"Killer" Dungeons part 1

Dungeons that are hard for the players to the point of generally having a high character mortality rate have one or more of the following characteristics:

• Challenge ratings or the equivalent are ignored.  A wrong turn or sometimes just a turn leads to an encounter that is not really meant for the level that the characters are at, such as 4th level characters stumbling onto a hill giant.
• Lots of encounters are in close proximity, making healing between fights difficult
• Most of the fights are only winnable if the characters are at full strength and willing to use all their full arsenal (such as daily powers or high level spells)
• In earlier editions...timing events where if the characters do not say "I run away" within 10 real-time seconds, the characters are crushed by a mechanical block trap
• Somewhere in the dungeon is a slippery high spot that has a long drop associated with it.  (ie a lethal fall off a cliff)
• In earlier editions...save or die effects from monsters and traps.  Characters that have to make 5 or more of these rolls in a given dungeon are bound to miss one.
• Pregenerated player characters for use with the dungeon are malformed and never would have made it to 8th level with only 30 hp as a fighter except as a module character
• In a related note, pregenerated characters make odd spell and equipment choices, making it unclear how the character survived so long
• A couple of traps early in the dungeon to get the characters if they are not paying attention.  Then no traps through the middle, then after several hours when the players have forgotten to start searching for traps again, several lethal traps near the end of the dungeon.
• A mixture of friendly and neutral monsters thrown in so the characters cannot just obliterate everything that moves.  Characters can pull off some fairly deadly ambushes if they know that all of the monsters are evil.
• Misaligned treasure.  Weak monsters have really good treasure.  Tough monsters have really poor treasure.  This disorients the players and distracts them from safely navigating through the dungeon.
• Obscure monsters are better than common ones.  They tend to be slightly nastier and scarier.
• Monsters using special abilities intelligently, generally to force the characters into natural hazards or off edges of cliffs
• Have one or two really unsafe areas.  There is always a character who has to test firsthand whether the stuff that obviously looks like lava on level 10 is really lava or just warm red water.

That's all for now.  More thoughts about "killer" dungeons in a later post...

Appendix N to the First Edition DMG- Conan

Appendix N in the First Edition DMG has a list of suggested reading of the works that helped inspire Dungeons and Dragons.  From that list is the "Conan" series by Robert E. Howard.

From the Conan series, I recommend "The Tower of the Elephant" first published in Weird Tales in March of 1933.

This short story resembles the novelization of a first edition D&D module.

Highly recommended reading

Complete Priests Handbook (PHBR3) by Aaron Allston 1990.

Review: The first part describes creating mythologies and priesthoods, very useful in a role-playing intensive setting, less useful if it is less important to the campaign.  The CPHB does a good job of providing templates and questions to answer that help shape the mythology of a campaign.  Then the book provides 60+ sample priesthoods that could easily be dropped into a campaign.  These priesthoods all have special benefits and special hindrances that set them apart from basic clerics.  There is room for improvement and adjustment with these sample priesthoods but they are definitely very easy to use “off-the-shelf” with no modifications.

Several kits are included such as Amazon, outlaw, and noble priest.  The focus of the kits is on the social background of the character and how others may react to him or her.  This type of kit might be very useful to a campaign and it might not.  Also included for novice players are role-playing personality suggestions.  This is probably helpful in terms of giving novice players some ideas how to role-play.  Experienced players are told to skip the section on personalities.

One major contribution of PHBR3 to second edition rules is a proper war hammer.  The maul which costs only 5 gp and does 2-8/1-10.  (This compares with the 2 gp war hammer which does 2-5/1-4).  A maul is a two-handed weapon and is considered a polearm. 

Conclusion: 4 out 5 stars.  Good but not great.  Highly recommended for players with 2^nd edition priests.

Party composition (in tackle football terms) in early versions of D&D/AD&D

PARTY OF SIX

 

I've always maintained that a party needs:

 

2 bookend tackles (a football term)  These are 300 pound gorillas whose job it is to keep the QB (magic-user) from getting killed.  One should be a dwarf and one should be a fighter (or paladin or ranger).  Name of Conan is optional

 

1 tight end (cleric)

1 running back/wide receiver (thief)

 

These position titles reflect the potential for some blocking (ie fighting monsters in the front row) as well as the use of some specialized skills.

 

2 QBs these should be magic users.

Generally quarterbacks don't block and stay in the back and use special skills.

Not a perfect analogy but I like the front row/back row analogy that it brings to mind in terms of a football formation and a dungeon-crawling formation.

