Published AD&D 1st Ed Settings
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Published AD&D 1st Ed Settings
Which settings were supported for 1st Edition?
Published Settings With Cosmologies in Deities & Demigods Havard
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Re: Which settings?
Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and Forgotten Realms, IIRC. Could make a case for Aquaria (sp?), although it was never given a true setting book. There was also Kara-Tur as well.Havard wrote:Which settings were supported for 1st Edition?
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Re: Which settings?
Thanks!night_druid wrote:Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and Forgotten Realms, IIRC. Could make a case for Aquaria (sp?), although it was never given a true setting book. There was also Kara-Tur as well.Havard wrote:Which settings were supported for 1st Edition?
Havard
The Known World/Mystara had conversion guidelines to 1E in every single Gazetteer booklet. Does that make it count?

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Re: Which settings?
<shrug> I suppose so; its about what Kara-Tur got, at least in terms of amount of it recieved in the days of 1e (most of the setting detail was 2e, IIRC). Heavy setting detail is more a 2e thing than any other edition.Havard wrote:Thanks!
The Known World/Mystara had conversion guidelines to 1E in every single Gazetteer booklet. Does that make it count?![]()
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Re: Which settings?
Lankhmar and HyboriaHavard wrote:Which settings were supported for 1st Edition?
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Re: Which settings?
And of course Pelinore.
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Re: Which settings?
Greyhawk by extension gives us Blackmoor.
Ravenloft, not yet a full campaign, is found in its initial stages in two modules.
Ravenloft, not yet a full campaign, is found in its initial stages in two modules.
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Re: Which settings?
\nitpick onGreywolf wrote:Lankhmar and HyboriaHavard wrote:Which settings were supported for 1st Edition?
Havard
Actually Hyboria is a bit of a misnomer which is sadly quite diffused. Howard only used the words Hyborian Age. The actual land is the Thurian continent.
\nitpick off

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Re: Which settings?
It is fine to clarify my statements. I want to get them correct. I am neither an expert of R. E. Howard nor of Conan (just a couple of books and movies).rabindranath72 wrote:\nitpick onGreywolf wrote:Lankhmar and HyboriaHavard wrote:Which settings were supported for 1st Edition?
Havard
Actually Hyboria is a bit of a misnomer which is sadly quite diffused. Howard only used the words Hyborian Age. The actual land is the Thurian continent.
\nitpick off
I got my information from the 1985 core rules which has a book called "The World of Hyboria" and a map titled "Hyborian World". It constantly refers to 'lands of Hyboria'. So if Hyboria is a misnomer, I guess that TSR got it wrong.
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Re: Which settings?
Yes I have those modules, too, and they were definitely wrong. The latest Howardian scholarship considers this use of the word totally inappropriate.Greywolf wrote:It is fine to clarify my statements. I want to get them correct. I am neither an expert of R. E. Howard nor of Conan (just a couple of books and movies).rabindranath72 wrote:\nitpick onGreywolf wrote:Lankhmar and HyboriaHavard wrote:Which settings were supported for 1st Edition?
Havard
Actually Hyboria is a bit of a misnomer which is sadly quite diffused. Howard only used the words Hyborian Age. The actual land is the Thurian continent.
\nitpick off
I got my information from the 1985 core rules which has a book called "The World of Hyboria" and a map titled "Hyborian World". It constantly refers to 'lands of Hyboria'. So if Hyboria is a misnomer, I guess that TSR got it wrong.
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Re: Which settings?
Wow,
I am really surprised that there were so many settings introduced for 1E. So far I think this thread mentions the following:
Greyhawk
Blackmoor
Dragonlance
Forgotten Realms
Aquaria
Kara-Tur
Mystara (Known World)
Lankhmar
World of Conan
Pelinore
Havard
I am really surprised that there were so many settings introduced for 1E. So far I think this thread mentions the following:
Greyhawk
Blackmoor
Dragonlance
Forgotten Realms
Aquaria
Kara-Tur
Mystara (Known World)
Lankhmar
World of Conan
Pelinore
Havard
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Re: Which settings?
Just keep in mind that few of those settings had much in the way of actuall support. Its more a case of a series of modules was set in those settings, but there wasn't an actual boxed set devoted to the setting.Havard wrote:Wow,
I am really surprised that there were so many settings introduced for 1E. So far I think this thread mentions the following:
Greyhawk
Blackmoor
Dragonlance
Forgotten Realms
Aquaria
Kara-Tur
Mystara (Known World)
Lankhmar
World of Conan
Pelinore
Havard

