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Message: <blockquote data-quote="T. Foster" data-source="post: 3841015" data-attributes="member: 16574">The original Tegel Manor (released in 1977 for OD&D) is all about the map. The mansion has somewhere around 200 rooms and the map is really fantastic -- tons of secret passages and teleporters, and tons of symbols and notes right on the map indicating statues (magical and mundane), traps, magical portraits of the Rump family, haunting sounds (each corridor is named for the kind of sound it makes -- screaming hallway, moaning corridor, etc.), and what the room is (bedroom, ball room, kitchen, torture chamber, etc.). This is probably my favorite map in all of D&D.The booklet that went with the map was much less impressive, basically 16pp of 1 or 2 lines per room indicating the monster, the treasure, and any weird "haunting" effects, e.g. "severed hand is crawling on table." There's also a very brief (as in 1-2pp) description of Tegel village and the area surrounding the manor, a roster of the Rump family which doubles as both a key to the portraits (most of which are magical and do or say something when approached) and the wandering monster table (since most of the Rumps are now undead wandering the manor), and a set of tables for randomly determining the characteristics of magical statues (which was later reprinted in JG's "Ready Ref Sheets"). The tone of the module is half-horror, half-comedy; comparisons to the Disneyland "Haunted Mansion" are pretty spot-on. It's ideal for casual one-off play -- a party goes into the manor, fights some baddies, gathers some treasure, experiences some weird haunting effects, and leaves. Since there's no "plot" or "substance" to the module (unless the individual DM adds it on his own) there's not much to support an extended campaign, and I imagine that protracted play within the manor -- attempting to "clear it out" -- would grow boring long before it was finished. This module is a great time-capsule relic of the very early days of the hobby, before it started taking itself so seriously. I don't see the point of remaking it for 4E at all, though, and especially not of making it a "deluxe" set and hyping its full-color interior art (I don't recall that the original had any art except for a sketch-drawing of the manor on the cover -- maybe there were a couple pieces of generic filler art (a skull, a pile of treasure, a snake, etc.)?). The charm of the original lies in its minimalism, and is wholly at odds with modern trends of adventure design and presentation (even by NG -- Tegel Manor doesn't have "1st edition feel," it has "OD&D feel," and there's a difference). I can't see that this remake isn't going to either leave modern fans scratching their heads in wonder or be completely untrue to the spirit of the original.</blockquote>

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