Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Caverns of Thracia

Its seems like forever since the last post. Which is kinda true. Haven't had the inclination to post anything for a while now. The FtF game has switched over to Swords & Wizardry and we're currently going through B2 Keep on the Borderlands and have just started The Caverns of Thracia. The Keep has been covered previously in this blog, so we'll look at the Caverns of Thracia instead. Since the group is still in the midst of this adventure I won't post too much but thought to cover some of the basics.
The Caverns of Thracia is considered by many to be a classic old school adventure from none other than Paul/Jennell Jaquays. While this might be true the actual maps in the adventure are somewhat confusing. This has been documented in various places and is not something new that is being pointed out. A good clarification of some of the interconnections of the maps can be found here.

I have the original module from back in the days of the Compleat Strategist in Montclair. While going over the adventure in preparation of running this I found the need to revise/update the maps to have a better grasp of the various interconnected levels/rooms/passages. While I do this as a matter of routine when starting any new adventure this proved to be more than just my passing need to re-do the maps in old school blue in this case. You can see some of the areas explored thus far by the group on the map in blue.


Compare this to the original;



Not that radical of a difference but the DM version has some more detail/info than what's shown in the published version. At least the old/original that I have. From what I'm given to understand the maps have been re-done and are much clearer these days in the newer version for sale. The first level map has been posted in more than a few places, so I'm not really giving anything away here. 



A good level 1 treatment of the map/adventure can be found here if anyone's interested.


2 comments:

  1. I also found the maps confusing. Shout out to the complete strategist. Spent many hours there in the 80s.

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    1. Cool [about the Compleat Strat.] Might have seen you there a time or two then. Spent more than a few hours there on the weekends back in the 80's myself.

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