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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8148916" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dungeon Issue 10: Mar/Apr 1988part 5/5The Threshold of Evil: Another familiar name from Dragon makes the jump to Dungeon. Scott Bennie gives us the highest level adventure we've seen in here yet. (which checking the index, it turns out is actually the highest level adventure that'll ever appear in here for either edition of AD&D.) A wizard is seeking immortality. Now this isn't inherently wrong, plenty of Forgotten Realms wizards have achieved it and retained Good alignment. This one is not so competent or scrupulous, and the ingredients and methods he's using are expensive and environmentally harmful. The PC's are going to have to do something about that before all the neighbouring settlements become unlivable. But even if he hasn't quite cracked the eternal life problem, he's still a wizard with 9th level spells, who's had several centuries to build a fortress and fill it with magical gear & guardians. This could get pretty dangerous.Amusingly, this is exactly the same basic premise as the highest level adventure in Polyhedron, Bigby's Tomb. Both are seeking eternal life and trying to protect themselves from wandering adventurers who might end it prematurely. It's just the ways they've gone about it that are very different. Bigby is content to put himself in stasis and let others do the hard work of improving the state of magical technology, and has a strong sense of humour in his trap design. Azurax takes himself far more seriously, although there are still a few bits of whimsical sadism in his traps and enchantments. Still, overall, this is not a wacky meatgrinder like the old school dungeons, but a serious character study that examines the boundary between Chaotic Neutral and Chaotic Evil. When do you cross the line from merely selfish and goal-focussed to outright cruel as the ends become more important, making you willing to adopt increasingly extreme means to accomplish them? The use of a CN antagonist also allows them to use a slightly less overused set of monsters, Slaad instead of Demons, and more opportunities to solve problems in a nonviolent way. It's all pretty interesting not only as an adventure, but as a bit of philosophical musing on D&D morality and how to apply it in game. I guess that's another way of making an adventure useful to readers when most groups will never reach high enough level to play it. It puts this on the spectrum of game design as artistic statement, which I thoroughly approve of. That's going way above and beyond for a magazine about RPG adventures.An issue that definitely improved as it went along, getting increasingly experimental and saving the best until last. Which seems somewhat counter to the way most publications do it, but as long as there's at least some good adventures in there I can't complain too much. Let's see what good ideas the next issue has, and if the editors will have prioritised them in the same way I would in their shoes.</blockquote>

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