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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8147151" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dungeon Issue 10: Mar/Apr 1988part 3/5They Also Serve: A third all-thief adventure when they haven't done even one for any other class? This is becoming a real pattern. Are they really that much easier to write than one for wizards or fighters, or are the readers a bunch of sheep, echoing ideas they've seen recently instead of thinking up their own? Like the last one, they need to turn their rougueish skills to heroic purposes and steal the macguffin back from whoever took it, which makes this seem all the more ridiculous. Why focus on thieves when your code of conduct means you can never give them adventures where they're using their skills for their original purpose, actually stealing money for yourself?! I'm thoroughly baffled by this editorial choice. At least they're not throwing it into even sharper relief by doing one for the assassins they're about to put on the chopping block in the edition change. Still, taken on it's own merits it's pretty good, describing the rival thieves guild the players have to invade with plenty of detail, including lots of extraneous personality and history bits that mean this would be useful as setting backdrop as well as an adventure, and gives you several hooks for further adventures. It's not a railroad, which puts it way up on the Polyhedron adventures that involve investigating crimes, and makes sure you'll actually put your thiefly skills to good use. Overall I think they've just about managed to stave off the diminishing returns problem again. Monsterquest: Last issue their experimental adventure was a solo one. This time, it's one of those amusing role reversals they do every now and then. Take the role of a party of humanoids on a mission to recapture their lost treasure. Originally designed as a one-shot with pregen characters, it would be perfectly suited to combine with GAZ10: Orcs of Thar, which came out a few months later and shares the same kind of comedic tone. I wonder if they were aware of each other's development, or it was a lucky case of convergent evolution. Either way, you have a decent selection of characters, although they aren't remotely balanced in terms of power levels, and plenty of choice in how you accomplish your objective. The humorous elements aren't so twee or overbearing that they make the adventure nonfunctional, and it makes some interesting references to less common D&D material such as the Witch class that turned up 4 times in Dragon Magazine over the years. Another successful experiment that I wouldn't mind seeing again, as long as it's not so frequently that they hit diminishing returns and wear out it's welcome.</blockquote>

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