I ran Winter's Daughter a few weeks ago which works for OSE/Dolmenwood. Blown away by how easy it was to run. I even gushed about it to my players after. I hated running modules when we played 5e.
5e modules are so badly edited/written. How are they more work to run than just coming up with shit? They should be for newer DMs, instead you gotta read 6 chapters ahead to understand the motivations of NPCs introduced at the beginning. Ridiculous
I read that because they sell more to people who just read them instead of run them, they write them like novels instead of guides.
I don't know how much I buy into that vs. WOTC's incompetence, because Phandelver was the first 5e module and it's written the same.
"The Blackapple Brugh" is a BFRPG adventure, and all of their adventures are particularly good with giving enough information and procedure to the new GM to efficiently and effectively run the adventure.
They also add some nice features, like checkboxes for the NPC and Monster HP, as well as full stats (or at least all the applicable stats) for each NPC and Monster. It makes it nice that you don't have to look up each monster from the "Monster Manual" every time you have to run it.
A couple other particularly "new GM" friendly modules by BFRPG are Morgansfort and Chaotic Caves.
Edit: BFRPG modules should work seamlessly with OSE, as they are both really just slightly different versions of B/X. The only caveat is that BFRPG strictly uses Ascending AC, whereas OSE can use either.
My favorite dungeon that's quick and easy is Portal under the Stars from the Dungeon Crawl Classics quick start guide. You could run as a 0 Level funnel for just about any OSR game.
I had looked at The Hole in the Oak and Incandescent Grottoes when I was buying OSE, good to know they're good options since they seemed interesting. Hadn't heard of Black Wyrm but it seems good too, thanks for the reply!
If you do the Black Wyrm at Brandonsford I might recommend reading [this review of the module](https://rancourt.substack.com/p/review-the-black-wyrm-of-brandonsford) first
Not sure why anyone would downvote this, it's the single most thorough review of the module. I'm prepping it right now, it's good but it doesn't hold your hand.
Tomb of the Serpent King is one of the very best adventures for walking a new DM (and new players) through OSR game play.
It has a bunch of commentary on why things are like they are and suggestions for how you can change things if you prefer.
It is also free IIRC, so definitely give it a look.
[Futurewolf's Shadowdark Resources ](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QDL06qbIkb8TSbsz0z1sF-78nuyVlTAY) has a Shadowdark conversion for Tomb of the Serpent King as well as some other popular OSE and B/X modules.
Multiple people are recommending it so I'll almost definitely be trying it out, that commentary sounds nice, should help when I decide to make up my own dungeons. Thanks!
You could try the BX module Palace of the Silver Princess. I think the first few rooms are even set up as a kind of choose your own adventure to give you a sense of how to offer choices to your players.
I wanted to suggest BX3 Palace of the Silver Princess for the exact same reason (the Choose Your Own Adventure rooms). But beware, the original (orange cover) does not have this feature. Only the reprinted (green cover) has it.
You should also sail the high seas for an orange copy, too.
Keep on the Borderlands is straightforward and near idiot proof…it really was designed for what you have in mind. Into the Unknown as well, but that has a lot of DIY (a feature of Wells’ Orange *Palace*, too).
*Castle Xyntillan* is a marvelously low-prep adventure. That’s not the same as a tutorial, of course, but it’s also a masterclass in design.
For handholding, you want a *third* system, lol. Mentzer Basic. Pdfs are 10$, play copies abound on eBay. You *will* be a solid DM with that as your starting point.
I'm sorry I don't have any modules to add, OP. Just commenting so that I can return to this thread for ideas if I'm ever able to form a new gaming group.
For 5$ you could by the BECMI basic set, there is a fully guided example adventure/dungeons in the DM book that will guide through almost everything.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/116619/d-d-basic-set-dm-s-rulebook-becmi-ed-basic
The dungeon has 3 levels, the 1st is fully done and with tutorial text for the DM, the 2nd is partially filled and you have to complete it by doing the leftover empty rooms and the 3rd one is uncharted, you only have few suggestions and guidelines.
