Adventure Writing for a 12 Year-Old Kid in 1980

I was feeling a bit nostalgic. That's what happens a lot when you get old. With the Stranger Things 2 coming out, nailing that 80s vibe and Thor embracing the total cheesiness of the 80s (I so hope somewhere in the film he is driving a conversion van with an image of himself painted on the side) had me thinking of when I first started making my own adventures back in the early 80s.

My mom was a secretary at a tool & die shop and she had a office supply closet, my god that thing was magical. That's where I learned graph paper was a real thing. Before that, I thought Gary and friends were really good with a ruler. I wanted to write my own adventures, so I grabbed the graph paper, manila folders, and a stapler. I drew a map, used a manual typewriter to construct my adventure, used a crappy Xerox (yes an actual Xerox machine) to make 10 copies. Then I stapled the map on the inside of the folder, took a 3" x 5" notecard for the wandering monster table, stapled that to the other side of the folder, took a thick permanent marker and wrote the title of the adventure on the outside. No artwork. I sucked at arting. Still do.

I would then take my adventure to school, I would play it with friends, then after a few sessions I would sell my 10 copies of the adventure for 50 cents each. Sold out every time. That money was used for proper things, pinball, video games, Cokes and Goobers, or more gaming stuff if I could get that far down the street.

Because of these thoughts, I formatted Iron Crawlers to reflect that ascetic back in the day. I use a type font on a single sheet of graph paper background (front and back) and the map, while a bit more embellished than I did back in the day, is simple graph line drawing. Compared to today's clean look, it is rough on the eye so I also included the booklet version with a Garamond font. Easier to read and more likely the version I'll ship out. Probably both though just for the heck of it.

Oh and one more thing, I thought I would take a few of you on a ride for this adventure. So everyone in this adventure is named after a patron.

GM Advice

Iron Crawlers is a group of men who have joined together to get by. They are not a bad ass street gang ready to kill everyone who confronts them. Most a no-level guys who try to hustle a few coins from drunks, grab an unattended pie and sometimes they make deals with persons of questionable nature.

I like these kind of groups. I think they are more approachable. The party doesn't have to go into default murder hobo rage (should there be another setting for your party). It is a group of people that could provide a lot of opportunities to role-play situations. Being this is the first encounter with the Iron Crawlers, there may be bloodshed, but it doesn't have to be a massacre. A few of the members won't put up a fight. The party will more than likely be overpowering even at first level.

I can see this group becoming a source of information for the party. A source of possible henchmen. Or if played out, a possible group ally that supports the party in their adventures. It won't take much, these guys are poor and hungry. At this time, just getting a regular meal is a step up for them.

I hope you enjoy and find a use for the adventure. And as always, thanks for the support. You can click on the links that take you to my patreon page for a free copy of the PDF. And if you would like a print version, consider joining.