Expedition to the Barrier Peaks

The best of the first wave of TSR-produced D&D modules? Certainly the quirkiest! This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we check out S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. It’s the one with the crashed spaceship full of aliens that, wouldn’t you know it, look and act like classic D&D monsters! Even though this was published in 1980, it actually saw play as early as the summer of 1976 at conventions, so as outside the norm as Barrier Peaks may seem, it also shows how early silliness had come to be core to the D&D experience. We dig into that, scratch at the complex legacy of Gary Gygax and even talk a little bit about the spooky stuff that happened down by the railroad tracks when we were kids. Check it out!
* * *
Hang out with us on the Vintage RPG Discord!
If you dig what we do, join us on the Vintage RPG Patreon for more roleplaying fun and surprises! Patrons keep us going!
Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Vintage RPG Podcast!

[@Raycheetah]

As I recall, Gary Gygax credited the first dungeon to Dave Arneson's Temple of the Frog, which, if you look at it in the old Blackmoor supplement, is quite different from what dungeons evolved into. Regarding Expedition to the Barrier Peaks being the "silliest" D&D module, I fear I must remind you of the EX series modules, "Dungeonland" and "Through the Magic Mirror," which, as adaptations of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, are the epitome of sheerest silliness, right down to the giant puppy and his giant ticks... Finally, I don't see Gary Gygax's vocabulary as seeking respect; it reflects the literature from which he drew his fantastic imagery. Lovecraft, Lieber, Howard, and many other authors informed his linguistic palate, and I think we owe him a great deal for resurrecting words like "eldritch" in his creation of the game. =^[.]^=

[@cheayunju]

I played this module as a kid with my buddy and his older brother Dungeon Master Kyle. I loved it. The exploration and scifi weapons were awesome, not to mention the frequent onslaughts of veggiepygmies. That tricky weapon design was genius. I totally shot myself in the face with a needle gun.

[@swirvinbirds1971]

So many people miss that the weird design of the weapons and stuff was on purpose. If it looked like a ray-gun then players would know exactly what it was. 👍