Alternate combination:

 

2 Tackles (fighters)

2 Tight ends (clerics)

1 Running back/wide receiver (thief)

1 QB (wizard)

 

Sub-classes are ok for a particular role 

 

Cooperation is important.

 

PARTY OF FOUR

 

For a party of 4 (again talking about Dungeons and Dragons (BECMI, BX, 1e, 2e)

 

I think the ideal party has

 

1 of each of the 4 main types.  Although the cleric and the thief will need to be ready to handle "front row" duties if necessary.

Brave the Legendary Tomb of Horrors

Review:  Tomb of Horrors (S1) By Gary Gygax.  (Published in 1981).  Ranked #3 on Dungeon Magazine’s 2004 list of the 30 best modules all-time.

“In the far reaches of the world, under a lost and lonely hill, lies the sinister TOMB OF HORRORS.  This labyrinthian crypt is filled with terrible traps, strange and ferocious monsters, rich and magical treasures, and somewhere within rests the evil demi-lich.”

Tomb of Horrors is set in Greyhawk and is for 10th to 14th level characters.  The module warns that it is about thinking and solving puzzles rather than “hack and slay”.

Many classic modules capture the flavor of an H.P. Lovecraft or Edgar Allan Poe short story in terms of exploring a place of ancient and unspeakable evil.  When making a list of such modules, the Tomb of Horrors would most certainly be included.

Compared to most modules it has a fairly small area but it more than makes up for it by being heavily concentrated with all manner of tricks and traps.  I do not want to go into too much detail to avoid spoiling the fun.

I would highly recommend it as inspirational, fun, and historic.  Most adventurers who attempt to defeat the demi-lich are unsuccessful.  Will your group be one of the fortunate ones?  5 out 5 stars

Tinker gnomes in Krynn

Today’s post looks at Tinker Gnomes in first and second edition.  Another either really popular or really despised idea from D&D is that of the Tinker Gnomes.  In Krynn, gnomes are hapless inventors who make inventions that are large, impractical, and seldom work.  They feature prominently in the Chronicles Trilogy.  (Highly recommended reading).  In Taladas there are not one but two gnomish cultures set closely in the Tinker Gnome mold.  The hardcover Dragonlance Adventures provides rules for adventuring in Krynn and includes the Tinker Gnomes as a character class.  It includes about 5 pages of rules and charts for constructing inventions.  Most inventions are probably only going to work about 20% of the time and generally have destructive misfires about 80% of the time.  Tinkers have a rapid experience table very similar to the rogue table.  Tinkers get better at inventing as they get higher in levels.  High level tinkers are necessary to build devices that actually stand a reasonable chance of working.  They gain lots of non-weapon proficiencies but have a -5 penalty to them.

They are fun and more so if you have read the Chronicles Trilogy.  Having a Tinker Gnome with the party would probably be fairly amusing yet hazardous.

Taladas (which uses 2nd edition rules including the reduction of power from barbarians) keeps the Tinker gnomes from 1st edition (the rules are not reprinted in Taladas so you need Dragonlance Adventures to run Tinker gnomes).

However when the Tales of the Lance boxed set was produced (1992) Tinker gnomes lost their inventive rules.  5+ pages became less than a page explaining that Tinker gnome inventions do not work.  However, new equipment for Tinker gnomes included several different types of grenades and an arquebus-type firearm.  These inventions are in direct conflict with what was published in Dragonlance Adventures explaining that gnomes are not good chemists.  (It also conflicts with Tales of the Lance which includes a similar statement).  I think the Tales of the Lance decision was a bad one regarding Tinker gnomes.  In defense of Tales of the Lance, these changes make it easier to play tinkers as characters, they are going to be back row gunners.

Tinker gnomes (First edition or Taladas) are throwbacks to an era when role-playing had equal consideration with character class strengths.  A player choosing a tinker is choosing him for the fun story opportunities and role-playing challenge, not for the opportunity to be the most powerful character.  Since tinkers only start with 1 weapon proficiency (although they gain another one at 3rd) it probably makes the most sense for them to have a sling or a crossbow to start with.  Dragonlance Adventures is unclear what tinkers fight or save as.  Generally they are back row non-combatants.  Playing a tinker properly would be quite a challenge.

In conclusion, Tinker gnomes are a lot of fun and part of what make Dragonlance unique.  If you feel that your characters are getting dull and that you spend too much time min/maxing them, playing a tinker in a Dragonlance campaign might be the solution to get you thinking about role-playing again.

Barbarians! (in AD&D)

 

Today’s post looks at player character barbarians in first and second edition AD&D.

