Question about Old AD&D Modules

[GarlandExCon]

So I don't have a lot of experience with old AD&D stuff, so here's my question:

Are these two things suppose to be separate or are they suppose to be bound together?

On one hand it looks like a book where the pages came dislodged from the cover. On the other it looks like they were never together and the cover is less of a cover and more of a "folder."

 

[Morkar Left]

Can't answer about this particular issue but I had some older D&D adventures where indeed the cover was a separat folder (and a bit broader than the inlet pages).

 

[CreamyBlood]

Separate folder that could be used as a DM screen and often had maps or whatever on the inside.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I have a ton of old D&D and AD&D modules, and the thinner books like the above were meant to come apart from the covers. The covers act more as a folder, and are filled with information on the inside, such as area maps or wandering encounter tables for different locations within.

 

[Scroo]

I bought an old adventure a few months back and yes it seems the covers are just folders

 

[Tom Baker's Arse]

I own DL7, and the front and back cover are meant to come off separately as a one-piece screen. The rest is the Dragons of Light adventure material.

 

[nikolokolus]

Folio style modules were very common. Usually the covers had a map or two on the inside and you were meant to go through the module marking it up with notes or cross-referencing notes in a notebook.

 

[King Crispy]

These were almost always shrink-wrapped in plastic in order to hold the whole thing together. That prevented me as a teenager from opening them up and reading them right there in the hobby shop.

I'd stand there for hours trying to decide which one of them I wanted to buy. Or steal.

(I still feel bad for stealing from that nice old hobby shop. What I wouldn't do to have them back today.)

 

[Old One]

I still feel bad for stealing from that nice old hobby shop. What I wouldn't do to have them back today.

Hell yes. Those 1980s hobby shops were great. They were all different, yet somehow all the same: modules, rulebooks, graph paper, dice, blister packs of lead figurines, plastic model kits, R/C airplane stuff, rocket engines...

I've gone into a couple of the "game stores" they have now, but it was all Magic: The Gathering and comic books, which didn't scratch the itch. I guess the old hobby shops are gone for good, more's the pity.

 

[GarlandExCon]

Thanks for the help, bros. I found a TON of D&D books the other day, including a bunch of old modules that were like I described above. I was pretty sure they were suppose to be separate, but wasn't sure. Most of them were Dragonlance.

 

[Old One]

Thanks for the help, bros. I found a TON of D&D books the other day, including a bunch of old modules that were like I described above. I was pretty sure they were suppose to be separate, but wasn't sure. Most of them were Dragonlance.

List?

Yes, almost all the old TSR modules have separate outer covers with maps on the inside. A few of them have two separate booklets on the inside. If so, the second one is usually illustrations to be shown to the players as a visual aid.

 

[King Crispy]

A few of them have two separate booklets on the inside. If so, the second one is usually illustrations to be shown to the players as a visual aid.

Classic example was Tomb of Horrors.

(original on left, crappy redux on right)

 

[GarlandExCon]

Thanks for the help, bros. I found a TON of D&D books the other day, including a bunch of old modules that were like I described above. I was pretty sure they were suppose to be separate, but wasn't sure. Most of them were Dragonlance.

List?

Yes, almost all the old TSR modules have separate outer covers with maps on the inside. A few of them have two separate booklets on the inside. If so, the second one is usually illustrations to be shown to the players as a visual aid.

I'll let you know tomorrow.

 

[Dorateen]

Speaking of folder-style modules, I was reading through the Temple of Death over the weekend. Some good ideas in there for wilderness, city and a dungeon complex adventure.

 

[GarlandExCon]

Thanks for the help, bros. I found a TON of D&D books the other day, including a bunch of old modules that were like I described above. I was pretty sure they were suppose to be separate, but wasn't sure. Most of them were Dragonlance.

List?

Yes, almost all the old TSR modules have separate outer covers with maps on the inside. A few of them have two separate booklets on the inside. If so, the second one is usually illustrations to be shown to the players as a visual aid.

Everything I found the other day:

AD&D Monster Manual (1978)
Dark Sun Players Book
D&D Player's Manual (1983)
Volo's Guide to Waterdeep
Gary Gygax's Dangerous Journey's: Mythus
AD&D Monsterous Manual
D&D Song and Silence: Guide to Bards & Rogues
Forgotten Realms: Magic of Faerun

Here are the Dragonlance ones I was asking about yesterday where the book is separate from the cover:

Dragons of Light (DL7)
Dragons of Triumph (DL12)
Dragons of War (DL8)
Dragons of Deceit (DL9)
Dragons of Truth (DL13)
Dragons of Dreams (DL10)

 

[Old One]

Dragons of Light (DL7)
Dragons of Triumph (DL12)
Dragons of War (DL8)
Dragons of Deceit (DL9)
Dragons of Truth (DL13)
Dragons of Dreams (DL10)

I have DL1 and DL2, Dragons of Despair and Dragons of Flame, respectively. I never actually played them, because I never read the Draonglance novels and none of my friends did either.