It is not fancy or full of some complex shaeningans, but it was meant to let even teens or pre-teens learn how to be a DM :)
[B1 - In Search of the Unknown](https://archive.org/details/tsr09023insearchoftheunknown) is literally for first-time DMs, along with [B2 - Keep on the Borderlands](https://archive.org/details/tsr09034b2ddadventure013keepontheborderlands).
Both are for basic line --i.e. fully compatible with OSE. I also advise to read the DM's section in B/X (OSE is a clone of that).
Hello! Prison of the hated pretender is another dungeon that like tomb of the serpent Kings is often called a teaching dungeon. And not just for the players, but for the game master.
Teaching them things like , treasure chests are sometimes trapped, and very important things like there are things in the dungeon that want to talk or at least are willing to talk.
And its free!
http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/2012/08/prison-of-hated-pretender-pdf.html?m=1
🙏❤️
Oh nice, that's actually pretty great since I was going to try and get a group together of fairly new people anyways so we can all learn together. Thanks for the rec!
I'm running my group through b1-9 in search of adventure. It's been great for the walk through aspect and the adventures are exciting and challenging without being too difficult.
They just finished the sanctuary of elwyn the ardent (original from caldwell castle and beyond) and they had the best games of my time dming d&. Over 3 years in 5th edition with this group and they never had this much fun and excitement. People were on the edge of there seats through out, cheering, panicking and everything else in between.
I'd highly recommend anything from the tsr B series to get you into the system and to help you as a dm get the game flowing well
The B series seems to be commonly recommended here so I'm sure it'll be one I run, nice to here they're still challenging without being too difficult, that's a balance I think is great starting out. Thanks!
Had a couple recs for that now, reviews seem pretty great for it, seems like might be one of the ones to start with with all the notes and help it has. Thanks!
[B11 King's Festival](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17141/b11-king-s-festival-basic?affiliate_id=2150725) is specifically written to help new DMs and players. It has reference sheets for both the players and DM, as well as plenty of advice for the DM. It is for Basic line, meaning you can use OSE without any modifications. :)
Helping the players as well as myself is great since I'm hoping to put together a group of mostly new players anyways, and it's great that it works out of the box with OSE, thanks!
I recommend Matt Coleville's Delian Tomb. Super simple and short. Most vanilla run-of-the-mill thing you could run. Simultaneously contains a little bit of every pillar of play. Good for introducing new players. Did that recently and they really enjoyed it as well as the fact that it wasn't anything complex for the first time. Just need to use the monster stats from your game system
The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg has a lot of writing on How to be a DM.
There is no other adventure module like it.
[https://www.tfott.com/the-lost-dungeons-of-tonisborg-book](https://www.tfott.com/the-lost-dungeons-of-tonisborg-book)
To bring it all together, there are a few easy to parse resources and there are some that, as you read them fully and continue to delve into them as a literature review the works jump off the pages
The BECMI red and blue books, in addition to B11 King's Festival are all planned out like a scientific foray into D&D -- and looking back they are certainly core to the OSR. Initially I thought of B10 but it is not hand-holding but rather completist. Thus it would be good in a review of all adjacent resources in this vein
There are also masterpiece works as intros to D&D and the OSR. Especially the Goodman Games OAR #1 Into the Borderlands which includes tons of history and detail, even linkage for B1 In Search of the Unknown and B2 Keep on the Borderlands. The two versions, Orange and Green, of B3 Palace of the Silver Princess peaked out that era along with B4 The Lost City, X1 Isle of Dread, and X2 Castle of Amber. The Orange B3 and X1 Isle of Dread invite DMs and players to test out the sandbox concept, which is core to the game, and critical path to OSR understanding. Yet as a review, these all are important -- perhaps the most important of all