Unearthed Arcana:  A powerful class, barbarians are able to have a good AC without wearing much armor, they have high hit points and a fast movement rate.  This comes with a high experience point requirement of 6,000 xp to get to 2nd level.  Barbarians detest magic and often try to destroy magic items.  They are unable to associate with magic-users until 6th level.  It is unclear what this means in terms of a party of characters.  It would seem to mean that it would be difficult for a first level barbarian and first level wizard to work together.

Oriental Adventures:  A slightly toned-down version of the UA barbarians.  These barbarians have very similar special abilities and restrictions with only a few adjustments.  These barbarians also dislike wizards (wu jen).  Instead of the armor class bonus, they have the potential to gain 20 hp per level.  This is balanced somewhat by a reluctance to use magic items generally.  They also have wilderness stealth and climbing abilities (like the UA barbarians).  From the text, it is not clear why a barbarian character would have left home to venture closer to civilization or go adventuring.  The steppe barbarians are in the Hordelands of the Forgotten Realms.

Neither 1e barbarian is able to have weapon specialization.

Complete Fighters:  The second edition barbarian kit takes all of the 1e barbarian details and changes it to a fighter with equipment restrictions/requirements to start the game.  (Something that 1e barbarians have but the restrictions are a bit different).  The only benefit/hindrance that barbarians get is that their reaction modifier is extreme.  People who will be nice to the barbarian will be really nice and people who will be hostile to the barbarian will be really hostile.  However, 2e barbarians are allowed weapon specialization.

In terms of placing barbarians, Unearthed Arcana provides suggestions for several cultures in Greyhawk who have lots of barbarians (Tiger Nomads, Frost Barbarians, etc).  Oriental Adventures provides locations for Kara-Tur barbarians.  Krynn is probably another place where barbarians work well.  Minotaurs, Kagonesti (wild elves), Gully Dwarves, and Hill Dwarves can all be barbarians just to name some of the races/cultures.  In contrast Taladas does not have barbarians but has several barbarian-like kits available depending on the culture.  The special abilities of many of these kits are about as good as the 2e Complete Fighters barbarian kit.  The Forgotten Realms Cyclopedia of the Realms (from the 1987 boxed set) lists several locations where barbarian cultures are found (1e).  The Forgotten Realms Adventures hardcover book gracefully transitions Faerun barbarians from 1e to 2e. 

In conclusion, playing a campaign with a first edition barbarian would be a challenge but an interesting one that would probably be well worth the effort for the players and dungeon master.

Rogue builds (kits) for 2e

Rogues/thieves have it tougher in later editions in that their skills are less unique and less important.  In first and second edition, they are the only class with find remove traps and open locks skills.  (Bards and rangers have lesser versions of the remaining thief skills- rangers get hide in shadows and move silently, bards get hear noise, climb walls, read languages, and pick pockets).  In first edition, assassins are less skilled than thieves, and bards have a few thief levels before becoming bards.  Thief-acrobats of Unearthed Arcana have many tumbling skills including a form of evasion that is like the 3e version.

While open locks and find remove traps have obvious uses and are necessary skills for the completion of many “old school modules”, what use are rogues?

The kits in the Complete Thief’s Handbook (PHBR2) provides several templates for rogues.

The kits may be categorized as follows

Providing only role-playing or background information (may still get a few bonuses to certain actions):  Acrobat, Adventurer, Beggar, Buccaneer, Fence, Investigator, Smuggler, Spy, Troubleshooter

Specializing in certain thief skills: Burglar, Cutpurse, Scout (wilderness only)

Greater combat focus (providing combat bonuses):  Assassin, Bandit, Bounty Hunter, Swashbuckler, Thug

These kits do not provide huge “power-ups”.  Several of them have no special benefits or hindrances, some only have slight modifiers to the thief special abilities (pick pockets, etc)

As a side note, the role of thieves in BECMI or the Moldvay/Cook D&D rules is slightly different because thieves are much weaker getting only a d4 per level for hit dice.  They have armor restrictions but can use any weapon.  The BECMI rules also allow the equivalent of weapon specialization for any class.  (BECMI weapon mastery is not identical to 1e/2e weapon specialization).  Also the backstab multiplier never increases.  It remains at double damage.

In conclusion the 2e thief kits in PHBR2 offer several different builds for thieves centered around thief abilities and role-playing/campaign storyline with a much lesser focus on a thief’s role as a “back row” combatant in a standard dungeon-crawling melee.

