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
Lords of Waterdeep is a really good game. Caylus meets Ticket to Ride. Two of the best parts of Caylus, the worker placement and the ability to construct buildings for more actions and a varied board, are married with the “ticket” mechanism, which provides structure to the game and allows new players to quickly pick up the flow of the game. And now it has … Continue reading Review of Scoundrels of Skullport
An explanatory note: Ultimate Campaign is a relatively recent release from Paizo Publishing for their Pathfinder Game, a 256-page hardcover book. It's not the first supplement to the system they've done, but I personally think it's the most significant, as it really extends the system into areas that most Fantasy RPGs often don't cover, or don't cover well. This makes it particularly interesting, as it … Continue reading Ultimate Campaign – Character Backgrounds
Fangwood Keep is a stand-alone Pathfinder adventure for 4th level characters by Alex Greenshields. It uses the tried-and-true approach of presenting what initially appears to be a standard adventure which transforms into something else in its second half. The adventure begins with the characters charged to recover a contested keep on the border between Molthune and Nirmathas, which has been seized by a rebel soldier, … Continue reading Review of Fangwood Keep (Pathfinder adventure)
Quests & Campaigns is a 32-page book in Pathfinder’s Player Companion series, which expands on a number of concepts first explored in the Ultimate Campaign book that look at options for detailing the background and goals of player characters. In theory, a book containing a lot of background and goal-related options for a character is a good idea. However, the book fumbles the ideas badly. … Continue reading Review of Quests & Campaigns (Pathfinder supplement)
Every so often, I go through a phase of buying old D&D adventures I don't have yet; I've now got most of the 1st edition releases, along with a lot of the Basic/Expert line, but my 2nd edition AD&D collection is very poor indeed. My last spasm of purchasing found me picking up the three Marco Volo adventures: Departure, Journey and Arrival. (Journey hasn't actually … Continue reading Review of Marco Volo: Departure (1994 AD&D 2E adventure)
Oasis of the White Palm is an AD&D adventure for 6-8 characters of sixth to eight level. It was originally written by Philip Meyers and then rewritten and edited by Tracy Hickman as he combined it with his adventure, Pharaoh, as part of the Desert of Desolation series. There are several problems with how it is written, but my play experiences with it allow me … Continue reading Review of I4: Oasis of the White Palm (1983 AD&D adventure)
Although the release date for Murder in Baldur's Gate hasn't yet come for us, I was able to browse through the adventure as part of my preparation for the upcoming D&D Encounters season. My initial reaction to the Launch Weekend adventure was "challenging". That assessment stands for the full adventure. After a run of adventures during the 4E era that were written for – basically … Continue reading Murder in Baldur’s Gate – Some DMing Skill Required (minor spoilers)
“The Companions” is the first volume of “The Sundering” series from Wizards of the Coast, a major cross-media event that transfers the Forgotten Realms from its 4e incarnation to the next edition. Written by R.A. Salvatore, "The Companions" revisits the characters of his original book – “The Crystal Shard” – and of its many sequels: Bruenor, Regis and Catti-Brie. Readers more up-to-date with Salvatore’s novels … Continue reading Review of “The Companions” by R.A. Salvatore
