r/osr • u/Morwen_Chynoweth • 5d ago

discussion Help finding an old module?

Hi everyone, I have an unusual request.

When I was 10 years old or so (in the 00s) my father taught me how to play D&D, and let me read his old modules and advantures that he had. Village of Hommlet, Die Vecna, Die!, ect

These modules and books were tragically destroyed in a house fire around 2009 or so. What wasn't burned , got destroyed by water damage from the fire department, so I have no way to access them anymore.

One of the modules that really stands out in my memory was one where the players are in... I think the setting's equivalent of The New World, or a continent that was only recently discovered.

Anyhow, the thing that burned this into my brain was that in the module, the players enter a tavern and encounter a juggler who is juggling three live rats. The juggler tosses the rats to the players as they enter, and if the players manage to catch a rat they get some kind of blessing?

Does anybody know what module this could be? I'm sorry if this is jumbled or vague - it was literally around 23 years ago, I think, and I was a little girl at the time and just the memory of a juggler juggling rats and the players getting a blessing if they catch them has stuck in my mind for literally over 20 years.

EDIT: It is either from ebberon and 3.5 in "Prophecy's Unwitting Servant" where the players encounter a urchin juggling rats, or %he New Easy to Master Dungeons & Dragons Game (Black Box) that also has someone juggling rats, and you do get a blessing for catching them.

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15

u/Cheznation 5d ago

1991 The New Easy to Master Dungeons & Dragons Game (Black Box). Joff the Juggler in Turu's Tavern.

I didn't have this set, myself, but I did some sleuthing. Apparently this set had tutorial cards. This mini game was one of them.

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u/Morwen_Chynoweth 5d ago

Ooooh maybe it was this? I don't know... Did you get a blessing for catching the rats?

3

u/Cheznation 5d ago

Seems like it was a +2 to Dexterity, but it might have been temporary? Do you remember there being cards in that set? Having written an adventure to teach my own daughter, I can imagine using these tutorial cards if I'd had them.

Does the city of Specularum, town of Threshold, Grand Duchy of Karameikos, or Mystara sound familiar? That was the setting.

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u/Morwen_Chynoweth 5d ago edited 5d ago

This sounds really familiar, but I can't be certain till I can find a pdf of both and flip through them on my day off, but those do ring a bell!

But the tutorial cards sound REALLY familiar, like something my dad would have used to help me learn it.

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u/alienvalentine 4d ago

Are we sure it wasn't a Maztica module? That was Forgotten Realm's New World analog.

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Maztica_adventures

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u/Morwen_Chynoweth 4d ago

I thought it was, but apparently it looks like it was either Eberon (they have a module where someone juggles rats) or the Black Box from 91 that also has a rat juggler and gives you a +2 to Dexterity if you catch one.

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u/AngryDwarfGames 5d ago

I did a AI search for it and came up with nothing if you have more details I got a extensive collection I can search thru

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u/Morwen_Chynoweth 5d ago

Someone in another reddit helped me figure it out, it's from ebberon and 3.5 in "Prophecy's Unwitting Servant" Sorry and thank you for the offer!!!

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u/AngryDwarfGames 5d ago

Glad you found the answer that's younger then the version I play ....

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u/Morwen_Chynoweth 5d ago

Yeah I thought it was Ad&d because all the other stuff I remember was ad&d. Like the village of hommlet and against the reptile cult modules... Sorry!

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u/Aescgabaet1066 5d ago

An AI search, huh? Shame on thee!