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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8568463" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dungeon Issue 46: Mar/Apr 1994part 5/5The Iron Orb of the Duergar: No goblinoids in here, thankfully, as duergar tend not to get along very well with them. Instead it's the completely different cliche of the indestructible artifact that corrupts it's owner and leads them down a path that causes much misery for all around. The high priest of Odin is our designated idiot ball holder this time, and so your world's vikings or closest equivalent have massively stepped up their raiding, gathering stuff with the ultimate goal of constructing a giant golem body for the orb. (which will actually result in it becoming their openly ruling evil overlord rather than useful magical servant.) Some definite LotR influence there then, but with the specific details very different. The PC's are hired by his concerned daughter to solve the problem, preferably in a nonlethal way by taking the artifact away from him, and without being corrupted themselves. Unfortunately, one of the artifact's many powers is scrying, so you do not have the element of surprise, and have to penetrate the place the golem is being forged the hard way. This leads you through a tough high level dungeon where you'd better have magical weapons with enough plusses to damage the constructs, and the brains to deal with Duergar's psionic trickery. It's middling on the linearity front, as the dungeon is big enough to have some choice of routes, and while there are some bits where the NPC's do big melodramatic scripted speeches, you're free to react to them how you want. Overall, decent but not exceptional, and at least it's pretty near the top of the level range they've ever covered and has suitably high stakes. Plus it's easily expanded on, as destroying or sealing the orb away once you have it can be a whole other adventure. I'd have no problem using this. This issue was actually pretty decent, but it felt like it was harder work behind the scenes than usual to make it so, with all the talk about trying to reduce the number of repetitive submissions, and then using a lot of the same elements, but in different ways in the adventures. If doing this wears me down, think how much worse it is going through 8 years as full time work and rejecting hundreds of mediocre unoriginal adventures every month. Still, not having that choice and accepting any old crap that fits the length constraints would be even worse. Speaking of which……</blockquote>

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