A Brief History of TSR UK

TSR UK existed from 1980-87 and produced a significant amount of material for AD&D and BECMI. What happened to them, and why were they important?
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[@pscaglione3]

I like this angle. Do more UK d&d and please do more MERP - MERP history?

[@MrHighlander666]

As a young gamer the UK series was a godsend to me, my homebrew adventures were very hack and slash mostly consisting of dungeon content so these adventures were a breath of fresh air for me and taught me how to incorporate different aspects into my homebrew. They will always sit pride of place along with my PHB, DMG and MM. 👍

[@barnyfraggles]

I could only fathom and run D&D basic when AD&D was out but those covers in Marvel comic Ads and on shelves in backstreet gaming shops were magical to me. I'm almost glad I didn't know what their contents were at the time.

[@pISSUMTREE]

Loved the UK series back in the day and still use it today :)

[@KabukiKid]

Yeah, the UK series was pretty solid. I loved the UK2-3 series... and U1 is probably the best low level adventure I have encountered. I liked all of U1-3, but U1 was the standout, even if they didn't include a town of Saltmarsh. lol Amused me that the DM had to design the town... but I guess that is a good exercise to do, anyway. :-)

[@biffstrong1079]

These UK modules seemed to come around just at a time when the original TSR guys seemed to be losing steam. We were casting around looking for new modules to play. Dragon Lance had shown up and we were less impressed with the novel like structure of those adventures. We had mined Judges Guild for what we could find and use but it was hit and miss with them. For every Caverns of Thracia or Dark Tower there were plenty of The Storm Giant's Tower and Temple of Ra Accursed by Set. I ended up playing and or owning a lot of these UK modules. I loved the Secret of Saltmarsh though I do think we ended up in a TPK by the end cause we were still hacking and slashing our way through a thinking person's set of modules. I played the Sentinel and The Gauntlet. There were interesting bits but again those ones felt a little Railroady. You got to touch a relic though and not be destroyed by it. I played Eye of the Serpent and Dmed it and found it a load of fun, super railroady, but for whatever reason it worked for me and our group. Same way the Desert of Desolation did. Big fan of When a Star Falls which was one of the first UK modules I bought along with Eye of the Serpent. Loved the gnome guards. I'm not sure why. And the Sages .I think the use of the material in DMG appealed to me. Found Beyond the Crystal Caves, very interesting though it did cost me a Paladin who got killed by a Unicorn. I've never gotten over that. All that Glitter's was good. Night's Dark Terror I found 30 years later and really like. Big fan of the UK modules.

[@tinywarfare9109]

I came into D&D around the same time, and AD&D about a year later. U1 would my first exposure to TSR UK offerings though I didn't realize it at the time. The first UK series module I got was UK4 When a Star Falls and I was hooked. No they didn't have Larry Elmore or Jeff Easley et al. doing covers. But Jeremy Goodwin's work had a charm of its own, and Paul Ruiz's cartography was top tier. Together they gave every module a distinctive feel. Graeme Morris quickly became one of my favourite writers.

[@Merlinstergandaldore]

Some mighty fine stuff from the UK branch....

[@Se7enBeatleofDoom]

Always been fascinated by TSR UK art. I always enjoyed how the animals look more like UK local wildlife. Fantasy artists tend to draw fantasy animals that look like North American animals because of Dungeons and Dragons. Even in Japanese manga and Anime, they tend to draw giant eagles to look like bald eagles. Instead of being giant European eagles described by Tolkien. Same as giant bears tend to look like giant grizzly bears in Japanese fantasy. Even Warhammer fantasy is no stranger to adding North American wildlife to British/European-inspired settings.

[@jasonjacobson1157]

To this American, the UK products have an Old World feel that I like. No American would have designed a module like Saltmarsh. Turnbull was very active in the UK gaming scene before TSR opened shop in the UK. His Diplomacy 'zine & articles in wargaming 'zines are interesting to read. He did a 4-part column in The Phoenix on D&D that's fascinating.

[@hallacar]

I misread that as TSR Uke at first. Must have been the recent Judo chat.

[@enoa4]

I enjoyed this video. I watched the UK publications from this side of the pond with curiosity and admiration when I a very young player. They definitely had a different tone. I have converted many of them to 5e recently to stay in touch with the game when not playing. I think they are some of the best-written early adventures. UK1, UK 4 and UK6 are amongst my favorites.

[@opa-age]

Fiend Folio is probably my favorite D&D book of all time.

[@williammoore9794]

Great stuff! Thanks for highlighting some these great modules. B10 for the win - so good they rewrote it as Death on the Reik for WFRP.

[@strawpiglet]

You made these sound so fun. I might have to go through my stash and see what I’ve got.

[@Minodrec]

I think early wfrp get more reognition that the uk series. Ppl tend to start "from the beginning" and hold nostalgia towards module first prensenting some emblematoc monsters (dwellers and tsojcanth).

[@jebgordon6608]

The three modules I have used the most over the years are: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, Eye of the Serpent (modified for a group and used as intended for a single PC), and Against the Cult of the Reptile God. The American modules did have better art, but man of man were the UK modules better products overall.

[@manfredconnor3194]

Oink! I always liked the UK modules more, even if I didn't know they were UK. Damn. I guess that just makes me an Anglophile. 😮 Oink! = @ )

[@bukharagunboat8466]

I bought my copy of ST1 after the shows at Esdevium Games in Aldershot, so I dispute that all the unsold copies were pulped. Esdevium sold quite a few "remaindered" items, and I think Games of Liverpool did too. I sold that copy back in the days of Usenet marketplaces; somehow I thought printed material would not be collectable in the digital era.

[@yeoldegeek71]

Interesting. so there were a few more than 60-70 in the wild originally?

[@bukharagunboat8466]

@@yeoldegeek71 I would imagine a lot more. They were initially sold at stalls at 2 gardening shows, one in the Potteries and the other the annual one at Hampton Court. Only 70 sold at those locations would be a huge embarrassment, but most of what was sold probably ended up thrown away. I believe the remainders went to 1) Dragonmeet, 2) Esdevium and 3) Games of Liverpool, and at that point collectors might have started to take notice.

[@RichardtheDungeonCrawler]

Thanks for doing this video. I learned a lot. I don't really remember these UK modules in my area. Maybe the cover art wasn't appealing to me so I didn't buy any.

[@coachlarry6773]

What’s your favorite of the TSR-UK modules?

[@yeoldegeek71]

Probably U1, but UK3 pushes it very close indeed.

[@bukharagunboat8466]

I had fun with UK7 with all the aerial combat.

[@coachlarry6773]

@@yeoldegeek71 you know there’s not too many modules that let you have the opportunity to not fight but even less that are good modules that do this. UK1 is an excellent example of a well written thinking module