OSR Review: Beneath The Ruined Wizards Tower

[@ishmiel21]

Just a tip out there for anyone planning on running this adventure. You cannot, I repeat cannot, have any one or thing in your game called a dingle men your players will never ever ever ever stop laughing

[@captcorajus]

Lol.... on, and THAT my friend is the reason it MUST be there. :)

[@rocketraccoon1976]

Make the Dingleman a Pit Fiend under infernal contract with the town authorities. Nobody will laugh.

[@ishmiel21]

@@captcorajus Absolutely LOL

[@richmcgee434]

Dingle is both a town and a peninsula in Ireland, a German word (and archaic surname) for someone who owns and operates a very small farm, and (urban dictionary notwithstanding) its English definition is a deep wooded glen or valley. A "dingly" region is one with many dingles in it, of course. "Dingly dell" refers to an idyllic rural setting, obviously well-provided with dingles. If you can keep a straight face and a deadpan delivery while relaying all of that strictly factual information, your players will probably die laughing. :)

[@ishmiel21]

@@richmcgee434 LOL

[@BlackburnBigdragon]

The Holms edition was the first edition of D&D that I ever owned. It was 1982, and I had just joined a D&D club at my middle school. I was obsessed with D&D and wanted my own copy to play at home. My parents spotted a stack of Holms edition boxed sets on EXTREME clearance sale at a Spencer Gifts and bought it for me. The thing was, everyone in the club was using either the Moldvay Basic set, and Advanced D&D. My parents had no clue that this was a much older edition and a lot of stuff had changed. So this was the edition of D&D that I played from September of that year till Christmas when I finally got a copy of Moldvay Basic, and my AD&D Player's Guide, DM Manual, Monster Manual, and Deities and Demigods. Oh... and also that Christmas, I got the luxury of dice. That Holmed edition didn't come with dice. It just had these number squares that you cut out and drew from a cup. My parents saw this and though, "Okay. This is fine. Why do you need dice when this works just as well?". My parents would not shell out the money for dice for months.

[@captcorajus]

you poor thing. Those were tough times. :)

[@foxbat1766]

Oh, the chits... I feel your pain. And when I finally got the dice, i couldn't figure out how the d4 worked for about 2 months. Just used a d8 divided by 2.

[@sartanawillpay7977]

When I bought the set (in 1979 or 1980 I think) I didn't even know that there were real dice other than D6. I thought that references to d4, d8, d12, d20 were just a term for which chits to use.

[@gommechops]

There is something about the music on this show, it is so right. It feels like being indoors safe and warm on a gloomy rainy day and settling down to read your favourite module, next to the fire and with something warm, maybe even alcohol based to drink. It also has that perfect retro feel. I really like thi look of this module and will definitely thread both into my campaign.

[@darthjoel6357]

I wish I still had the blue box set 😞 Your bringing back the good memories and how I discovered role playing games.😊

[@captcorajus]

That's what this channel is all about!

[@Silversmith70]

I have been buying all manner of old D&D off the ole Interwebs. Please someone stop me before my wife slaps me and sends it all back. I just bought Thieves World boxed set, letssss gooooo! Thank you Cap for taking us back to the place we all love!

[@manofaction1807]

Woah!!! meeting an old friend. Watching this one was like going back and meeting an old friend. Only thing missing is a bunch of dice, some of those old Grenadier minis on a table with a bag of chips and a bunch of friends with their character sheets.

[@charlesdexterward7781]

The funniest thing about all man-made D&D dungeons is how rooms are not simply separated by a wall and a door (i.e. as in every single surface dwelling). No, as a homage to natural caverns, the dungeon excavators would carve out a room and then go to huge effort and expense of digging out a straight, 100' corridor to the next room. Often just to stunt to hapless adventurers, they'd put a perfect 90 degree turn in the corridor rather than connect rooms in a straight line (see rooms G and E on original Zenopus map).

[@captcorajus]

Actually, that makes a lot of practical sense if you consider that dungeons are not just dwellings, but defensive fortresses, and are designed to thwart invaders. Real life castles were designed this way. Certainly the Holmes example is an exaggeration, but consider also that in a fantasy setting were magic can be use to augment traditional construction techniques that creating maze like obstacles is a great defensive strategy. :)

[@richmcgee434]

@@captcorajus Nah, it's just the contractors padding their bills.

[@captcorajus]

@@richmcgee434 Ha ha... of course!

[@MikeWhiskyTango]

I sometimes see these 45 - 90 deg turns in a roads when Im driving along and think what the hell is that for? Road surveyors getting bored and charging more for each corner.