More discussion about kits in Dungeons and Dragons

What kit type is most common?  I think that the best answer is Scout.  There are at least 10 different scout kits.  (Thief, Dwarf, Humanoid, Ranger, Elf, Gnome (and Halfling), Ninja, Spelljammer, Taladas, Barbarian).  These kits are not all called scout per se but they have basically a stealth, learn about the enemy function coupled with being quick, light-fighters.  (As opposed to being heavy-infantry)

 

The next most common kit type is the hunter (8).  There are 3 bounty hunters (paid hunters) and 5 hunters that stalk monsters for other motivations.  Hunting/stalking kits are found in Thief, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Ranger, Humanoid, Paladin, and Ninja handbooks.

Surprisingly rangers are poorly represented in both of these kit types.  Most of the ranger kit types are in the wilderness defender category or the annoying animal companion category.  Where you might expect multiple scout or hunter kits, there are only 1 each for ranger. 

There are 8 “Savage” kits.  (Barbarian, Humanoid, Druid, Fighter, Priest, Ranger, Wizard, Taladas).  Savages being primitive and tribal rather than the medieval archetype for their respective class.

There are 3 bandit kits and 2 outlaw kits for a total of 5.

There are 4 pirate kits.  (Thief, Fighter, Spelljammer, and Al-Qadim)

There are 4 swashbuckler kits.  2 if the literal title swashbuckler is required (thief, fighter and plus two more if the swashbuckler is considered an acrobatic fighter with a hint of derring-do. (Elven, Bard)

It is interesting to see what kits are there multiples of across different classes.  Some of the kits seem to have more of a role-playing background thought to them.  Other seem to be considering what tactical role the character will play in the party.

There is a rough parity between the fighter-thief and priest-wizard kits.  (The paired handbooks roughly mirror each other but not exact copies).  After that the kits vary widely in terms of the kits that appear in a given supplement.

 

Kits vary widely in their "power-up" nature.  Kits published in 1989 have few power-ups.  Later kits are more prone to power-ups without much of a negative trade-off.  Although it is still possible to find balanced kits in later “Complete Handbooks”.  For example the peasant wizard who is poor and must remain poor.  The benefit is that he can get free shelter from his fellow peasants.  Not a huge “power-up”.  As literally written, the only magic item that peasant wizards can possess are magic weapons because weapons are the only thing exempted from the poverty requirement.  In contrast the Complete Ranger’s Handbook features Greenwood rangers who after 4th level (and other levels) get several special abilities by being part ranger/part plant including the ability and 10th level to grow an extra arm.  The arm is temporary but can be regrown.  Obviously as a fighter/front row character this is a significant ability.  The only meaningful hindrance for a Greenwood ranger is vulnerability to fire.  Both kits were designed by the same author (Rick Swan).

The Taladas boxed set does a good job of illustrating how kits were supposed to work.  Given that Taladas was written by “Zeb” Cook, principle author of the 2nd Edition rules, this is not surprising.  The main function of the Taladas kits is to provide color for the different cultural areas and explain that color in game terms.

The Taladas kits will be discussed in a future post.

A look at wizard kits from The Complete Wizard's Handbook

 

The kits discussed here are from The Complete Wizards Handbook (PHBR4) by Rick Swan.  Published in 1990

The kits in the CWH are a good starting point but probably would need modification before being included in a campaign.

Acamedician:  Reaction bonus to dealing with sages and scholars, age-based bonus to intelligence and wisdom checks.  Slight penalty to first attack against each new opponent.  Interesting background for role playing but is never going to be chosen by power gamers.  (The nerd-wizard kit)

Amazon Sorceress:  Receives gender-based reactions (good and bad).  Able to use some classical amazon weapons and proficiencies.  Unable to use two schools of magic.

Anagakok:  From an extreme heat or extreme cold culture.  Able to survive well in home conditions (artic or blazing hot desert/jungle).  Starts with little money and gets reaction penalties.

Militant Wizard:  Able to use some fighter weapons.  Access to fighter non-weapon proficiencies.  Limited spells.

Mystic:  Probably one of the kits most seriously in need of a rewrite.  Limited spells.  Gets 3 powerful once per week abilities at first level and no new abilities after that.  Must meditate daily as hindrance.

Patrician:  A rich wizard but must spend lavishly including buying a horse to start the game.  Also gets a reaction bonus from nobility.  Slightly limited spells.

Peasant Wizard:  A poor wizard who must stay poor.  Not sure that makes sense. 

Savage Wizard:  More of a tribal wizard who is skilled with magical talismans.  Interesting idea but I am not sure that it scales properly.

Witch:  A more powerful kit with several special abilities.  Given the varied meanings of the word witch, this is probably a more controversial kit, or at least a kit with a potential for controversy.

