Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
Encyclopedia
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is a 1980 adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons
roleplaying game written by Gary Gygax
. While Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is typically a fantasy
game, the adventure includes elements of science fiction
, and thus belongs to the science fantasy
genre. It takes place on a downed spaceship; the ship's crew has died of an unspecified disease, but functioning robots and strange creatures still inhabit the ship. The player character
s fight monsters and robots, and gather the futuristic weapons and colored access cards that are necessary for advancing the story.
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks was first played at the Origins II convention in 1976, where it was used to introduce Dungeons & Dragons players to the science fiction game Metamorphosis Alpha
. In 1980, TSR
published the adventure, updated for first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules. The adventure was not updated for later rules systems, but a Wizards.com article did provide a conversion to Future Tech
. It included a separate booklet of illustrations, in both color and black and white. The adventure is an old-time favorite of many Dungeons & Dragons fans, including Stephen Colbert
. It was ranked the fifth-best Dungeons & Dragons adventure of all time by Dungeon
magazine in 2004, and received positive reviews from White Dwarf
and The Space Gamer
magazines. The other adventures in the S series include S1 Tomb of Horrors
, S2 White Plume Mountain
, and S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
.
is under constant attack by a succession of monsters that have been emerging from a cave in the mountains. The Grand Duke of Geoff has hired the characters
to discover the origin of the creatures, and stop their incursions.
The cave is actually an entrance to a downed spacecraft
whose inhabitants have succumbed to a virus, leaving them dead. Many of the ship's robots are still functioning, however, and the players must either avoid or defeat them; some may also be ignored. As later seen in video games, "plot coupons" need to be collected. The adventure requires the players to gather colored access cards (the "coupons") to advance to the next story arc: entering restricted areas, commanding robots, and other actions are all dependent on the cards. Expedition to the Barrier Peaks comes with a booklet of 63 numbered illustrations, depicting the various monsters, high tech
devices, and situations encountered in the adventure. Much of the artwork for the adventure, including the cover, was produced by Erol Otus
. Several of his contributions were printed in full color. Jeff Dee
, Greg K. Fleming, David S. LaForce
, Jim Roslof
and David C. Sutherland III
provided additional illustrations for the adventure.
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks's 32-page adventure guide is divided into six sections. These describe the crew's quarters, the lounge area, the gardens and menagerie
, and the activity deck. Along the way, the characters find colored access cards and futuristic devices such as blaster rifles
and suits of powered armor
that they can use to aid their journey. The first two sections involve various monsters, vegepygmy
s—short humanoid plant creatures—who have commandeered the crew's quarters, and a repair robot that follows instructions before its batteries run out. There is also a medical robot trying in vain to find a cure for the virus that killed the ship's crew. In the lounge area, a "Dining Servo Robot" still works, although the "food" it serves is now moldy poison.
The gardens and menagerie area includes an encounter with a "cute little bunnyoid on the stump". It looks like a horned rabbit on a tree stump, but when approached, the stump develops fangs and its roots become tentacle
s, which it then uses to attack the characters. The next encounter involves a froghemoth, a large alien frog-like creature with tentacles and three eyes on an eyestalk. In the sixth and final section, the activity deck, the players' characters must contend with various sports robots, including a "boxing and wrestling trainer" and a "karate master". If the characters can communicate with the karate master and tell it that boxing is superior to karate, it will attack the boxing robot until both are destroyed, else they will both attack the characters. The last area of the activity deck is the loading area, where the characters can leave the spaceship. The adventure then ends, with no postscript.
While D&D is a fantasy
roleplaying game, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks introduces science fiction
elements into the game. Work on the adventure began in 1976, when TSR
was considering publishing a science fantasy role playing game. James M. Ward had shown them his rough notes on Metamorphosis Alpha
. Gary Gygax
thought it would be a good idea to introduce science fiction/science fantasy concepts to D&D players through the use of a tournament scenario at the 1976 Origins II gaming convention in Baltimore, Maryland. Gygax started with his old Greyhawk Castle
campaign material and added a spaceship, which Rob Kuntz
helped him populate with monsters. Kuntz is further credited for "inspiration" for the module; his "Machine Level" having been incorporated into Greyhawk Castle and Tim Kask
having played in a D&D game with science fantasy content run by Kuntz at GenCon VII in 1974.
