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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8186122" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dungeon Issue 15: Jan/Feb 1989part 3/5In pursuit of the Slayer: Buffy? Lina Inverse? Thankfully not, as either of those would be way beyond the capability of any normal group of PC's to defeat, particularly if backed up by the rest of their respective teams. This is another one packed with backstory, and expects you to pay attention so there's at least the possibility of a peaceful resolution. As they wander, the PC's come across a scene of devastation caused by the Slayer. Hopefully they'll decide to pursue him and stop him from causing more havoc. If they do follow his trail and pay attention, they'll pick up clues along the way that he was actually a hero until recently, so something might be up with his sudden change of heart. Turns out he's been possessed by an evil magic item. If the PC's go full murderhobo and just kill him & take his stuff, they'll rapidly find one of their number turning on the rest of them and have to deal with that, plus massively reduced objective XP for the adventure as a whole. Basically, this is a combination of chase & detective story that's designed to punish mindless hack & slash players and reward actually roleplaying and engaging with the NPC's. It once again shows that the 2e attitude towards adventure design started before 2e actually did, and was pretty common amongst designers of this period, reacting against the simple dungeon crawls of a decade ago. You have to hope that your group has kept up with the designer's increase in sophistication, or they'll find themselves left behind as grumbling grognards wondering why so few adventures cater to them these days. The Dragon's Gift: The oriental adventure this issue is also one that will not work well if the PC's try mindless violence and unadulterated greed. The celestial bureaucracy once again shows itself to be full of privileged creatures who use their wealth and powers to naughty word with their inferiors. A dragon has recently shed his scales (& some other body parts too) in the process of going up an age category. In his great generosity, he sends out a letter requesting for someone to <s>take out the trash</s> collect these valuable and magically powerful ingredients to enrichen the mortal world with. If you take the bait, you'll have to trek through a bunch of encounters with his servants and other spirit creatures, each with their own annoying quirks, some of which are servants intentionally placed to test you, so killing them will piss off the dragon and you'll get no reward, while others are not affiliated and you can slaughter to your heart's content. (but of course you don't know which) If you do make it to the dragon, you'll still have to suck up to him for the privilege of taking away what is junk to him, because he's just that kind of guy. The whole thing definitely seems designed to test the limits of your capability for irritation and remind you how low humans are on the food chain around these parts. Being both linear and trollish, this is precisely the kind of thing I loathe playing through. To quote Firefly, they can go shove it up a 狒狒的屁眼.</blockquote>

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