The Forbidden Caverns of Archaia: OSR DnD Megadungeon Review

[@QuestingBeast]

Tap into the OSR with the Questing Beast newsletter: bit.ly/Glatisant Join the Questing Knights on Patreon: bit.ly/QBPatreon Download my RPGs and adventures: bit.ly/ItchStore My favorite OSR books: bit.ly/TopOSRBooks

[@kevinkingmaker7395]

Too bad the caverns are forbidden. Would be fun to go on an adventure there....

[@TradeUaPikachu]

I know yours is an older comment, but I greatly appreciate the subtle humor

[@dubuyajay9964]

*Gets the bolt cutters.*

[@j-henry7391]

Well it's forbidden so it would be really inconsiderate to the DM for you to go there...

[@thorinpeterson6282]

That rear cover formatting coupled with the orange spine hits me straight in the nostalgia gland

[@brandonvaughan4236]

I bought Barrowmaze and this on your Barrowmaze review alone! Keep up the great work.

[@Yoghurtslave]

Same!

[@redfeildre349]

I don't own or even play Labyrinth Lord but I may well get this book. Very reminiscent of Keep on the Borderlands and that's never a bad thing. I may even look into Labyrinth Lord. Have a feeling I'm going to like this one.

[@joshdav37]

You can get it for 5e stats, but which is easier to convert will depend on what you're playing now

[@johntunney1864]

Labyrinth lord is badass.

[@xdrag0nflyx]

I really like your reviews, I'm finding a lot of cool new modules to play. What would be neat is if we could hear about all the promising new kickstarters in the rpg realm

[@BenA718]

I am running some old D&D for PAX Unplugged again this year. This might be perfect for that!

[@christophseel8757]

Please do a Dwarrowdeep review ❤

[@Loredannon]

Another great review, Ben. Thanks for the info!

[@Spacemansid98]

Definitely am drawn to purchase this after your review, especially considering it's 25% off for the rest of the month. Can't wait to get myself a copy!

[@lostonwallace1396]

The artwork inside looks really nice!

[@swirvinbirds1971]

Seems to take inspiration from the Caves of Chaos from B2 Keep on the Borderlands.

[@patrickrobles1036]

So, Barrrowmaze or this?

[@MDJButcher]

9:52 Those things are straight-up Easterlings from the LOTR movies.

[@SirLucien]

Now, this I could see dropping this into my West Marches campaign, I like it.

[@johntunney1864]

I like the concept of that campaign but havent had the fortunr to do one

[@bjhale]

Great as usual. A quick question you might have answered before but that I haven't seen yet: How do you decide what to review? Is it mostly based on what you get review copies for, or what happens to catch your eye? And would you be open to suggestions on what to review?

[@QuestingBeast]

I usually ask people for a review copy if their book looks like something I'd enjoy. I'm definitely open to suggestions!

[@Susrek]

Might be nice for Tunnels & Trolls if conversion can be done on the fly.

[@trissloan2340]

Beast, love your dissertations. You are a natural teacher, instructor like Obi Wan or Yoda, but much younger. My older half brother and his two friends were heavily into AD and D. Two of them had hardback rulebooks, supplements and 15 classic modules each, 1981-87. I have not played since 1984. Just hard for me to get into it as an adult, but your videos stimulate my creative writing abilities as an amateur fantasy/sci-fi writer; to create a vast array of worlds and characters to inhabit them. I love the classic module reviews , 10 most dangerous monsters series and similar series by half a dozen enthusiasts with channels.

[@davidbabbitt1839]

Really interesting! Im wondering which is better to run. Barrow Maze or Forbidden Caverns of Archaia. I was thinking that something like this would be good to run as an open campaign for random players to join weekly. Then weed out the players I think would make a great fit to invite to my full on long term campaign. Right now I have Castles & Crusaders but was thinking of buying Swords & Wizardry or Labyrinth Lord. Im not sure I was to manage more than one rule system..

[@yagsipcc287]

The great thing about what has been going on is how old school stuff has expoded be it stuff like Shadowdark, DCC (for more quirk) lots of small OSR games, remixes of B/X AD&d etc... all are similar enough you can run eveything almost 1-1 with little efford or at all :-) books like this are a God send, can be used for random dungeons, as the whole setting in a game or an area you come across and spend months in or again use dungeons with a goal part of your game and can use the factions inside as well.

[@DungeonDoor]

Great content as always man!

[@Madkingstoe]

Will you be reviewing Highfell?

[@bonbondurjdr6553]

Would you say that this book is usable at the table, good sir?

[@saifernandez8622]

you should check out stone hell dungeon, ITS AMAZING!

[@Madkingstoe]

I keep hearing about it. What makes it so amazing?