According to Gygax, both the scenario that became Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and Metamorphosis Alpha were successful at the convention. Although Metamorphosis Alpha became available to the general public in mid-1976, only a few copies of the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks tournament adventure survived after the convention.
When Metamorphosis Alpha was updated and expanded into Gamma World
, it seemed the right time for Gygax to reintroduce Expedition to the Barrier Peaks to the public. Said Gygax, "What could be more logical than to make available a scenario which blends the two role playing approaches into a single form?" Gygax updated the scenario to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) rules, hoping it could serve as a primer on how to integrate science into one's fantasy role playing game. In 1980, the updated version was published as Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. At the time of Expedition to the Barrier Peakss release, each Dungeons & Dragons module was marked with an alphanumeric code
indicating the series to which it belonged. The 32-page adventure bears the code S3 ("S" for "special"). The module included a 36-page book and a 32-page book, with two outer folders; it was one of the first deluxe scenario modules, and included a book of illustrations intended to be shown to the players during the game, including four color paintings. This module was included as part of the Realms of Horror abridged compilation produced in 1987. Although an article on the Wizards.com web site did provide a conversion to Future Tech
, the adventure never received an official sequel and was not updated for the D&D version 3.5
rules (Wizards of the Coast periodically alters the rules of Dungeons & Dragons and releases a new version). It was made into a novel of the same name by Roland J. Green
for the Greyhawk Classics series. The adventure has also been referenced in the Nodwick
comic series. Unlike the other S series adventures, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks was not included in the Dungeon Survival Guide by author Bill Slavicsek
because to him it was a "wonderful adventure", but not "a D&D adventure. Once you add ray guns and power armor to the game, you have a fundamentally different experience." Other products that have introduced futuristic elements into D&D include the adventure City of the Gods
(1987) and the novel Tale of the Comet (1997).
magazine in 2004, on the 30th anniversary of the Dungeons & Dragons game. Judge Bill Slavicsek
felt the adventure was a "classic clash of genres". It was not something he felt should be done often, but it made a "memorable diversion". Judge Mike Mearls
described how he felt the first time he read Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. "I had this terrible, terrible conflict within myself to immediately tell my friends about it at war with a maniacal, desperate drive to keep it hidden at all costs." Judge Keith Baker was most impressed with the adventure's art. He liked that it came with a separate book of art; in particular the before and after illustrations of the carnivorous plant with a "built-in bunny lure". This was later featured in a Wizards.com "Ask Wizards" segment. According to the Dungeon editors, the adventure's defining moment was its froghemoth creature, and its full page color illustration.
Two gaming magazines reviewed Expedition to the Barrier Peaks in 1981. Reviewer Marcus L. Rowland said in White Dwarf
#26 that he found the adventure "very enjoyable, with ideas and creatures eminently suitable for wider use". He gave it 9/10 overall, but complained that some of the maps were printed on both sides of the same sheet, making them useless as a Dungeon Master
's shield (a visual barrier that allows dice rolls and other activities to be conducted without the players knowing the outcome). He recommended at least a week's study by the Dungeon Master before attempting to play it. He also notes that the cover "reveals the secret of the creatures". Kirby Griffis reviewed the adventure in The Space Gamer
#36. Griffis noted that it is full of "surprises and new monsters", and felt that its one drawback was that Gygax presented standard D&D monsters as natives of other planets. In summary, he found it interesting and "full of spice and flavor"; recommending it to anyone interested in "something new" or wanting to include science fiction in their D&D game.
According to Creighton Broadhurst, author of Exemplars of Evil: Deadly Foes to Vex Your Heroes, the adventure is one of the most popular "old time" Greyhawk
adventures. Game designer Daniel Kaufman remembers "the famous backward-firing guns" as one of the adventure's highlights, and Stephen Colbert
, who played Dungeons & Dragons as a child, chose this adventure as his personal favorite.
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
roleplaying game written by Gary Gygax
Gary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....
