I have been going through my collection to determine what I will be able to part with and what is a definite must keep and came across my CH2: Seren Ironhand and, while I know the other modules were not published, (CH1: The Morandir Company; CH3: The Mountain King), this place is a bounty of knowledge so I was curious if anyone knew or had insight into what those modules were like... any maps or notes ever discovered? Any unpublished manuscript surface? I'm just curious.

Thanks grodog. I hope CH3 has a heavy dwarf influence.

I really wish there were more dwarf-influenced and driven modules, along with some for gnomes.

grodog wrote:I brought my copies of the CH1 and CH3 typescripts and maps to NTX this past June, to display in Doug's rares display case.  I'll type up a summary of them later tonight.

are both modules by Moldvay? ...in case would it be possible to have them printed as a NTRPGCon goodies? (like the wee warriors stuff) the authorization is though to get now though...  

Why do you think it would be any more difficult? If these were written for a different publisher, say Challenges International, then one would assume that the copyright or publication rights would belong to them, and not to Hasbro. And even if they did belong to WotC / Hasbro, they've been on a kick of late to do old school material... maybe if it was presented as a "charity" kind of thing? I know I would like to buy a couple and I am sure several others on here (and elsewhere) would as well.

Maybe that is optimistic, but I am really curious what these modules were like.

Just as a tip: maybe Mars in the past got some refs to get in touch with Tom's partents/relatives... there are actually 2 degrees of problems (and i do agree with Mike it is not easy to cope with both of them):

1) is to retrieve someone who can speak on behalf of Tom... an authorization to publish his 2 unpublished works should be the final outcome...

2) is to retrieve the manuscripts/beta versions of both modules...

I have to admit it's not an easy task... but we could however try...

ciaooo

copycat wrote:Thanks Mike. I understand your view on it, that it would be harder to contact someone about doing it than actually doing it, which is what I had initially thought, due to some legal concerns or what-have-you.

I'll poke around. Surely someone must know someone.

Mars could probably give you more on this than I, but the problem as I see it would be getting permission from someone who says they have control of the manuscript, only to find out (or be told) at some point that it was not the case.  It would be a lot of leg work.  In the case of Wee Warriors we were able to speak directly with all the principals involved (Peter, Judy, Morno) and there wasn't any objections anywhere (even though we were told that all rights were owned by Peter). Unless you can speak with the principals, it gets tricky.

Mike B.

OK, here's a quick summary of the contents of both manuscripts.  There's been some interest in these since I announced my GaryCon events, so this seems like the best place to make the information available until I get my website updated:

CH-1 The Morandir Company by Tom Moldvay

170 pages of corrected typescript manuscript (the final page is blank).  The typescript is hand-corrected, and a photocopy (I haven't checked whether any of the hand-corrections are original to this copy yet).  Typing appears on the verso of each page, double-spaced.  Pages are numbered sequentially, and some pages are inserted into the page flow as additions.  Contains 2 sets of maps (the originals as drawn by Moldvay, and set of vintage photocopies) that depict the two levels of the CH-1 dungeon (with a total of 5 encounter zones/areas spread across the two levels).  

Table of Contents (pages 1-2; 2 total pages in this section)

Introduction (pages 3-47; 47 total pages)
- Abbreviations
- Game Master's background
- Pre-Rolled characters
- The Challenges Game System
- General Game Rules
- The River Pirates
- The Morandir Company
- Random Encounters

Scenario A - The Haunted Halls (pages 47-76; 30 total pages)

Scenario B - Goblin Outpost (pages 76-89; 13 total pages)

Scenario C - Gnome Homestead (pages 89-108; 21 total pages)

Scenario D - Goblin Stronghold (pages 108-124; 17 total pages)

Scenario E - Ice Cavers (pages 124-142; 19 total pages)

