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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2011826" data-attributes="member: 18387">By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine RackInitiative RoundThe World’s Largest Dungeon is a Dungeons & Dragons adventure from Alderac Entertainment Group. This massive 840-page black & white hardcover is based on an original concept by John Zinzer and authored by Jim Pinto, Michael Hammes, Chris Burns, Jeff Stolt, Richard Farrese, Robert J. Schwalb, Lee Hammock, Jennifer Baughman, Mark Carroll, Jeff Dohm, Patrick Kapera, Dana DeVries, Ari Marmell, Jeff Ibach, Alexander Freed, Sean Holland, Kevin Millard, Aaron Rosenburg, and F. Wesley Schneider. It features artwork by William O.Connor and cartography by Chris Dornaus. The World’s Largest Dungeon retails for $99.95.No doubt about it. This is the world’s largest dungeon. If the 840-page tome doesn’t offer proof, then the 16 full-color poster maps that come with it should. AEG claims that it contains every monster in the SRD, has over 1,600 rooms and encounters, provides unique encounters with tactics and advice for keeping PCs on their toes, and is more gaming than you’ll ever need. In a manner of speaking, every claim they make is true.First, it needs to be understood that while every monster from the SRD is represented in this adventure, every monster from the SRD is not actually found herein. That is, you’ll find giants, but not every giant type from the SRD. Yes, there are dragons, but not a dragon of every single color and every age category. There is a dinosaur, but not a dinosaur of every species. Underhanded? Sneaky? Maybe, but consider this. There is plenty here to keep your adventurers busy, and more than enough room for DM expansion, so if your favorite monster didn’t make the cut, you should have no problem inserting them.What about the rest of the hype? It does amount to well over 1,600 rooms (though a good many are empty), there are some very unique encounters and every encounter is well supported by tactics and advice (including scaling it up or down). Is it more gaming than you’ll ever need? I think that’s a judgment call. Certainly, it’s more gaming than you’ll be able to use for a long while, at any rate. If your PCs explore each and every room and every nook and cranny, then they can expect to be busy for anywhere between two and five years of game time. On the other hand, it is possible that, with a little luck, a party could breeze right through in as little as six to eight months of game time. In any case, it should keep you busy for quite a while, and there’s more than enough adventure here to take your characters from 1st to 20th level (or beyond).Okay, now there’s an issue of price. $100 is a lot of cash for a (typically) poor RPGer to lay out for a single adventure. True, but look at it this way; with this adventure, you may never need another one. If the idea of exploring a mega-dungeon doesn’t appeal to you, then it’s easy enough to break it into smaller chunks. Each poster map represents a section of the dungeon, but each is perfectly capable of standing on its own. If necessary, you could even break it down into smaller pieces to use as mini-adventures. Versatility is the key with this product. If your PCs are as excited as you are about playing through it, you could even go in as a group on the purchase (after all, they’re going to be getting as much use from it as you are!).As noted above, the dungeon is broken in 16 sections, each covered in a chapter of the book and mapped out on a single poster-sized map. Though the sections connect to one another, each is also unique to itself, with its own subplots. Ah but what, you may ask, is the overriding plot of this adventure? That’s easy; to get out. You see, this dungeon has a unique property. Getting in is easy, but getting out is darned near impossible. Yes, that means that once they enter, the PCs are going to be on their own for a duration between one and five years of game time.This presents a number of unique situations, many of which are covered in the introduction of the adventure. For one thing, a party that knows what they’re getting into may balk at the thought of a multi-year expedition underground in the same dungeon. The most obvious solution is, don’t tell them where they’re going. In fact, that’s the most desirable solution. However, if they know that you’ve purchased this product (and believe me, you aren’t going to hide it behind your DM screen), then the introduction offers a random table that you can roll on to find a reason for them to delve into its depths. These reasons range from the ubiquitous fortune and glory to “you’ve just spent a bundle on this book and you’re going to play it, whether the PCs like dungeon crawls or not!”Other niggling problems are handled more blithely. Take the issue of food, for example. The designers simply assume that dire rats, dire boars, goblins, and lichen make for a stable food chain. In case that isn’t good enough for you, they also offer up some “magical” reasoning to help you explain the apparent lack of ecology.The system does break down on a few points, however. First is experience. If the party receives due experience (that is, by the book) for everything they meet in this dungeon, they’re going to be about 8th level before they ever make it out of the section that is designated for 1st-3rd level characters. The authors offer a few solutions, the easiest of which is to simply allow the PCs to advance only twice per map. For my money, I’ve used the other option presented here; cutting the reward in half for monsters they’ve met previously. After all, how much can you learn from killing orcs after you’ve slain your 20th one?There are other little issues, such as the problem with taking 10 and taking 20 on Search checks (which, let’s face it, is a cop out), replacing equipment, and the acquisition of new spells by wizards. Again, the introduction offers some logical solutions for all of these difficulties, though it may mean bending a few rules here or there. Overall, just tell your players that it’s for the best and that these changes will enhance both their enjoyment of the dungeon, and yours.Every room in the dungeon, even the empty ones, has a unique feel to it, and most everything makes a degree of sense (that is, if you understand the origin of the dungeon, which I won’t go into here because it would reveal too much to potential players). Very few rooms are “just” empty rooms, most have at least something that will catch the PCs interests or present some kind of difficulty for them. Every room is described in detail with a description to be read to the players set off in grey text, the initial attitude of any encounter therein, notes that may alter the conditions of the encounter, tactics to be used by the creature(s), treasure, encounter level, and any special conditions that may effect combat (and there are plenty of them in this dungeon). In addition, the stat block for any creature encountered herein is included (a big plus), and there are notes for scaling an encounter to make it more or less dangerous.What’s more, the dungeon feels alive. Instead of attacking intruders immediately, some creatures may ignore them, talk to them, or even try to recruit or join them. This is not a static, “open the door, kill the monster” adventure. It involves a fair degree of role-playing and interaction that you really wouldn’t expect in a huge dungeon. In fact, there are certain areas where the ability of the PCs to cajole and barter will be crucial to their survival!Critical HitDefinitely the fact that if you don’t want to use it all at one sitting, the dungeon is easily divided into smaller chunks to play through at your leisure. This make is much more useful to those who might otherwise want to purchase it, but don’t have plans to run it as one huge adventure. Cut it into bit-sized pieces. Let the PCs take on one section, but not another. When you’re dealing with a dungeon of this size and scope, versatility is the key to enjoyment.Critical FumbleI’m not really happy with some of the house rules. When I see statements like “wizards get hosed” or “we recommend that DMs simply ban druid PCs,” it makes me wonder what kind of thought went into this adventure. Okay, they’ve come up with some very creative ways of handling the problems, but are the problems really with the game mechanics or with the adventure itself? The experience problem I can be a little more lenient with. I mean, it’s true that in a dungeon of this size, letting the PCs level up according to rules will throw them into epic levels before they’re three-quarters of the way through.Coup de GraceThere are a few new goodies in here (unique magic items and such, a new monster type), but overall, this is an adventure that is filled with pretty much stock monsters from the SRD. The Open Game Content is limited to game mechanics, and the artwork is passable. There is no table of contents or index, but it’s an adventure that is clearly divided by sections. How much indexing do you really need?The sixty-four dollar question is, “Is it worth the $100 price tag?” Ultimately, that decision has to be made by the GM, based on whether he or she will make use of a mega-dungeon so large that it could take years of playing time to get through. I think that, given the versatility, most DMs will find it useful, if a trifle expensive.Final Grade: B</blockquote>

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