. While Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is typically a fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
game, the adventure includes elements of science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
, and thus belongs to the science fantasy
Science fantasy
Science fantasy is a mixed genre within speculative fiction drawing elements from both science fiction and fantasy. Although in some terms of its portrayal in recent media products it can be defined as instead of being a mixed genre of science fiction and fantasy it is instead a mixing of the...
genre. It takes place on a downed spaceship; the ship's crew has died of an unspecified disease, but functioning robots and strange creatures still inhabit the ship. The player character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
s fight monsters and robots, and gather the futuristic weapons and colored access cards that are necessary for advancing the story.
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks was first played at the Origins II convention in 1976, where it was used to introduce Dungeons & Dragons players to the science fiction game Metamorphosis Alpha
Metamorphosis Alpha
Metamorphosis Alpha is a science fiction role-playing game. It was created by James M. Ward and originally produced by TSR, the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons...
. In 1980, TSR
TSR, Inc.
Blume and Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company called TSR Hobbies, Inc., with Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, owning the larger share. The former assets of the partnership were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc....
published the adventure, updated for first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules. The adventure was not updated for later rules systems, but a Wizards.com article did provide a conversion to Future Tech
D20 Future
d20 Future is an accessory for the d20 Modern role-playing game written by Christopher Perkins, Rodney Thompson, and JD Wiker. It facilitates the playing of campaigns in the far future, using elements such as cybernetics, mecha, mutations, robotics, space travel, starships, and xenobiology...
. It included a separate booklet of illustrations, in both color and black and white. The adventure is an old-time favorite of many Dungeons & Dragons fans, including Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
. It was ranked the fifth-best Dungeons & Dragons adventure of all time by Dungeon
Dungeon (magazine)
Dungeon Adventures, or simply Dungeon, was a magazine targeting consumers of role-playing games, particularly Dungeons & Dragons. It was first published by TSR, Inc. in 1986 as a bimonthly periodical. It went monthly in May 2003 and ceased print publication altogether in September 2007 with Issue 150...
magazine in 2004, and received positive reviews from White Dwarf
White Dwarf (magazine)
White Dwarf is a magazine published by British games manufacturer Games Workshop. Initially covering a wide variety of fantasy and science-fiction role-playing and board games, particularly the role playing games Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest and Traveller...
and The Space Gamer
The Space Gamer
The Space Gamer was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the late 70s through the mid-80s...
magazines. The other adventures in the S series include S1 Tomb of Horrors
Tomb of Horrors
Tomb of Horrors is an adventure module written by Gary Gygax for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. It was originally written for and used at the 1975 Origins 1 convention...
, S2 White Plume Mountain
White Plume Mountain
White Plume Mountain is an adventure module for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, written by Lawrence Schick and published by TSR in 1979...
, and S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It was written by Gary Gygax and published by TSR in 1982 for the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules. The 64-page adventure bears the code "S4" and is set in the World of...
.
Plot summary
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks takes place on a spaceship in the Barrier Peaks mountain range of the World of Greyhawk campaign setting. In the adventure's introduction, it is explained that the Grand Duchy of GeoffGeoff (Greyhawk)
Geoff is a fictional land that is part of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Geoff was first described in 1983 in the World of Greyhawk campaign setting, where Geoff is properly known as the Grand Duchy of Geoff, and is a ducal political state of the fictional continent called the...
is under constant attack by a succession of monsters that have been emerging from a cave in the mountains. The Grand Duke of Geoff has hired the characters
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
to discover the origin of the creatures, and stop their incursions.
The cave is actually an entrance to a downed spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
whose inhabitants have succumbed to a virus, leaving them dead. Many of the ship's robots are still functioning, however, and the players must either avoid or defeat them; some may also be ignored. As later seen in video games, "plot coupons" need to be collected. The adventure requires the players to gather colored access cards (the "coupons") to advance to the next story arc: entering restricted areas, commanding robots, and other actions are all dependent on the cards. Expedition to the Barrier Peaks comes with a booklet of 63 numbered illustrations, depicting the various monsters, high tech
High tech
High tech is technology that is at the cutting edge: the most advanced technology currently available. It is often used in reference to micro-electronics, rather than other technologies. The adjective form is hyphenated: high-tech or high-technology...
devices, and situations encountered in the adventure. Much of the artwork for the adventure, including the cover, was produced by Erol Otus
Erol Otus
Erol Otus is an American artist and game designer, known internationally for his contributions to the fantasy RPG genre, most notably for the early Dungeons & Dragons franchise...
