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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KirayaTiDrekan" data-source="post: 7310750" data-attributes="member: 6755061">C2: The Ghost Tower of Inverness Originally published December, 1979Version being read and reviewed: <a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17032/C2-The-Ghost-Tower-of-Inverness-1e?term=The+Ghost+Tower&test_epoch=0&it=1" target="_blank">C2: The Ghost Tower of Inverness</a> by Allen HammackFirst things first - SPOILER ALERT!!!!Still here?Ok, here we go.Two things stand out about this module from the introduction alone - an explicit connection to the Greyhawk setting, specifically the Duchy of Urnst, and that this is the second "competition" module.  Look most of the early AD&D adventures, this was written for a convention and then published for a general audience later.  Like C1: The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, this adventure retains the scoring notes and other tournament-esque elements.  There the similarities between C1 and C2 end, however.The Ghost Tower itself is the abandoned fortress of yet another mega-powerful wizard, this one named Galap-Dreidel.  The tower also houses yet another powerful artifact, the Soul Gem.  The adventure begins as the Seer of Urnst convinces the Duke to enlist a group of adventurers to retrieve the Soul Gem.  The seer, of course, seems a bit shady.  I'll be honest, I really don't understand the point of competition style play.  Thus the tournament scoring section is a bit of an odd read for me.  I started in the era of story focused gaming when AD&D 2nd Edition and Vampire: The Masquerade were the shiny new things.  The scoring system is a bit subjective which seems to be defeat the purpose if a tournament has different DMs running the module.  One DM may reward creative problem solving more than another, for example.  It all seems a bit arbitrary and pointless.  As with C1, the tournament version includes a special introduction for the pregenerated characters - they are all convicts (well, almost all) being pressed into service.  I kind of like it and it could be a way to bridge C1 and C2 and use the same characters since, in C1, the PCs were being tracked down by bounty hunters.  However, as with the G series of adventures, there is a hefty penalty for failure - not quite the death sentence of Against the Giants, but almost as bad (back to prison).  The dungeon level is little more than a multi-part mcguffin quest to assemble a key to the actual tower.  The non-tournament rooms seem a touch more "funhouse dungeon" and inexplicably odd than the rest of the dungeon.  And there's a Chess themed room.  I suppose it wasn't overused back then but, from a modern perspective - ugh.  There's also a seemingly pointless time travel element when the party moves from the dungeon to the tower itself.The tower has a loose elemental theme to its levels.  The transition from the fire level to the water level involves a reverse gravity effect and I had a pretty hard time wrapping my brain around it while reading it.  The entire water level is effectively upside down due to the gravity switcheroo.  Like the Chess themed room, elemental themes seem to be a touch overused in early D&D adventures.  The Soul Gem itself is the "final boss" of the adventure as it sucks character's souls into it randomly until the characters can grab it and teleport back to Urnst and the Seer.    The module is rounded out with a few visual aids, the pregen characters, a monster entry for the firebat, and the DM record sheet and scoring sheet.Though not as bad as White Plume Mountain, the Ghost Tower is definitely a "funhouse" dungeon along the same theme - built by a mad wizard to house powerful artifacts.  I am definitely not a fan of this style of adventure.Sidenote: The original version of this review was lost during a EN World crash.  Next up: The Rogues Gallery</blockquote>

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