Obviously these old notes scribbled down by a teenager are far from masterpieces of adventures, but filtering through nostalgia, Ive started wondering if there couldnt be some ideas that I had back then that could be worth salvaging and re-using.
Bringing back ideas of the past and upgrading, by taking into account a few decades of added experience and not the least a much better understanding of the setting (most of the old stuff is pretty generic), Ive begun toying with the idea of running old adventures and even campaigns over again. And even if, as with most of my ideas, I will never find time to use them in actual play, they might be worth sharing.
We shall see about sharing later, but first I am interested in hearing from others. Have you ever re-used old concepts from games? If you look back, are there any old campaigns or adventures from your very early days that could be brought back to life? Please share ideas or even stories of gaming experiences worth recycling
Havard
One of my player has been asking for about 2 years though that we finish a campaign we never got to before. Recreating the characters and playing for about 2 months to finish the storyline.
I am interested in hearing from others. Have you ever re-used old concepts from games? If you look back, are there any old campaigns or adventures from your very early days that could be brought back to life? Please share ideas or even stories of gaming experiences worth recycling
Havard
I've recycled my Master campaign three times so far. Each time I've come up with something new but also, each time I've had a different group of players at the table who had never been on the X4/X5/x10/WotI adventures.
--Ray.
A few years ago, I ran a Karameikos-based game using the Savage Worlds RPG rules. My players commented to me "Wow! Good job capturing that old-school feel with your setting!" (They had been playing in Threshold and took a trip to the Keep on the Borderlands.) I just laughed and told them they had been playing a TSR setting and module that were each over 20 years old.
The sad part is neither of them realized it and they had been playing D&D since the late 70's!
A bit later I started running a different group through B10 using Castles & Crusades, but that game fizzled long about the petrified forest.
I'm new to these forums, but not to KW/Mystara.
Keep on the Borderlands has been in my stable of adventures for nearly 25 years. I've used it in several campaigns. Also used Desert Nomads & Temple of Death a few times.
More recently, I've run three interconnected campaigns utilizing about 10 different KW modules, spanning from the Isle of Dawn to Hule. You can bet the clasics were included.
I look forward to reading more and joining the conversation.
One of the PCs has been in my games since the late 80s and he just gave a huge nod of approval when he heard they are helping a Cohort in the Barony of Biazzan to clear out some pesky Kobolds :D He was in the D&D game that started it and he is going to be one of the scouts leading them in to the hills to root them out. He's already warned them of the hard road ahead and has promised to personally shield bash the first one that says those immortal words..."What? They're JUST kobolds, let's charge em!" ;)
It promises to be a great time!
In the old campaign, the PCs realized Darokin was doomed and cut out after a few skirmishs. As a result, the allies where not able to prevent the near total destruction of Darokin. A last minute force from Alfheim and Thyatis had to push the Huleans back (the DM didn't want the Huleans running Darokin
).This time, all but one PC made a stand and helped stall the Huleans quite a bit, allowing many of the allied forces to get to Darokin. There was a epic battle where the paladin with a few remaining soldiers held the main city gate long enough for the remaining army, PCs and city populace to break out and head to the relieving armies. They were all killed, but the Huleans were quickly attacked by the relieving armies and driven out. It was a lot of fun.
My favorite adventures to reuse are three of the most "classic" modules ever: B2, B4, and X1.
There is really no end to what you can do with the Keep on the Borderlands. The fact that there are three different published versions that are all great (the original B2, the silver anniversary edition, and the hackmaster version) has given me plently of material to work with. Even players who I have run through the adventure before, are surprised by how the denizens - and even the tunnels - have changed since the last time they played. Also the keep itself is a wonderful adventuring place, especially with the underground dungeon levels that are free online from Kenzer & Company. (http://www.kenzerco.com/Operiodicals/kodt/Beneath_the_Little_Keep.pdf)
I also put a lot of effort into fleshing out the lower levels of Cynicidea in B4. There is a lot of political/religious intrigue you can do with that module. Also, the fact that Zargon is virtually immortal means that your players can fight him over and over again! The recent module in Dungeon 142, Masque of Dreams, complements the original B4 module very nicely.
Finally, the Sea of Dread is definitely be played several times. Besides the Isle of Dread (great all by itself), I often stick in other island adventures that I have collected over the years including X8: Drums on Fire Mountain and X7: War Rafts of Kron, and C2 Lost Island of Castanamir being some of my favorites. Some of my SoD campaigns have been exploratory like the original X1, while others have involved going on a quest of some type - kind of like a Sinbad or Narnia adventure. One of my favorites is an Oddessey-like campaign where the party gets lost and is desperately trying to get home (Ierendi, Minrothad, Karameikos, Thyatis, ect.) and runs into different problems/adventures at every turn. Incorportating the Creature Crucible PC3 Sea Peoples also opens up some great Captain Nemo-like adventure possibilities.
Although I haven't been a big collector of Dungeon Magazine once it went to its newer format (i.e. the WoC era), I did get both the Torrents of Dread adventure in Dungeon 114, as well as all 12 of the Savage Tide Adventure Path (Dungeon 139-150.) The former was very good, but I thought the Savage Tide was less useful. As characters in my campaigns seldom rise above name level, I'm not a big fan of demon/devil-centric campaigns, where your players have to be at companion/master/immortal level just to survive. After the first few adventures, the character levels got pretty steep. Also the adventures start take place away from the Isle of Dread (often on other planes), making them less interesting to me. Finally, as I play mostly with my children now, demons/devils are not the most appropriate foes for me to throw at them. And frankly, they're not as interesting at dinosaurs, kopru, phanatons, araena, rakasta, and lupins!
One of my favorite things about reusing old campaign materials is to reuse old player characters. I've kept a library of characters who have played (and survided) in my campaigns and it's a lot of fun to reintroduce these characters as NPCs. Longtime players often recognize some of their old characters, or characters of friends who have moved on. Sometimes I introduce them as allies, other times as foils, and sometimes just as a plot hook (so-and-so is very ill and needs a magical potion from ...) Regardless of what capacity I use them the nostalgia factor definitely enhances the game for both me and my players.
chance to reuse much. I also have a long-standing secondary campaign, in the same historical timeline and some of the same players, although it is a bit dormant now.
But two years ago I started a Mystaran campaign with another group of players, and I have been able to reuse many old ideas and test those I never had the chance to develop.
I've run the scenario "Otkel's Stead" in both campaigns, and it was fun both times. I've also used the Falun Caverns. In the original campaign it was the home of a modrigswerg necromancer, but in the new campaign I decided to use it as it was written. Later on in that campaign I used the modrigswerg character in another locale. But influence has been going both ways: in the new campaign the PCs ran into the Witch of the Soderfjord Marsh, and nearly got sent into Niflheim. So in the older campaign I picked this up and sent the PCs there.
During the 90's I wrote a few scenarios for local zines but never actually got around to using them as such (apart from a couple playtesting sessions). Later on I incorporated some elements to my older campaigns.