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Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Module #S4
By Gary Gygax - The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Module (1905-06-19) [Paperback]
In the Yatil Mountains south of Perrenland there is rumored to be a magical hoard of unsurpassed value, a treasure of such fame that scores of adventurers have perished in search of it. Find the perilous Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and you may gain the hidden wealth of the long-dead arch-mage - if you live! This module contains background information, referee's notes, maps of the wilderness and two cavern levels, and many new monsters, magic items, and spells. The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth was originally designed for the Official ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Game Tournament at Wintercon V and contains the original tournament characters. For the best adventure gaming products, look for the TSR logo on games, modules, and playing aids.
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First published January 1, 1982
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January 15, 2013
This came out with 1st edition AD&D and was one of Gygax's better module adventures.
See, most of the modules were excuses for lots of hack and slash and then you get the booty. There were never any moral qualms, few opportunities for the monsters to outsmart you and even if things didn't make sense, that was okay.
But this module went further. It laid out an overland adventure in the mountains with lots of set encounters as well as wandering ones and you even got to visit a gnome community (I still use the maps to this day for other gnome areas).
It also had a great underground cavern system. Few light moments and chance to make allies with the monsters, a few who tried the fool the party and some that were just big brutes. And, as someone else mentioned, there was a new monster booklet (most of them aren't in 3E) as well as some great pictures.
This is a fine adventure for a DM who has a group that are evenly interested in hack and slash with some roleplaying and problem solving. The latter would be wasted on a hack and slash group but it could still be a lot of fun.
Now was it written like a Shakespearean story? No. The Old School way was to have a set number of encounters with vignettes that could lead to stories. In Gygax's mind that part was up to a creative GM. He probably knew most groups were more concerned with the adventure and glory typically.
BTW, the other Gygax modules that fall into the top five are: VILLAGE OF HOMMLET, QUEEN OF THE SPIDERS, EXPEDITION TO THE BARRIER PEAKS, TOMB OF HORRORS and THE HIDDEN SHRINE OF TAMOACHAN ( actually this one was written by Harold Johnson and Jeff R. Leason so I'm cheating a bit).
All thinking adventures with combat. :) Note that I am listing this as a thinking adventure by D&D standards. If you want a complex clue trail and the like I'd suggest Call of Cthulhu. In some ways this module is still very much of a dungeon crawl.
Highly recommended! After composing this review methinks I do need to dabble in Old School D&D since New School never did it for me.
Spoilers and comments below.
CONCEPT: B to B plus; DESIGN: B plus to A minus; OLD SCHOOL FEEL: B to B plus; OBSTACLES/NON COMBAT ENCOUNTERS: B; WHEN REVIEWED: March 2001 (revised review January 2013); OVERALL GRADE: B to B plus.
See, most of the modules were excuses for lots of hack and slash and then you get the booty. There were never any moral qualms, few opportunities for the monsters to outsmart you and even if things didn't make sense, that was okay.
But this module went further. It laid out an overland adventure in the mountains with lots of set encounters as well as wandering ones and you even got to visit a gnome community (I still use the maps to this day for other gnome areas).
It also had a great underground cavern system. Few light moments and chance to make allies with the monsters, a few who tried the fool the party and some that were just big brutes. And, as someone else mentioned, there was a new monster booklet (most of them aren't in 3E) as well as some great pictures.
This is a fine adventure for a DM who has a group that are evenly interested in hack and slash with some roleplaying and problem solving. The latter would be wasted on a hack and slash group but it could still be a lot of fun.
Now was it written like a Shakespearean story? No. The Old School way was to have a set number of encounters with vignettes that could lead to stories. In Gygax's mind that part was up to a creative GM. He probably knew most groups were more concerned with the adventure and glory typically.
BTW, the other Gygax modules that fall into the top five are: VILLAGE OF HOMMLET, QUEEN OF THE SPIDERS, EXPEDITION TO THE BARRIER PEAKS, TOMB OF HORRORS and THE HIDDEN SHRINE OF TAMOACHAN ( actually this one was written by Harold Johnson and Jeff R. Leason so I'm cheating a bit).
