Dungeons, floorplans & maps

Is that White Plume Mountain? What was the first map Mike?

Well spotted!! :) That was the 2nd map, that is. Right below the floor-plan for the Tomb of Horrors. So, that's S1 and S2 by the old system. WPM was pretty fun... Unlike S1, there was actually a chance of PCs getting out alive. :)

I womdered that was Tomb of Horrors but I really wasn't sure. WPM was the first ready made adventure I bought and DM'd. I must be honest I always preferred to make up my own adventures but WPm was good fun. I wonder if i still have it somewhere? I can remember the trident was guarded by a giant crab.

Right! There was a lot of goofy stuff in there. A kayak ride on a magical suspended stream... jumping across a lava pit on wooden disks hanging from the ceiling by chains... a jog through a spinning tube... It was more like a deadly amusement park than a dungeon. :)

And I think the whole place was run by an evil Halfling too. That's not something you see every day.

On a different note, I remember this one module that I don't have in my archives any more: Beyond the Crystal Cave (I think it was called).. in the "UK" series of modules. That was *different.* Not at all about hack/slash, more of a wide-open mystery. I was SO frustrated with it, because my players obviously weren't in the mood that day... started trying to kill everything in sight, which didn't end well. One of my rare moments being the "punitive" DM. :(

That's a new one on me. Just read about it on Wikipedia - sounds different. That happens sometimes, you get everything ready and it all goes pearshaped because the players can't quite get into it or the DM for that matter. I might have asked this before but did you ever play Call of Cthulhu?

No... my experience is quite narrow: D&D, AD&D, Palladium (1st edition), and now a little Pathfinder, which again, is really D&D at its heart.

Palladium was different. At the time I played it, I found the combat rules, concept of magic, and flexibility around monstrous PCs (playing as a Troll, etc.) really refreshing. Nothing Lovecrafty.

AD&D 2nd is about it for me. Reviewed rules of the other editions, but they didn't quite get it for me. Never played any modules or packaged themes. Always DM imagiation. Some of these modules and themes do sound fun, though.

Modules were a hoot, for the most part. I didn't have time to keep the team in adventure every weekend out of my own creativity and planning. So they broke things up and gave me the time I need to cobble stuff together of my own.

I was *always* the DM... 

Don't that suck!? I've been in groups like that before; everyone wanted to play, but they wren't good at or comfortable with the DM spot, so guess who got to watch everyone else play ....

I found that as the years passed by I ended up DMing more often than not. The guys that I started playing with were all pretty good DMs but the as people came and went I found that the last bunch of guys tended to be rubbish DMs lacking in imagination. I ended up having more fun DMing rather than playing characters in boring games. 

I'm glad I got the experience of playing for a good length of time before turning my hand to DMing though. Nothing beats the feeling you get when you first encounter a monster you've never met before.

I have just found the manual for  a scifi RPg called Paranoia. We only played it a few times but it was fun. I've also found loads of stuff for MERP - Middle-earth Role Playing. This was an exciting game where you used a percentile to hit and if you rolled 96 or above you rolled again, the higher the score the better the blow. Basically you be playing a high level character but some poxy orc could come along and roll over 96 a few times and you'd be dead. It certainly made the fights a lot more hair raising!

Call of Cthulhu was my second favourite RPG. The main thing about it was that brute force wouldn't always win the day and you could really mess with the minds of the players. It was all about setting the right mood and it certainly allowed me to develop my DMing skills . Half of the time it was the mere suggestion of there being something terrible down the corridor or in the next room that got the players worked up. Just a few of the right sort of clues and it is amazing what players will think they are up against.

I've found a couple more modules - remember this one?

What about this one?

I have the Lost Caverns downstairs, but I'd totally forgotten Against the Giants... Cool! :)

I've never DM'd either of them but I did play the first part of the Against the Giants. I played a paladin-  'Saul known as Paul'.

Here's something totally awesome:

http://plagmada.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=3222&g2_GALLERYSID=e1417694c0592fec61d773c7a4456e31

wow that is so cool. He was only 14 when he did it as well, yep definitely awesome!! I've only had a quick glance but I reckon he is underestimating the difficutly of the gungeon when he says at least 5 characters of 6th level.

;)

As noted above, it is White Plume Mountain.  There is a sword akin to Strombringer to be found. Too bad you can't take it with you when you exit. 

This is the town where my current crop of adventurers are based.

Looks like you put a lot of work into your maps.