Dungeons and Dragons Expert Module Monster of the Desert Nomad

Expert #X4

by David Zeb Cook

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

Genres: Role Playing Games, Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, Games

32 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1983

About the author

David "Zeb" Cook is an American game designer best known for his work at TSR, Inc., where he was employed for over fifteen years. Cook grew up on a farm in Iowa where his father worked as a farmer and a college professor. In junior high school, Cook playing wargames such as Avalon Hill's Blitzkrieg and Afrika Korps. "I was primarily a wargamer, but there wasn't any role-playing available then," although in college, he was introduced to the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game through the University of Iowa gaming club. Cook earned his B.A. in English (with a Theater minor) in 1977. He married his high school sweetheart, Helen, with whom he had one son, Ian. Cook became a high school teacher in Milligan, Nebraska, where his students gave him his nickname of "Zeb"; the name derives from his signature, which is dominated by a stroke resembling a 'Z'.

Reviews

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this module. It gave me my revenge on my brother and his friends when I finally got to run one, and MASHED THEM UNDER THE TREADS OF A MAGIC TANK!! BAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, SCREW YOU PAUL, MARK, MIKE AND ESPECIALLY YOU DARREL!

Ahem, I quite enjoyed this module, I really loved the designs of the abby, which was one of the first dungeons that actually seemed like a real place and a setting that one might find yourself in rather than some silly volcano full of ultimate ninja warrior traps and obsticles.

[Tony Calder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This adventure is part 1 of the Desert Nomads series and was written for the D&D Expert rules, which progressed Basic D&D characters from level 4 through to level 14. The Expert rules also expanded Basic D&D away from just dungeons, introducing adventures in the wilderness, which this adventure makes full use of.

The basic plot of the adventure is set in a war, between the forces of good and evil (players are assumed to be on the side of good). The PCs are sent on a mission behind enemy lines to the stronghold of the enemy commander. This adventure covers that journey, the concluding adventure covers what happens when they get there.

The Basic/Expert rules were a lot simpler than their "big brother" - AD&D 1st edition - as they were designed to be a gateway for the game. This simplicity fits well, in many ways, with the current edition of D&D (5e), which is more "rules light" than many previous editions of the game. There are, however, still things that don't really gel with modern expectations for a fantasy rpg adventure, and there are places with suffer from a lack of internal consistency, although not many.

The adventure introduces several new monsters and magic items (as was standard), however XP values for the new monsters are not given, which would be disappointing to anyone running the adventure using the Expert D&D rules.

This adventure provides many interesting challenges for a group of PCs, and is unlikely to be enjoyed by those who like the "murder-hobo" style of play. There are combats of many differing levels of danger, ranging from trivial through to certain death (if the party is foolish enough to engage in it). The adventure is primarily a wilderness trek, but there are some dungeons thrown in, and the players will have to talk to some of the NPCs in order to get the information they need to complete their mission.

The adventure is designed for characters of levels 6-9, and would probably be suitable for characters of the same level in 5e, although if they triumph over all of the encounters (except the certain death ones) they are likely to go well beyond 9th level.

There is a 5e conversion available, released through Classic Modules Today, and available on dmsguild.com (for $1.95 US I believe). I have read through it, and it seems a pretty good conversion, although there are certainly things I would have done differently and it provides challenges which will give current edition players too much XP (in my opinion), leading to later encounters being not challenging enough. One particular example that caught my eye was an amber golem from the original being replaced by a stone golem in the conversion (as amber golems don't exist in 5e). If a 6th level fighter (in Expert rules) were to defeat an amber golem on their own, that would provide 5% of the XP required to reach 7th level. If a 6th level fighter (in 5e rules) were to defeat a stone golem on their own, that would provide 65% of the XP required to reach 7th level.

[Louis Norton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The expert series of modules is notable for the emphasis on wilderness adventuring. The scope of this module is quite ambitious, considering the party has to travel hundreds of miles, often at a rate of 12 miles/day and will have to battle through some serious adversity. It is hard to judge the survivability of "original" D&D modules this many years later, but this seems like a pretty tough adventure due to the numerous opportunities to get killed. Still, it has an interesting plot and players would probably enjoy it if they didn't mind some character deaths.

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Challenging, decent pace, but the pre rolled characters are a bit too weak or perhaps there should be more of them in the party.

[Joe B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The idea was good, and I wanted to run this, but then 9/11 intervened and my group decided this was too close to reality for comfort.