All thinking adventures with combat. :) Note that I am listing this as a thinking adventure by D&D standards. If you want a complex clue trail and the like I'd suggest Call of Cthulhu. In some ways this module is still very much of a dungeon crawl.
Highly recommended! After composing this review methinks I do need to dabble in Old School D&D since New School never did it for me.
Spoilers and comments below.
CONCEPT: B to B plus; DESIGN: B plus to A minus; OLD SCHOOL FEEL: B to B plus; OBSTACLES/NON COMBAT ENCOUNTERS: B; WHEN REVIEWED: March 2001 (revised review January 2013); OVERALL GRADE: B to B plus.
July 21, 2012
The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth is one of those 1st Generation D&D gems that sprouted from the mind of Gary Gygax, made it to paper as a fine and playable adventure, but had only enough story and substance to make you gnash your teeth in frustration.
From a basic adventuring perspective, it is rich and varied, with new monster types, devious traps, and enough swag to make a dwarf blush. It's got more than the requisite number of contrived circumstances that require a healthy suspension of disbelief, even for a fantasy RPG.
(If there's one technical thing I didn't appreciate, it was TSR using the module as a ham-handed showcase for all the monsters it had invented in the Monster Manual II, a hardcover book that you pretty much had to buy if you wanted to play the S series of modules.)
No, what drives me crazy to this day are all the hints of story and history that peek through the encounter numbers. They're simultaneously the most rewarding and the most dissappointing, because as many tidbits Gygax would drop about the Original Campaign, you could never get enough to actually reconstruct the world he had invented.
For all that, I still love this adventure (and Tharizdun), because of its mysterious, hinted past ...but also the generic, forever-playable parts: who's going to help Laird Gwaylar and his hardy gnomes? Or tame those wild hippogriffs? In my imagination, I'm still tromping through the mountains around Iggwilv's Horn, looking for the Lost Caverns.
From a basic adventuring perspective, it is rich and varied, with new monster types, devious traps, and enough swag to make a dwarf blush. It's got more than the requisite number of contrived circumstances that require a healthy suspension of disbelief, even for a fantasy RPG.
(If there's one technical thing I didn't appreciate, it was TSR using the module as a ham-handed showcase for all the monsters it had invented in the Monster Manual II, a hardcover book that you pretty much had to buy if you wanted to play the S series of modules.)
No, what drives me crazy to this day are all the hints of story and history that peek through the encounter numbers. They're simultaneously the most rewarding and the most dissappointing, because as many tidbits Gygax would drop about the Original Campaign, you could never get enough to actually reconstruct the world he had invented.
For all that, I still love this adventure (and Tharizdun), because of its mysterious, hinted past ...but also the generic, forever-playable parts: who's going to help Laird Gwaylar and his hardy gnomes? Or tame those wild hippogriffs? In my imagination, I'm still tromping through the mountains around Iggwilv's Horn, looking for the Lost Caverns.
January 14, 2014
Yes, this is effectively a 'monster zoo', but what a glorious zoo it is. I've run this several times, and it's just loads of fun. The ending 'boss fight' is the most iconic from the TSR era. It also has wilderness adventuring as the party hunts for the Caverns, and it really showcases how the Greyhawk campaign world can be used. The second booklet is a preview of Monster Manual II and some of the spells that would make it into Unearthed Arcana. Those spells are very similar to what you'd find in a Call of Cthulhu game. My biggest complaint would be a lack of areas that actually fit the backstory; i.e. Iggwilv's living quarters. Also you never find out who or what Tsojcanth is. All in all, a fitting capstone to the S series, although it doesn't have as many pictures as the previous 3.
December 3, 2008
The first module I played! Lots of great memories.
March 1, 2020
Although Palace of the Vampire Queen can claim to be the first published D&D module (not counting Blackmoor, which is more of a scenario), Lost Caverns of Tsojconth is the first published D&D module written by someone from TSR, i.e. Gygax.
It wasn’t actually published by TSR though – it was published by MDG (Metro Detroit Gamers). It was written for MDG Wintercon V and Gygax gave MDG permission to publish it.
According to the Acaeum, there were only about 300 copies published. And, of course, it was later published as The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, module S4. (Note the spelling change). I’ll note the differences when I come to read that down the road.