1978 Monster Manual is a classic. Is it in decent condition?

Classic example was Tomb of Horrors.

I dug S3 - Expedition to the Barrier Peaks out of my box a few days ago. It has not one but two outer covers with blue printed maps (because there are six levels in the dungeon: a spaceship from another dimension that crashed in the World of Greyhawk), the regular module booklet with the encounter key, plus a visual aid booklet containing 63 images - and four of them are in full color. Most of the artwork is by Erol Otus too. Lots of robots and ray-guns.

I never actually played or DM'd S3. It's far too large and complicated for me to have pulled it off as a lad. I think I was smart enough to realize that at the time.

 

[King Crispy]

D&D Player's Manual (1983)

It's called the Player's HANDBOOK, dammit.

 

[GarlandExCon]

1978 Monster Manual is a classic. Is it in decent condition?.

Yeah, I think decent is the word I'd use. It has some wear at the corners at the spine as you'd expect and it has a slight bend to the book I guess because someone had it at the bottom of a stack of books and it caused the cover to warp.

D&D Player's Manual (1983)

It's called the Player's HANDBOOK, dammit.

I always called it that too, but the cover of this edition says "Player's Manual."

 

[King Crispy]

I fucked up. The AD&D 1st Edition books were released in 1978, you likely have the basic D&D Player's MANUAL from '83. Sorry about that.

 

[GarlandExCon]

I fucked up. The AD&D 1st Edition books were released in 1978, you likely have the basic D&D Player's MANUAL from '83. Sorry about that.

It has a dragon on it and is red, if that helps.

 

[Old One]

It has a dragon on it and is red, if that helps.

Soft or hard cover? Sounds like the Basic D&D core book from right after they stopped calling it Basic D&D (as opposed to Advanced D&D).

AD&D core books were all hard cover. The Basic D&D books were soft cover. The red ones came in a box. There would have been the Players Manual, a matching book for DMs, and some crappy dice, IIRC.

Nothing wrong with Basic D&D, by the way. It's just a greatly simplified version.

 

[GarlandExCon]

It has a dragon on it and is red, if that helps.

Soft or hard cover? Sounds like the Basic D&D core book from right after they stopped calling it Basic D&D (as opposed to Advanced D&D).

AD&D core books were all hard cover. The Basic D&D books were soft cover. The red ones came in a box. There wold have been the Players Manual, a matching book for DMs, and some crappy dice, IIRC.

Nothing wrong with Basic D&D, by the way. It's just a greatly simplified version.

Yeah this is softcover.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I fucked up. The AD&D 1st Edition books were released in 1978, you likely have the basic D&D Player's MANUAL from '83. Sorry about that.

It has a dragon on it and is red, if that helps.

Both the 1981 Moldvay Basic Rules and the 1983 Mentzer Basic Set have dragons on the cover. However, since yours is called the Player's Manual, it must be the booklet from the 1983 version with a cover illustration by Larry Elmore of a warrior facing a red dragon rather than the 1981 version which had a cover illustration by Erol Otus of a warrior and wizardess facing a green dragon. Note that the 1983 Frank Mentzer 'Red Box' Basic Set included both a Players Manual and a Dungeon Masters Rulebook as separate booklets inside the box.

 

[Xorphitus]

Thanks for the help, bros. I found a TON of D&D books the other day, including a bunch of old modules that were like I described above. I was pretty sure they were suppose to be separate, but wasn't sure. Most of them were Dragonlance.

List?

Yes, almost all the old TSR modules have separate outer covers with maps on the inside. A few of them have two separate booklets on the inside. If so, the second one is usually illustrations to be shown to the players as a visual aid.

Everything I found the other day:

AD&D Monster Manual (1978)
Dark Sun Players Book
D&D Player's Manual (1983)
Volo's Guide to Waterdeep
Gary Gygax's Dangerous Journey's: Mythus
AD&D Monsterous Manual
D&D Song and Silence: Guide to Bards & Rogues
Forgotten Realms: Magic of Faerun

Here are the Dragonlance ones I was asking about yesterday where the book is separate from the cover:

Dragons of Light (DL7)
Dragons of Triumph (DL12)
Dragons of War (DL8)
Dragons of Deceit (DL9)
Dragons of Truth (DL13)
Dragons of Dreams (DL10)

I remember picking up Dangerous Journeys back in the early 90s reading through that shit and then letting it sit on the shelf for several years before giving it away. One of those games that didn't seem like it would be fun to make a character or gm.


Never had the first edition Dragonlance adventures but know from lurking on other forums that they were considered "dragon of the month" adventures.

I agree with Zed the Players Manual is more than likely from Mentzers red box set.

 

[Dorateen]

I remember picking up Dangerous Journeys back in the early 90s

An interesting note about Dangerous Journeys. Gygax had originally called the game Dangerous Dimensions. This was after he was ousted from TSR, and the abbreviation DD was going to cause a lawsuit with TSR. So he changed the name to Dangerous Journeys.