. Several of his contributions were printed in full color. Jeff Dee
Jeff Dee
Jeff Dee is an American artist and game designer. Based in Austin, Texas, he is a recognized figure in the role-playing game community and game industry...
, Greg K. Fleming, David S. LaForce
David S. LaForce
David S. LaForce is an artist, noted for his artwork in fantasy role-playing games.-Career:Along with Jeff Dee, Erol Otus, Jim Roslof, David C. Sutherland III and David A...
, Jim Roslof
Jim Roslof
James Paul "Jim" Roslof was an American artist and graphic designer particularly well known for cover art and interior illustrations of fantasy role-playing games published by TSR, Inc. during the "golden age" of Dungeons & Dragons...
and David C. Sutherland III
David C. Sutherland III
David C. Sutherland III was an early Dungeons & Dragons artist. Sutherland was a prolific artist and his work heavily influenced the early development of Dungeons & Dragons.-Early life and inspiration:...
provided additional illustrations for the adventure.
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks's 32-page adventure guide is divided into six sections. These describe the crew's quarters, the lounge area, the gardens and menagerie
Menagerie
A menagerie is/was a form of keeping common and exotic animals in captivity that preceded the modern zoological garden. The term was first used in seventeenth century France in reference to the management of household or domestic stock. Later, it came to be used primarily in reference to...
, and the activity deck. Along the way, the characters find colored access cards and futuristic devices such as blaster rifles
Raygun
Rayguns are a type of fictional directed-energy weapon. They have various alternate names: ray gun, death ray, beam gun, blaster, laser gun, phaser, etc. They are a well-known feature of science fiction; for such stories they typically have the general function of guns...
and suits of powered armor
Powered exoskeleton
A powered exoskeleton, also known as powered armor, or exoframe, is a powered mobile machine consisting primarily of an exoskeleton-like framework worn by a person and a power supply that supplies at least part of the activation-energy for limb movement.Powered exoskeletons are designed to assist...
that they can use to aid their journey. The first two sections involve various monsters, vegepygmy
Vegepygmy
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, the vegepygmy is a plant creature.-Publication history:The vegepygmy was created by Gary Gygax, and first appeared in first edition in 1980's adventure module Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, and reprinted in the original Monster Manual II .The...
s—short humanoid plant creatures—who have commandeered the crew's quarters, and a repair robot that follows instructions before its batteries run out. There is also a medical robot trying in vain to find a cure for the virus that killed the ship's crew. In the lounge area, a "Dining Servo Robot" still works, although the "food" it serves is now moldy poison.
The gardens and menagerie area includes an encounter with a "cute little bunnyoid on the stump". It looks like a horned rabbit on a tree stump, but when approached, the stump develops fangs and its roots become tentacle
Tentacle
A tentacle or bothrium is one of usually two or more elongated flexible organs present in animals, especially invertebrates. The term may also refer to the hairs of the leaves of some insectivorous plants. Usually, tentacles are used for feeding, feeling and grasping. Anatomically, they work like...
s, which it then uses to attack the characters. The next encounter involves a froghemoth, a large alien frog-like creature with tentacles and three eyes on an eyestalk. In the sixth and final section, the activity deck, the players' characters must contend with various sports robots, including a "boxing and wrestling trainer" and a "karate master". If the characters can communicate with the karate master and tell it that boxing is superior to karate, it will attack the boxing robot until both are destroyed, else they will both attack the characters. The last area of the activity deck is the loading area, where the characters can leave the spaceship. The adventure then ends, with no postscript.
Publication history
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
roleplaying game, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks introduces science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
elements into the game. Work on the adventure began in 1976, when TSR
TSR, Inc.
Blume and Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company called TSR Hobbies, Inc., with Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, owning the larger share. The former assets of the partnership were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc....
was considering publishing a science fantasy role playing game. James M. Ward had shown them his rough notes on Metamorphosis Alpha
Metamorphosis Alpha
Metamorphosis Alpha is a science fiction role-playing game. It was created by James M. Ward and originally produced by TSR, the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons...
