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Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Module #UK1
Beyond the Crystal Cave, Advanced Dungeon and Dragons Module Uk-1
In Beyond the Crystal Cave, fleeing the rage that consumed their feuding families, Juliana and Orlando fled to the Cave of Echoes, where it is said every wish is granted. Two years have passed, and all attempts to return the lovers to their parents have failed, though some believe them lost in the enchanted garden beyond the cave. Many are the rescuers venturing into that enchanted park; a few have returned after long absences, their minds and memories curiously disturbed. Now, the handsome reward offered for the return of the lovers has tempted you, but who knows what lies beyond the Crystal Cave?
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First published January 1, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 14, 2017
Nothing but a bunch of frickin' faeries!
Whoops…I should have said "spoiler alert" first. Why? Because Beyond The Crystal Cave is indeed all about the fantastical faeries.
The story is very simple and oh so familiar: Two young lovers from two rival families (smells a little bit Romeo & Juliet, no?) have run away in order to be together. The girl's father is paying a handsome reward for their return. The difficulty is that they've escaped into a magical world that no one's too keen on entering. So, along comes the brave adventurers and away we go!
The entrance to this magical land is through the titular crystal cave. Once through there the adventurers enter a lush garden where it is always Summer. The garden is populated with many a fairyland trope: looney leprechauns, tricksy pixies, pipe playing satyrs, etc.
A couple original creations were conjured up, most creative of the two is the barkburr: a small stinging tree that flings itself at its victims. Also included is an old standard of the English mythological tradition, The Green Man. This larger-than-life character, a drunken green-thumb with breath that'll knock you on your ass, is the guardian of the garden.
In fact, all of the garden's inhabitants are guardians, for they believe that the two young lovers, who have come here to escape their families, are actually the second-coming of the storied lovers who originally created this enchanted little world, and they will do whatever they can to protect the couple. And the catch is, the adventurers must refrain from harming the garden or its inhabitants. Willful destruction will lose them their reward.
So you see, this is not the typical slash-and-grab Dungeons & Dragons adventure. Beyond the Crystal Cave is one of the most radical departures in game play offered by the TSR line of products. The young, blood-thirsty crew I DMed would have been frustrated by this one. There is plenty of potential to play out silly scenarios that would be fun to roleplay, if that's your bag. We never acted out scenes, but I did like to create colorful scenes and characters that would stick will my group of players long after the game was over. Decades have passed and they're still reminiscing about the chatty giant firefly, the sly doppelganger, and the cow-chucking ogre that I filled their adventures with.
Rating Note: Tough call on this one, because it's decently written, plotted, etc, with plenty of roleplay potential for the DM, but if you play this one the way its intended, there's actually not a lot of excitement to it. To be successful, you should just walk through the garden not disturbing anything, solve a puzzler or two, and quietly leave with the young couple when they are willing. BORING!
Whoops…I should have said "spoiler alert" first. Why? Because Beyond The Crystal Cave is indeed all about the fantastical faeries.
The story is very simple and oh so familiar: Two young lovers from two rival families (smells a little bit Romeo & Juliet, no?) have run away in order to be together. The girl's father is paying a handsome reward for their return. The difficulty is that they've escaped into a magical world that no one's too keen on entering. So, along comes the brave adventurers and away we go!
The entrance to this magical land is through the titular crystal cave. Once through there the adventurers enter a lush garden where it is always Summer. The garden is populated with many a fairyland trope: looney leprechauns, tricksy pixies, pipe playing satyrs, etc.
A couple original creations were conjured up, most creative of the two is the barkburr: a small stinging tree that flings itself at its victims. Also included is an old standard of the English mythological tradition, The Green Man. This larger-than-life character, a drunken green-thumb with breath that'll knock you on your ass, is the guardian of the garden.
In fact, all of the garden's inhabitants are guardians, for they believe that the two young lovers, who have come here to escape their families, are actually the second-coming of the storied lovers who originally created this enchanted little world, and they will do whatever they can to protect the couple. And the catch is, the adventurers must refrain from harming the garden or its inhabitants. Willful destruction will lose them their reward.
So you see, this is not the typical slash-and-grab Dungeons & Dragons adventure. Beyond the Crystal Cave is one of the most radical departures in game play offered by the TSR line of products. The young, blood-thirsty crew I DMed would have been frustrated by this one. There is plenty of potential to play out silly scenarios that would be fun to roleplay, if that's your bag. We never acted out scenes, but I did like to create colorful scenes and characters that would stick will my group of players long after the game was over. Decades have passed and they're still reminiscing about the chatty giant firefly, the sly doppelganger, and the cow-chucking ogre that I filled their adventures with.
Rating Note: Tough call on this one, because it's decently written, plotted, etc, with plenty of roleplay potential for the DM, but if you play this one the way its intended, there's actually not a lot of excitement to it. To be successful, you should just walk through the garden not disturbing anything, solve a puzzler or two, and quietly leave with the young couple when they are willing. BORING!
June 19, 2025
First of the UK series from back in 1983, although not the first module written by the TSR UK team (that being U1). I read this mainly as (a) I'm trying to collect them in rough order and (b) I'd read the 5e version from Infinite Staircase and was curious how it compares.