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Re: Which settings?
Would Greyhawk and Conan be the only settings that had a boxed set for 1ed AD&D?night_druid wrote:Just keep in mind that few of those settings had much in the way of actuall support. Its more a case of a series of modules was set in those settings, but there wasn't an actual boxed set devoted to the setting.Havard wrote:Wow,
I am really surprised that there were so many settings introduced for 1E. So far I think this thread mentions the following:
Greyhawk
Blackmoor
Dragonlance
Forgotten Realms
Aquaria
Kara-Tur
Mystara (Known World)
Lankhmar
World of Conan
Pelinore
Havard
Certainly, Dragonlance, Lankhmar, and Kara-Tur had the hardcover books. Pelinore is found in articles from Imagine magazine. Ravenloft grows out of two modules.
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Re: Which settings?
As an AD&D setting, Conan had only two modules (plus one "heretic" module dealing with Red Sonja). The boxed set was a proprietary system, close to Marvel's color-coded table.Greywolf wrote:Would Greyhawk and Conan be the only settings that had a boxed set for 1ed AD&D?night_druid wrote:Just keep in mind that few of those settings had much in the way of actuall support. Its more a case of a series of modules was set in those settings, but there wasn't an actual boxed set devoted to the setting.Havard wrote:Wow,
I am really surprised that there were so many settings introduced for 1E. So far I think this thread mentions the following:
Greyhawk
Blackmoor
Dragonlance
Forgotten Realms
Aquaria
Kara-Tur
Mystara (Known World)
Lankhmar
World of Conan
Pelinore
Havard
Certainly, Dragonlance, Lankhmar, and Kara-Tur had the hardcover books. Pelinore is found in articles from Imagine magazine. Ravenloft grows out of two modules.
Forgotten Realms had a boxed set, the famous Grey Box, which IMO is still the best introduction to the setting.
Greyhawk had initially only a folio, later to be expanded into a boxed set.
Kara-Tur was a boxed set, too, designed as an expansion to the generic Oriental Adventures.
And Lankhmar had a softcover (perhaps the worst of the batch. Tons of typos and missing information).
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Re: Which settings?
I forget about the "Grey Box" which I do have. I have heard that many prefer this set for the FR setting, as you opined.rabindranath72 wrote:As an AD&D setting, Conan had only two modules (plus one "heretic" module dealing with Red Sonja). The boxed set was a proprietary system, close to Marvel's color-coded table.Greywolf wrote:Would Greyhawk and Conan be the only settings that had a boxed set for 1ed AD&D?night_druid wrote:
Just keep in mind that few of those settings had much in the way of actuall support. Its more a case of a series of modules was set in those settings, but there wasn't an actual boxed set devoted to the setting.
Certainly, Dragonlance, Lankhmar, and Kara-Tur had the hardcover books. Pelinore is found in articles from Imagine magazine. Ravenloft grows out of two modules.
Forgotten Realms had a boxed set, the famous Grey Box, which IMO is still the best introduction to the setting.
Greyhawk had initially only a folio, later to be expanded into a boxed set.
Kara-Tur was a boxed set, too, designed as an expansion to the generic Oriental Adventures.
And Lankhmar had a softcover (perhaps the worst of the batch. Tons of typos and missing information).
The Kara-Tur boxed set is really for 2ed AD&D. And if we bring in 2ed AD&D, we might double the number of settings.

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Re: Which settings?
I know I for one greatly prefer the grey box tot he point of pretty much ignoring almost everything that came after. I stick the major NPCs into the background, though. This game is about our heroes, not Ed Greenwood's. (I think a lot of DMs for get that when they send in Elminster to save the day.) The closest any party has ever come to meeting one of these uber-heroes was during a tongue-in-cheek game when they were trying to save "their tree" from the impending "Great White Death". (They were w group of drow determined to return to the surface and live in peace. It played out a lot like "F-Troop".) As they slashed furiously at the snowflakes, I described a drow with two scimitars hanging off his belt and a great panther sitting beside him, both looking on curiously. (Oh, and one group in a serious game is working directly for Gromph Baenre, but we haven't done much with that lately.)
I was trying to think if somethign was missing from the list of covered worlds. I feel there is, but can't place it at the moment. Argh!
I was trying to think if somethign was missing from the list of covered worlds. I feel there is, but can't place it at the moment. Argh!
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Re: Which settings?
Very good advice!Shiftkitty wrote:I stick the major NPCs into the background, though. This game is about our heroes, not Ed Greenwood's. (I think a lot of DMs for get that when they send in Elminster to save the day.)
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Re: Which settings?
Nope. Kara-Tur is for 1e. It's built on Oriental Adventures, which was a 1e hardback.Greywolf wrote: The Kara-Tur boxed set is really for 2ed AD&D. And if we bring in 2ed AD&D, we might double the number of settings.
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Re: Which settings?
My bad. I just checked my Kara-Tur set and was reminded that the box set is indeed for 1ed AD&D. 2ed AD&D came out the year after the Kara-Tur box set. The key change to Kara-Tur that I was thinking of that happened between the OA book and the box set is that, with the latter, Kara-Tur becomes a place in FR. In the OA book, it is setting neutral even though it was originally intended for Western Oerth in the Greyhawk setting.rabindranath72 wrote:Nope. Kara-Tur is for 1e. It's built on Oriental Adventures, which was a 1e hardback.Greywolf wrote: The Kara-Tur boxed set is really for 2ed AD&D. And if we bring in 2ed AD&D, we might double the number of settings.
Thank you for setting the record straight.
Of course, Kara-Tur will not return to the shelf with spending some more time in my hands.

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Re: Which settings?
I've started up a thread about Aquaria in Other Worlds called: Anyone know anything about Aquaria?night_druid wrote:Could make a case for Aquaria (sp?), although it was never given a true setting book.
The setting has been mentioned a couple of times, but mostly in the contest of other settings.
I've got two questions about this:Havard wrote:The Known World/Mystara had conversion guidelines to 1E in every single Gazetteer booklet. Does that make it count?
- Has anyone every used this to make 1e conversion stats for the Mystara content? and
- Has anyone ever compiled these guidelines to make an OD&D to AD&D conversion guide?
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Re: Which settings?
I'm not a 1E expert, but from what I've been told, BECMI and 1E are highly compatible. I think a guide like that would be useful, but I think the most important differences are stuff like BECMI having race classes, so that a BECMI dwarf becomes a 1E Dwarf Fighter etc.Big Mac wrote: The setting has been mentioned a couple of times, but mostly in the contest of other settings.
I've got two questions about this:Havard wrote:The Known World/Mystara had conversion guidelines to 1E in every single Gazetteer booklet. Does that make it count?
- Has anyone every used this to make 1e conversion stats for the Mystara content? and
- Has anyone ever compiled these guidelines to make an OD&D to AD&D conversion guide?
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Re: Which settings?
Compatibility seems fine on a first read, but there are some tricky points, namely:Havard wrote:I'm not a 1E expert, but from what I've been told, BECMI and 1E are highly compatible. I think a guide like that would be useful, but I think the most important differences are stuff like BECMI having race classes, so that a BECMI dwarf becomes a 1E Dwarf Fighter etc.Big Mac wrote: The setting has been mentioned a couple of times, but mostly in the contest of other settings.
I've got two questions about this:Havard wrote:The Known World/Mystara had conversion guidelines to 1E in every single Gazetteer booklet. Does that make it count?
- Has anyone every used this to make 1e conversion stats for the Mystara content? and
- Has anyone ever compiled these guidelines to make an OD&D to AD&D conversion guide?
Havard
1) AD&D 1e spellcasters have a wider spell choice, and in the case of clerics, they typically cast many more spells per day (starting from 1st level).
2) AD&D 1e demihumans have much lower level limits than BECMI's racial classes, even without considering attack ranks. The level limits also depend on ability scores. So for example, if you have a BECMI 12th level Dwarf, it would convert in a dwarf fighter of 7th to 9th level (depending on whether his strength is 16 or less, 17 or 18).
3) AD&D 1e has a much larger choice of magic items and treasures.
In my experience the above are the main stumbling blocks for a conversion, which may force to (boring) rewritings of material.
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Re: Which settings?
Given that many, many gamers use modules from either system interchangably, I'd say they're pretty compatible, at least from low-to-mid levels. I think once you get into the 15th level area, that's where the two start becoming more difficult to use interchangibly (anything D&D that's 20th+ level is probably difficult to use with 1e).Havard wrote:I'm not a 1E expert, but from what I've been told, BECMI and 1E are highly compatible. I think a guide like that would be useful, but I think the most important differences are stuff like BECMI having race classes, so that a BECMI dwarf becomes a 1E Dwarf Fighter etc.
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Re: Which settings?
Also Judges Guild put out their City State of the Invincible Overlord during 1E as well as their campaign setting (wilderlands I think) along with a few other supplements before TSR started wielding the Iron fist of copyright law (which is strangely after they Ousted Gary and his wife took over)
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Re: Which settings?
night_druid wrote:Given that many, many gamers use modules from either system interchangably, I'd say they're pretty compatible, at least from low-to-mid levels. I think once you get into the 15th level area, that's where the two start becoming more difficult to use interchangibly (anything D&D that's 20th+ level is probably difficult to use with 1e).Havard wrote:I'm not a 1E expert, but from what I've been told, BECMI and 1E are highly compatible. I think a guide like that would be useful, but I think the most important differences are stuff like BECMI having race classes, so that a BECMI dwarf becomes a 1E Dwarf Fighter etc.
Back in the Day (80s) we used BECMI modules straight up for 1e and didn't notice any big issues. night_druid is correct you only really notice the issues at higher levels, where issues that rabindranath was pointing out probably should be corrected.
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