"City of the Gods" by Arneson & Ritchie (TSR DA3)

[Silver Moon]

Last night my gaming group went through my box of old TSR modules to figure out what we may want to do next. They came upon a sealed copy of 1987's TSR Module DA3 "City of the Gods" by Dave L. Arneson & David J. Ritchie. They thought it looked interesting. Have any of you ever played in it or DM'ed it? What were your experiences?

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I have it, and there are a lot of fun ideas. But it is built up from DA1: Adventures in Blackmoor and DA2: Temple of the Frog, where the high technology is gradually brought to the fore up until they get to the city itself. So if you go right into the City, expect a lot of lasers and golem-like robots.

 

[havard]

If you have the chance, I second Deuce's recommendation of running DA1 and 2 before City of the Gods. OTOH, City of the Gods can be ran by itself as well.

All of the DA modules begin with a sequence explaining how the PCs travel through time from the Known World and back to the Blackmoor Era. If you dont have an established campaign in the Known World, this section can be safely ignored and I recommend skipping it and going straight to the adventure as set in Blackmoor.

Introducing Sci Fi elements in a fantasy campaign is a bold thing to do, although it sounds like your players are up for it. In any case I recommend thinking about how you want to present these elements in the campaign.

DA3 is a great adventure and I am sure you will have a lot of fun with it! Dave Arneson first ran expeditions to the City of the Gods back in 1975, including an adventure with Gary Gygax as a player, so you are in a great tradition here!

-Havard

 

[Silver Moon]

Introducing Sci Fi elements in a fantasy campaign is a bold thing to do, although it sounds like your players are up for it. In any case I recommend thinking about how you want to present these elements in the campaign.

Not the first time, in our group's three decades of playing this will be the 5th time that they've gone to a more futuristic world (one of the PC's even came back from one, a hippie from 1967, who became a druid). DM's have always been careful about what anachronisms they can bring home. And the players have always been very reasonable. They've had no real interest in trying to get modern firearms or other advanced weapontry, instead going for modern conveniences like sneakers, disposible razors, wrist watches, sunglasses and pop-tarts.

 

[Silver Moon]

....it is built up from DA1: Adventures in Blackmoor and DA2: Temple of the Frog....

Unfortunately I do not have those, and a quick auction-site search shows them way out of my price range. I'll have to wing it.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Unfortunately I do not have those, and a quick auction-site search shows them way out of my price range. I'll have to wing it.

Too bad. The cover of DA:2 is something to behold.

 

[Dragonhelm]

Didn't those modules get a modern makeover with the more recent Blackmoor line? What's the differences between the new versions and the classic ones?

 

[grodog]

If you're interested in Rob Kuntz's account of the expedition by Sir Robilar and Mordenkainen to the City of the Gods, check out Oerth Journal #6.

 

[havard]

Didn't those modules get a modern makeover with the more recent Blackmoor line? What's the differences between the new versions and the classic ones?

Both Temple of the Frog and City of the Gods are available in 3E versions. While the essence of the two versions of each module are the same, there are many differences in scope and detail.

If you're interested in Rob Kuntz's account of the expedition by Sir Robilar and Mordenkainen to the City of the Gods, check out Oerth Journal #6.

+1
That is an excellent read

-Havard