RPG Retro Review: U2 Danger at Dunwater

[@Silversmith70]

I miss being a kid and my only struggle for the day was how was I going to get to my friends house to play his new module. Thank you for the vid, love it as always.

[@captcorajus]

Right? Those were good times!

[@sunsin1592]

For us, this was the shortest module we ever played in terms of time. The players quickly decided to parley with the lizardmen. We wrapped the whole thing up in under an hour and had plenty of time left to watch Miami Vice that night....

[@scott4092]

Yep! Same. My DM sat there for a minute, and shrugged and said "Congratulations, you solved the adventure!"

[@biffstrong1079]

Wow Yup we got wiped out . It took longer than an hour, but... Evil Lizard Men GRRRRR!!!!!

[@Se7enBeatleofDoom]

Sometimes the DMs need to let PCs figure things out by themselves. This old-school adventure is ideal for that.

[@TallDude73]

This was the very first module I ever bought. It was confusing since I bought the middle of series (I didn't know not to do that, and that it might be like reading The Two Towers first), and all of AD&D was still so new to me, but eventually I got a hold of U1 and things made more sense. U2 holds a special place in my heart nonetheless. Nostalgia overload.

[@HowtoRPG]

Finally got a chance to check this out. Really helpful.

[@stevenkennedy4130]

I've always liked U2. Sunday bloody Sunday is my favorite song of theirs. Thanks for the share!!

[@graylander4362]

This module was a death trap for first lvl characters back in the day. The lizardmen at the entrance and first room would tear up parties. I remember how the module would have the lizardmen hide behind tables and use bows and other tricks. I was usually the DM for this module and there were almost always full party wipes or the party would flee. Should have tried it with lvl 3 characters. We almost always played as murder hobos when we were younger so parlaying wasn't in our vocabulary lol.

[@BK-cs4gv]

One of the few campaigns we ever really got anywhere in for A D and D. Looking forward to this one :-)

[@TurboWulfe]

We razed through half this adventure before a smarter person than I before we caught on what was really happening. Great adventure. Thanks for the nostalgic walk down memory lane. Take care. 😎🤘

[@dfcsons]

We tried this one a few times when it first came out, and barely got past a third of it. There's a lot more thinking to this than you'd first think, especially for lower level PCs, and we just weren't savvy enough for the diplomacy part of it and always got overrun! That being said, hope is not lost...I'm teaching my kids how to play the game and they're about halfway through U1 right now (prob my fave module of all time) and if it's in the cards, maybe they'll take a crack at the lizard man stronghold down the road.

[@Leftylives]

I have been running Ghosts of Saltmarsh in the Dark Sun setting, it's sort of the reverse of this module, a couple of the players are Ssurran, desert lizardfolk, so much of the play so far has used the lizardfolk lair as a base of operations and the alliance with my homebrewed town owned by a newly minted sorcerer-king has been secondary. I called the lizardfolks lair "The Lizard's bath" due to the presence of a pool of water near the cave that flows down into the cave and down into the under dark, it's on the edge of the silt sea, but there is a mangrove where "thousand teeth" lives and other sinister things there that I won't reveal yet.

[@pez5767]

Fantastic coverage, as always! Can't wait to see part 3. I would love to see a comparison between the original and the new version.

[@AAron-gr3jk]

I'm struck by the cool line art in these old modules. the artists did so well in the black and white medium they had. thanks again Cap.

[@Cl0ne66]

Playing through the 5E book I’m iffy on this one mostly because it only lasted 4.5 hours. I as the bard even got the most out of it as one player was gone, one player had his character stay outside not wanting to give up his weapons; so it was I and the cleric in it and I did the bulk of the talking. It was a great roleplay modular but I feel it needed a run-in with the Sahaugin leaving the cave system. 15-20 with 5 lizardfolk comming to help. Also they said the Alligator was CR 6; but 3.5 level 4 charchters (the .5 was an awful monk) wiped the floor with it. Dm asked me about the fight and I said should’ve added baby alligators using the 1/8 stat block but they have 1hp. Something to give more attacks but a single hit kills them.

[@Minodrec]

Thanks just what I needed today !

[@captcorajus]

Always happy to make someone's day! Thanks for watching!

[@darthjoel6357]

*sigh* I owned this series also. Missing my old collection. 😞

[@tinfoilhat6343]

Lots of nostalgia for this series. Thanks for the great content as always Capt. All hail the algorithm!

[@izegrimcreations]

Just finished it a few months ago. One of those adventures, where if the party runs it like they should (diplomacy), it's one of the fastest modules, and 90% is completely skipped. Haven't seen another published early D&D module that was like that.

[@captcorajus]

Yeah, the downside to that fantastic dungeon is the PCs skip most of it. Its weird, but in a good way.

[@manowarviriathus889]

One of the first modules I played. We were young and hacked and slashed our way through it... looking for coin and magic items. Lol that’s how we usually played in our young teens. We were worse than the sahuagin lol.