Wu Jen:  A transplant from the first edition Oriental Adventures.  Probably with all Oriental Adventures classes, you would be better playing with the Oriental Adventures rules.

Conclusion: Lots of good ideas to start with but probably most of these kits need some modification to balance their special abilities and hindrances in relation to each other.  If this is not done, several of the kits are almost unplayable because they are too weak relative to other kits.

The Complete Wizard’s Handbook will be reviewed further in a future post.

Top 5 Dungeon Master adventure and campaign resources

 

These are the best books for planning a campaign or designing your own setting:

Basic D&D Rules (By Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson- Tom Moldvay revision/restatement 1981).  The relatively simple advice for designing a dungeon really can be inspirational for creating an adventure whether you are a new to D&D or have been playing for a long time.  Simple but effective.

Dungeoneer’s Survival Guide (DSG) By Doug Niles (1986).  Includes a sample Underdark realm.  Includes advice for designing the physical properties of such a realm as well as general DM advice for an underground campaign.

Wilderness Survival Guide (WSG) By Kim Mohan (1986).  Includes a chapter on designing a continent (or more).  Focus is on natural features not civilization.

Dungeon Master’s Design Kit (DMDK) By Harold Johnson and Aaron Allston (1988).  Includes a random plot generator and descriptions of those elements so that the plot could also be constructed deliberately.  It is a great source of starter ideas.  It also provides a way to drive those ideas forward.  (Many listings of adventure ideas lack such a driver)

Campaign Sourcebook/Catacomb Guide (DMGR1) By Paul Jaquays and William W. Connors (1990)- Does include some material from the WSG, DSG and the 1st edition DMG but lots of good new material as well.  Probably the closest book written that handles the “teach me how to DM” question.

All of these books are highly recommended.

Complete Fighters Handbook- One of the best

Complete Fighters Handbook (PHBR1) by Aaron Allston Published in 1989.

Aaron Allston was one of the most successful freelance writers that TSR used. He wrote for many different product lines. His work has a certain flair to it. His writing does a good job of starting out in a particular direction and then leaves room for expansion. Other good D&D writers and designers have this flair, too. Reading well-written material makes the reader excited about playing D&D. Aaron Allston was a writer who could bring excitement.

The Complete Fighters Handbook (CFHB) is a good mix of rules and role-playing ideas. The rules and roles balance is a tough one. Too many rules and the characters tend to become too much more powerful. Too much role-playing information and the supplement is empty and hollow.  The CFHB is one of the best of the "Complete" handbooks for second edition.  It gives you an idea for how kits were supposed to turn out as mostly aids to roleplaying with a maybe one bonus and one hindrance that was different than the basic class.

The CFHB also has good optional rules for enhancing combat such as rules for weapon proficiency by type of weapon rather than name of weapon.  It also has suggested rules for fancy swashbuckling-type moves.  Players of other editions may benefit from the roleplaying suggestions for several different stereotypical fighter personalities.

Highly recommended! 5 out of 5 stars

The Ruins of Undermountain

Review:  Ruins of Undermountain.  By Ed Greenwood.  Published in 1991

The Ruins of Undermountain (RoU) details the first 3 levels of a 9 level superdungeon found under the Forgotten Realms city of Waterdeep.  Each level is on a fold-out map roughly 2’x3’.  The third level is twice as big.  Only about 25% of each level is described in terms of keyed locations giving the DM plenty to do in terms of filling in the details.  Generally high level characters are necessary to adventure into RoU.  There are lots of traps and there are some high-powered monsters on the first level.  A generous portion of the third level includes the city of Skullport.  Skullport is an intriguing idea.  A dangerous border-town between civilization and the Underdark where shady deals and so forth are conducted.  There are several pages of adventure ideas and two adventures included in the set.  Levels 4 through 9 are described in very general terms.  Although connected with Waterdeep, there is enough flexibility that Undermountain could be moved to a non-Forgotten Realms campaign with minimal difficulty.  An ambitious undertaking with the right amount of detail and flexibility and room for the DMs own ideas.  Highly recommended! 5 out of 5 stars.

Recreating the major battles of the Empires Trilogy

Review:  Horde Campaign (FR12) by Curtis Scott.  Published in 1991.

 

The Horde Campaign takes the story from the Empires Trilogy and converts a handful of major battles into the Battlesystem rules so that those events can be replayed and recreated in individual Forgotten Realms campaigns.  The narrow focus of this product makes it of value to collectors but of lesser value to others.  Overall it is a fine product for what it tries to do but probably only worthwhile for collectors and Battlesystem fans.  3 out of 5 stars.