Compared to Palace of the Vampire Queen, this feels more like the modules that came later.
The background information talks of places like the Duchy of Geoff. Now we know they’re part of the world of Greyhawk, but in 1976, the general public wouldn’t have known anything about these places, only learning about them with the publication of the World of Greyhawk a few years later.
The tournament at Wintercon was run in a specific way where players were knocked out of the competition at the end of session one, and the background has some flavour text to explain how it fits in to this. There are two levels to the dungeon. Groups of players at the tournament would play the through the first level, the lesser caverns, and the best player of the group would get to go on and join with the other best players. This is explained in game as there being many parallel worlds and one player gains an aura that allows them to progress to the greater caverns.
There are further tournament rules such as no wandering monsters, always using average damage numbers instead of rolling dice, and spells such as cure light wounds always healing 4HP.
The actual room descriptions only take up 3 pages! In a lot of cases they’re mostly lairs of monsters. However there are also various features the party has to deal with such as a boat and river currents. There are also pictures for 4 of the locations! (In some ways, this can be seen as a precursor to the S series of modules which had special illustration booklets).
One curious difference is areas are coded by number or letter. The numbers provide info about areas and objects, while the letters are places where a creature resides. At least, this is the case in the lesser caverns. Just to be inconsistent, the greater caverns uses letters for both. The greater caverns map has numbers as well but only as keys to indicate teleportation points.
The caverns on both levels are very irregular and would be a nightmare to map from description let alone straight copying. What’s more, in the greater caverns there are 5 times the party will be teleported – double the nightmare!
To go along with the letter monster descriptions, there are handy monster tables, two for each level. One has the details of each monster, their hit points, attacks and how much they need to hit each of the pregen characters.
The second table is a matrix showing each character and weapon and what they need to hit each monster. Pretty handy for use in a tournament.
Curiously there’s yet another half page of monster descriptions and behaviours.
Wait a second. I’ve seen some of this haphazard layout before… I’m looking at you Original D&D rulebooks… And why are there “Chinese” hill giants?
Also odd, the Big Bad at the end, the Vampiress, doesn’t appear anywhere on any of these tables.
Speaking of which, there’s a rather random assortment of monsters in the greater caverns. In one area there’s even a party of fighters and warlocks that just seem to be hanging out. What?
The last room gets a surprising amount of detailed description, wooden inlaid tables, soft divans, oriental rugs, and on and on and on.
There’s a lot of treasure in this module – piles of 1000’s of GP and gems. The final room has 100,000 GP worth of gems. And there are more magic items than you can poke a 10 foot pole at!
And that’s another thing about these early modules – there’s no sense of story with some sort of denouement. There’s a climax in that there’s the Ultimate Bad Guy (girl in this case) and a special treasure but it’s up to the DM to wrap things up in some sort of satisfying way. Though I guess this is the case with a lot of early modules.
Basically this is a fairly standard dungeon crawl with lots of monsters and treasure with some tricky mapping thrown in. Really not much in the way of puzzles or story.
One further note, it could be said that Tomb of Horrors and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks were actually written before Lost Tsojconth – they were used as adventures at earlier conventions, but Lost Tsojconth was the first to actually be published.
More info and pictures can be seen here: http://www.dndchronologically.com/the...
It wasn’t actually published by TSR though – it was published by MDG (Metro Detroit Gamers). It was written for MDG Wintercon V and Gygax gave MDG permission to publish it.
According to the Acaeum, there were only about 300 copies published. And, of course, it was later published as The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, module S4. (Note the spelling change). I’ll note the differences when I come to read that down the road.
Compared to Palace of the Vampire Queen, this feels more like the modules that came later.
The background information talks of places like the Duchy of Geoff. Now we know they’re part of the world of Greyhawk, but in 1976, the general public wouldn’t have known anything about these places, only learning about them with the publication of the World of Greyhawk a few years later.
The tournament at Wintercon was run in a specific way where players were knocked out of the competition at the end of session one, and the background has some flavour text to explain how it fits in to this. There are two levels to the dungeon. Groups of players at the tournament would play the through the first level, the lesser caverns, and the best player of the group would get to go on and join with the other best players. This is explained in game as there being many parallel worlds and one player gains an aura that allows them to progress to the greater caverns.
