X1 - The Isle Of Dread

System: Dungeons & Dragons

Code: #9043

Type: Adventure

Levels: 4-14

Author: David Cook and Tom Moldvay

Year: 2nd print - 1981

Publisher: TSR

Format: 30-page book

X1 - The Isle Of Dread

X1 The Isle Of Dread is arguably the most played expert-level adventure in Dungeons & Dragons simply because it was packaged with the Expert Level rule books in the Expert boxed set. Personally, I never liked this module that much. I don't like these open exploration modules. Also, I just never saw the point of this adventure for my players. I prefer to defeat evil in epic adventures, or just have short adventures where I complete some quick quests. Exploring an island for gaming sessions on end just doesn't sound fun to me. But that's just me.

Now, a good DM, as he or she can do for any module, can transform this module into quite an adventure. There can be an entire pirate town located here - or perhaps on one of the other islands. There can be evil villagers that have started raiding other villages for human sacrifices. There can be several hidden ruins with ancient treasure and maps to even greater treasure - which the evil villagers have already plundered! The island map can be fully developed. The other islands in the archipelago can also be developed - more pirates and evil villagers, maybe even a hidden advanced civilization or evil NPCs building up an army to begin raiding various areas of Mystara. Yea - now we're talking...