There were others who got there first, and made a huge mark on the history of gaming, as well as still fun for new gamers. Wee Warriors and Judges' Guild are still hailed as these adjuncts to the TSR era. In particular, I find Tegel Manor to be ingenius in terms of putting all of the pieces into place, and when TSR tried to do the same it became something akin to their U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. Similarly, and in any review of what's what in this subgenre, you will want to claim a stake in Dark Tower, which like B4 Lost City, has Robert Howard's Red Nails influence, and additionally sparked an on-going creativity one-upmanship in the gaming community. That same year, the same author Jennel Jaquays, also released Caverns of Thracia which permanently set the standard for dungeon design
Most of the titles that tried to compete or redesign these originals largely failed to accomplish even half of what the competitors wanted, saying nothing bad about them, their experiments, or their tests of merit. However, head to head (or not), you can see that even B6 The Veiled Society couldn't outperform the first town and city adventures such as The First Fantasy Campaign or City-State of the Invincible Overlord. Gygax's Giant "G" series was an interesting mid-tier and provides one of the best transitions to his Drow "D" underdark series, but themselves have been rehashed to some contending success
For the adventures in the OSR that really go above-and beyond as contenders for the early-day content I suggested, Stonehell, The Chained Coffin, and some of the other authors currently penning at Goodman Games do know how to rise to the level of shovel-ready adventures that also tend to blow your mind. There are many others but it helps to start about here
I'll definitely take a dive into the Goodman Games catalogue. And looks like once I'm ready for a sandbox combining all that you mentioned will be a great start. Thanks for the detailed reply!
The classic Basic mod Keep on the Borderlands, which was included with the red box. It was intended to be the first dungeon crawl for a new group. It does have a single section which is left blank for you to fill out. However, even as a new DM, these are important muscles for you to flex and this mod gives you a minimal start in that area.
Having to improv, or create your own rooms may seem intimidating at first but it’s not as demanding as you may think and certainly isn’t something you should avoid. Even a simple room with a pit trap full of snakes in front of a treasure chest can turn into a memorable experience for your party.
I'm looking forward to creating my own stuff and have no problem putting in the work beforehand to fill stuff out, I just know that I'm going to be sort of overwhelmed when I'm starting out gm'ing so want to keep in the moment stuff to the minimum at the start.
Keep on the Borderlands has been brought up a lot so I'll definitely run that. Thanks!
Lost mine of phandelver is a 5e module which is pretty linear and requires 20-30h to complete. If you want to play OSR game, this is not what you’re looking for.
You want to read Tomb of the Serpent Kings. It’s designed to teach both the DM and the players how to play an OSR dungeon. With a lot of advices and commentaries.
It’s quick to read with a modern and easy to read layout. It only requires 3 sessions to complete. And it’s free.
(Sunless citadel is more linear, with fewest options for your players)
Okay good to know, I'll probably save Lost Mine for if I want something a bit longer then. Tomb gotten tons of praise and the bit I've looked at it seems great, might pick up a print copy just to have. Thanks for the advice!
I ran Winter's Daughter a few weeks ago which works for OSE/Dolmenwood. Blown away by how easy it was to run. I even gushed about it to my players after. I hated running modules when we played 5e.
5e modules are so badly edited/written. How are they more work to run than just coming up with shit? They should be for newer DMs, instead you gotta read 6 chapters ahead to understand the motivations of NPCs introduced at the beginning. Ridiculous
I read that because they sell more to people who just read them instead of run them, they write them like novels instead of guides. I don't know how much I buy into that vs. WOTC's incompetence, because Phandelver was the first 5e module and it's written the same.
Oh cool, I've heard of it but haven't looked much into it, good to know it's easy to run, I'll check it out. Thanks!
There's even a video done by questing beast (Ben Milton). He actually puts his thoughts and why he made certain gm choices as they were playing
It's so good!
[удалено]
Looks cool, I like that it's an overland adventure for some variety, thanks!