There are further tournament rules such as no wandering monsters, always using average damage numbers instead of rolling dice, and spells such as cure light wounds always healing 4HP.
The actual room descriptions only take up 3 pages! In a lot of cases they’re mostly lairs of monsters. However there are also various features the party has to deal with such as a boat and river currents. There are also pictures for 4 of the locations! (In some ways, this can be seen as a precursor to the S series of modules which had special illustration booklets).
One curious difference is areas are coded by number or letter. The numbers provide info about areas and objects, while the letters are places where a creature resides. At least, this is the case in the lesser caverns. Just to be inconsistent, the greater caverns uses letters for both. The greater caverns map has numbers as well but only as keys to indicate teleportation points.
The caverns on both levels are very irregular and would be a nightmare to map from description let alone straight copying. What’s more, in the greater caverns there are 5 times the party will be teleported – double the nightmare!
To go along with the letter monster descriptions, there are handy monster tables, two for each level. One has the details of each monster, their hit points, attacks and how much they need to hit each of the pregen characters.
The second table is a matrix showing each character and weapon and what they need to hit each monster. Pretty handy for use in a tournament.
Curiously there’s yet another half page of monster descriptions and behaviours.
Wait a second. I’ve seen some of this haphazard layout before… I’m looking at you Original D&D rulebooks… And why are there “Chinese” hill giants?
Also odd, the Big Bad at the end, the Vampiress, doesn’t appear anywhere on any of these tables.
Speaking of which, there’s a rather random assortment of monsters in the greater caverns. In one area there’s even a party of fighters and warlocks that just seem to be hanging out. What?
The last room gets a surprising amount of detailed description, wooden inlaid tables, soft divans, oriental rugs, and on and on and on.
There’s a lot of treasure in this module – piles of 1000’s of GP and gems. The final room has 100,000 GP worth of gems. And there are more magic items than you can poke a 10 foot pole at!
And that’s another thing about these early modules – there’s no sense of story with some sort of denouement. There’s a climax in that there’s the Ultimate Bad Guy (girl in this case) and a special treasure but it’s up to the DM to wrap things up in some sort of satisfying way. Though I guess this is the case with a lot of early modules.
Basically this is a fairly standard dungeon crawl with lots of monsters and treasure with some tricky mapping thrown in. Really not much in the way of puzzles or story.
One further note, it could be said that Tomb of Horrors and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks were actually written before Lost Tsojconth – they were used as adventures at earlier conventions, but Lost Tsojconth was the first to actually be published.
More info and pictures can be seen here: http://www.dndchronologically.com/the...
September 30, 2022
Not to be confused with the revamped 1982 module with the similar name of Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, this is the original 1976 Winter Con V module that was used in a tournament context. As was typical of most adventures of this period, it consists of a couple of maps with descriptions of the contents of each room.
There is a description of a general plot involving Iggwilv, an archmage in the Greyhawk setting, but this is a module constructed for tournament play and that is part of what makes it interesting. The game's dungeon is split into two levels and when a party finishes the first level only one of the player characters moves on to the next level. So, of the six pre-constructed characters only one, who the DM decided was the best player, based on criteria that this module explains, moves on to the next level, together with all the best players from the other groups that played the first level.
By the time you reach second level you will have weeded out 30 players from 6 different groups of 6 players, and you finally have a second level where the best of the best gets to win the game. The setting is quite fun, with a variety of monsters and even a couple of metallic dragons, but the best part is the last room, bathed in the light of a magic lantern with rays that create different effects on the persons it shines on depending on the color of the glass in front of it, while a beautifully terrifying Vampire Princess sleeps under it. A fun little adventure that literally shines a light on early days of D&D.
There is a description of a general plot involving Iggwilv, an archmage in the Greyhawk setting, but this is a module constructed for tournament play and that is part of what makes it interesting. The game's dungeon is split into two levels and when a party finishes the first level only one of the player characters moves on to the next level. So, of the six pre-constructed characters only one, who the DM decided was the best player, based on criteria that this module explains, moves on to the next level, together with all the best players from the other groups that played the first level.