Mercenaries in the Forgotten Realms

Review: Gold & Glory (FR15) by Tim Beach.  Published in 1992

This accessory details mercenary companies in the Forgotten Realms.  Considering the history of medieval warfare- that mercenaries were common and that it was not until the age of Napoleon that standing armies became universal, this is a rich and underdeveloped area of D&D.  The book details numerous mercenary and adventuring companies throughout the Forgotten Realms.  It also details Battlesystem statistics for the companies.  On the positive side it details lots of companies.  On the negative side some companies do not have a lot of detail other than their location.  The book would be improved by a few more adventure ideas and adventuring companies.  3 out of 5 stars.

Adventurers vs "the Dragon" dungeon

Review:  Dragon Mountain.  By Colin McComb (Published in 1993)

Perhaps noticing that there is a relative dearth of adventurers vs dragons modules available, the superdungeon Dragon Mountain was published.  (The Book of Lairs, and D&D AC10- Dragons and Giants, did include some dragons).  Dragon Mountain is divided into 3 parts, one part getting there, another part dealing with the entry level, and the finale in the deeper levels.  While relatively smooth, the parts are not all that fantastic.  Part 1 is a bit too remote from the dragon theme and so feels a bit dull and irrelevant.  Part 2 introduces some kobolds in the upper levels that use somewhat sophisticated tactics.  Part 3 has even tougher kobolds and other challenging monsters leading up to the dragon.  On the positive side, the dungeon is not bogged down by too much fighting.  The maps, handouts and stand-up figures for the set are all pretty good.  Unlike some superdungeons where the DM is just given some starter information, this one is a coherent whole and could be played fairly easily straight out of the box.  On the negative side, there is a weak attempt to make Dragon Mountain fit in any campaign world.  Based on the internal descriptions of places and so forth, I think the module would have been better off finding a place in the Forgotten Realms to put Dragon Mountain.  Maybe somewhere in the Sword Coast region between the coast and Cormyr.  There is nothing seriously wrong with Dragon Mountain (the boxed set).  However, it is not so good that it is a must have.  If you want to run a classic adventurers vs the dragon dungeon, this one would certainly be good for that purpose.  3 out of 5 stars.

Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun

Review:  Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun (WG4).  By Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz.  Published 1982.

This module is for 6th to 10th level characters.  The characters are searching for an evil temple at the request of some gnomes.  The first part of the module involves finding the temple, the second part involves storming the temple.  Overall it is a module with some interesting ideas (searching for a lost temple, hazardous wilderness travel through the mountains to find the temple, fighting to get into the temple and then exploring it, and maybe finding some really interesting places, and maybe not).  The execution of those ideas is good but not great.  Also like most modules of the era is has multiple opportunities for the characters to get into make a saving throw or else types of challenges.  Ranked the 23rd best module of all-time in 2004 by Dungeon magazine.  Like the execution of its ideas and its Cthulu-flavor, I would give it a good but not great rating.  (The players in my campaign were successful in storming the temple).  3 out of 5 stars.

Hall of Heroes

Review: Hall of Heroes (FR7).  Several authors.  Published in 1989

This supplement has the 2nd edition statistics for the main characters of the Forgotten Realms Moonshae, Icewind Dale, and Avatar trilogies.  It also has main characters from the Spellfire novel.  It also has background information relevant to the particular NPC that is broader detail about the culture that he or she comes from.  While it has obvious uses in a 1st or 2nd edition Forgotten Realms campaign, FR7 is also useful as a thought exercise for the DM planning another campaign and needing a powerful NPC like Elminster or Drizzt.  The DM can compare how Elminster or Drizzt is presented here and then think about how to present his or her powerful NPC.  A fair quality product with more limited use overall.  3 out of 5 stars.

The Free-City of Greyhawk

Review: The City of Greyhawk.  By Douglas Niles and Carl Sargent and Rik Rose.  Published in 1989.

This boxed set details the Free-City of Greyhawk prior to the WARS, and Out of the Ashes boxed sets.  Those sets changed the Greyhawk world considerably.  When Wizards of the Coast acquired TSR, they released several new materials for Greyhawk that follow on the Out of the Ashes materials.

Like the Waterdeep, Greyhawk is a classic metropolitan adventuring center with lots of potential for urban and dungeon adventures.  (Later on this blog, I hope to compare and contrast several D&D cities).  Greyhawk has a seedier feel to than Waterdeep.  Several NPCs bearing names on 1st and 2nd edition spells like Bigby, Nystul, etc are detailed.