[@sartanawillpay7977]

Dang! Just ran the Holmes' Zenopus dungeon with a beginning level party this spring and would have used this if I had it. Now they have completed B1, B2 and a homebrew campaign and are levels 6 and 7. They are just back in Portown preparing for an expedition to the Isle of Dread, will have to look at this adventure and see if I can adapt it for a short diversion for higher level characters,

[@captcorajus]

Oh, its definitely adaptable

[@enoa4]

Cool! I still have my original Homes Box and rulebook. I have a soft spot for this dungeon.

[@captcorajus]

Absolutely! Yeah, me too.

[@kyleharder3654]

Thanks for all the hard work, these videos are top notch!

[@rmcdudmk212]

This looks cool. The blue box is what got me into RPGs.

[@danielrowan4716]

Captain, I never ran this one as player or DM but it sure is a cousin to the sample dungeon on pg95 of the AD&D DMG. The old school feel on this one makes me very nostalgic.

[@captcorajus]

Its actually BETTER than the one in the DMG, as it has a fully fleshed out background, and the level is COMPLETE.

[@observationsfromthebunker9639]

I ran the original adventure from my Holmes set for my sister and jr high friends way back when. Glad to see someone published an "official" sequel to it. I've downloaded the conversion/upgrade to use at a future date. Thanks for the memories, hope to make some more.

[@jameswight6259]

This sounds so cool! Love it! Thanks for the heads up. Next stop drivethrurpg!

[@captcorajus]

My mission has been accomplished. :)

[@randallbaumgardt3424]

Oddly for the past week or so I have been just for fun making a second level to this the most classic of dungeons but I have to say this sounds better than what I was doing.

[@boardandtable]

Love building familiarity with a module(s), it puts the mastery in Dungeon Master.

[@toddpickens]

Awesome! Great review. And fantastic to see more material related to this classic.

[@richmcgee434]

Crystal Maze: "Getting lost here is a certainty." Honestly, who doesn't know the "one hand on the wall" trick? They used it in a Craig of the Creek cartoon my cousin's 9 year old kid was watching when I was over there the other day. It might not get you all the way through a maze but you'll never wind up really lost, either. Same commentary on the Fibonacci Sequence thing. That was third grade math for my generation, and it shows up in scifi all the time. Ah well, looks like a good stab at expanding an old classic regardless.

[@captcorajus]

Right, but the Kaleidoscopic effects assures you'll get lost. i.e. you mean to go right, but you go left.

[@Bluecho4]

Given that the walls are made up of a tangle of jutting crystals, either keeping a hand on the wall or even just trying to stick near it visually is going to be tricky. We also have no idea to what degree the tunnels rise or fall as you travel through it.

[@richmcgee434]

@@captcorajus Again, navigating a maze you can't see in is old hat. You tie yourselves together with short lengths of rope, one or more people keeps a hand on the left or right wall, and everyone walks forward in time following the wall's course. This one's actually easier than a magically blacked-out maze is, since only the guide with their hand on the wall needs to actually keep their eyes closed to avoid confusion and the rest of the PCs can actually see (even if confused by optical effects) incoming monsters, traps, etc. And if the walls are so jagged that you can't keep in touch with it while wearing an armored gauntlet, use a tool. Cut down an old-fashioned ten foot pole, use a spare torch, drag a weapon along the wall. This kind of maze isn't hard to bypass unless there's a critter threat (in this case the crystal spiders), a bunch of traps hidden by the sight-scrambling, and/or a ticking clock of some kind (because this kind of cautious movement is very slow, admittedly). Maybe in this case there's so many spiders in total that going slow and safe lets them pile up in unmanageable numbers or something? Could reasonably ask what they're living on since the crystals are indestructible and their victims transform into crystal, so - maybe they're photovores (if the crystal glow naturally) or electrovores feeding off some kind of piezoelectric effect the crystal produces? And to ask the obvious, does the kaleidoscope effect work when there's no light at all? Sure doesn't sound like it. If not and you've got someone who can see in the dark, kill your lights and let them lead you as you explore, lighting up if spiders show up. Haven't even asked how well paint sticks to the crystals, but every group I've ever played with sure would. Given that no time passes for aging/thirst/hunger inside the maze, I could easily see some player(s) fixating on the idea of slowly painting the whole place over to eliminate the reflections, clearing out all the spiders, and trying to make money off the maze as an old folks' retirement home or something equally gonzo. That's the kind of daffy thinking I expect out of creative players. Also wonder what the reflectivity does to gaze attacks... :)

[@Joethelawyer]

This is awesome man. Thanks for the great review and heads up!

[@randallbaumgardt3424]

I started out with the holms box so long ago. I am running out and grabbing this adventure. Great and effective review thank you.

[@GlenHallstrom]

Good review. I ordered PDF+Print halfway through it. KARAOKE THURSDAYS? I'M THERE! :D

[@captcorajus]

Oh man, that would be great to have you!

[@GlenHallstrom]

@@captcorajus If it was in the OKC area we'd be there! Maybe it's a good thing, considering my singing (of course KJs hear that all the time). :D

[@captcorajus]

@@GlenHallstrom Lol,. Sometimes you're clapping because they're great, other times you're clapping because they're done.