"The Blackapple Brugh" is a BFRPG adventure, and all of their adventures are particularly good with giving enough information and procedure to the new GM to efficiently and effectively run the adventure. They also add some nice features, like checkboxes for the NPC and Monster HP, as well as full stats (or at least all the applicable stats) for each NPC and Monster. It makes it nice that you don't have to look up each monster from the "Monster Manual" every time you have to run it. A couple other particularly "new GM" friendly modules by BFRPG are Morgansfort and Chaotic Caves. Edit: BFRPG modules should work seamlessly with OSE, as they are both really just slightly different versions of B/X. The only caveat is that BFRPG strictly uses Ascending AC, whereas OSE can use either.
My favorite dungeon that's quick and easy is Portal under the Stars from the Dungeon Crawl Classics quick start guide. You could run as a 0 Level funnel for just about any OSR game.
Hard to say no to quick, easy, and free from the looks of it, thanks for the rec!
The Hole in the Oak (OSE), The Incandescent Grottoes (OSE), The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford
I had looked at The Hole in the Oak and Incandescent Grottoes when I was buying OSE, good to know they're good options since they seemed interesting. Hadn't heard of Black Wyrm but it seems good too, thanks for the reply!
If you do the Black Wyrm at Brandonsford I might recommend reading [this review of the module](https://rancourt.substack.com/p/review-the-black-wyrm-of-brandonsford) first
Not sure why anyone would downvote this, it's the single most thorough review of the module. I'm prepping it right now, it's good but it doesn't hold your hand.
Tomb of the Serpent King is one of the very best adventures for walking a new DM (and new players) through OSR game play. It has a bunch of commentary on why things are like they are and suggestions for how you can change things if you prefer. It is also free IIRC, so definitely give it a look.
[Futurewolf's Shadowdark Resources ](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QDL06qbIkb8TSbsz0z1sF-78nuyVlTAY) has a Shadowdark conversion for Tomb of the Serpent King as well as some other popular OSE and B/X modules.
Oh cool, that looks great, saves me a lot of trouble if I decide to run any of those with Shadowdark, thanks!
Multiple people are recommending it so I'll almost definitely be trying it out, that commentary sounds nice, should help when I decide to make up my own dungeons. Thanks!
You should!!
This is the one!!
You could try the BX module Palace of the Silver Princess. I think the first few rooms are even set up as a kind of choose your own adventure to give you a sense of how to offer choices to your players.
I wanted to suggest BX3 Palace of the Silver Princess for the exact same reason (the Choose Your Own Adventure rooms). But beware, the original (orange cover) does not have this feature. Only the reprinted (green cover) has it.
Thanks for the call out on that, I'll be sure to look for the green cover version.
Looks interesting, and I love the cover art, might just grab a print copy for that alone, thanks for the rec!
You should also sail the high seas for an orange copy, too. Keep on the Borderlands is straightforward and near idiot proof…it really was designed for what you have in mind. Into the Unknown as well, but that has a lot of DIY (a feature of Wells’ Orange *Palace*, too). *Castle Xyntillan* is a marvelously low-prep adventure. That’s not the same as a tutorial, of course, but it’s also a masterclass in design. For handholding, you want a *third* system, lol. Mentzer Basic. Pdfs are 10$, play copies abound on eBay. You *will* be a solid DM with that as your starting point.
I'm sorry I don't have any modules to add, OP. Just commenting so that I can return to this thread for ideas if I'm ever able to form a new gaming group.
same
For 5$ you could by the BECMI basic set, there is a fully guided example adventure/dungeons in the DM book that will guide through almost everything. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/116619/d-d-basic-set-dm-s-rulebook-becmi-ed-basic
Looks like exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for, thanks!
The dungeon has 3 levels, the 1st is fully done and with tutorial text for the DM, the 2nd is partially filled and you have to complete it by doing the leftover empty rooms and the 3rd one is uncharted, you only have few suggestions and guidelines. It is not fancy or full of some complex shaeningans, but it was meant to let even teens or pre-teens learn how to be a DM :)
Falkrest Abbey. It's the single best osr intro adventure imo
Seems interesting, and it's on sale right now for $1 so hard to say no to, thanks for the rec!
Hope you enjoy!
