The Memories of The Ruins of Quasqueston -- The Myconids and B1 Insearch of the Unknown By Mike Carr

 My first encounter with the alieness of the dungeons of B/X & Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition came in the form of  Mike Carr's B1 Insearch of the Unknown. The fungus garden within the module was stocked with Shriekers, Violent Fungus, & tended by Myconids who owned that room. My uncle was DMing and it was back around when the Monster Manual II had been released. 

Full-page advertisement for module B1 "In Search of the Unknown" appearing in The Dragon #s 22-25 (February-May, 1979) from the OSR Grimoire blog. 

We'd been through B1 before but hadn't explored all of the ruin and there was something slightly off about the ruin at this point. The monsters were getting weirder as anti nature of the dungeon started to take over the ruins of B1. The underworld of the dungeons of Greyhawk began to infiltrate the ruins of Quasqueton . And it was during this time that we had a meeting with the  Myconids as they were flanked by Vegepygmies as bodyguards. And we found out that it was the Myconids that were introducing  shambling mounds, phantom fungi, assassin vines and roperlike plant monsters
 

And this was the first time that the ecology of the dungeons

 was controlled by other far more alien races. The decay of  the ruins of Quasqueton had allowed the fungus men into this once point of civilization. And it was also the first time that my wizard thought there might be something deeply sinister within the bowels of the caves of Quesquenton. And it was when we pentrated deeper into those ruins we came face to face with the Fiend Folio's hook horrors. And again these were brought in by the fungus men. The hook horrors survived on a diet of phycomids, shriekers, violet fungi, and zygoms 

The hook horror from the classic Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition Fiend Folio 

The Myconids simply saw themselves as gardeners and guardians of a different ecological system. And they were acting as druids spreading the life of thier own world to abandoned systems. We later on took over  the ruins of Quasqueton after learning that there was a gateway to other worlds deep within it's ruins. And we able to make peace with the Myconids as we let them have the lower levels of Quasqueton as long as they acted as guardians for the lower levels and didn't eat any of the household. It was only much later on that we learned that they had come over from Gamma Terra. The ecology of my uncle's dungeon was never static.  
And even when the adventurer's were absent the dungeon continued to attact monsters and other horrors to it. Even when we weren't playing my uncle as the DM was playing with and tweaking the dungeons of Quasqueton. 

Common Sense Convention Event Preparation 101 & OSR Sword & Sorcery Weirdness

I've got a wall of clients today & any minute I'm going to have my first one descending up on my work bench as of this blog entry with another four or five to hand me their repairs. But I've got something on the back burner which is prepping an Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea 2nd edition  event for ShireCon in Falls village Ct.
So how does a dungeon master with little time, lots of energy, & a hankering for Sword & Sorcery action go about getting down a Con event quickly & painlessly? Does he sell his soul to the Outer Gods in return for wisdom from the depths of the Outer Darkness? Read on faithful one.



AS&SH 2nd edition Artwork from here


Well, no instead he begins to work up a con event based on the time slots available first of all. Then you grab your Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea 2nd edition hand book & prepare out an outline for an adventure based around an idea or other highlight event that fits in with what you as player might like to play. Be prepared that you might get anyone as a player in your event or events.



Anyone folks means that you might get the designer or writer themselves at your table. This has happened to me in the past so keep the adventure simple, the preparation down to a dull roar, & amp up the encounters. Deal with all the encounters, treasure,etc as if this was a first game adventure with a beginning, middle, & solid end point.
Con events are all about common sense game preparation & if the game is Sword & Sorcery then this means that its doubly true. Have all your maps drawn way, way, ahead of time & reread the game your playing to run rule book again. Factor in all of the treasure, monster placement, quick encounters all around the spokes of the adventure idea.



AS&SH 2nd edition Artwork from here

The biggest factor is to keep the adventure simple, easy to pick up, & fast to run with all of the pre generated PC's ready to go out of the gate. Make sure all of the player hand outs are on hand & simple to deal with. Your going to get a wide spectrum of players from across your area & all of the factors of play as the dungeon master are on your side. Be especially friendly, open, listen, & be observant to the players especially at a convention. You as the dungeon master are not OSR messiah so don't try to be & relax. The convention is there for folks to have fun & play games. This includes you as well. So where does that leave me??
Well at the moment I'm on the outline stage of things but I've got time to get the material down to the brass fittings of the adventure. With encounters, monsters, treasures, etc. & I may throw this my players way's to quick test it as well.

Some of my suggestions for this sort of last minute convention event preparation are as follows:

1. Do quick & broad outlines for the adventure event. Don't panic and use common sense. Think about the level of the adventure that you want to do. 
2. Pull out the rule book for the game you want to run & think about what drew you as a player & consumer to it. Grab that thread & then create an adventure around it. 
3. If you feel strongly about a game adventure then others will as well. 
4. Pre generated PC's have to be equipped straight out of the gate but make them as a player not simply as a DM. 
5. Go for the whole thing as an action movie & keep the adventure's plot light we're not writing Shakespeare here.
6. Breath & walk away for an hour or so to get some distance & then reread your adventure material. If you scrap it then great but look at it again & there might be something to salvage. Don't get discouraged.
7. Use common sense when writing a convention event & ask yourself if this is something that you'd want to play. 
8. Throw your home game players under the bus & ask them if they want to help you play test this event. Ask their opinions about the event and then do what's necessary to it. 
9. Rinse & repeat by rereading the event again or walk away for a day or so. 
10. Go over everything to see if you've missed anything for the event. Then reread it again & blow through the adventure one more time to be prepared.