The boxed set also describes the surrounding area and includes several possible adventure ideas both in and out of town.  There are lots of good adventure ideas.  In terms of playing, the boxed set provides great value in this regard.  The material is also inspirational for a DM looking to design a similar city for his or her own campaign world.

Not perfect but an excellent source for great adventures and adventure ideas in an urban environment and in the City of Greyhawk.  Highly recommended, good for both collecting and using.  4 out of 5 stars.

A look at Minotaurs

Review:  Taladas: The Minotaurs.  (DLR2) By Colin McComb.  Published in 1991.

Taladas is one of my favorite settings.  It is another continent on the world of Krynn.  It has a one sentence description in the Dragonlance Adventures hardcover book.  In the future, I will review both Taladas, and Dragonlance Adventures at length.  The focus of this review is on a supplement about the minotaurs of Taladas.  Overall DLR2 provides more details about one of the significant inhabitants of Taladas- the minotaurs.  About 1/8 of Taladas is an empire (the League of Minotaurs) that resembles the later Roman Empire and many of the citizens of the League are minotaurs.  The ruling class of the League including the emperor are minotaurs.  DLR2 provides lots of good material to work with for a Taladas campaign for minotaurs including several interesting adventure ideas.  I would certainly recommend it to collectors and Dragonlance/Taladas fans.  With the cultural background that it provides, it could be used to bring minotaurs into another first or second edition D&D campaign.  A very solid product, in the good but not great category.  3 out of 5 stars.

Pirates in 2nd Edition Dungeons and Dragons

Review:  Pirates of the Sea of Fallen Stars (FOR3) by Curtis Scott.  Published in 1992

 

Pirates is set in the Forgotten Realms.  It provides a solid starting point for a pirate themed campaign.  It has an overview of piracy in that region of the Forgotten Realms.  It has some commentary on how certain non-weapon proficiencies would be useful.  It describes some of the pirate isles.  It gives options for “good guy” pirate campaigns and “bad guy” pirate campaigns.  It has rules for naval combat.  The combat rules keep things strictly medieval in that there are no ship-mounted cannons.  The rules might be a bit thin in places but they are a good starting point.  There is a section on NPCs.  Overall it is a credible product.  It would provide a good start for a pirate-themed campaign.  Recommended for all.  2nd edition Forgotten Realms campaigns will get the most benefit.  3 out of 5 stars.

The Northern Reaches: A fantastic interpretation of the Vikings in D&D

Review: Northern Reaches (Gaz. 7) By Ken Rolston and Elizabeth Danforth.  Published in 1988

The Northern Reaches details three kingdoms that are loosely based on the historic Vikings.  The Kingdoms are Ostland, Vestland, and Soderfjord Jarldoms.  This is an excellent product and reading it will make you want to adventure here or if not that, play Bethesda Softwork’s Skyrim.  Gaz. 7 does a good job of making a fairly cliché idea fun.  A very intriguing idea found in Gaz. 7 is that of ancient dwarves, “Moulder Dwarves” cast out of Rockhome for pursuit of forbidden lore.  These dwarves can be sought by the player characters to construct legendary magic items.  In the present era where it seems like the rules make it far too easy to construct magic items, these dwarves are a refreshing throwback.  They are also very literary considering the mythologies where dwarves craft the hero some magical item.  Gaz. 7 is a good mix of interesting places and interesting adventure ideas.  Highly recommended for collectors, classic Dungeons and Dragons players, and players of other editions of D&D.  4 out of 5 stars.

Minrothad Guilds disappoints

Review: Minrothad Guilds (Gaz. 9) by Deborah Christian and Kim Eastland.  Published in 1988.

Minrothad Guilds is another island nation.  The brief description in Module X1- describes Minrothad as a syndicate, closely aligned with The Empire of Thyatis. Gaz. 9 has some good information about the naval trade between nations.  The back of the fold-up map that comes with the Gazetteer shows the naval trade routes.  It also has an attempt at more naval rules and naval trade rules.  Whereas some supplements are guilty of being too vague, Minrothad makes detail decisions that I don’t like.  Although it never says so directly, Minrothad is run like a large business.  Think the stereotypical 1960s corporation that had many different branches.  So there are lots of restrictions and heavy government/guild domination of many aspects of life.  I think Gaz. 9 would have been better if it had more fully embraced this corporate model.  Lots of interesting adventures could flow from that idea.  (Or in the alternative if Gaz. 9 had been comprised of several rival guilds that hate each other and are scheming against each other- that also would have been a rich source of adventure)  The description in Gaz. 9 is a bit more muddled and is not satisfying.  It is in the middle between the rival guilds that hate each other and the super-corporation model.  It comes across as illogical in places   The heavy-handed fascist-like government is obnoxious.  So in the end it has some ok ideas but the execution of those ideas could be better.  Recommended for collectors only.  2 out of 5 stars.