. Gary Gygax
Gary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....
thought it would be a good idea to introduce science fiction/science fantasy concepts to D&D players through the use of a tournament scenario at the 1976 Origins II gaming convention in Baltimore, Maryland. Gygax started with his old Greyhawk Castle
Castle Greyhawk
Castle Greyhawk is one of the central dungeon settings in the fictional World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. The Castle was originally developed by Gary Gygax for his own campaign and later detailed for publication...
campaign material and added a spaceship, which Rob Kuntz
Robert J. Kuntz
Robert J. Kuntz is a game designer and author of role-playing game publications. He is most famous for his contributions to various Dungeons & Dragons-related materials.-Works:...
helped him populate with monsters. Kuntz is further credited for "inspiration" for the module; his "Machine Level" having been incorporated into Greyhawk Castle and Tim Kask
Tim Kask
Timothy James Kask is an American editor and writer in the role-playing game industry. Kask became interested in board games in his childhood, and later turned to miniatures wargames...
having played in a D&D game with science fantasy content run by Kuntz at GenCon VII in 1974.
According to Gygax, both the scenario that became Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and Metamorphosis Alpha were successful at the convention. Although Metamorphosis Alpha became available to the general public in mid-1976, only a few copies of the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks tournament adventure survived after the convention.
When Metamorphosis Alpha was updated and expanded into Gamma World
Gamma World
Gamma World is a science fantasy role-playing game, originally designed by James M. Ward and Gary Jaquet, and first published by TSR in 1978. It borrowed heavily from James M. Ward's earlier product, Metamorphosis Alpha.-Setting:...
, it seemed the right time for Gygax to reintroduce Expedition to the Barrier Peaks to the public. Said Gygax, "What could be more logical than to make available a scenario which blends the two role playing approaches into a single form?" Gygax updated the scenario to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) rules, hoping it could serve as a primer on how to integrate science into one's fantasy role playing game. In 1980, the updated version was published as Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. At the time of Expedition to the Barrier Peakss release, each Dungeons & Dragons module was marked with an alphanumeric code
Alphanumeric code
In general, in computing, an alphanumeric code is a series of letters and numbers which are written in a form that can be processed by a computer....
indicating the series to which it belonged. The 32-page adventure bears the code S3 ("S" for "special"). The module included a 36-page book and a 32-page book, with two outer folders; it was one of the first deluxe scenario modules, and included a book of illustrations intended to be shown to the players during the game, including four color paintings. This module was included as part of the Realms of Horror abridged compilation produced in 1987. Although an article on the Wizards.com web site did provide a conversion to Future Tech
D20 Future
d20 Future is an accessory for the d20 Modern role-playing game written by Christopher Perkins, Rodney Thompson, and JD Wiker. It facilitates the playing of campaigns in the far future, using elements such as cybernetics, mecha, mutations, robotics, space travel, starships, and xenobiology...
, the adventure never received an official sequel and was not updated for the D&D version 3.5
Editions of Dungeons & Dragons
Several different editions of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game have been produced since 1974. The current publisher of Dungeons & Dragons , Wizards of the Coast, produces new materials only for the most current edition of the game...
rules (Wizards of the Coast periodically alters the rules of Dungeons & Dragons and releases a new version). It was made into a novel of the same name by Roland J. Green
Roland J. Green
Roland James Green is an American science fiction and fantasy writer and editor. He has written as Roland Green and Roland J. Green; and had 28 books in the Richard Blade series published as Jeffrey Lord .- Early life and personal matters :Green was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, in 1944...
for the Greyhawk Classics series. The adventure has also been referenced in the Nodwick
Nodwick
Nodwick is a comic strip created by Aaron Williams, based around the conventions of fantasy role-playing games, in particular Dungeons & Dragons . It debuted in Dragon magazine issue #246 , first with short strips, and later receiving a second strip in Dungeon magazine, making fun of one of the...
comic series. Unlike the other S series adventures, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks was not included in the Dungeon Survival Guide by author Bill Slavicsek
Bill Slavicsek
Bill Slavicsek is a game designer who served as the Director of Roleplaying Design and Development at Wizards of the Coast. He previously worked for West End Games and TSR, Inc., and designed products for Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, Alternity, Torg, Paranoia and Ghostbusters.-Biography:Bill...
because to him it was a "wonderful adventure", but not "a D&D adventure. Once you add ray guns and power armor to the game, you have a fundamentally different experience." Other products that have introduced futuristic elements into D&D include the adventure City of the Gods
City of the Gods
City of the Gods is a 1987 adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Its module code is "DA3" and its TSR product code is "TSR 9191".-Plot summary:...
