The Geddivos Lands AD&D Scenario
It is probably a good idea, before we start, to make sure that everyone knows exactly what AD&D is before going much further:
Basically put, it's a roleplaying game. Okay - so what's a roleplaying game, you might say. You might also say "I know that!", or "Oh god! Not another rolepayer!", in which case this section is probably not for you and should be skipped or hastily backed out of again.
Roleplaying - easy to master, but surprisingly difficult to explain. A number of people taking on fantasy personas (or Player Characters {PC's}) move their way through an imaginary world (designed by a 'referee', or Dungeon Master {DM}), battling monsters, gaining treasures, going on quests, solving puzzles, and generally being heroes (and heroines, of course).
What better way would there be of describing the game than having an imaginary 'session' to read through? (Warning - this in no way represents your average game of AD&D - just an average one in my game - for the original version see the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition Player's Handbook)
An example of play
Shortly before this example begins, six player characters fought a skirmish with a wererat (a creature similar to a werewolf but which becomes an enormous rat instead of a wolf). The wererat was wounded and fled down a tunnel. The characters are in pursuit. The group includes two fire clerics, a fire mage, a thief, a swashbuckler, and a character being both a wild mage and fighter. The fire mage is the group's leader.
DM: You've been following this tunnel for about 120 yards now. The water on the floor is about ankle deep and very cold. Now and then you feel something brush against your feet. That decay'y smell's getting stronger. Oh, and by the way, the tunnel's gradually filling with cold mist.
Swashbuckler: I don't like this at all. My weapon's are going to start rusting if we continue this for much further. And anyway, it's ruining my hairdo. (sighs) Can we see anything up ahead that looks like a doorway, or a branch in the tunnel?
DM: Errr, nope.
Priest 1: The wererat we hit had to come this way. There was nowhere else for it to go. Unless my horse ate it of course...
Priest 2: Unless we missed a hidden door along the way. DM! I'll search for secret doors.
DM: Again? You already did that three times.
Priest 2: I don't care - do it again.
DM: (shrugs) Okay. (rolls lots of dice) Okay, two and a half hours pass and you still don't find any!
Priest 2: Grrr. I bet I just got an unlucky dice-roll... I hate this place; it gives me the creeps.
Thief: We have to track down that wererat. I say we keep going.
Mage: OK. We keep moving down the tunnel. But keep your eyes open for anything that might be a door.
Thief: What? You mean, like a door?
Priest 2: Or a doorway?
DM: Oh god, not again! ... Right, another 30 to 35 yards down the tunnel, you find a stone block on the floor.
Thief: A block? I take a closer look.
Wild Mage/Fighter: OH NO YOU DON'T! Look, according to my "Unknown Object Investigation Plan A", first we use a cheap coin, then a large object e.g. a weapon, then a dead creature, then a live creature, and then, and only then, a PC! So... Anyone got any loose change we don't need?
Thief: I'm taking a closer look!
DM: It's a cut block, about 12 by 16 inches, and 18 inches or so high. It looks like a different kind of rock than the rest of the tunnel.
Mage: Where is it? Is it in the centre of the tunnel or off to the side?
DM: It's right up against the side.
Priest 1: Can I move it?
DM (checking the character's Strength score): Nope.
Swashbuckler: What about me?
DM: Yeah, you can push it around without too much trouble.
Mage: Hmmm. This is obviously a marker of some sort. I want to check this area for secret doors. Spread out and examine the walls. Well... those of you that have any chance of finding anything anyway.
DM (rolls several dice behind his hand where the player's can't see the results, even looking at some of them himself) Nobody finds anything unusual along the walls.
Priest 2: Can I try again?
Priest 1: It has to be here somewhere. What about the ceiling?
DM: You can't reach the ceiling. It's about a foot beyond the reach of whoever is the tallest person in the party.
Swashbuckler: Of course! That block isn't a marker, it's a step. I climb up on the block and start prodding the ceiling.
DM: What with?
Swashbuckler: Oh, ermm, my Sabre. .. Oh, no no - that's on my horse. Erm, whip? No, of course not. Hmmm. Shall I go for one of my rapiers, or the longsword. I think the rapier with the embossed floral handgrip and caltrop compartment in the end. No, no - I know - I'll use my hands!
DM (rolling a few more dice) Err, okay. You poke around for about 20 seconds or so, then suddenly part of the tunnel roof shifts. You've found a panel that lifts away.
Thief: Open it very carefully. You know what the DM's like...
Swashbuckler: I pop it up a few inches and push it aside slowly. Can I see anything?
DM: Your head is below the level of the opening. Besides, it's dark up there and you don't have infravision.
Swashbuckler: Nuts.
Thief (grinning): We'll boost her up so she can get a better look.
DM: OK, your friends boost you up into the room...
Swashbuckler: No, no! They're boosting me up just high enough to get my head through the opening.
Thief: Oh no we're not! Strength rolls everyone!
Everyone except the Swashbuckler: One. Two. Three. PUSH!
Swashbuckler: Argh! Can I spring out their hands, grab the edge of the hole, do a somersault and vault up gracefully into the room, landing on my feet. Oh - and light a lantern.
DM (rolling more dice): Drat - yes, okay. You see another tunnel, pretty much like the one you were in, but it only goes off in one direction. There's a doorway about 10 yards away with a slight light inside. A line of muddy pawprints leads from the hole you just came out of to the doorway.
Swashbuckler: Excellent. I'll draw one of my sabres and a dagger. "Paw-Breath! You're mine!"
Wild Mage/Fighter: Urm, isn't she meant to be waiting for us?
DM: Oo, by the way. The rest of you - you hear some grunts, splashing, and clanking weapons coming from down the lower tunnel. They seem to be closing fast.
