The Misty Islands Is A Post Apocalyptic Setting In Disguise.

 I have been wanting to incorporate older D&D materials into my upcoming 5E setting, and Dungeon Master’s Kit Number One Palace of the Vampire Queen published in 1976, Dungeon Master’s Kit Number 2 Dwarven Glory 1977 and Dungeon Master’s Kit Number The Misty Islands 1977 are perfect for my little project. All three are available for purchase in a pdf form. I decided to use these very first old products to World Build off of for a 5E game. They appeal to me for several reasons one being of course the fun of play using very early resources but also the nature of the setting is interesting. I realized however in taking a much closer look at the background information within the modules and fantasy island setting what was clearly being implying is it was possibly a post apocalyptic setting as well. The folks who originally played and designed D&D did so often from a perspective that ancient or alien super science was magic. The original Greyhawk and Blackmoor supplements did contain some science fiction elements. From the very beginning D&D settings had space ships, aliens, androids, robots, civilization ending catastrophes causing society to regress... in other words a dark age fantasy world hinting that it’s history was once much more technologically advanced. Many early Players and Dungeon Masters were reading authors that present ancient super science as magic. This older aspect of D&D checks all my boxes as far as me being a fan of the post apocalyptic settings, science fiction and fantasy settings. One way to think about this sort of crazy early mix of science fiction, horror and fantasy themes in D&D when say comparing it to Gamma World is that Gamma World is a setting still relatively close to the collapse of civilization while D&D is countless generations removed. With that said the three Dungeon Master Kits when explored reveal a rather fascinating little setting for players to explore and a DM to build off of. 

The idea of running a campaign set in an Island Chain also appeals to me simply because I have not really done that. On top of that I like the idea of a Dwarven kingdom being a major part of the setting. So I have been reading the information presented toget a feel for the setting, such as which intelligent races are about on the islands and how they may have been envisioned interacting. I must say it is amusing to read the underworld contains taverns and inns... it’s not all just another snake cult down there. I will be also looking at other Island settings and modules (including the 5E version of X1 The Island of Dread) as I am envisioning a rather different setting for players, a world dominated by Island Chains and much smaller Continents that do not connect. 

A while back I did an article on the Giant Rat based on the original rules and concluded the Giant Rat in Palace of the Vampire Queen based on hit points most closely matched the much latter edition of the Dire Rat, while the Giant Rat in 1st edition was clearly a significantly smaller and less dangerous rat. Sadly there are no official Dire Rat stats yet for 5E so I will be making some or using someone else’s suggested stats. This is one down side to running these modules they do require a little work... right now I am comparing the available monster stats in these kits to 5E and trying to create the right threat and feel with 5E stats. Sometimes I look at several editions versions of a monster so I clearly understand how to translate from original rules to 5E, and if a monster had an awesome ability in earlier editions that has some how disappeared from 5E’s version I am adding it back. So I will be starting a series of articles on the beasts of the Misty Islands for 5E. I will probably as well work on posting any home rule variants I am using. I definitely will be using some ideas from other games and supplements.

One final thought on the word misty, misty can be a synonym or very pleasant way of saying foggy... so I will have to make some climate decisions about the islands as well. A real life example of people naming places in misleading ways is Greenland which was named Greenland to encourage colonization even though it is not as pleasant as the name implies. 

 If your interested in older barebones settings you can get all three cleaned up and as a bundle relatively inexpensive via RPG Drive Through. 

Now a picture of the Wagon I scratched built from wood bit...

Happy Gaming Folks