We played our tenth session of The Shattered Obelisk on Monday, December 11, 2023. This was our first session comprised entirely of new material, as we continued through Chapter 5: Paths of Peril. The party had found a long tunnel leading away from Phandalin that some of the goblins had used to flee, but they quickly abandoned their idea of following the tunnel when I … Continue reading The Shattered Obelisk, session 10
The second Companion Game adventure, CM2 Death’s Ride was released in 1984. Designed for level 15-20 adventurers, Garry Spiegle had a tough assignment. At this point, these were the highest levels of the game for which anyone had designed an adventure. Only Douglas Niles, with his level 15 and greater CM1 Test of the Warlords had written a similarly levelled adventure. And this was a … Continue reading Classic D&D Review: Death’s Ride
In Dungeons & Dragons, there are dungeons. And in those dungeons are doors. Doors were tremendously important in Classic D&D (the term I’ll use to describe the original, B/X and AD&D versions of the game), and I have a few thoughts I’d like to share with you about them, and how you can use them well. The basic purpose of a door is to divide … Continue reading D&D Procedures: Doors
Set in the realm of Lamordia, one of the domains of Ravenloft, The God Engine is a horror-themed adventure for level 1-2 characters, with a suggested running time of four to six hours. There is a distinct steampunk vibe to the proceedings, and it contains adult concepts. The plot concerns a fossilized elder brain which gains control of a researcher and forces him to create … Continue reading D&D 5E Review – Lamordia: The God Engine
We played our ninth session of The Shattered Obelisk on December 4, 2023. We’d left the session on a cliff-hanger as ash zombies rose in the building the party were exploring in Thundertree and moved towards them. Now, the thrilling continuation! They slaughtered the ash zombies! Did you expect anything else? A shatter spell from Vel’rari, a thunderwave from Nymia – it turned into a … Continue reading The Shattered Obelisk, session 9
Dungeon Module D2: Shrine of the Kuo-Toa continues the 3-module “Drow” series. By this stage, the party has defeated the giants and is pursuing the drow deeper and deeper into the earth. The first adventure of this series, Descent into the Depths of the Earth introduced the party to the world that existed below; this adventure deals with the second part of their journey. The … Continue reading AD&D Review: Shrine of the Kuo-Toa
Following the completion of the Temple of Elemental campaign, our characters were considered heroes. The players? We were transitioning. In my case, I was becoming a student at Melbourne University. (Our DM was already there). This puts an actual date on this campaign: I began my first year in 1990. It’s worth mentioning that this was an incredibly erratically scheduled campaign. And my memory is … Continue reading Memories of Greyhawk Campaigns Past: Tsojcanth
Our eighth session of The Shattered Obelisk took place on Monday, November 20, 2023. We’d had another week break as a player was moving. At the time I thought we were back for an extended run. Little did I know! A reminder of the party members at this point: With the Lost Mine and the Spider dealt with, the party returned to Phandalin to deal … Continue reading The Shattered Obelisk, session 8
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 … Continue reading Basic D&D Review: The Kidnapping of Princess Arelina
Our second session of the Greyhawk campaign in 2024 took place on Friday, January 19. The characters are all about tenth level at this point. I was using an adventure by Troll Lord Games, The Ebon Staff, as my basis for the session. The ideas behind the adventure are fantastic, even if I have a few issues with its implementation. The characters are investigating a … Continue reading Adventures in Greyhawk: The Staff of Xan-Yae
