AD&D Module Review A2 Secret of the Slavers Stockade

[@jebgordon6608]

I have always liked the cover art for this module. That said I think it might be because it was the first module that I purchased new.

[@davidleonard8547]

A2 is my favourite in the series, despite its shortcomings. I speak of the anhkheg at the stockade entrance; could there be a more idiotic encounter? There are other issues, but enough said. Maybe it's my favourite because of what can be done with it in a greater campaign. The NPCs are top rate, IMO, easily the most evocative of the series. What villains are more frightening than Markessa and Icar? I love that there's a crack in the mortar of Slaver solidarity in the character of Blackthorn. There's so much buried in it if you mine it for its details. Yeah, it's difficult; indeed, it may be impossible as written. It's a tournament. I wonder if anyone was supposed to survive tournament play then? I prefer to strip it down and mine it for the underlying story within. Thanks for sharing. Lovin' your content.

[@biffstrong1079]

Appreciate your commentary. We played the last of these modules with our Characters after finishing Bone Hill, Assassins Knot and Amber Castle back in the 1980's and it was fun and engaging but in the end we suffered a total party kill. Had to go back and start over at one with Horror on the Hill back at Guido's Fort We never revisited the Slaver Modules again. Over the years I have picked up a lot of old modules I had played and others I hadn't but never the slaver modules. Playing A4 , when we finally met the big bads we weren't ready or capable of taking them on. As I listen to your commentary on the earlier modules I am intrigued by A1 and I like the villains, and honestly the Hobgoblin Fort from A2 would dovetail nicely into my world. Part of our problem with A-4 was we had zero back story and no concept of who we were going to run up against. We had a 5th level MU a 6th Level Ranger, a seventh level druid a sixth level Ninja, who walked away from all this and some other 7th level fighter and an 8th level cleric. We got out of the dungeons but were in no way enough to take on the final bosses and until we met them had no foreshadowing of how bad they were likely to be. TPK. We certainly seemed like high enough level characters to survive this thing. I'm not good at creating my own recurring villains and these ones seem picture perfect. I may get PDFS of A1 and even A2 now and run A1 and use elements of A2, certainly the villains. Thanks

[@thatpatrickguy3446]

Great job! I love this module, and this series, for all it has to offer. Since it started its life as a tourney module, there was an equal focus on unusual situations and experiences, such as the encounter down the hallway with the mummies, that was awesome. But after a couple of read-throughs before running it I decided to take the lessons I learned from B1 (specifically: not every room should have monsters in it) and treat the entire thing as a buffet to pick and choose from. I went through and starred certain rooms and changed their contents either slightly or completely, usually reducing the encounters to a more manageable level for the party I was running the adventure for. It was, as John points out, a lot of work, but it made for a challenging but survivable module instead of something worse entirely. And I left in the menacing Ivar and the corrupted Marissa in each incarnation, but otherwise things were different from each runthrough. It amused me when one player, who had gone through the module when I first ran it, was experiencing encounters in different areas than he remembered on his second time through a few years later. He looked at me in a stunned sort of way and said "THAT wasn't here last time!" 😀

[@jwonner81]

Very good reviews, love your work

[@coachlarry6773]

This is probably your best review, and I actually haven’t seen a bad one yet. You said it perfectly, this damn thing is a beast, always has been. Way to hard for 4-7, every time I read it I think that there’s no chance with all the guards and monsters that my party will have any fun, because they are toast. I love the bosses, and some of the new monsters are killer! This is actually the first module I read after I knew kinda what I was doing as a DM, so it has a soft spot for me but it is too difficult especially for the 2nd part in a 4 part series. Great job sir, I look forward to the next one. Special request if you could, after you do A4 list how you like them best to worst.

[@hallacar]

This is where my group left off before COVID-19 shut everything down. We were using a combination of the original module, the Scourge of the Slave Lords supermodule and the new Against the Slave Lords. The new and fairly unique magic items from the individual modules is left out in the bigger collections, but there is some additional information for the setting and a relatively poor but easily manipulated set of travels between each module. The newest one has A0, which we ran but didn't really like. There were several first time players in the group, so they learned more about what their characters were truly like instead of what they had played in MMORPG's (despite what we kept telling her, the woman playing the paladin still hung on the the belief she would be a healer). So there were several new characters created and we went through the Village of Hommlet before being summoned east, per the intro given in the A1-4 supermodule. I really hope we can start getting back together again soon to pick back up.

[@yeoldegeek71]

Hope you manage it! My main Friday group is at risk of disintegrating due to people's circumstances changing during the pandemic - new jobs, family responsibilities etc... a shame as we were deep into Horror on the Orient Express.

[@menion2599]

Currently running this for my group now - you are quite correct - it’s incredibly challenging. Good review.

[@sebbonxxsebbon6824]

I suggest a party member patron provide additional muscle in the form of hirelings to complete the module. A hounds man with a couple of vicious war dogs or more powerful beasties, a fighter/mage with a wand, or an mighty tanky warrior helps.

