The Lost City Was Classic Dungeons & Dragons With A Good Story

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One of the best adventure modules of the old Basic Dungeons & Dragons game was The Lost City by Tom Moldvay. Within it's pages is enough information to run an entire campaign that can last for weeks with a story filled with plot turns that keep the players guessing.

The city of Cynidicea was a thriving city at one time, but over there years it's glory faded. They worshiped the gods (Gorm, Usamigaras and Madarua) and a mysterious creature named Zargon. Zargon was indeed powerful, though not the god the priests made him out to be. He did possess a miraculous healing ability.

When a disaster struck, the leadership actually constructed an underground city underneath their great pyramid. This city had an underground lake, and they survived by cultivating mushrooms and other edible fungus. They built homes and a temple and other buildings in the underground city, but there were also places its citizens dare not go.

Worship of the other three gods was outlawed in the city, and Zargon was the god of worship. The ruling priests would sacrifice citizens to Zargon to appease him. The population was kept under control with a hallucinogenic drug slipped into their water.

There were those who fought against the priests of Zargon to try and free the people of Cynidicea, and they worshiped one of the three gods. However, these factions often feuded with each other over how things should be done. The three factions set up bases in the pyramid above the city, and the priests of Zargon avoided that place.

The adventuring party would come across the tip of the pyramid as the rest was buried in the sand of the desert. Hungry, thirsty and with no sign of food in sight, they decide to investigate the pyramid. There is a way in, but it is trapped. This adventure can start out with death immediately if the party isn't careful.

It is assumed the party will be relatively new adventures, but they will gain more experience and power as they adventure into the pyramid and the city below. Moldvay outlined what was in the pyramid. The city has a map and ideas, but the Dungeon Master must fill in the blanks. The DM is encouraged to add new adventures and some ideas are suggested.

Basically, the players will run their characters through this campaign. Through this adventure, they will go from beginners to the heroes who saved Cynidicea by defeating Zargon, getting the drug out of the water and removing the priests from power. To do this, they will have to work with the three factions.

Molday, in my opinion, was one of the best creative minds D&D had in the early 1980's, and this may be his best adventure. He also wrote the 2nd edition rulebook for Basic D&D, which made the rules much easier to understand. If you can find a copy of The Lost City, it's interesting, even just to read.

I've never understood why D&D has had such a difficult time making a good movie. They could take a module like The Lost City and make a story out of that. There's so much there, it could even be a two or three part movie without much problem.

More Details On The Lost City: http://pandius.com/cynidgaz.html