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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8967238" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dungeon issue 72: Jan/Feb 1999part 3/5Deep Trouble in Telthin: A planescape adventure by any other name would still smell just as eldritch. Fresh from one city dealing with zombie teleportations, this one has the rather more serious long-term problem of steadily rising water levels, which is odd because it hasn’t been raining more than usual. There’s one powerful water wizard in town who might be able to help but he hasn’t been seen in some time. You’re sent to his abode to find out if he’s in, and if he’s not if there’s anything that might help. Inside are some cursory defences and a gate to his real home on the elemental plane of water. Turns out he’s both cause of and solution to the problem, as he summoned a Marid, which then escaped and imprisoned him in turn and decided to stick around & use his magical tricks for his own ends, which include another gate in the harbor flooding your world. Negotiate your way through his floating home, which is basically a 3D maze of hamster tubes, figure out how to maneuver in subjective gravity, deal with the usual array of partially disarmed magical defences & summoned creatures and generally figure out what’s going on and how to solve the ultimate problem. So this is one designed to introduce players to the weirdness of the planes in a controlled environment, ensuring they don’t just jump into the plane of water and drown. You’re not exploring the infinite vastness, just a particularly odd and three-dimensional dungeon environment. Not the most ambitious planar adventure they’ve ever done then, but still looks like a decent amount of fun. Maybe someday they’ll do another world-spanning sandbox that sets you free to explore strange new lands, but it’s not today.Nodwick deals with creatures from the elemental plane of water by masquerading as industrial sized anti-perspirant. Under a Pale Moon: Ooh, a second Dragonlance Fifth Age adventure? And one not by the official staff writers either. That shows it does actually have a genuine fanbase, even if it’s not that large. The moon steps were once a location of powerful magic. Of course, the old magic system stopped working, but there's still a decent chance they do something useful under the new one as well so you're coming to investigate. Since they don't want the adventure to be a disappointment, the rumours are true, but there's a bunch of other challenges along the way. First the basic one of fatigue, travelling over lots of hilly terrain. Then a bunch of gnolls. Then a group of rival humans also interested in investigating the steps. Finally, a nighttime manticore attack on you and whoever else is still standing from the previous encounters, where you'll be able to put the magic enhancing powers of the steps to full use. As with the previous 5th age adventures, this is all pretty linear, organised in acts and scenes rather than locations with each leading directly into the next, but does give multiple solutions to each one and all but the last can be resolved completely without combat if you're that way inclined. (and the cards co-operate) So this falls into about the same quality range as the previous one in Dungeon, decent enough for what it is and much better than Polyhedron's attempt at a 5th age adventure, but still somewhat more railroady than I prefer my adventures. As Chris pointed out in the editorial, the real fun comes after the adventure is over and you have to figure out how to protect and best take advantage of this valuable resource. There's several different ideas listed, some with properly fleshed out stats, giving you plenty of easy options for your campaign. So this definitely has potential. I just wish they'd spent less time on the linear sequence of events and more on the open-ended plot hooks.</blockquote>

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