T1+B1+B2

 The ultimate starter module

The Keep from B2 is structurally the same as Hommlet from T1, but without any of the detail. It has the same house of worship, tavern, inn, traders and smiths, and assorted stores. Where none of the NPCs in B2 are detailed, all of the ones in T1 are. T1 also has a small keep in Hommlet, but its under construction and its owners aren't really recognized as the lords of the area. Simply putting all the NPCs from Hommlet into the Keep, or just replacing the Keep wholesale, is basically a straight upgrade. 

B2 is the only one of these modules with a small wilderness region to explore. There is mention of a bandit hideout, lizardmen lairs, and wandering encounters including an old hermit with a pet lion, but these encounters are subject to dice chance and are left to the DM to flesh out. The Moathouse from T1 can easily serve as the bandits' hideout. Simply placing the Moathouse in the marsh in the bandits' "territory" gives them a premade base of operations and a stronger anchor into the campaign. It also comes with Lareth, a Cleric of Chaos, which dovetails nicely with the hidden Temple of Chaos in B2.

 (Also Lareth is apparently implied to be a fallen Paladin)

B1 is assumed to be in the unexplained "Cave of the Unknown" on the B2 wilderness map.  Placing the whole module within in this way grants many more rumors to be given out at the local tavern. And it also creates two more NPC adventurers that "made it", Rohan and Zelligar, along with Rufus and Byrne from T1.

Frozen and the Frostmaiden

 I read the original Hans Christian Andersen story a long time ago, and didn't really understand it.  I guess I was too young to grasp the motivations of the Snow Queen or the moral of the story.

Disney's adaptation was a nice movie and I liked the female empowerment story, but it was wholly unrelated to the source material and didn't really relate to any of the themes or plot. 

Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden finally cracked the code for me. In it, Auril the Frostmaiden stands in for Hans Christian Andersen's Snow Queen, and her inciting action is to attempt to freeze the region of Icewind Dale in everlasting winter.  According to the adventure, Auril is an uncaring goddess who seeks to preserve beautiful things in ice so that they'll never fade. This made a whole lot of sense to me: She cares about superficial beauty and cold, crystalline glamor over warm, true connections.

It was on the strength of this revelation that I wanted to run the whole adventure, and maybe remixing the scenario with Auril so that it's not a by the numbers fight but a quest to convince her to show some humanity.  I was also going to switch her forms around, so that her first form was the humanoid "Brittle Maiden" one, and the second would be the Horned Owl creature, kind of like the fight between Dracula and Richter Belmont in Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night.  Turns out that I only care about the character of Auril, though, and not really the rest of the module.

Small dungeons

I like small dungeons better than large mega dungeons of interconnected corridors. Instead, I envision a “dungeon” like the single family residence of the monster. There would be only a handful of inhabitants and all the rooms they need to live in, such as a place to sleep, a place to eat, and a place to put their stuff. I also like the idea that, should you run into a monster in the dungeon, it is the monster. 

As for dungeon ecology, I consider it more natural to link dungeons across the over world, where monsters would have their own territories and travel networks. It makes much more sense that two feuding races of monsters would be claiming overlapping territories, than living in close proximity with each other, separated only by a few hallways and doors.

Running small dungeons like this means that your map scale would have to be much more precise and smaller in scale than a 6-mile hex. Alternatively, if you use large hexes, then each hex should have multiple chances of finding a lair. Multiple small lairs actually generate more interest in wilderness travel and provide a unique element to it.

Encumbrance in OD&D

 Encumbrance in OD&D is very simple to calculate. You add the weight (in gold coins) of your armor, weapons and shield together to find your base encumbrance. This value will mostly determine your movement rate. All the other small inventory items you might have, such as 50' of rope, iron spikes, torches etc., are all combined together to a flat value of 80 gold piece weight, or 8 pounds total.

  A standard man in OD&D can carry a maximum of 3000 gold piece equivalent weight. Your equipment and inventory is a fraction of that, generally less than half if not less than a third of the total. That means that most of your free carrying capacity will be taken up by the actual gold pieces you are carrying.

  The whole point of OD&D is to carry as many gold pieces as possible out of the dungeon. Every mechanic in the game is either in service to this goal, or is directly affected by it. It is largely the weight of gold coins that will increasingly slow you down as you travel.

  I found this gameplay loop to be quite satisfying. As a result, though, the silver standard is a bad fit for OD&D, and this simplified encumbrance system is a bad fit for AD&D. The reward feedback of AD&D is different, the primary motivator of that game is to level up XP. AD&D has a stricter, more granular encumbrance system, that is more in service to the simulationist nature of that game.

  Honestly, I found that OD&D encumbrance is easier on the DM, but players who are used to later editions of D&D take a while to adapt to it. Its also not as immersive as AD&D's encumbrance system, and it leads to players not really caring what's in their inventory. Which is fine, for a one shot. The sores of AD&D's math heavy encumbrance system are well known, but it forces players to engage more with the game.

House Rules for 5e

 This is not a typical campaign as I am using a host of variant rules aimed at making this a more engaging and immersive experience. Please read on for details:

Character Creation

Allowed Races: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Halfling, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Dragonborn, and Tiefling

Allowed Classes: Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard

Character stats can be generated by using Standard Array or Point Buy.

You may choose starting gold or background equipment for starting equipment.

PHB races and classes only. Subclasses and spells from only one of the following books of your choice: Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, Volo’s Guide to Monsters, and Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.  

Races and Classes not listed above are not allowed in this campaign. No Unearthed Arcana allowed, no homebrew.

Skills

Please only roll skill checks when I call for them. Any skill rolls that I did not call for will result in an automatic failure. 

Persuasion, Deception and Intimidation are not mind-control, they will not function like a Charm Person spell.

Milestone Levels 

Levels will be gained for completing story milestones and time played. The time required per level is shown below:

Tier	Hours of Play to Gain a Level
1	4
2	8
3	12
4	16

Variant Rules

Variant: Encumbrance 

We are using variant encumbrance rules from the PHB.

 If the total weight you carry is 5 times your strength score, your speed drops by 5 feet. If it is 10 times, your speed drops by 20 feet and you have disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws that use Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution.

You cannot automatically convert currency to the most convenient coinage. You have to carry coins individually until you can convert them at a banker or money changer.

Magic Item Variants 

Potion miscibility.

Wands don't recharge and have a finite amount of uses. To "regain" the charges of a wand, you will have to craft it again.

Roleplay

I prefer role-playing over "roll-playing". This means that I will ask you to describe your character's actions before you attempt to roll the dice. I will ignore any dice rolls that I did not call for. 

I generally assume that your character knows as much as you know, so if you have knowledge of the lore and history of a place, item or monster, you can just convey that to the rest of the party. 

I do not follow the "rule of cool".

Death and Recovery

If your character dies, you may create another one of the same level.