Merric's Erratically Updated Reviews of old D&D adventures

[Morlock]

I just wanted to say thanks for all the reviews, Merric. They represent a lot of work, and they are very useful and appreciated. And likewise, thanks to anyone who takes the time to write a proper review of a published adventure.

 

[MerricB]

I just wanted to say thanks for all the reviews, Merric. They represent a lot of work, and they are very useful and appreciated. And likewise, thanks to anyone who takes the time to write a proper review of a published adventure.

Thank you!

I'm sorry there has been such a gap. I started work on a review of Ravenloft a couple of days ago, so that's almost ready for posting.

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

Here you go:

I6: Ravenloft

Cheers!

 

[Luz]

And here we go with the conclusion of the Desert Nomads series: X5: Temple of Death

It's got rather a lack of Desert Nomads in it, doesn't it?

Cheers!

Great reviews of these two modules, MerricB, I agreed with just about everything you said. David Cook's wide open approach to his adventures have always had variance (from the excellent Isle of Dread to the disappointing Dwellers of the Forbidden City), but I think the Desert Nomad series is his best stuff. Even if Temple of Death did not live up to the potential set up by X4, it is still a very good module and conclusion to the series.

 

[MerricB]

Thank you, [MENTION=94725]Luz[/MENTION]!

Finally got to the last of the 1983 adventures:
O1: The Gem and the Staff

(I'm ignoring the "R" and "RPGA" adventures mainly because they're not widely available. That is, I don't have them! The important ones got republished, anyway!)

Cheers!

 

[Luz]

Necropolis is Tomb of Horror on crack. Necropolis is actually one of the best Gygax adventures, simply because it manages to combine a plot with some great dungeon crawls and role-playing opportunities. Oh, and curses.

Merric, I just read your comment about Necropolis, which prompted me to read your very favorable review at RPGGeek. What a surprise! I had never even heard of Necropolis until now, it somehow slipped past my radar. I am very intrigued now and will certainly try to track it down. The Egyptian setting reminds me very much of the classic Judges Guild module The Dark Tower by Paul Jacquays. Are you familiar with this title? It was also a large dungeon complex with heavy Egyptian flavor for higher level characters (at least, higher than the reccommended levels of 7 - 12, IMO - its extremely deadly). I wonder if these two modules could be run together? Despite being designed for two seperate editions of the game, I would probably make life easier on myself and convert both to 5th edition rules.Thanks again for your wonderful reviews and for the Necropolis heads-up.

 

[MerricB]

Merric, I just read your comment about Necropolis, which prompted me to read your very favorable review at RPGGeek. What a surprise! I had never even heard of Necropolis until now, it somehow slipped past my radar. I am very intrigued now and will certainly try to track it down. The Egyptian setting reminds me very much of the classic Judges Guild module The Dark Tower by Paul Jacquays. Are you familiar with this title?

I've got the pdf of the original release.

My feeling is that you couldn't really run the two adventures together; Necropolis is very self-contained and basically has an ongoing story that progresses as the party moves from location to location. The Dark Tower, great though it is, would provide a very big dungeon complex in the middle of the story that would sort of stop dead the progression of the game. Thematically, I don't think it quite fits!

(I now own Necropolis both in the original Dangerous Journeys version of the adventure and in the Necromancer games 3E conversion; we played through the entire 3E version and had a great time!)

Cheers!

 

[Luz]

I've got the pdf of the original release.

My feeling is that you couldn't really run the two adventures together; Necropolis is very self-contained and basically has an ongoing story that progresses as the party moves from location to location. The Dark Tower, great though it is, would provide a very big dungeon complex in the middle of the story that would sort of stop dead the progression of the game. Thematically, I don't think it quite fits!

(I now own Necropolis both in the original Dangerous Journeys version of the adventure and in the Necromancer games 3E conversion; we played through the entire 3E version and had a great time!)

Cheers!

I just discovered an updated version of The Dark Tower by Goodman Games. Its designed for character levels 8 - 10, but I have not yet had an opportunity to read it. Nice to see the more obscure classics getting revamped.

I just bought the pdf of Necropolis and look forward to reading it. I loved Gygax's stuff and several reviews give this very high praise indeed. Still trying to track down the hardcover...

Sorry about the threadjack, please resume normal programming.

 

[MerricB]

I've finally managed to get to UK3: The Gauntlet. Sorry it took so long!

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

You may have noticed that my review of DL1: Dragons of Despair got rather prominently featured on EN World today. The link is to the review on my site.

Hope you enjoy the review - I'll be reviewing the rest of the series in the near future.

Cheers!