I’m guessing it was about 1983 when my grandparents came up from California to visit me on my 10th birthday. They took me to the newly constructed ToysRUs in Salem, Oregon to pick out a present. I became a proud owner of the Dungeons and Dragons Basic Set. The magenta box set featured cover art with a fighter and a sorceress battling a green dragon. Earlier that year, I was introduced to D&D by my next door neighbor. He had the AD&D books which I checked out at the library several times. I played D&D for the next 5-6 years before my books went into storage…
Last year –about 25 years later– my fiancée and friends expressed some interest in the game, so I went on a solo quest – into the attic in search of my lost but not forgotten tomes. With a group of 6 people, we played with the rules from the BECMI sets; house ruling a few ideas from the newer versions. We were very excited that 5e was just around the corner.
We played the introductory adventure from the “Red Box” – trying to capture Bargle. Then we visited The Keep on the Borderlands (Caves of Chaos) followed by discovering the The Lost City. We also started the Lost Mines of Phandelver. Earlier this year I decided to enter the One Page Dungeon. It was a fun challenge, and I’ve never written an adventure with the thought that another DM might want to run it. Early on, I had some creatures in mind (Lizardmen, Green Slime and Troglodytes). I enjoyed reading the new 5e Monster Manual and searching for creatures to fill those “job duties”.
I recommend balancing out the monster encounters and treasure to fit your adventurers. Originally, I was thinking this adventure would be good for character levels 3-7; I threw in some “Bog Grubs” thinking along the lines of the old school Rot Grub, but maybe not as deadly…