The third module in the Competition series was The Lost Island of Castanamir, a 32-page adventure by Ken Rolston for 5 to 8 characters of levels 1-4. As a competition adventure, it gives guidelines on how to score various teams playing through the adventure. I wonder if they were ever used by anyone who bought the adventure? Ken Rolston is a significant game designer. His … Continue reading AD&D Review – C3: The Lost Island of Castanamir
A few years ago, Paizo Publishing released a horror-themed series of adventures for their Pathfinder system. To augment that series, Legendary Games released two short adventures that could be used as additional scenarios during its play, describing them as “Gothic Adventure Path Plug-Ins”. Legendary Games has now released rewritten versions of these two adventures for the new edition of D&D. Neither of the adventures are … Continue reading Adventure Review – The Murmuring Fountain
In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords is the final adventure in the four-part Aerie of the Slave Lords series. It was originally written to be the final round of the AD&D Open Tournament at Gen Con XIII in 1980. There’s no doubt that In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords was a tournament module; it begins with the party, having been captured at the … Continue reading AD&D Review – A4: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords
After the first two modules in the series, it is a pleasant surprise to consider Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords. This is a module that rather exceeds the design of what has come previously. The first part of the module is the fifth of five opening tournament rounds, and involves the heroes making their way to the Aerie through a set of … Continue reading AD&D Review – A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords
Most of the current releases from third-party publishers supporting D&D 5E are conversions of existing adventures. The first release from Genius Loci, Assault on the Southern Horn, is of that sort. In this case, it’s the conversion of an adventure written for the Swords and Wizardry ruleset (which derives from the original Dungeons & Dragons and its supplements). The adventure is presented as a 21-page … Continue reading Adventure Review – Assault on the Southern Horn
Slave Pits of the Undercity is the first adventure in the Aerie of the Slave Lords series. This series of adventures was originally designed for the official AD&D Tournament at GenCon XIII in 1980. It was a very unusual undertaking: the first round was actually five separate adventures, each undertaken by different groups. The semi-final was a sixth adventure, and the final round was a … Continue reading AD&D Review – A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity
With Dragons of Despair, TSR launched the Dragonlance property, and we moved into a new era of D&D. It’s really hard to understate how important Dragonlance is to the history of D&D. The story was told through both adventures and novels, and for the first time TSR were concentrating on telling a really big story through their products. We’d seen hints of this approach to … Continue reading Review of DL1: Dragons of Despair
I’m writing this review thirty years after UK3: The Gauntlet came out. This adventure is part two of the two-part Alderweg series. I was not particularly kind in my review of the first part of the series, The Sentinel. I did not enjoy it when I first read it back in the 80s, and I don’t particularly enjoy it today. It’s not a terrible adventure, … Continue reading AD&D Review – UK3: The Gauntlet
DDEX1-1 Defiance in Phlan is the first adventure in the D&D Expeditions range from Wizards of the Coast. It is only available to organisers and DMs running games of the D&D Expeditions program, which is primarily in-store and convention play. While most of the D&D Expeditions adventures can be played in a single 4-hour session, Defiance in Phlan is written as five, short, one-hour sessions. … Continue reading Defiance in Phlan – Introducing the D&D Expeditions adventures
Payback is the second of a two-adventure series that began with Wrath of the Goblinoids. In it, the players play goblins or other evil humanoids fighting against the encroachment of humans into their lands. As with my previous review, I’m reviewing a pdf copy I bought from DriveThruRPG. The adventure begins with the characters attending a meeting of the various humanoid leaders at the great … Continue reading Adventure Review: Payback