(1987) and the novel Tale of the Comet (1997).
Reception
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks received favorable reviews and was ranked the 5th greatest Dungeons & Dragons adventure of all time by DungeonDungeon (magazine)
Dungeon Adventures, or simply Dungeon, was a magazine targeting consumers of role-playing games, particularly Dungeons & Dragons. It was first published by TSR, Inc. in 1986 as a bimonthly periodical. It went monthly in May 2003 and ceased print publication altogether in September 2007 with Issue 150...
magazine in 2004, on the 30th anniversary of the Dungeons & Dragons game. Judge Bill Slavicsek
Bill Slavicsek
Bill Slavicsek is a game designer who served as the Director of Roleplaying Design and Development at Wizards of the Coast. He previously worked for West End Games and TSR, Inc., and designed products for Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, Alternity, Torg, Paranoia and Ghostbusters.-Biography:Bill...
felt the adventure was a "classic clash of genres". It was not something he felt should be done often, but it made a "memorable diversion". Judge Mike Mearls
Mike Mearls
Michael Mearls is a writer and designer of fantasy role-playing games and related fiction.He worked as a freelance writer and designer for various gaming publishers for several years before being hired in June 2005 as a designer by Wizards of the Coast. He was a Lead Developer for Dungeons &...
described how he felt the first time he read Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. "I had this terrible, terrible conflict within myself to immediately tell my friends about it at war with a maniacal, desperate drive to keep it hidden at all costs." Judge Keith Baker was most impressed with the adventure's art. He liked that it came with a separate book of art; in particular the before and after illustrations of the carnivorous plant with a "built-in bunny lure". This was later featured in a Wizards.com "Ask Wizards" segment. According to the Dungeon editors, the adventure's defining moment was its froghemoth creature, and its full page color illustration.
Two gaming magazines reviewed Expedition to the Barrier Peaks in 1981. Reviewer Marcus L. Rowland said in White Dwarf
White Dwarf (magazine)
White Dwarf is a magazine published by British games manufacturer Games Workshop. Initially covering a wide variety of fantasy and science-fiction role-playing and board games, particularly the role playing games Dungeons & Dragons, RuneQuest and Traveller...
#26 that he found the adventure "very enjoyable, with ideas and creatures eminently suitable for wider use". He gave it 9/10 overall, but complained that some of the maps were printed on both sides of the same sheet, making them useless as a Dungeon Master
Dungeon Master
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, the Dungeon Master is the game organizer and participant in charge of creating the details and challenges of a given adventure, while maintaining a realistic continuity of events...
's shield (a visual barrier that allows dice rolls and other activities to be conducted without the players knowing the outcome). He recommended at least a week's study by the Dungeon Master before attempting to play it. He also notes that the cover "reveals the secret of the creatures". Kirby Griffis reviewed the adventure in The Space Gamer
The Space Gamer
The Space Gamer was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the late 70s through the mid-80s...
#36. Griffis noted that it is full of "surprises and new monsters", and felt that its one drawback was that Gygax presented standard D&D monsters as natives of other planets. In summary, he found it interesting and "full of spice and flavor"; recommending it to anyone interested in "something new" or wanting to include science fiction in their D&D game.
According to Creighton Broadhurst, author of Exemplars of Evil: Deadly Foes to Vex Your Heroes, the adventure is one of the most popular "old time" Greyhawk
Greyhawk
Greyhawk, also known as the World of Greyhawk, is a fictional world designed as a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game...
adventures. Game designer Daniel Kaufman remembers "the famous backward-firing guns" as one of the adventure's highlights, and Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
, who played Dungeons & Dragons as a child, chose this adventure as his personal favorite.