Mage: Okay - I say we hold them off here so they can't attack our back.
Wild Mage/Fighter: Good idea. I think I'm going to cast a...
Priest 2: ...Oh no! RUN AWAY!
Mage: Okay - we all scramble up into through the hole before she has a chance to cast any spells. Quickly!
(All the rest of the characters apart from the Wild Mage/Fighter scramble up through the hole.)
DM: Ermm - what about the panel?
Priest 2: Good point! We don't want any spell backblasts. Push it back into place.
Wild Mage/Fighter: Errr. I think I'll cast a Shocking Grasp spell.
DM (rolls more dice): Okay... Err.. I'll tell you what happened later. (to the rest of the group) You hear a dull roar and see a flash of green around the edges of the panel, which slides back into place with a nice loud "clunk". The grunting from below gets a lot louder. Oh - and you can hear a faint whinnying from down there as well.
Priest 1 (grins)
Swashbuckler: OK. I'm going to check out that doorway.
DM:You can all hear some shouting and shuffling around below you, then there's a thump and the panel lurches.
Thief: They're trying to batter it open!
Priest 1 (still grinning): I think that actually they're trying to run away.
DM (to Swashbuckler) When you peer around the doorway, you see a small, dirty room with a small cot, a table, and a couple of stools. On the cot is a wererat curled up into a ball. Its back is toward you. There's another door in the far wall and a small gong in the corner.
Swashbuckler: Is the wererat moving?
Priest 2: Who cares! Kill it whilst it's not looking. ... I'll go and have a look at it.
Swashbuckler: It's all a matter of etiquette, you heathen.
DM (to Swashbuckler): Not a bit. (to Priest 1): The panel just thumped again. You can see a little crack in it now.
Priest 1: Go Cirak!
Mage: Who?
Priest 2: Right, I'm stepping into the room and prodding the wererat with my battleaxe. What happens.
DM: Nothing. You see blood on the cot.
Priest 2: Good.
Swashbuckler (screaming) WHAT DID YOU DO???
Mage: Okay - I'll go have a look at the cot as well. Is this the same wererat as we fought earlier.
DM:Who knows? All wererats look the same to you. (to Priest 1): That crack is looking really big.
Priest 1: That's it. I guess if there's any left, they're going to be coming up here. Get out my two handed sword and back off a bit.
Thief: I'm going to hide in the corner and get my magical dagger out.
DM: There's a tremendous smash and you hear chunks of rock banging around in the corridor as the panel falls in, followed by lots of snarling, and squeaks of pain and terror from below.
Swashbuckler (advancing on Priest 2): WHAT DID YOU DO???
Priest 2: Look you crazy woman, it was dead already. Don't make me do something I probably won't regret. (to the DM): Kick over the cot and brandish my battleaxe.
DM: As the first slightly gnawed wererat comes out up through the panel there's a slam from the door in the bedroom.
Mage: WHAT HAPPENED?
DM: The door in the back of the room is broken off its hinges, Standing in the doorway, holding a mace in each paw, is the biggest, ugliest wererat you've ever seen, which isn't bad seeing as I said all wererat's look the same to you. A couple more pairs of red eyes are shining in the darkness behind him.
Mage: Aaaaarrrgh! I scream the name of my fire god at the top on my lungs and get ready with a Burning Hands spell. Can I have some help here guys?
DM: The big wererat looks at the body on the floor and his jaw drops. "Urag Ignatz! Toram doras garell. Ar garan doras garell!" Then he raises both maces and leaps at the Mage.
Mage: Burning Hands!
Swashbuckler: Shout WHAT DID YOU DO??? and lunge at Priest 2 ... Are there any chandeliers nearby?
Priest 2: Bloody hell. Hit her back!
Thief: Backstab the wererat coming up through the floor!
Priest 1: Ergh! Go and help defend the Mage - attack the big wererat with my sword!
DM: Okay - initiative rolls!
Wild Mage/Fighter (quietly): Is this a good time to ask what happened to me?
At this points a ferocious melee breaks out. The DM uses combat rules to play out the battle. If the characters survive, the DM will continue to wonder as to how and why it happened, and they can continue on whatever course they happen to bumble along.
Phew! That's finally finished!
Okay, so you know what AD&D is, and you're interested in it, but what does this page really have to offer?
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Well, at the very least we have a delightful selection of music for you to include (and have ready) for your AD&D games.
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Information on the following AD&D campaigns that I have had the pleasure of running:
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 Ever wondered what kind of character you would be if you were living in an AD&D world? No, probably not. Most people have better things to do with their time than think about such rubbish. However, if you ever have wondered, then download this little file and run your own AD&D Psychoanalysis Test. By answering just 48 multiple-choice questions you will be given an alignment and class most suiting you. Or, of course, you could run a personality type through it to decide what to play in an up-and-coming AD&D game. Fun for all the family! [Narg-type-note: The file is 26Kb long, and is a simple DOS .EXE file]
Alternatively, I've now got up and running an HTML version of the test. Click here to have a go...
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Random Drug Effects Table - for all those times when you've got players, one way or another, inhaling unknown smoke. Click and have a look at the tables I came up with for a certain wacked-out druid...
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Information/Character Sheets from some of the AD&D campaigns that I have had the pleasure of playing in:
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Dalret Calathorn - A druid played in a game at work. Find enclosed part of a diary of his detailing the heroic exploits of the things he was involved in.
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Xmas AD&D game - a one-off Christmas game I wrote many a-year ago for a bit of light relief. Written for three players, but the basic premise should allow the addition of lots more with little tweaking necessary.
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Or, if you've finished here, you can always look Elsewhere on the Web for AD&D information.
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"I'd like to give up roleplaying,
But I just can't kick the hobbit."