[B1 - In Search of the Unknown](https://archive.org/details/tsr09023insearchoftheunknown) is literally for first-time DMs, along with [B2 - Keep on the Borderlands](https://archive.org/details/tsr09034b2ddadventure013keepontheborderlands). Both are for basic line --i.e. fully compatible with OSE. I also advise to read the DM's section in B/X (OSE is a clone of that).
I'll give them both a look, and I'll read the DM's section in B/X, thanks for the advice!
B1 Into the Unknown. It was designed with new DMs in mind. You have to fill in the monsters yourself, so it takes a little bit prep
Looks like exactly what I was looking for, I have no problem doing prep beforehand too so having to fill in some blanks is fine. Thanks for the rec!
Hello! Prison of the hated pretender is another dungeon that like tomb of the serpent Kings is often called a teaching dungeon. And not just for the players, but for the game master. Teaching them things like , treasure chests are sometimes trapped, and very important things like there are things in the dungeon that want to talk or at least are willing to talk. And its free! http://dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com/2012/08/prison-of-hated-pretender-pdf.html?m=1 🙏❤️
Oh nice, that's actually pretty great since I was going to try and get a group together of fairly new people anyways so we can all learn together. Thanks for the rec!
I'm running my group through b1-9 in search of adventure. It's been great for the walk through aspect and the adventures are exciting and challenging without being too difficult. They just finished the sanctuary of elwyn the ardent (original from caldwell castle and beyond) and they had the best games of my time dming d&. Over 3 years in 5th edition with this group and they never had this much fun and excitement. People were on the edge of there seats through out, cheering, panicking and everything else in between. I'd highly recommend anything from the tsr B series to get you into the system and to help you as a dm get the game flowing well
The B series seems to be commonly recommended here so I'm sure it'll be one I run, nice to here they're still challenging without being too difficult, that's a balance I think is great starting out. Thanks!
Prison of the Hated Pretender. TotSK is too long, Brandonsford requires some work. Winter's Daughter doesn't really hold your hand. PotHP does.
Had a couple recs for that now, reviews seem pretty great for it, seems like might be one of the ones to start with with all the notes and help it has. Thanks!
Have fun!
[B11 King's Festival](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17141/b11-king-s-festival-basic?affiliate_id=2150725) is specifically written to help new DMs and players. It has reference sheets for both the players and DM, as well as plenty of advice for the DM. It is for Basic line, meaning you can use OSE without any modifications. :)
Helping the players as well as myself is great since I'm hoping to put together a group of mostly new players anyways, and it's great that it works out of the box with OSE, thanks!
Tomb of the Serpent Kings is a great free adventure. Be sure to use the actual dungeon turns and exploration rules since they add a lot.
With all the recs for it I'm sure I'll be running it so I'll make sure I use those rules, thanks for the advice!
I recommend Matt Coleville's Delian Tomb. Super simple and short. Most vanilla run-of-the-mill thing you could run. Simultaneously contains a little bit of every pillar of play. Good for introducing new players. Did that recently and they really enjoyed it as well as the fact that it wasn't anything complex for the first time. Just need to use the monster stats from your game system
Looks great, and I like that it goes hand in hand with a how to run a game youtube series, thanks for the rec!
Tomb of the Serpent Kings explicitly has notes in it explaining what sort of wider OSR concepts each feature of the dungeon is supposed to teach.
Seems like a great option judging by all the times it's getting recommended, might grab a print copy to just to have it since it's so cheap. Thanks!
Tower of the Stargazer walks you and your players through everything.
Cool, I'll add it to the list, thanks!
The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg has a lot of writing on How to be a DM. There is no other adventure module like it. [https://www.tfott.com/the-lost-dungeons-of-tonisborg-book](https://www.tfott.com/the-lost-dungeons-of-tonisborg-book)
Looks good, like that theres some fun history behind it too, thanks!
