What do you think?
Rate this book
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Module #A2
Secret of the Slavers Stockade
An Adventure for Character Levels 4-7:
The battle against the slavers continues! You and your fellow adventurers have defeated the slavers at Highport, but you have learned of the existence of another slaver stronghold, and you have decided to continue the attack.
But beware! Only the most fearless of adventurers could challenge slavers on their own ground, and live to tell of it!
This module was originally used for the official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Tournament at GenCon XIII Convention & is the second of four in a series of related tournament modules from TRS Hobbies, Inc.
The battle against the slavers continues! You and your fellow adventurers have defeated the slavers at Highport, but you have learned of the existence of another slaver stronghold, and you have decided to continue the attack.
But beware! Only the most fearless of adventurers could challenge slavers on their own ground, and live to tell of it!
This module was originally used for the official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Tournament at GenCon XIII Convention & is the second of four in a series of related tournament modules from TRS Hobbies, Inc.
40 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1981
40 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 2, 2016
A good solid pair of tournament adventures; the first part a fort invasion, the second a dungeon crawl. The highlight are the set encounter areas which emphasize interesting traps & tactics with their 3D layouts and danger areas. Both parts have a theme about 'haunted areas' of the dungeon that the slavers are afraid of, which the players can use to their advantage. Also, the 'cavelings' on level 2 are a neat idea. Finally, Icar, Markessa, and Blackthorn are all very memorable foes. Yet, there's something of a missed opportunity in all of this, in that right at the beginning it is stated that the current stockade is built on the ruins of an older fort. It seems natural to add an undiscovered area that harkens back to the original inhabitants, much like what G1 has with the strange chapel. What can I say, I like a dash of mystery!
August 12, 2023
The second installment in the original Slavers series (A1 to 4) follows the tournament derived format of A1 in having two levels, an above ground building (this time a sort of stockade that's more a large single building with parapet walls and two fort buildings/gatehouses) and a below ground dungeon. The original tournament dungeon has been added onto extensively.
It's a mixed bag here, with some great set pieces, some linearity/railroad especially above ground, and some extremely daft parts.
The stockade level is impressively tough. I can't see how an AD&d era 4th level party, with limited healing resource and mechanics to recover HP and spells (unlike in 5th ed) could get through here. Perhaps a level 6 or 7 party, perhaps with the latter UA classes or bonuses like weapon specialisation, could manage. Yet it would still be tough.
The upper level as written has only one way in (the trap dodging slave escapee's knotted sheets), although with campaign creativity other routes via wells/latrines/ levitation/ deception could be incorporated. The first few areas are tricky to traverse without using spells, but a good challenge. Then a bulette in the mud? WTF? Tournament silliness, I think.
The infiltration into the stockade and descent to the dungeons is pretty linear, namely one real route. There are some added sections that work well (the mad men to the west area that if managed well could create a bolt hole for players to rest), and some that are just more to kill (a shit ton of hobgoblins). In fact the sheer number of troops here would benefit from a hour spent tallying up a rota, especially if the players did repeated raid and rest and there would be some re-set with finite resource.
Some traps are plain daft (stuffed bear, false mummies), but are again tournament carry overs. The cloaker and the boggles are great additions, although the former is oddly placed in the context of alien genius without a little more justification.
The finale for the level, which has the only two routes down to the dungeon, is damn hard but epic. The medusa in the cupboard is outrageously funny, and Icar is a great named bad guy for this series.
In fact one thing the module does well is iconic baddies. I loved Icar, Markessa, Executioner, and the lethal Blackthorn.
The dungeon level's additional material beyond the greyed out tournament route allows some alternate routes around, linking disparate areas together much like A1s sewer did. The core encounter with Markessa comes halfway through, although was the tournament finale. It could lead swiftly into meeting Blackthorn, an ogre mage, and three werewolves which would be lethal.
The dungeon level has some excellent nuances: Markessa's double and her lover; the insane cavelings and their hideous appearances akin to mongrelmen; Markessa's dreadful experiments on slaves; the torture chamber; the bizarrely hidden treasure room. They definitely elevate it beyond a dungeon crawl, and in moral/ethical directions that current DnD would be unlikely ever to replicate. Of it all the NPC Markessa is chillingly iconic, an almost Aryan elf who seeks to create perfection through magical (read eugenic) experiments. She would be a solid returning evil villain whose end would be very rewarding to a good aligned party, let alone a moral group of players.
A last comment on the impressive number of typos, mis-labels, and west-east errors here; sounds as if Harold Johnson struggled to write it in time, and Tom Moldvay had to finish, which may explain the errors. Still, there were a fair few.
In summary, a tough 1st edition module as written without some leeway or buffs at the level suggested. Would be a fun conversion with perhaps some re-balancing of encounters to avoid a slaughter fest (,not something modern DnD players usually relish).
It's a mixed bag here, with some great set pieces, some linearity/railroad especially above ground, and some extremely daft parts.
The stockade level is impressively tough. I can't see how an AD&d era 4th level party, with limited healing resource and mechanics to recover HP and spells (unlike in 5th ed) could get through here. Perhaps a level 6 or 7 party, perhaps with the latter UA classes or bonuses like weapon specialisation, could manage. Yet it would still be tough.
