In 1984, TSR released a rather unusual product: 3-D Dragon Tiles featuring The Kidnapping of Princess Arelina.
What’s a Dragon Tile? It’s a relatively thin cardboard tile printed with a colour design and used to create a 3-D dungeon map. For 1984, this was a product way ahead of its time. And the technology. What TSR did with the tiles was innovative and forward-thinking. For a lot of people, this was the first time they could have a three-dimensional (sort of) representation of the dungeon. And even if they didn’t have miniature figures, they could use some of the stand-ups in the product.
Not that there was that great a range of stand-up figures. Eight PC figures, 2 generic fighters, 1 magic-user, Princess Arelina, 4 Ghouls, 2 Wererats, 2 Giant Rats, 1 Rust Monsters, and 2 Skeletons.
Guess what monsters appeared in the adventure?
This product was branded as a Dungeons & Dragons product (of the Basic/Expert line) rather than an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons product, although the cover declared the adventure could be played with D&D or AD&D rules. The adventure was designed for a group of four to eight characters between the 2nd and 5th level of experience. At least two clerics were recommended in the group, most likely for their healing power.
As you might imagine, the adventure is relatively simple, appearing in an 8-page booklet of which most of three pages were used for other purposes. Yes, this was even less space than Gygax had to write Steading of the Hill Giant Chief.
In form, it’s a straightforward dungeon crawl. The adventure describes 17 areas, split between two levels of the dungeon. It is not a strictly linear design, and there is a secret way to reach the lower level. The plot of the adventure, such as it is, is to rescue the king’s daughter, Princess Arelina, who has been kidnapped by a band of ne’er-do-wells and taken into the mysterious House of Towers. The king has the place surrounded with archers and will shoot anyone leaving – including the characters if they dare leave without the Princess. (I guess it’s an extreme method to stop characters taking long rests after every combat!)
Given the constraints of the adventure, it comes off surprisingly well. It’s not a great example of the form, but due to the various dungeon features on the cards that can be placed on the map, including curtains, windows, doors, trapdoors, bookshelves, rugs, sofas and more, the adventure is stuffed with things for the characters to poke. And there’s enough pokeable features that have meaning, such as illusions of bricked-over windows that conceal alcoves with coffins.
It’s not an adventure for role-playing. It is an adventure that highlights exploration and combat. There are some very nice touches, such as a tunnel where ghouls lurk in wait for the foolish to enter. What makes this interesting is that it’s possible for one of the kidnappers to inadvertently enter it during battle – at which point the ghouls grab him, there’s a scream, then silence.
Then there’s the chaotic magic-user who uses a magic scroll to fireball the door the players plan to enter through, then taunts them that there are more fireball spells at his service – while not having any further spells of that magnitude.
It’s likely to give a fun session that creates a few good memories, but not much more than that. As for the expense of the product – mainly based on its dungeon tiles – that, I can’t speak to. These days, picking up a physical copy of this product is very expensive. It’s rare, and a complete one is even rarer! TSR would continue occasionally doing cardboard stand-ups – most of the later ones I saw were for town buildings rather than dungeons. I’m amused by the branding of “Dragon Tiles” – although it’s also not trademarked.
I’m quite grateful that it’s available on the DMs Guild – otherwise, I don’t think I’d ever be able to read it. No Print-On-Demand version is available. To do so would require two products, if I understand how their POD service works, one for the cardboard and the other for the adventure. I don’t know how many would wear the expense of that. It’s not that special a product!
Overall, it’s mostly a curiosity at this point. And probably better than it had any right to be!