Playing Aids
- The Morandir Company Charter
- GM Map 1 The River Entrance
- GM Map 2 The Ice Caves
- New Monsters (pages 143-158; 16 pages total):  12 new monsters:  Aughisky, Brag, Cluracon (also includes 2 new psionic devotions, Sound Control and Apporatation) ,Coblynie, Firdarrig, Grisaille, Keres, Giant Moles, Great Orcs, Puffball (no stats, essentially a hazard), Red Caps, Shadow Stalker
- Adventure Spells (pages 159-160; 2 pages total; just a quick summary of the spells that appear in the module, no new spells present)
- Credits


CH-3 The Halls of the Mountain Kings by Tom Moldvay

143 pages of corrected typescript manuscript.  The typescript is hand-corrected, and a photocopy with hand-corrections that are original to this copy.  Typing appears on the verso of each page, double-spaced.  Pages are numbered sequentially, and some pages are inserted into the page flow as additions.  Contains 5 sets of maps (each a set of vintage photocopies) that depict the five levels of the CH-3 dungeon.  (Tom apparently copied his maps to spruce them up with stippling transfers of some sort, and to clean up errors, etc.; CH-2 includes similar styling on its maps, and CH-3 shows the same style of mapping techniques).  

Title Page (no TOC though)

Sundering of the Gray Mountain Dwarves (pages 1-4; 4 total pages)
The Empire of Thyatis (pages 4-7; 4 total pages)
Gray Mountain (pages 7-10; 4 total pages)
The Morandir Company (pages 10-12; 3 total pages)
Ironhand and Sargol (pages 12-14; 3 total pages)
The Lost Treasures of the Gray Mountain Dwarves (pages 14-17; 4 total pages)
The Campaign (pages 17-19; 3 total pages)
Further Notes to the Dungeon Master (pages 19-23; 5 total pages)
Wandering Monster Tables (pages 24-31; 8 total pages)

First Level
- Rooms 1-10 Abandoned Mine (pages 32-34; 3 total pages)
- Rooms 11-18 Gnome Lair (pages 24-46; 13 total pages)
- Rooms 29-34 River Pirate Lair (pages 46-57; 12 total pages)

Second Level:  many encounters are less fleshed out from here on in the manuscript
- Rooms 43-50 Abandoned Mine (pages 57-58; 2 total pages)
- Rooms 51-60 Goblin Lair (pages 58-59; 2 total pages)
- Rooms 61-65 Ice Caverns (pages 59-62; 4 total pages)
- Rooms 66-70 Sluice Mining Operation (pages 62-67; 6 total pages)
- The Rapids and the Waterfall (pages 67-68; 2 total pages)

Third Level
- Rooms 81-84 Old Dwarven Meeting Hall (pages 68-71; 4 total pages)
- Rooms 85-90 Old Dwarven Storerooms (pages 71-74; 3 total pages)
- Rooms 107-113 The Lair of the Gray Drows (pages 75-82; 8 total pages; yes, the room numbering is correct here)

Fourth Level
- Rooms 136-150 Old Dwarven Storerooms (pages 82-85; 4 total pages)

Fifth Level
- Rooms 179-185 The Hall of the Mountain King (pages 86-92; 7 total pages)

New Monsters (pages 93-118; 26 total pages):  Astral Shells, Giant Bats, Killer Bees, Birds of Doom, Cat's Eye Aggies, Crimson Fungus, Energy Field, Feles Sapiens, Giant Foxes, Lupus Sapiens, Mind Parasites, Giant Moles, Mus Sapiens, Great Orcs, Protein Polymorph, Size Masters, St. Elmo's Firebug, Verres Sapiens, Visions of Pan(ic), Vulpus Sapiens

Additional Monsters (pages 119-124; 19 total pages):  Asperim, Baldandars, Crystal Men, Dust Devils, 6th level Energy Field, Giganthropithecus, Giant Gila Monster, Gray Drow, Gremlines, Grinder Wheel, Hypnoid Fungus, Incubus, Mangrolls, Muck Creature, Saraph, Snowball, Ursus Sapiens, Werefoxes

Definitely want in on the action for these!

interesting stuff, Allan!