Gaz. 4 The Kingdom of Ierendi: Intriguing Adventures on Mysterious Islands

Review: Kingdom of Ierendi (Gaz. 4) by Anne Gray McCready (Ken Rolston is credited with development).  Published in 1987.  From a brief description of the government as actually being more of an oligarchy in X1- Isle of Dread (1981), (and that is all that is described), comes a fairly unique country.  It consists of 10 islands.  One main island that is fairly conventional and then 9 other islands of varying degrees of mysteriousness.  The main island has a bit of a Hawaiian theme which is not a conventional D&D setting.  The text of the book is full of sidebars with adventure ideas.  It also has rules for naval combat.  It also has background information about the islands and the people, culture, and economy of Ierendi.  One of the drawbacks is that the book is really written for DMs only.  Later Gazetteers divided their information into player and DM booklets.  It would have been nice if Ierendi had such separation.  It is really written from the perspective of players who come from the mainland rather than being native Ierendi.  Gaz. 4 is relatively light on rules and would be fairly easy for a DM to convert to another edition.  I would highly recommend Ierendi to not only collectors but DMs looking for interesting ideas.  4 out of 5 stars.

Ranking the Gazetteers of the Known D&D world (Mystara)

The Known D&D world (later named Mystara) is made up of a bunch of countries that were defined in 1981 in the module X1- Isle of Dread.  Each country was given a short description.  Starting in 1987, a group of publications called Gazetteers were produced based on the short description of each country.  Each Gazetteer detailed one country on the map.  The Gazetteers are between 64 and 96 pages long (each).  They provide an overview of the history, culture, geography, and special rules for each country.  They are not fully compatible with each other in that there are contradictions and continuity errors that are unresolved.  (Nothing major).  Often but not always the continuity errors relate to descriptions of Gazetteers yet-to-be-published at the time of writing.  The Gazetteers were outsourced to freelance writers although the person responsible for hiring freelance writers (Bruce Heard) wrote two of the Gazetteers (Thar and Glantri).

Ranking the Gazetteers from best to worst:

Great: Interesting Setting, Good adventure ideas, Good Execution (of ideas), Fun, Makes you want to go there

Good: 4 out of 5 of the above traits

Ok: 3 out of 5

Poor: 2 out 5

Awful: 1 out of 5

Or- Has a negative trait (or two) that cancels a positive trait

Negative traits:  Too much fluff-empty banal text that adds nothing; Weak on rules; Logical error(s)-it is fantasy but some of the rationale for why/how is suspect; Tries to accommodate all races and classes when this doesn't make sense based on the setting-Minrothad Guilds is the most flagrant violator; "My gazetteer is indestructible syndrome"-the better ones clearly aren't indestructible; too much blank canvas- too much detail in a particular area is left for the DM which somewhat defeats the purpose of buying a gazetteer in the first place.

 

GREAT

Principalities of Glantri (Gaz. 3)

Orcs of Thar (Gaz. 10)

Golden Khan of Ethengar (Gaz. 12)

Elves of Alfheim (Gaz. 5)

 

GOOD

Kingdom of Ierendi (Gaz. 4)

Dwarves of Rockhome (Gaz. 6)

Grand Duchy of Karameikos (Gaz. 1)

Northern Reaches (Gaz. 7)

Hollow World Boxed Set (an Edgar Rice Burroughs type of land underneath Mystara)

Voyage of the Princess Ark boxed set (based on the Dragon Magazine column of the same name- details an India-like setting, a sub-Saharan Africa type setting, and rules for similar ships)

 

OK

Shadow Elves (Gaz. 13)

Dawn of the Empires (Boxed Set about Thyatis and Alphatia)

Emirates of Ylaruam (Gaz. 2)

Top Ballista (Silly rules for gnomish flying city complete with magical WW1-style aircraft

Tall Tales of the Wee Folk (The Faerie Kingdom near Alfheim with rules for playing pixies and sprites, etc)

The Sea People (Rules for playing undersea characters)

Night Howlers (A valley full of werewolves)

Five Shires (Gaz. 8)

 

POOR

Minrothad Guilds (Gaz. 9)

 

AWFUL

Atruaghin Clans (Gaz. 14)

Republic of Darokin (Gaz. 11)

Note: I intend to Review each of the Gazetteers on this blog.