Horror on the Hill was published in 1983, and is one of Douglas Niles’ early works for Dungeons and Dragons. Niles, a wargamer, would contribute significantly to the Dragonlance series in a couple of years, and then write several Forgotten Realms novels. I’ve already covered two of his adventures, Against the Cult of the Reptile God and Curse of Xanathon. His early work has a … Continue reading Review of B5: Horror on the Hill
I’m feeling really good about last week’s role-playing. Three games, each with a different version of the D&D rules, all memorable for their own reasons. There are times when things come together, and that was the case this week. D&D Encounters – Legacy of the Crystal Shard – D&D Next This has been a challenging season to run, but it’s been getting a lot better … Continue reading Three Games
This Saturday's game wasn't meant to have eight players. Lee was meant to be running his Pathfinder game, which would have left me with a scant handful of player (and thus, heavy on the henchmen). However, Lee was ill, so I inherited his players, all of whom have played in my AD&D game at one time or another. Daniel also turned up, and Tim as … Continue reading AD&D: Hellhounds and Hellknights
The final AD&D session of 2013 saw seven people playing, and the regular range of character levels from 1st to 9th. It also saw the group discovering What Lay Beyond the Orcs of the Bloody Eye, as – after rather destroying the first group they met – the group then negotiated their way past the other orcs. Mostly with, "Let us past or we will … Continue reading AD&D: Chairs of Doom
The penultimate AD&D session of this year had six players in attendance, with characters ranging from first level to ninth level, and another trip into the depths of the Caverns of the Oracle. It turned out to be quite dangerous, as a number of hellhounds attacked the party as they got closer to the levels that Hextor’s followers hold in sway. The party consisted of … Continue reading AD&D: Magic Items, Resurrection Survival failure and other things
I never read enough of Dragon Magazine when I was younger to be familiar with Ed Greenwood's early articles, where he gave the first hint of the Forgotten Realms. For me, the Realms properly came into being with the publication of the original boxed set in 1987, and the publication of its first books, Douglas Niles' "Moonshae" trilogy, and R.A. Salvatore's "Icewind Dale" trilogy. The … Continue reading Winter Never Ends – the Legacy of the Crystal Shard Launch Event report (part 1)
Onto Icewind Dale! Problems with couriers meant that the delivery my FLGS should have received of the Launch Event kit still hadn't arrived on the Friday before the event… yes, the one on the next day. This was something of a problem for running it. I got extremely frustrated and a quite a bit angry and vented about it on EN World and Twitter. I … Continue reading The Strange Story of the Legacy of Icewind Dale Launch Event
This weekend is the Launch Event for Legacy of the Crystal Shard, the latest season of D&D Encounters, and also the latest adventure release from Wizards of the Coast. As with Murder in Baldur's Gate, this is an adventure for 1st-3rd level characters that supports three editions: 3.5E, 4E and Next. The adventure proper has no stats in it, instead they're given in downloadable files … Continue reading Legacy of the Crystal Shard – Launch Event preview
While Tracy Hickman was ushering in the new style of D&D adventures, Gary Gygax was still producing adventures of the whimsical, fun-house dungeon tradition. EX1: Dungeonland was originally a sub-level of the Castle Greyhawk dungeons in Gygax’s original campaign, but, with the rest of Castle Greyhawk lacking, was released on its own to be inserted into campaigns as the individual DM saw fit. As the … Continue reading Review of EX1: Dungeonland
The Desert of Desolation trilogy ends with the Lost Tomb of Martek. In it, our heroes need to find the tomb of the legendary wizard Martek in order to finally defeat the evil efreeti that has been ravaging the land. It's a suitably epic climax to the series, but it doesn't quite come off. Tracy Hickman had done a good job of incorporating both his … Continue reading Review of I5: Lost Tomb of Martek