[@robbabcock_]

Interesting! Thanks for the review.

[@johnscotto5045]

Is it possible to find a pdf version of the original Holmes rule set any longer? I can search many mentions of drive through RPG once having it but it no longer appears to have it.

[@captcorajus]

Its a real crime that the Holmes Basic set isn't available on PDF.

[@johnscotto5045]

@@captcorajus Is there a reason it was withdrawn from public availability?

[@captcorajus]

@@johnscotto5045 It never was. Its never been available for PDF. Any PDF you might have seen was a pirate copy. WOTC has never provided a copy of Holmes Basic.

[@sartanawillpay7977]

SPOILER WARNING: One thing that strikes me as odd in the module is the location of the corsair's victims' ghosts. Two of them bestow items of use to players in fighting the Corsair but the party will rarely encounter the ghosts before the Corsair because of the map layout. I wonder if the ghost cave and the tomb might work better if their locations are switched. The only drawback to switching locations that I can think of is that the Corsair would no longer be adjacent to the treasure,

[@sartanawillpay7977]

Playing the module I was fortunate that the players approached the Corsair's Tomb from the north. I decided that the players could hear the weeping woman ghost crying in the distance from across the rope bridge. This distracted them from the tomb door and they went to the ghost cave and received the ring to protect them from level draining BEFORE they met the Corsair.

[@messenger3478]

Juat got a copy of Holms basic. Gonna get this adventure!

[@kapek5]

I loved this dungeon!

[@HowtoRPG]

Thank you.

[@captcorajus]

You're welcome!

[@PatriceBoivin]

My basic set (same box cover) came with a 2-tone yellow version of B1

[@captcorajus]

Yep. Initially it was m&T and Dungeon Geomorphs. Then B1 and finally B2

[@Squirrel-Hermit]

Love this stuff...may I mention your show on my own channel?

[@captcorajus]

By all means, please do!!

[@forestlee1000]

Nice review. Thanks

[@danwilliams4908]

DriveThruRPG take my money!

[@warriorex4801]

Im playing the 5e version its a blast

[@SirMillz]

Love this!

[@blueldrrich84]

PLEASE (begging here) someone tell me that song he uses in the intro. It is really bugging me and gives me such nostalgia vibes. I have tried using music listen & identify software and it comes up with zero results. 🙏 thank you!

[@captcorajus]

The song is a remix of mine from a few sources. I am a Dee Jay,,, lol..So unfortunately you won't be able to find it.

[@blueldrrich84]

@@captcorajus hey! Thank you for at least solving the mystery lol. The very beginning kind of reminded me of Zelda in a way, but more orchestral. You should do a short video of how you mixed it together :D that would be both epic and fascinating 😉

[@captcorajus]

@@blueldrrich84 And possibly result in every video getting a copyright strike. lol Sorry.

[@honeymaker3055]

Free! I'm about it.

[@Dinofaustivoro]

So The Corsaire is basically LeChuck

[@rkcpek]

Are there any official licensed DND infocom style adventures?

[@captcorajus]

Sorry brother I'm not sure what that is, so I wouldn't know.

[@rkcpek]

Interactive Fiction, i.e. Text adventures. Zork!

[@captcorajus]

@@rkcpek Ahhh, gotcha, Not that I know of other than the gold box adventures... which are all available pretty cheaply on steam.

[@raymondlugo9960]

No but there is a map from the ADVENTURE game designer out there. Also, I haven't played this but it looks fun: warlockshomebrew.blogspot.com/2012/03/zenopus-tower-cut-away.html?m=1

[@johnnyo3535]

Ah yes, again, well done my liege.

[@sethduffey9538]

Excellent 👌

[@originaluddite]

You DJ? What kinds of tunes you play?

[@captcorajus]

All of them? lol. Anything from Rock to hip hop, Oldies to current, depending on the crowd, though I tend to favor 90s hip hop/ New Jack Swing. :)

[@originaluddite]

Fun!

[@lindy9196]

Never trust a thaumaturgist!

[@chicksandwich]

:)

[@tokyobear]

Can't understand anything that mask is saying

[@captcorajus]

1st, "I'll answer a question, 1 no more, i'll not speak till it be 4." 2nd, "Speak I'll answer", 3rd. "Behold". Might be a speaker issue? No one i've spoken to seems to have that problem.

[@tokyobear]

@@captcorajus Thanks so much cap'n. Strange no one else had the issue. May be a problem my end. Keep up the good work on the channel! Thanks!

[@richmcgee434]

@@tokyobear It's a little hard to puzzle out on my crap speakers too, but clear enough on my headphones.

[@tokyobear]

@@richmcgee434 Thanks Rich :)

[@Alan13448]

If your going to run this , redo the maps yourself