[@inkspitter13]

You’re not wrong lol. But none the less, it remains one of my player’s favorites in the campaign, so I consider the DM prep work as well worth the efforts.

[@yeoldegeek71]

The players, they know little of our toils ;)

[@inkspitter13]

@@yeoldegeek71 Im one of those weird DMs that feeds on prep work and has a strange need to practically deconstruct a module before running it lol.

[@haveswordwilltravel]

I ran this module once. It was an endless slog. If I ever run it again, I will be cutting out all but the most exciting parts. Markessa will be appearing sooner and will make a more lasting impression.

[@yeoldegeek71]

A more compact version would be interesting.. keep the introductory seige, the madman, the main bad guys, and the Cavelings - and just enough Hobgoblins to make the defense feel substantial enough. Trim the excessive numbers of guardrooms and some of the wonkier traps. Does that sound about right?

[@adampender2482]

Oh I forgot I'm a veteran of 33 years in grocery retail. I got out for 2 years but I missed it. Got back in this past October

[@yeoldegeek71]

4 years for me working in a shop, I worked in IT before that but lost interest in keeping up with advancements in technology. As a sideline I've been a quiz writer and host for 25 years too. As a result of hosting quizzes, I've also been on quite a few UK quiz shows - search youtube for 'Mastermind Joy Division' and you might recognise the guy in the seat :)

[@michaelr00ney]

The linearity of the original tournaments was a necessity of the 3.5-hour format. And if you’re looking to run your group through these adventures briskly, I’d strip them back to their essence. I agree that the time investment of prep for the full version here is considerable.

[@yeoldegeek71]

I would have loved to have played in those tournaments, but I'm the wrong side of the Atlantic (and far too young!). Like most gamers, I bought these to play in my campaigns - so the tournament references were never more than a interesting oddity - and ultimately a bit of a waste of space.

[@woodwwad]

nice review

[@chameleondream]

Good one Geek! A2 was also my least favorite of the series. It just struck me as a mess. Especially those maps!

[@johncartwright3130]

Liked and subbed

[@mikedeck8381]

It's been like 35 or 40 years since I've thought of this module. My takeaway on trying to run it as a DM were that number one, while Hobgoblins were slightly more disciplined, equiped and organized than let's say Orcs or Kobolds the ones described in the module acted a little too intelligently, their morale was a little too high and seemed a little too well prepared. Markesa,while being well fleshed out and interesting villain had two big problems. She was a half elf cleric/mu 5/6 level. Certainly she was sinister but lacking in muscle. Second the Orge Mage despised her and would see the assault as a way to get rid of her. Agree completely that this particular module is too tough for levels 4 to 6. Still the idea that a small group would assault a fortress outnumbered 20 to 1 and be expected to win is somewhat ludicrous on it's face. The way I remember running is that fortress defenders were much more complacent. The parties job was to get entrance in order to let in an assault force, Markesa was the boss battle on the top level and died fairly easily. The ogre mage and the other fellow blamed her for the penetration of the fort and left her to defend the top level with whatever troops could be spared. The players got a chance to rest after that. They were expected to clear the lower level on their own against the remnant who might receive reinforcements if given time. The bottom level did connect to trade passages where they could receive supplies and reinforcements in time. The parties goal was to defeat the remaining forces and collapse the passages to the Underdark. Outside of Markesa the more formidable villains survived and they were ready for an assault, probably too challenging for a group 6th level and under. I believe the party was 7 to 8 with about a dozen characters. They whizzed the top level but lost almost half the party on the bottom. Good module but like you said took too much prep.

[@JayPaulson-hg2mc]

1ed/2ed multiclass characters had only half of the hit points from each of their classes and would have their experience point divided between the two. When converting take teh higher level class plus either 1 or 2 or half of the levels of the lower class. I would make Markesa an 8th level Wizard/Cleric with 5 levels in wizard and 3 in cleric.

[@stephenclements6158]

Fair enough.

[@adampender2482]

Imagine how good this series would have been in 2nd edition with Elmore, Easley, Parkinson and Caldwell doing the art. There would have been more detail to the series. Might have been a box set.

[@yeoldegeek71]

That, imho, was what the Supermodules should have been. Instead we got lazy rehashed and often inappropriate art.

[@retrodmray]

Great coverage, and I don't disagree...Jeff and Erol throughout would have been an entirely better choice for certain! My wife and kids likely would never go for this Slaver series, but the Giants series and 'Queen of the Spiders' series, they would. Subbed to your channel, and would really appreciate one back, if you like mine too. 😀 Thnx 👍

[@yeoldegeek71]

Thanks Ray - I've just had a watch of your intro video and it looks like we may be cut from similar cloth :).. I wholeheartedly agree with your take on simplicity and the benefit it has on creativity.