[@BockwinkleB]

Love the ADnD reviews

[@scottkrater2131]

Just a thought, these modules could be linked to the against the Slavers series easily for a big campaign. An epic fantasy type.

[@BTsMusicChannel]

I still have my copy of Saltmarsh that I bought back in the day. I think the lack of a town map is problematic too. A great DM tool would be a book with a bunch of town maps, plus tables with generators for names of stores, inns, temples, guilds, etc. and NPCs (names, personalities, catch phrases, etc.) , maybe even possible rumor tables, all that you could use to design a town quickly. DMs need towns. I wonder why no one has made such a resource.

[@captcorajus]

That's a GREAT idea.

[@BTsMusicChannel]

@@captcorajus I am just copying stuff that I have seen in published dungeons that I liked. In my opinion, DM tools are the key to success. The easier it is on the DM, the more likely you will be able to have a game every week.

[@southron_d1349]

@@BTsMusicChannel RuneQuest had a shot at it with its "RuneQuest Cities; Create and Explore Your Own Fantasy Communities". It's creaking with age now since it was published in 1986. I'd say it's a mixed success at best. No maps though; mostly random tables. D&D 3e had "Cityscape" which is also a mixed success. There are other products tickling at the memory cells but they're probably more specific to the Forgotten Realms and other settings.

[@haveswordwilltravel]

Whelp...It took three gaming sessions, but we finally killed every last Lizard man. Saltmarsh is safe now...

[@captcorajus]

ROFLMOA!!

[@stratuvarious8547]

great video, just wondering if you might review sunless citadel for 3rd or even the alternity rpg system at some point in the future

[@captcorajus]

Might do the Sunless Citadel. That's a fave of mine.

[@ImaginerImagines]

Another good one :) thank you.

[@johnharrison2086]

This trilogy is one of my favourites. This module can go very badly with the wrong group however

[@jonathanduplantis1403]

It's locacath , not kuo toa

[@williamst.romain7393]

I got the modules out of order, getting U3 first. This probably ruined it for me. I enjoyed U1 alright, but I didn't think well of U2.

[@williamhoover6902]

Did you finish City of Brass or are we still waiting for the 3rd installment?

[@captcorajus]

lol... Sorry, the shear volume of content from that one was a bit much for me, and I didn't realize it when i started the review. The primary problem being that I only have the PDF copy.. which for an old school guy like me makes things a lot more challenging. We'll see.

[@williamhoover6902]

@@captcorajus I will be happy to print you a copy and overnight as a way of supporting the channel. Whats the best way to get in touch?

[@adampender2482]

I wanted to run this series based in Moonshae on Faerun but after reading U1 I just couldn't seem to fit the next 2 in. Any suggestions? You reminding me of the new Ghosts of Saltmarsh might be a way. I'd just have to convert it to 2nd edition. But anyway good review and video. On a side note, which 1st or 2nd edition module, accessory, box set, or setting was your biggest disappointment at the time but you think differently now? Mine was Ruins of Undermountain. I waited months for it. Bought it, and barely anything done lol. As the years have passed I appreciate it more now.

[@captcorajus]

I loved ROUM the moment I opened it. It just exuded atmosphere. I'd already been running a Waterdeep based campaign at that point and this was the missing component I needed to really make my campaign pop. I was a bit disappointed in ROUM II as I didn't feel it captured the scope and feel of the first. Though I appreciate it more now. The boxed set that disappointed me the most however was the Ruins of Myth Drannor, which I still have and have NEVER used. lol. 1E and 2E are so close in mechanics I don't feel there's a lot of conversion to be done for the 1E modules. Ghosts of Salt Marsh includes OTHER modules besides U1 - U3. I really like it. thanks for the comment and the view!

[@papapingas1797]

Hey all

[@captcorajus]

Hey hey!

[@puremgtowpaladin2940]

I hear a doggie in the background 🤣

[@captcorajus]

Lol, yeah, can't always keep my girl quiet during recording sessions.

[@TheBigGuppy]

Sahuagin are meanies!

[@richmcgee434]

I feel like that might be a bit of an understatement. :)

[@Cyberpuppy63]

The back cover of U-2 could be an example of a "false (back) cover". While the interior back-story could suggest the temple is sinking deeper under-water, it's not really "story important" (as far as players are concerned), in the sense all the monsters are basically just stat-blocks, to be chopped up mince meat. Basically, there's no "personality" to any of them - and Qualitatively speaking, they are neither memorable nor individualized. Unfortunately, my module collection got stashed in a space saver garage, and got wiped out during some "leak in the ceiling", or whatever. No insurance.

[@Cyberpuppy63]

In other words; not knocking the module, nor the series, per se. But the "background story" could have been possibly much better written - either with a better story / theme / adventure - or some more meaningful NPC's [ or both ]. I will say the series was "forward thinking" in terms of tweaking the Lizard men as (meaningful) allies [ rather than "oh, another monster, ho-hum"].