[@johnnybigbones4955]

@@Madkingstoe I just bought it. I would not say amazing, but it is very good and VERY utalitarian. It was designed with the One Page Dungeon ethos, very minimalist but well organised. It has a good theme (the dungeon is a literal dungeon created by a despot that got out of hand and now sinister things are happening in the depths). Each floor is given an overview, some magic items, and then is split into 4 quadrants. Each quadrant is then presented with the map and the key together in a way I imagine would be very useful and easy to run at the table. It has lots of cool themes and ideas and a lot of old school charm. From reading it, and as a product, I can see that it would appeal to utalitarian DMs who like a directly gameable product. You can pick this up, spend half an hour reading, and be ready to go already, because the information is so well organised and accessible. It is also very cheap, about 7 dollars use. I got it for just over five euros. There is a lot of adventure in there for that price. Myself, I prefer Barrowmaze. It is more expensive and possibly less user friendly, but it is also enjoyable to read and has a lot of lovely artwork and atmosphere. Stonehell is very much a gaming aid rather than something nice to read (though the overview sections are well written) or look at.

[@Madkingstoe]

@@johnnybigbones4955 Thanks Johnny! I bought Barrowmaze instead based on your recommendation. I appreciate the indepth review!

[@Arcboltkonrad13]

While this adventure is fun I have a lot of personal complaints about Greg Gillespie, namely he doesn't tend to take criticism very well.

[@7digger3]

Dude You are Brilliant, What you said about chartopia, I was just thinking that a D&D Complete Wiki Like What you described, Would allow DM and PC to expolre all of the D&D content.

[@lazylitch8035]

Looks like I would be more interested in running this than barrowmaze

[@johntunney1864]

You could slap a shit ton of both together real fast.

[@docbrown7916]

Are these books on Amazon or another place I can buy them ??! And what do they cost ? Urls and $ data appreciated.

[@QuestingBeast]

Links to where you can buy it are in the video description box.

[@docbrown7916]

@@QuestingBeast Thanks, looked there after I posted, my bad. Good vids, my pain level is kinda high today so not up to speed. I don't play D&D anymore but enjoy the material and use it for short stories. I started playing in 81, old school and loose rules, was more of a reason for several martial artists to do something other than poker and have pizza together. I'll be sharing the ch w friends and on my FB page. Keep up the good work !

[@QuestingBeast]

Thanks, Doc!

[@Giganfan2k1]

I love this series, one slight annoyance. All the episodes seem to be backwards. I am dealing with it the best I can XD. 9/10

[@pwtprojects5610]

Do players need to see the maps or are they for the game master only? Is a general OSR question....

[@yagsipcc287]

I know it's a bit late but usually in these games there are two versions of maps a general unmarked map for hex crawling so players don't know where to go and what things will be there as well as a DM map.

[@robinlarsson5138]

Can you run this with Lamentations of the flame princess?

[@QuestingBeast]

Sure. Basically all OSR products are cross-compatible with minor tweaking.

[@juanmilano8923]

Very nice review. You made me buy the PDF, though...

[@miguelsalgueiro7429]

Labyrinth Lord or 5e version? What do you recommend?

[@QuestingBeast]

Labyrinth Lord.

[@jefffisher1297]

Burn your 5E books! LOL.

[@willbyrne8493]

Tartopia? never hear of it? is there a link

[@misomiso8228]

Cool review. Msg on another vid but it would be great to see: Dark Places and Demogorgons Into the Borderlands (5e re publishing of the classics) Tales from the Loop. ty

[@alexdelarge1652]

I was wondering can anyone suggest any modern artist that replicate that old school D&D/fantasy art style??

[@carterweaver5516]

What level would you reccomend the players be at to begin this adventure?

[@brendanboyd4932]

1

[@sandman6088]

Does anyone have any recommendations for something like this but without a scummy author that forces students to buy his RPG products for a class?

[@jarrettperdue3328]

Stonehell, Down Night Haunted Halls

[@zagobelim]

Crap, now I want to run this.

[@Heffalumpomatic]

André Bogaz e Souza same! Cash seems to magically disappear from my bank account after watching these videos. 😂

[@prankrepublic5989]

What levels of a PC do you suggest should play this?

[@johntunney1864]

I would say 1+. You could do this megadungeon for a decent length campaign. Defintetly 20 sessions+. He said its safer in the starting zones.

[@carterweaver5516]

Thanks man (new account)

[@MasterVolton]

Potentially dumb Q: What do i need to play this?

[@QuestingBeast]

It's designed for Labyrinth Lord or Old-School Essentials, but most OSR rulesets would work.

[@MasterVolton]

@@QuestingBeast awesome, i ordered a copy of OSE the other day so should be good

[@johnnygilbert8163]

All the best OSR dungeons look like diablo 3 levels.

[@robmatheny2412]

The host of these videos sounds really bored.