In recent years, our hobby has seen a relentless signal boost about vintage D&D.
Some want to ramrod the old editions and artwork down our throats with 'in my day' attitudes, others tout the bouyant-but-elusive OSR style... oddly celebrating vintage style with new-and-assumed-better refinements. Still others are busy comparing this edition or that, or taking stances on minutia or politically charged word choices, who gets credit for what, or 'what's-best' laps in the pool. For all of us just trying to run and play great sessions, and retain our sanity in the cognitive dissonance of 2025, it's a lot.
For the 'we're playing tonight' GMs, concepts of what's old, new, or best are seldom useful. We're just hanging on, white knuckling boisterous player input and exploration, trying to remember and document all kinds of threads and story molecules, or implement new mechanics and methods to build speed, gravity, and tension in our games. This blog volunteers as tribute not only to show & tell my latest efforts, but look vintage D&D right in the face and refuse to blink. This isn't about old things being somehow magically better... it's just where we wound up on a map. Let's get into it.
My reprint of Tsojcanth (Gygax/TSR 1982), came from DTRPG. These remakes are flawless and cleanly printed.
Gods above how I crave to three-hole punch every damn module and trapperkeeper those bad boys.
I used a xacto knife to slice the 2-sided map out for constant use. This move is clutch.
1: Bumping Into Tsojcanth
"Yo, B, we heard about these SICK vintage D&D modules by Gygax. We gotta run those, man! It's just too cool."
This was never said.
Rather, my players were headed on a long journey-by-foot north through western Greyhawk. After being halted by borderguards at Vesve, they navigated northwest to reach the Clatspurs. We looked at our road-worn Greyhawk map closely and then came "Oh, no way. Tsojcanth is right here." I think this might be the first time a group of my players have truly, unintentionally, with no subterfuge, stumbled on a legendary dungeon while overworlding. I was floored, and excited. "Let's do it! A way through!"
A lot is said on the internet about the otherwordly magic of sandbox play. Frankly, though, its colors seldom shine bright at the table. Overland travel is often dull, too detailed or not detailed enough. It often feels like a forced 'this should be really cool' aspect of the hobby. In this amazing case, the magic was titular, in our faces, undeniable. The caverns were calling.
Our Greyhawk map shows the group's route into the Velverdyva headwaters. The square dot marked 'Morgrane's House'
was found along the way, a McGuffin to usher my players into the bastions system of 5.5.
One reason the caverns were such a critical 'way through' was the relentless attacks of Kuo-Toa who
inhabit the waters in these rocky foothills. My players HATE those guys.
2: The Gygaxian Tournament Vibe
I knew we had to explore the legendary caverns, and I was excited to return to such time-proven material. I'm not really a fan of Gygax's overall style, but like all role playing hobbyists, I have nostalgia for these cryptic, straight forward modules. I started my research and quickly realized that the caves could take several sessions if players make poor route choices. I had to be true to the original. The newer 5e remake of Tsojcanth oversimplified the tunnels, losing the baffling magic of a maze. How could i get the classic feel but not spend 6 weeks of play (3 sessions) in a stinkin' cave.
Then it hit me: tournament style.
For the uninitiated, tournament D&D is an all-but-lost art of competitive play, popular with AD&D fans. Multiple tables would play the same module, in a fixed amount of time, with strict calls for GM truth-to-text. Player achievements would then be scored and trophies given. I didn't want to do this exact thing, but it gave me a light bulb moment on how to make a fast, exciting run of the caverns with my homies.
I started with a frank discussion about tournament play. "Play like you're in a tournament," I introduced, "go for cheevos and a solid pace. Imagine that this session is all you have to drink deep of Tsojcanth. Oh, and don't die."
For this session, I kept the trappings simple. A dry erase grid mat for mapping (our barbarian has Cartographer's Tools, so we felt justified
mapping out in the open), some crinkly hand out maps (to be found on skeletons), character cards for marching order or other spatial
considerations, and of course my books & materials. Sweet simplicity. And yes, that's a wolf pelt under our grid mat.
3: The One Round System
It's one thing to just say "Oh! Tournament style!" and to actually make it happen. The caverns have 40+ rooms and a baffling array of possible routes. How to get a ton of play into 5 table hours? My answer, THE ONE ROUND SYSTEM. I've heard mumblings of this method in the past, and my RUnehammer GM Kati is known to use it as well. It's bloody brilliant is what it is.
Simply put: All combat encounters last ONE ROUND.
Before you get out your pitchfork, let me 'splain how it works:
A: All combat encounters last one round, alternating actions 'tween foes and heroes
B: If players defeat or kill all foes, they can choose spoils or speed at round's end. Loot the bodies, or move ahead to the next area with little impedance?
C: If players retreat or 'nope out' at or before round's end, they must go backward on their route or be pursued by foes into the next encounter.
D: If blows are exchanged, but no clear winner is seen, damage from both sides is added and compared. Higher damage dealt wins the encounter. If players win, go to rule B, offering spoils or speed. If foes win, heroes must go backward on their route or take an additional D6 injury to one party member as a representation of 'the rest of the battle.'
The amazing one round system. I made a sheet to keep handy.
This system is simply glorious. Not only does it vastly speed up play and exploration, it actually makes combat downright fascinating. With such a slim margin for action, rather than a protracted battle, every iota of player action matters. Choices for one's action become huge, rather than meat-and-taters attacks and counterattacks. And for the record, I rolled a 6 for every stinking 'injury' roll they suffered. In return, they never got a 6 on wandering monsters (which I rolled in the open). Good times.
4: What Happened
Ok, so now you know my setup. Research, chin-scratching, some new methods, an ancient module, and 4 all-in players with 5.5 characters at level 2. I used all the monster stat blocks straight from Tsojcanth as written (those appendix monster rosters are SO DAMN GOOD and easy to use). My players found their way to the comically time-wasting inner sphere in 5 hours of play. We had several heroes go down at 0 hp, much healing resources were cooked, Chossus the Gorgimera was a spicy beast, the troglodyte cave was insane, and not a single Shrieker was bumped-into. Three quarters of the dungeon's threats were avoided with cunning and 'checking those corners.'
Finding the sleeping vampire at the map's conclusion, 'the way through' was deciphered and achieved (a simple wall-carving McGuffin using the vampire's intelligent sword-as-key). The vampire escaped in gaseous form, but not before delivering an infectious bite on our now-doomed barbarian. He will turn in -roll a D4- 2 days. The magic lantern was destroyed, much treasure gained for my players' upcoming bastion project, and the escape puzzle solved on QUITE LITERALLY THE FINAL TURN of the night. Gudr, our ranger, proved his worth in the very highest echelon of play. MVP went to Cadence, our orc war drummer, whose quick thinking turned back the tide of troglodytes.
If this was a Tsojcanth tournament, my homies showed strong. We mixed it up, got that vintage experience, but got it done in one exciting night. So next time you hear bluster about old-school this and OSR that, cut through the noise, do it your way, and send it. You'll have a blast, just like we did. See you in the Clatspurs.
-B