#tournament module

This is O1: The Gem and the Staff (1984), a module for basic Dungeons & Dragons. “O” stands for One-on-One; the module is designed to be run by a dungeon master for a single player. It is a tournament module, though, with objective-based scoring built in (I should note, while I haven’t ever played this, the scoring system seems like baloney).

I say this every time I talk about D&D tournament play, but man, this really feels like a foreign country to me. I can’t imagine wanting to play the game like this. I am sure someone out there loves this sort of stuff, though.

Players take the role of a pre-generated theif, Eric the Bold (isn’t that a Tim Robbins movie?). The module is in two parts. The first has Eric stealing a gem from a wizard’s tower, the second involves stealing a staff from another wizard (oh, hey, I guess that’s in the title). Added complication: each part has a 30-minute time limit. It is also a pretty elaborate module, containing a separate booklet of 3D maps and cardboard character standees.

All that said, and as weird as a timed one-on-one game seems, this is a super tight adventure, extremely well prepared and presented. Run it for your friends in rapid succession, I guess?  

OK -- 2nd major edit here -- it's still not true for all of Tsojconth, but seems to hold up for most of the greater caverns, not the lesser caverns. You can find all of Tsojconth at Wayne's Books website.

Did Gary Gygax stock the monsters in Tsojconth in alphabetical order? I saw this yesterday after posting something from the 1982 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, so I checked the back, and it wasn't true for the published version -- but Perkins says "the original version" of "Tsojconth," despite the subtitles reverting to "Tsojcanth."

But the monster lists in Tsojconth aren't in room order, they are just summaries.

(Sorry I can't isolate this video from a xitter link; it must be part of a longer video somewhere.)

Here are the summary encounter lists from the original 1976 WinterCon V tournament module, The Lost Caverns of Tsojconth. Not really a spoiler for Tsojcanth since the module was changed significantly before publication:

Eveyd, a 315 year-old half-elf druid, blocks your path. (Keith Parkinson cover for AD&D adventure To Find a King by Bob Blake, including four first round tournament adventures run at Gen Con XVI, TSR, 1985)