It's an odd module for sure. I like the premise, namely frustrated teen lovers flee from their families and into a magical garden where they are welcomed as a revisitation of a previous romance by the magical inhabitants. The PCs go to track them down and bring them home. We get some additional story about the garden legend and its inhabitants.
In 1982/3 story driven modules were still in their infancy and this works well as a novelty in that context. Unfortunately with such modules there is inevitably a payoff in player agency which could be an issue for some 1e players. The tone is tricky too..We have a cave with challenges and monsters requiring combat. Then a pocket dimension type garden, wherein encounters are encouraged to be non-combat lest you annoy the demi-god Gardener. Yet many of the encounters begin hostile and my memory of 1e was that players would be unlikely to not just get their swords out! So we have an uneasy balance through the magic garden, which to be fair is lots of fun, but rather direction less as they search for the lost couple.
Ultimately they have to solve a maze to discover they need some plants to activate a teleport device. They then get to a mansion floating in another pocket dimension, which is quite stylish in design. This part is relatively quick with only two NPCs to stymie the 'rescue.' It felt anti-climatic.
As well as the demi god gardener to complicate matters, we also have bespoke magic restrictions (mainly messing up fire spells, plant spells, and transport spells), a fountain that charms PCs to stay, and a rather Fey twist that time moves differently in the garden to outside (making it's use in a campaign rather tricky). There's a strange wish mechanic which isn't so obvious to find that can affect the charm.
Ultimately it's quirky, with a cool story, but it doesn't really gel with AD&D easily with its skew towards combat and treasure XP. That's not to say it can't be done (U2 Danger at Dunwater shows it can) but this isn't set up for it with antagonistic encounters that result in big slap downs when PCs take the bait. It could work with some DM refashioning (which ultimately is what 5e version strove to do with some success).
It's an odd module for sure. I like the premise, namely frustrated teen lovers flee from their families and into a magical garden where they are welcomed as a revisitation of a previous romance by the magical inhabitants. The PCs go to track them down and bring them home. We get some additional story about the garden legend and its inhabitants.
In 1982/3 story driven modules were still in their infancy and this works well as a novelty in that context. Unfortunately with such modules there is inevitably a payoff in player agency which could be an issue for some 1e players. The tone is tricky too..We have a cave with challenges and monsters requiring combat. Then a pocket dimension type garden, wherein encounters are encouraged to be non-combat lest you annoy the demi-god Gardener. Yet many of the encounters begin hostile and my memory of 1e was that players would be unlikely to not just get their swords out! So we have an uneasy balance through the magic garden, which to be fair is lots of fun, but rather direction less as they search for the lost couple.
Ultimately they have to solve a maze to discover they need some plants to activate a teleport device. They then get to a mansion floating in another pocket dimension, which is quite stylish in design. This part is relatively quick with only two NPCs to stymie the 'rescue.' It felt anti-climatic.
As well as the demi god gardener to complicate matters, we also have bespoke magic restrictions (mainly messing up fire spells, plant spells, and transport spells), a fountain that charms PCs to stay, and a rather Fey twist that time moves differently in the garden to outside (making it's use in a campaign rather tricky). There's a strange wish mechanic which isn't so obvious to find that can affect the charm.
Ultimately it's quirky, with a cool story, but it doesn't really gel with AD&D easily with its skew towards combat and treasure XP. That's not to say it can't be done (U2 Danger at Dunwater shows it can) but this isn't set up for it with antagonistic encounters that result in big slap downs when PCs take the bait. It could work with some DM refashioning (which ultimately is what 5e version strove to do with some success).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 7, 2021
This module falls into the category of those which break most of the normal AD&D rules in order to restrict the players and get them to "play differently". Except that the reward for the players is most likely to be:
1) Remaining forever in the garden OR
2) Escaping only to find that years have passed due to a time warping effect which the players have no real way of detecting.
On top of that the players are expected to remain as relative pacifists while almost all inhabitants of the garden are hostile, and there's also a demigod guarding the place. Most likely characters won't be killed, but simply removed from the game by one of the means listed above. Either way... it's not a module that I could see playing or enjoying even under "old school" rules.
1) Remaining forever in the garden OR
2) Escaping only to find that years have passed due to a time warping effect which the players have no real way of detecting.
On top of that the players are expected to remain as relative pacifists while almost all inhabitants of the garden are hostile, and there's also a demigod guarding the place. Most likely characters won't be killed, but simply removed from the game by one of the means listed above. Either way... it's not a module that I could see playing or enjoying even under "old school" rules.
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December 19, 2021This is alright. Maybe in the days of pure dungeon crawls it would have been a breath of fresh air, but I think it's mostly a bit twee. Having really enjoyed Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh &etc, I was looking for something of similar quality but didn't find it here, in this short adventure that's mostly just wandering around a forest talking to magical creatures/animals, but doesn't give the DM a lot of help with how to make that interesting.
October 18, 2025
The first of the groundbreaking UK series of modules, from 1983. Beyond the Crystal Cave was insanely creative for the time and offered the opportunity to adventure within a fairy tale.
As well, PC success is determined more by diplomacy and tact, non-violence instead of aggression.
Tremendous adventure and far superior to the WoTC modern, watered-down, woke version.
As well, PC success is determined more by diplomacy and tact, non-violence instead of aggression.
Tremendous adventure and far superior to the WoTC modern, watered-down, woke version.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews