost, not lots...


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