Quasqueton said:
I never ran or played in this module, but some things about it are interesting to note.
This module was built to punish high-level PCs who had not truly worked their way up to their level. This is stated right in the module itself.
Actually, it was an AD&D adaption of the OD&D adventure written back in the early '70s for EGG's LG campaign (as a sub-level accessed in the dungeons beneath CG)--as stated in the second paragraph of the forward.
As for the "punishment" factor, I offer the following from the Introduction:
"The place you are about to send your Player Characters is a very deadly one indeed. Well, players have been asking for high-level adventures, and you are about to give them what they've been asking for (in spades). Before they begin, and before you prepare to run, remember this: if you DM this module according to the rules of the game, and its spirit, the best of players are going to be in real trouble before very long. There are not many tricks, traps, or clever devices here. This is an adventure of attrition. The place is literally infested with horrible monsters, and the sheer numbers of huge, man-eating creatures will soon take their toll of the PCs. Unless they are clever about conserving their resources, the adventurers will fidn that they have exhausted far too much of their power and not explored half of the island. Magic-users will be particularly vulnerable to this. The point of all this preamble is to exhort you to be tough. That's right, don't allow any sympathy to interfere with the game as it is designed. Too many players are marching around claiming that they have chraracters able to handle anything. Now is the time to let them demonstrate the mettle of these invicible characters they have.
Challenging? Certainly. Tough, absolutely.
Punishment? Perhaps you're projecting personal bias? I see the same sort of language used in the Introduction here in the modules of Necromancer Games and Monte Cook's work. If anything, it seems as entirely spot on in 1973 as in 1985 as in 1998 and today.
This module truly brutilized wizards. Instead of giving high-level characters a high-level challenge, it heavily restricted high-level characters so they couldn't make use of their high-level spells.
No more than Q1, your average 2nd edition Ravenloft or Planescape setting game, or even some parts of Monte Cook's
The Banewarrens or NG's
Rappan Athuk.
If these aren't your cup of tea, that's one thing, but you aren't exactly giving this module its fair due for those who are unfamiliar with it, either.
The unarmored "human" natives of the demiplane had ACs in the 20s (translated to D&D3). This is an example of completely screwing up the rules/universe just to avoid putting thought into high-level challenges.
Actually, their ACs are completely in line with the Dexterity bonuses to ACs that accrued to Barbarians (which these NPCs are) as given in
The Dragon and the official rules of the original
Unearthed Arcana.
Note the ability scores of the various pregenerated PCs. Six Human PCs, levels 14-19
Two 19s
Fourteen 18s
Four 17s
Seven 16s
Five 15s
One 14
Two 13s
One character is missing a constitution score. No ability increasing magic items.
Quasqueton
Not sure the point of this last part. Looks a lot like the high-end stats I've seen in all kinds of games featuring Arch-Mages, Lords-Baron, Great Druids, and the like, in any edition.
Stat bonus-granting magic items were not as much a staple of earlier versions of D&D as they are in the current one, so that readily explains their absence. Doubtless for characters to ever attain such heights in the old games their stats were very good intially, and the various
books, librams, tomes, magic pools, multiple
wishes,
permanent spells, and just plain old fashioned luck and good play may have contributed to the appearance of the Great Personages included in this module.
I'd gladly contribute to further to this post, as this module is one of my all-time favourites and is fondly remembered by long-time participants in my campaign, but judging by the wild and somewhat exaggerated nature of your post, I am not certain that its nothing more than a venue with which to flame OOP versions of D&D.
