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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2008514" data-attributes="member: 18387">"Dungeon crawl"... the term brings to mind the monotonous opening of doors, the endless bashing of enemies, the repetitious spot checks, listen checks, open locks checks, search checks.  It takes a certain something to elevate a dungeon crawl beyond the mediocre; a solid ecology that makes sense and feels almost enveloping, denizens who aren’t just guarding the treasure chest in the corner but are fighting with a real purpose, a dungeon with a past... and a potential future.  If players are going to enjoy a few sessions worth of dank caverns, dusty skeletons and icky beasties they’re going to need these elements as a part of the adventure.  "The Forge of Fury" by Richard Baker provides DMs with a dungeon filled with dynamic terrain to serve as battlegrounds, appropriately corresponding fauna (and flora, actually) and NPCs who truly believe in the necessity of their presence.  It is, overall, about as good as dungeon crawls get.  Unfortunately, it suffers from the same affliction so many other like-minded modules have been diagnosed with down through the ages: what are the PCs doing there in the first place?The DM will have a bit of work to do if he is going to entice the players into purging the legendary dwarven hall of the evil creatures that have taken up residence.  One idea provided by the module is to have a local nobleman approach the party and offer them a hefty sum of money to delve into the stronghold and recover a small number of finely crafted blades forged by a renowned blacksmith. Unless players truly enjoy lengthy, combat-heavy spelunking expeditions and their characters have a vested interest in uncovering every single blade, however, rational explanations of why the party would venture into the deeper, more challenging areas of the dungeon are few and far between.  The more sinister opponents in the lower levels of the dungeon are designed to surprise the PCs, which is great if the players have decided that their motivation for the delve is the attainment of glory/adventure/gold.  If their characters are motivated by other things the DM is put in the position of having to fumble awkwardly for this adventure’s validity.That is not to say finding the motivation is impossible, or once accomplished not worth it.  If by hook or crook the DM can lure the PCs into the caverns known as ‘The Glittterhame’, the action and excitement provided should be well worth the scant bit of additional effort.  The tactical information given for each encounter is very well written, taking into account the monster’s intelligence, eating habits, effectiveness, and so on.  PCs will encounter a wide variety of beasts with all manner of special qualities, helping to infuse some life into the search/listen routine of door-to-door dungeoneering.  Once the safety conscious tedium is at an end, each encounter offers up balanced combat with inventive circumstances that seem appropriate to the natural inclinations of each particular monster or foe.  Baker deftly applies the 3E mechanics to environmental factors such as a low ceiling while fighting a tribe of troglodytes, a patch of loose rock a pair of gricks attack from or a creaky old bridge some poor PC might have to cross under fire from orcish archers.  Baker has populated his dungeon with more than mindless brutes gaurding a treasure; the challenges the PCs will face are nuanced enough to be entertaining, even if they keep on having to bust down doors to get to them.If your party isn’t the type who enjoys a day or evening spent hunkered down around a table of miniatures and graph paper while eating pizza, then ‘The Forge of Fury’ will not appeal to you at all.  There really is no inherent reason why the party should feel inclined to romp around the detailed and richly constructed halls and caverns; Richard Baker has left that up to the DM, choosing instead to focus on crafting an adventure forged less of sound... and more of fury.</blockquote>

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