By the time you reach second level you will have weeded out 30 players from 6 different groups of 6 players, and you finally have a second level where the best of the best gets to win the game. The setting is quite fun, with a variety of monsters and even a couple of metallic dragons, but the best part is the last room, bathed in the light of a magic lantern with rays that create different effects on the persons it shines on depending on the color of the glass in front of it, while a beautifully terrifying Vampire Princess sleeps under it. A fun little adventure that literally shines a light on early days of D&D.
December 30, 2020
Great fun to read a classic that I only had played through in the dimly remembered mists of time (circa 1991 or so. And already a classic at that point.) With a modern eye, the wilderness encounters look smarter and more fun than the slightly repetitive caves full of interesting but somewhat random monsters, including a bevy of classic ropers, shambling mounds, slimes and trappers... various D&D tropes that hardcore grognards have come to know and love. The final battle is a classic of game design and I can't imagine how these pregens have survived this adventure by this point, perhaps by carefully avoiding a lot of the brutal encounters (behir, demons) that awaited them in the lower level. It's pure Gygaxian goofy brilliance and most of the magic and monsters wound up in the Unearthed Arcana and MM 2 and so on.
In addition, this adventure gets an A+ for art with Erol Otus cover, interior pieces by the late Jim Holloway and the immortal Jeff Easley -- the sleeping armor clad "maiden" piece is a true classic that transcends RPGS-- I dare you not to fall in love.
In addition, this adventure gets an A+ for art with Erol Otus cover, interior pieces by the late Jim Holloway and the immortal Jeff Easley -- the sleeping armor clad "maiden" piece is a true classic that transcends RPGS-- I dare you not to fall in love.
October 22, 2018
I recently ran this module at an rpg con, and we had a blast with it. I typically hate dungeon crawls, but this is probably the best one Gygax wrote, and there was room to have a lot of fun. With a full (6)party, they rolled through fairly easily with the pregens, and the only difficult encounter was the Stirges in the first room, followed by the Clay Golem in the next one, but, Gygax really did outfit the pregens with exactly what they need to do the job.
August 10, 2015
It's the original, OD&D version of S4 the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. The maps are the same, but here Iggwilv is a 'he', most of the monsters are different, and it is clearly set up as a 2 round tournament adventure. And you know what? It's still awesome. One nice bonus are 4 pieces of artwork made to show to players that didn't get included in S4.
September 18, 2007
still think about this one from time to time
April 3, 2013
One of my favorite adventures to play & to DM!
July 23, 2017
Hard title to pronounce and hard dungeon to play.
November 3, 2024
Although published in 1982 this Gygax module was derived from one of EGG's tournament modules- similar to many early modules (C1, C2, A1-4). Although a solid dungeon crawl with all the usual bizarre parts that involves (monsters hanging in rooms awaiting a scrap; instant doom situations for the stupid) it's use of a cornucopia of brand new monsters (all of which would pop up in MM2), development of the Abyssal demon lords, some epic magical items, and embedding the story solidly in Greyhawk elevates it above other similar offerings.
Of the latter, the precise location of the Lost Caverns in a wilderness adventure (reminiscent of what Expert (X) modules often did at the time) with patrols from neighbouring lands and the start of the mythology of Tasha (here called Iggwilv) and her demonicon created one of DnD's longest lasting antagonists (agreeably latterly adjusted to be more morally grey than 100% evil). The inclusion of her daughter and the superbly designed finale encounter (with the surprise monster at the very end) make this adventure all the more memorable.
And it is a tough adventure in the old school vibe (not cartoon tough like the multiple insta-death of Tomb of Horrors though); the monsters are brutal, the environment harsh, the teleport trap a pain, and the finale challenging. Yet the rewards are massive, and potentially campaign defining for level 10 characters.
I'm curious to read the 5e version from the new book, although I can't think it'll be anything as harsh and the current edition's short rest/long rest mechanic plus copious healing and temp HP contrast sharply with 1e toughness. Different games creating different experiences.
All in all, definitely one of the classics.
