The Treasure of Barlawn
aka
The Lost Splendor of Barlawn
Embedded Files
by Ned, Bert and Mollie Plants
This scenario took 1st place in the "Mini-Dungeon" category of the second Judges Guild Journal contest (titled "The Judges Guild Journal Son of - The World's First and Greatest Dungeon Creation Contest - Contest"), winning a $40 prize, and was published in Judges Guild Journal 16 (Aug/Sep 1979) on pages 43-54, followed by some of the other winning Mini-Dungeons. At the time that Judges Guild was publishing D&D modules under license from TSR, but the dungeons printed here came with a disclaimer at the beginning saying they were only "guidelines" as they had not been approved by TSR.
The scenario is for levels 1-3 but is not explicitly described as being for Basic D&D. Significantly, however, it includes Dexterity scores for most of the monsters in accord with the Holmes rules for initiative. The only modules published by TSR with such stats are the early printings of B2 and The Chapel of Silence in Dragon #50 (also by Mollie Plants). The Treasure of Barlawn was published well before B2 (1980), and thus did not get the idea to include Dex scores from B2.
And despite including Dex scores, the scenario includes a number of AD&D-isms; e.g. an illusionist NPC. JG Journal 16 was published the same month that the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide was released (Aug 1979), so the AD&D-isms derive solely from the Monster Manual (Dec 77) and the Players Handbook (Jun 78).
Trivia
While the cover page for the dungeon has the title "The Treasure of Barlawn" in a stylized font (see the image above), and the list of contest winners on page 42 refers to it by the same title, the top of the first page of text for the adventure has a different title: "The Lost Splendor of Barlawn". Thanks to Joe Nuttall of the Explore: Beneath & Beyond log for noting this discrepancy; Joe has included the adventure in the July-August 1979 installment of his "Complete Timeline of Early D&D Adventures" series.
The bottom pages of the scenario are labeled "Plants-1", "Plants-2", etc in a manner similar to submissions to APAzines like Alarums & Excursions. The font is different from the rest of the journal issue. It also has its own illustrated title page, and a full page of maps. It appears that the scenario was printed exactly as submitted by the contestants.
The scenario shares some stylistic similarities with the Holmes Sample Dungeon. The eighteen rooms are labeled alphabetically, from A-Q. The scenario involves a dungeon accessed via stairs in a ruin at the edge of a town (here Barlawn), with a secondary access via a magic-user's quarters located in the town. The characters gather at an inn (here named the Long Man) and discuss rumors of treasures to be found in the ruins (here "rich finds below the temple ruins" on the top of the hill against which Barlawn is built). There are some interesting NPCs and unique low-powered magic items. The page of maps is innovative, showing three aligned pictures: a frontal view of the town on the side of the hill, a map of the dungeon, and a cross-section showing how they relate.
Ned & Mollie Plants later received Honorable Mention (essentially 4th place, $40 prize) in the Large Dungeon category of the 3rd contest for their scenario The House and Lands of Leamon the Greedy. The winners were announced in Judges Guild Journal 21 (Jun/July 1980). This scenario does not appear to ever have been published.
Mollie Plants later won first place in the Basic Division of Dragon Magazine's second International Dungeon Design Contest for the scenario The Chapel of Silence, which was published as the special attraction in the center of the fifth anniversary issue of DRAGON magazine (issue #50, June 1981, pgs 35-42).
OD&D Discussion Thread for The Treasure of Barlawn
Thanks to Plaag of the Acaeum Judges Guild subweb for providing the list of Dungeon Contest Winners, without which I wouldn't have found this scenario
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