RPG Saturday: Expedition To The Barrier Peaks

 

My well worn original version on the left and, on the right, a reprint from Goodman Games from 2019.

TSR, the publisher of the old basic Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, released adventure "modules" with letter series code and numeric volume code, e.g. (as we are looking at in today's column) S3--the "Special" or "S" series, and the third volume in that series.

    Typically there would be some connection between the volumes in a series, where the first adventure would naturally lead to the second, and so on. However, there are some series that simply collect modules used as one-shot adventures at conventions with no story connection between the two. The "S" series is one of these, although I understand that there was a later attempt to collect the first four "S" modules into one volume and introduce connections between them (still available through Drive Thru RPG). 

    S3 was entitled "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks" which is a location in Gary Gygax's Greyhawk  setting, although it could be dropped into a mountainous area in any campaign or setting. It was released in 1980 and I probably purchased it then or within a year or two.  

Inside cover on adventure booklet. 

     The basic background to the adventure is a series of attacks by strange monsters in a particular duchy with our heroes being hired to discover the source of this scourge. The characters journey into the mountains and ultimately follow clues to a valley or canyon high in the mountains where they discover two entrances to caves--a larger cave blocked by a large metal door and some distance above it, a smaller opening. This is all background in the original adventure, as the playable part of the adventure begins with the character cresting a rise and spying the cave entrances, the larger opening sealed by the metal door and the upper entrance standing dark and open. The intention is that the characters enter the upper entrance which is the starting point for the underground "dungeon." 

    What makes this adventure unusual is that the "dungeon" is actually the remains of a large starship that was afflicted by some mysterious plague that had killed the crew, and which subsequently had crash landed and been buried under rubble and stone although occasionally robots will clear the doors to the ship and, at the same time, eject alien creatures ("monsters") onto the general area. 

    Going through the small entrance, the characters begin on the uppermost level of the starship and, hopefully, will work their way down through the rest of the accessible portions of the ship. The levels described in the module are clearly not the whole of a starship, which suggests that their could be additional levels that could be added if a game master wanted to expand on the adventure.

 

    With that said, the original adventure had six (6) levels, which were apparently part of the living quarters of the ship. Access between the levels is by four lifts evenly spaced around each level (one per quadrant) or, on lower levels, by ramps or staircases.  The uppermost level contains crew and passenger quarters, below which was a maintenance deck--basically just access to pipes and conduits. The third level was mostly an open area with a walkway overlooking a large botanical area on a lower deck, with the outside edges taken up with lounges, cargo holds, and a few other miscellaneous locations. The fourth level (which is also by far the tallest) is the level with a now overgrown and out of control botanical garden and surrounding storage and recreation areas. Unlike the prior levels, this one includes stairways to the sixth level since there does not appear to be direct lift access to the sixth level. The fifth level is another maintenance level. The sublevel 5 is labeled "atmospheric ballast" and inaccessible save by some magical means. And, finally, the sixth level is a combination recreation level and cargo level, with gymnasium, swimming pool, theater, and auditorium, as well as several cargo holds, including the one with the large door that exits at the bottom of the ship. 

 

    As the characters proceed through the ship, they will encounter mutated creatures and monsters, as well as several different types of robots and androids. On top of that, the characters have to deal with the technology. And while some of the technology may be obvious to the players on how to operate or use it, it would not be so with the players' characters. To address those issues, the adventure booklet contains rules to allow for the characters to figure out how to use equipment or other technology. This takes the form of several flowcharts representing increasing difficulty to figure out an item. Depending on dice rolls, the character will follow one or other paths between the nodes in the chart, which can lead them to various results ranging from figuring out how to use the weapon, to wasting an energy charge from a battery, to destroying the item, to some disastrous result resulting in injury or death.  

 

    The original module came with two booklets. The adventure booklet is 32 pages and contains the background information for the players and the game master, the location descriptions, statistics for the various monsters unique or introduced in this adventure, and some miscellaneous information.   

     At the time this module was published, the publisher (TSR) was publishing a few adventure modules with a booklet containing drawings or prints illustrating locations and objects that the characters might encounter. The one for this module is probably the largest example of this, with 64 illustrations including several printed in color. I thought these were very useful, particularly where it would otherwise be hard to convey to the players an accurate description. 

A few drawings to show the characters at certain locations.

 

A couple of the color illustrations.

    The Goodman Games book is 400 pages. As usual to other similar books from Goodman reprinting old adventure modules, this book starts out with several articles and an interview going over the history of the writing and introduction of this particular module. Next, it contains a reprint of the original module including the artwork (with all color illustrations reproduced in color). Finally, it contains a version that has been updated to not only be compatible with 5th edition D&D--the version that was current at the time Goodman published its book--but correcting any errors or inconsistencies in the original adventure. Goodman has also expanded the adventure module somewhat, adding an additional Level 7 to the ship (with additional illustrations for the players), providing some additional illustrations for the game master, adventure expansions and and alternative background and ending, expanding encounters for inside the ship, and details (and mini-adventures) for the region around the crash site. In short, if you want, they have turned the adventure from a quick tournament exploration through the ship into something that could be its own small campaign with much more to do both inside and outside the crashed starship.

The Goodman Games' book reproduces the illustrations from the original.

 

    I really enjoyed this adventure as a youth, but there is a significant issue for game masters who don't exercise strict control over what the characters can remove from the starship. In particular, there are some weapons--blasters, lasers, etc.--on the ship that are powerful and can upset game balance if brought out of the ship and into the more general game world. The way to deal with this is to either have something happen to prevent the characters from leaving the starship with a working example and/or a very limited number of power charges. 

    If I were to use this adventure again, it would not be as a one-shot adventure, but as the culminating adventure to a campaign. I understand that D&D is a fantasy game, but when I review the monsters in the Monster Manual and Fiend Folio, I have to wonder how humans could ever have survived against such creatures let alone build settlements and develop civilizations. But if you take the position that the monsters are extremely rare and artificially introduced into the environment, rather than something natural to the environment, it makes more sense. 

    And what could introduce monsters to an environment? They could be the product of a mad wizard or alchemist, an angry deity, or have wondered through some sort of inter-dimensional rift or gateway. But why not periodically expelled from an alien starship? Thus, this would make a great campaign with the players' characters becoming involved with fighting creatures that have mysteriously appeared leaving ruin and death in their wake. And as the characters progress, they gradually track the infestation back to a particular location which happens to be the starship. 

    A game master could also easily expand the size of the ship. For instance, the top level is quarters for the crew. But why not additional levels for passengers and/or colonists? Or bridge or engineering decks? Or decks that are just cargo and material? Of perhaps this portion of the ship is merely one of several nearly identical modules arranged around a central hub containing the bridge, fuel and engines of the craft?

    In closing, this is a fun adventure for higher level characters if it is handled correctly. It could easily be the capstone adventure to a campaign, or further expanded into a mega dungeon. The Goodman Games version is out of print and quite expensive if you can find it; but, as noted, you can still find a book with the original adventure on Drive Thru RPG.