To bring it all together, there are a few easy to parse resources and there are some that, as you read them fully and continue to delve into them as a literature review the works jump off the pages The BECMI red and blue books, in addition to B11 King's Festival are all planned out like a scientific foray into D&D -- and looking back they are certainly core to the OSR. Initially I thought of B10 but it is not hand-holding but rather completist. Thus it would be good in a review of all adjacent resources in this vein There are also masterpiece works as intros to D&D and the OSR. Especially the Goodman Games OAR #1 Into the Borderlands which includes tons of history and detail, even linkage for B1 In Search of the Unknown and B2 Keep on the Borderlands. The two versions, Orange and Green, of B3 Palace of the Silver Princess peaked out that era along with B4 The Lost City, X1 Isle of Dread, and X2 Castle of Amber. The Orange B3 and X1 Isle of Dread invite DMs and players to test out the sandbox concept, which is core to the game, and critical path to OSR understanding. Yet as a review, these all are important -- perhaps the most important of all There were others who got there first, and made a huge mark on the history of gaming, as well as still fun for new gamers. Wee Warriors and Judges' Guild are still hailed as these adjuncts to the TSR era. In particular, I find Tegel Manor to be ingenius in terms of putting all of the pieces into place, and when TSR tried to do the same it became something akin to their U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. Similarly, and in any review of what's what in this subgenre, you will want to claim a stake in Dark Tower, which like B4 Lost City, has Robert Howard's Red Nails influence, and additionally sparked an on-going creativity one-upmanship in the gaming community. That same year, the same author Jennel Jaquays, also released Caverns of Thracia which permanently set the standard for dungeon design Most of the titles that tried to compete or redesign these originals largely failed to accomplish even half of what the competitors wanted, saying nothing bad about them, their experiments, or their tests of merit. However, head to head (or not), you can see that even B6 The Veiled Society couldn't outperform the first town and city adventures such as The First Fantasy Campaign or City-State of the Invincible Overlord. Gygax's Giant "G" series was an interesting mid-tier and provides one of the best transitions to his Drow "D" underdark series, but themselves have been rehashed to some contending success For the adventures in the OSR that really go above-and beyond as contenders for the early-day content I suggested, Stonehell, The Chained Coffin, and some of the other authors currently penning at Goodman Games do know how to rise to the level of shovel-ready adventures that also tend to blow your mind. There are many others but it helps to start about here
I'll definitely take a dive into the Goodman Games catalogue. And looks like once I'm ready for a sandbox combining all that you mentioned will be a great start. Thanks for the detailed reply!
The classic Basic mod Keep on the Borderlands, which was included with the red box. It was intended to be the first dungeon crawl for a new group. It does have a single section which is left blank for you to fill out. However, even as a new DM, these are important muscles for you to flex and this mod gives you a minimal start in that area. Having to improv, or create your own rooms may seem intimidating at first but it’s not as demanding as you may think and certainly isn’t something you should avoid. Even a simple room with a pit trap full of snakes in front of a treasure chest can turn into a memorable experience for your party.
I'm looking forward to creating my own stuff and have no problem putting in the work beforehand to fill stuff out, I just know that I'm going to be sort of overwhelmed when I'm starting out gm'ing so want to keep in the moment stuff to the minimum at the start. Keep on the Borderlands has been brought up a lot so I'll definitely run that. Thanks!
B1-4
Lost Mines of Phandelver, Sunless Citadel, Tomb of the Serpent Kings.
Those all seem interesting, I'd heard of Lost Mines before but not the other two. Thanks for the recs!
Lost mine of phandelver is a 5e module which is pretty linear and requires 20-30h to complete. If you want to play OSR game, this is not what you’re looking for. You want to read Tomb of the Serpent Kings. It’s designed to teach both the DM and the players how to play an OSR dungeon. With a lot of advices and commentaries. It’s quick to read with a modern and easy to read layout. It only requires 3 sessions to complete. And it’s free. (Sunless citadel is more linear, with fewest options for your players)
Okay good to know, I'll probably save Lost Mine for if I want something a bit longer then. Tomb gotten tons of praise and the bit I've looked at it seems great, might pick up a print copy just to have. Thanks for the advice!