This is C1: The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan (1980, 1981). The “C” stands for Competition, because, like previous D&D modules, they were used for tournament play – this one debuted at Origins ‘79 and the original loose-leaf version released for sale there has since become one of the rarest D&D publications. Unlike other modules up to this point, Hidden Shrine contains all the bits required for tournament play – the pre-gen characters and the scoring system. Even laid out in front of me, the idea of playing D&D competitively is still pretty baffling, but I am from a different time.

The adventure itself is a detailed dungeon crawl in a previously unexplored region of Greyhawk that, as you can tell from the art, has a heavy Mesoamerican influence. It has a lot in common with S1: Tomb of Horrors in that it is less about combat and more about traps and puzzles, which I like (it lacks, however, the specter of unfairness that I think suffuses Tomb). It also has a booklet of player handout illustrations keyed to individual room as in Tomb and most of the other S-modules, which remains one of the best things to come out of these early modules. They’re just so strange and spooky looking!

Despite this being a fairly beloved module, I am mostly here for the art. The original Erol Otus cover is high on my list of favorite pieces of early D&D art – the monotone brown really does something for me. Otus does a lot of the interiors (including the introductory illustration of the gibbering mouther, another classic), with support from Darlene, David Sutherland and Diesel LaForce.