Of the latter, the precise location of the Lost Caverns in a wilderness adventure (reminiscent of what Expert (X) modules often did at the time) with patrols from neighbouring lands and the start of the mythology of Tasha (here called Iggwilv) and her demonicon created one of DnD's longest lasting antagonists (agreeably latterly adjusted to be more morally grey than 100% evil). The inclusion of her daughter and the superbly designed finale encounter (with the surprise monster at the very end) make this adventure all the more memorable.
And it is a tough adventure in the old school vibe (not cartoon tough like the multiple insta-death of Tomb of Horrors though); the monsters are brutal, the environment harsh, the teleport trap a pain, and the finale challenging. Yet the rewards are massive, and potentially campaign defining for level 10 characters.
I'm curious to read the 5e version from the new book, although I can't think it'll be anything as harsh and the current edition's short rest/long rest mechanic plus copious healing and temp HP contrast sharply with 1e toughness. Different games creating different experiences.
All in all, definitely one of the classics.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 6, 2019
I picked this up on line thinking it was The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan - an elementary mistake - and decided to see what this classic module had in store. It absolutely harkens back to a different era in gaming, with the 2nd level of the dungeon being a test of the players mapping and puzzle solving skills to Gary's deliberately abstruse vocabulary (I saw the line "the adventurers have been abroad for a sen'nite" and thought with a smile "Oh Gary, you never change") to the repeated statements that the GM might allow the players to do something ordinary, like level up, if their play has been exceptional. Reading this is a reminder of how the game was _supposed_ to work, as Gary lays out all the restrictions on arcane magic users, the need to find or carry spell components and travel spell books, etc. that nearly everyone skipped in play because they were restrictions (even if they did balance the Magic-Users with everyone else). All told this book covers a lot of possible game play in an open ended way, and is more inviting than the previously reviewed Slave Lords modules where so much of the connective tissue is forced narrative.
The overland route and encounters on the way have a lot to recommend them in terms of variety, verisimilitude and trusting the DMs to manage the situation. Unfortunately the nature of the challenges in the module - being either HP grinds or "how well do you think like Gary" puzzles once you hit the dungeon levels, which brings my score down a point.
The overland route and encounters on the way have a lot to recommend them in terms of variety, verisimilitude and trusting the DMs to manage the situation. Unfortunately the nature of the challenges in the module - being either HP grinds or "how well do you think like Gary" puzzles once you hit the dungeon levels, which brings my score down a point.
August 12, 2024
I think it's the weakest one out of the Special series. I'm not the biggest fan of those modules to be fair, but this one somewhat lacked pacing more than the other. I needed some breathing room, as in literal rooms (or part of the caverns) that were not populated by a) monsters or b) dangerous wildlife or fungi.
I don't mind that as much in Tomb, maybe because it was constructed from A to Z, instead of a series of caverns, which would have it's own microcosm on top of the stuff added by the mastermind hiding treasures inside. Mind you, there's some beasts, animals and fungi that coexists, but it's small pockets of 2-3. I'm not into the intricate setting of the last room either. The last few sentence regarding PC leveling, mediocrity of play and how those reflect on the DM was ew.
As a DM, the stuff that I would lift from this and use elsewhere are the diagrams at the end, maybe the magical boat, and that teleportation in different alternate location with a possible puzzle to go back to the place you came from.
As a player, I don't think I would like this module at all. Other than the difficulty of it all, I would feel like I have a hard time staying motivated to get through it.
I don't mind that as much in Tomb, maybe because it was constructed from A to Z, instead of a series of caverns, which would have it's own microcosm on top of the stuff added by the mastermind hiding treasures inside. Mind you, there's some beasts, animals and fungi that coexists, but it's small pockets of 2-3. I'm not into the intricate setting of the last room either. The last few sentence regarding PC leveling, mediocrity of play and how those reflect on the DM was ew.
As a DM, the stuff that I would lift from this and use elsewhere are the diagrams at the end, maybe the magical boat, and that teleportation in different alternate location with a possible puzzle to go back to the place you came from.
As a player, I don't think I would like this module at all. Other than the difficulty of it all, I would feel like I have a hard time staying motivated to get through it.
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