The upper level as written has only one way in (the trap dodging slave escapee's knotted sheets), although with campaign creativity other routes via wells/latrines/ levitation/ deception could be incorporated. The first few areas are tricky to traverse without using spells, but a good challenge. Then a bulette in the mud? WTF? Tournament silliness, I think.
The infiltration into the stockade and descent to the dungeons is pretty linear, namely one real route. There are some added sections that work well (the mad men to the west area that if managed well could create a bolt hole for players to rest), and some that are just more to kill (a shit ton of hobgoblins). In fact the sheer number of troops here would benefit from a hour spent tallying up a rota, especially if the players did repeated raid and rest and there would be some re-set with finite resource.
Some traps are plain daft (stuffed bear, false mummies), but are again tournament carry overs. The cloaker and the boggles are great additions, although the former is oddly placed in the context of alien genius without a little more justification.
The finale for the level, which has the only two routes down to the dungeon, is damn hard but epic. The medusa in the cupboard is outrageously funny, and Icar is a great named bad guy for this series.
In fact one thing the module does well is iconic baddies. I loved Icar, Markessa, Executioner, and the lethal Blackthorn.
The dungeon level's additional material beyond the greyed out tournament route allows some alternate routes around, linking disparate areas together much like A1s sewer did. The core encounter with Markessa comes halfway through, although was the tournament finale. It could lead swiftly into meeting Blackthorn, an ogre mage, and three werewolves which would be lethal.
The dungeon level has some excellent nuances: Markessa's double and her lover; the insane cavelings and their hideous appearances akin to mongrelmen; Markessa's dreadful experiments on slaves; the torture chamber; the bizarrely hidden treasure room. They definitely elevate it beyond a dungeon crawl, and in moral/ethical directions that current DnD would be unlikely ever to replicate. Of it all the NPC Markessa is chillingly iconic, an almost Aryan elf who seeks to create perfection through magical (read eugenic) experiments. She would be a solid returning evil villain whose end would be very rewarding to a good aligned party, let alone a moral group of players.
A last comment on the impressive number of typos, mis-labels, and west-east errors here; sounds as if Harold Johnson struggled to write it in time, and Tom Moldvay had to finish, which may explain the errors. Still, there were a fair few.
In summary, a tough 1st edition module as written without some leeway or buffs at the level suggested. Would be a fun conversion with perhaps some re-balancing of encounters to avoid a slaughter fest (,not something modern DnD players usually relish).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 6, 2018
A fascinating look back at the early days of D&D, especially when the TSR published modules were adapted from their convention games. The author's introduction makes it clear that this module (part 2 of 4 in the Slavers series) was the second round of one yea'rs GenCon tournament, and the modules were designed to build on one another to a thrilling conclusion. Despite this, there is absolutely no attempt made to place any of this in the sense of a narrative - the DM can figure out what's going on by reading each room's description and the explanation of each PCs motivations, and the rooms are presented in a sequence that kind of helps that assimilation. The narrative elements are there, but it's lacking a one page precis of "Here is the current state of the stockade's politics, and how the residents will react to an incursion."
If this had been written today I would assume that this was intentional - the absence of any assistance on finding a narrative thread was a conscious choice to throw back to Old School dungeon crawls - but for the original text was it just that no one thought of it? or the fear that increasing the narrative/social aspects would diminish the consistency of play needed for a tournament module? (BTW the clear assumption in the text that the DM and players will skip half the material presented to replicate the original tournament module is so early TSR in how they thought the game would be played.) Or just because no one at TSR thought of it - we are still a year away from the Hickmans joining the company and the changes their design aesthetic brought to the published modules. I suspect I need to see what the 1986 omnibus module looked like.
Still and all, there are some nice ideas in here on how such a fort might work, how it reacts, and how the dysfunctional personalities of the inhabitants might be turned on one another. Plus some creepy, icky, cool magic stuff at the bottom level.
If this had been written today I would assume that this was intentional - the absence of any assistance on finding a narrative thread was a conscious choice to throw back to Old School dungeon crawls - but for the original text was it just that no one thought of it? or the fear that increasing the narrative/social aspects would diminish the consistency of play needed for a tournament module? (BTW the clear assumption in the text that the DM and players will skip half the material presented to replicate the original tournament module is so early TSR in how they thought the game would be played.) Or just because no one at TSR thought of it - we are still a year away from the Hickmans joining the company and the changes their design aesthetic brought to the published modules. I suspect I need to see what the 1986 omnibus module looked like.
Still and all, there are some nice ideas in here on how such a fort might work, how it reacts, and how the dysfunctional personalities of the inhabitants might be turned on one another. Plus some creepy, icky, cool magic stuff at the bottom level.
July 1, 2020
This is an interesting module with a catalog of wicked traps and varied encounters. I almost can't imagine players tackling these dungeons "back in the day" with real (rather than tournament) characters at the recommended levels. Probably would be too hardcore for modern players, but it has a lot of concepts that could be used in another campaign.
July 23, 2017
A fun quadrology of dungeons and adventures.
October 11, 2023
Found this a bit of a slog, there are good bits like the haunted and not so haunted places, but the traps and dynamics are often hard to fathom AND it is littered with mistakes.
Another tournament module that needed more work. Don't think I'd run this if I ever played D&D again.
Another tournament module that needed more work. Don't think I'd run this if I ever played D&D again.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews