OSR Adventure Legacy Thoughts With The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition Dungeon Master's Guide & The From The Ashes Campaign Box Set Mixed With Castles & Cruades

 Thanks for all of the well wishes & birthday surprises on social media. Tonight an old friend of mine fell into my hands once again. That friend? The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition Dungeon Master's Guide opened with both old age & familiarity. The more that I  lean into the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide first edition the more I realize that there's more to learn then simply the 'rules'. The underlying rpg gaming philosphy of the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide seems to me to take a lifetime to learn. The underpinnings of  the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide seems to encapsulate the essence of Gary Gygax's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons optional systems. As 'Simple Man' has said on Rpgnet; "One of the best toolkit/houserule books ever, if put together in a random fashion. Not really a book to teach dungeonmastering, but a set of tools for a dungeonmaster to use or not use in his games, and one of the best ever." 

Put together in a random fashion? Yes and no. The AD&D first edition Dungeon Master's Guide is random but it reads like one might find within the head space of a dungeon master & in this case it's one of the father's of Dungeons & Dragons Gary Gygax himself. According to the Dungeon Master's Guide wiki; "The original Dungeon Masters Guide was reviewed by Don Turnbull in issue #16 of the magazine White Dwarf (December 1979/January 1980). Turnbull commented mostly on the size of the book, "I would say that only the most severe critic could point at a minor omission, let alone a serious one." 
And yet, the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide has been lamb basted over the years. But the AD&D first edition Dungeon Master's Guide is one of the best tool boxes for creating or generating adventures, encounters, & even whole cloth campaigns; "A feature of the first edition Dungeon Masters Guide was the random dungeon generator. The generator allowed the Dungeon Master, by the rolling of dice, to generate a dungeon adventure "on the fly". A dungeon complete with passageways, rooms, treasure, monsters, and other encounters could easily and randomly be constructed as the player progressed. It could be used with several people or a single player. The generator was not included in subsequent editions of the Dungeon Master's Guide but made a re-appearance in the fifth edition Dungeon Master's Guide." The random dungeon generator is perfect for creating a dungeon or adventure location that the player's won't be expecting. 
And this feeds directly into the burning lump of what was Greyhawk in the 'From The Ashes' Greyhawk box set according to the Wiki entry ; ""Book One, Atlas of the Flanaess", presents a broad overview of the eastern portion of Oerik, Oerth's major continent and the primary locale for Greyhawk campaigns. It starts with a lengthy historical summary, tracing 10 centuries of events from the early assaults of the Oeridian tribes through the aftermath of the great Greyhawk Wars. The cyclopedia entries follow the history lesson and take up the bulk of the text.^[1] "Book Two, the Campaign Book" focuses on the areas in and around the Free City of Greyhawk. As a consequence of the great war, much of the Old City was incinerated. Destitute property owners who can't afford to pay for restoration watch helplessly as their neighborhoods are overrun with beggars and street urchins. In the River Quarter, authorities fish out bodies with daggers in their backs. Refugees crowd the poorer districts, trade continues to decline, and Iuz, the fiendish ruler of a vast territory in the north central Flanaess, remains a constant threat." 

The 'From The Ashes' box set events are the perfect excuse to uncover otherwise never found dungeons, ruins, & adventure locations that the fog of war picks up & presents to the PC's this is especially good if the DM is using another system to run such a campaign. 
The random dungeon generator gives the perfect excuse for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edtion  Dungeon Master's Guide to get a work out. The fires, heat of battle, turf wars, etc. have uncovered the hidden temples of Vecna, Orcus & Luz. 

The DMG is the perfect tool box to bring such ruins to life and to add into a legacy 'From The Ashes' Greyhawk campaign. Hidden dungeons, and ruins are the perfect mid tier adventure add on to bring into such a campaign to keep players on their toes. They'll never expect a set of ruins with the influence of Orcus or Luz hanging over them.