The Slavers saga comes to an end with a whimper instead of a bang.

Originally Published March 16th, 2002

This review builds on my reviews of A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity, A2: Secret of the Slavers Stockade, and A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords. It’s probably a good idea to read those reviews, found here, here, and here, respectively, before reading this one.

CONCEPT

Warning: This review will contain spoilers for the A-series of modules. Players who may find themselves playing in these adventures should not read beyond this point.

At the end of A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords the PCs fell victim to the Slave Lords: For months now they have been imprisoned in their dungeons — spellcasters tortured and kept from sleep to prevent them memorizing their spells; thieves denied their tools; and fighters denied their weapons. As the adventure begins they are dosed with more sleeping potions and then dumped into the cave system which runs through the nearby volcano.

The PCs must survive essentially by their wits alone in these caverns until, finally, the volcano erupts – destroying the city of Suderham beneath lava and an invasion of magmen. There is also a sligth chance at this point that the PCs might stumble onto the Water Dragon — the ship the Slave Lords are using to escape. If this happens, the PCs have the opportunity to defeat the Slave Lords once and for all. If not… well, who knows? They might bump into them in the next pub they stop at.

WEAKNESSES

There is only one problem with A4: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords, but it’s a biggie:

It doesn’t make any sense!

And I mean from page one, paragraph one. Keep the adventurers imprisoned for months? Why? Then knock them out again and dump then in volcanic tunnels? Why?

“Why?” is actually a very important question here, because it’s one I kept asking myself throughout the module. As another example: Why are there kobolds, myconids, giant ants, and magmen all living in close proximity to each other down here?

But the most baffling question of all is this: Why, after an epic, four-part adventure, was the decision made to deny the PCs an epic confrontation with the Slave Lords? These memorable villains, although drawn well on the page, are never truly pitted against the PCs as true masterminds and cunning opponents. Instead, the saga of Slavelords is allowed to die with a whimper at best – a complete anti-climax at worst.

STRENGTHS

About the only thing A4 has going for it is the titular concept: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords. Stripped of their equipment and their most potent magical abilities, the PCs are asked to escape their imprisonment, re-establish a power base, and strike a final, definitive blow against their would-be captors.

That’s a pretty cool idea. But there’s so very little of it to be found on the page here. The dramatic escape is, instead, rendered as absolute, incomprehensible stupidity on the part of the villains. The volcano’s eruption, a potentially brilliant and epic complication for the final act, is instead used as a tool for anti-climax. The final confrontation with the Slave Lords – a battle which should live in the memories of the players forever – is reduced to a whimpering formality, if it happens at all.

CONCLUSION

A4: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords is not worth your time. Buy A1-3, but skip this one: You’ll be much better off ignoring everything except the high-level concept of A4 (which you can safely glean from this review) and crafting your own ending to this epic.

Style: 2
Substance: 2

Author: Lawrence Schick
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Price: $4.99
ISBN: 0-935696-28-8
Product Code: TSR9042
Pages: 32
Year Published: 1981

Arguably a great concept for a tournament scenario, but a terrible railroad in any other context. And the execution on this one really is quite lackluster. The A-series is well remembered in any case, but I think it would be even more highly placed in the pantheon of D&D adventures if it had managed to even marginally nail the landing.

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

The saga of the slavers continues, but the quality begins to drop.

Originally Published March 16th, 2002

This review builds on my reviews of A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity and A2: Secret of the Slavers Stockade. It’s probably a good idea to read those reviews, found here and here, respectively, before reading this one.

CONCEPT

Warning: This review will contain spoilers for the A-series of modules. Players who may find themselves playing in these adventures should not read beyond this point.

A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords, designed by Allen Hammack, sets the PCs on a more proactive path in their mission to destroy the sinister slavers. The story here is basically broken into three sections.

The Caves of Drachensgrab: Following leads picked up in A2: Secret of the Slavers Stockade, the PCs have (off-screen) penetrated deep into the Pomarj – a wasteland infested with humanoid tribes. Here, standing on the “rocky slope of a steep hill,” they hope to find the hidden entrance to the slaver’s stronghold.

This section of the adventure is essentially advanced spelunking with as many illogical twists as Allen Hammack could dream up: Gnolls, salt slides, bizarre and improbable traps, piercers, a storoper (a roper which looks like a stalagmite instead of a tree), an illusionary throne room, and more.

The Hidden City of Suderham: If the PCs find their way through the caves, they’ll enter the hidden city of Suderham – an entire city hidden away in the heart of the mountains and serving the Slave Lords’ every whim. Here the PCs need to keep a low profile, while trying to find a way into the Slave Lords’ stronghold.

The Catacombs: The way in lies through the sewers and catacombs beneath the cities. Here Hammack is able to find a bit more logic on which to hang his improbabilities (because here, at least, there should be no regular, legitimate traffic – so the Slave Lords can place whatever traps and defenses they want).

Eventually, however, the PCs find their way to the Council Chamber of the Slave Lords. At this point, the tournament background of these adventures rises up: The DM has the choice of either railroading a loss here (thus prompting A4: In the Dungeon of the Slave Lords), or letting the PCs mop up the Slave Lords. (In reality, there are several ways that a DM could restructure this final encounter so that the players aren’t run over by a train – but the module isn’t going to provide you with any guidance here.)

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES

A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords has significant flaws.

First off, as I alluded above, the encounters here trigger all of my Absurdity Meters. The constant barrage of illogical contrivance in A3 renders the module essentially unplayable as written for me.

Second, as I mentioned above, there’s the railroad at the end of the adventure.

Finally, the Slave Lords simply don’t affect the course of the module at all. I have no sense of an “assault” on anything, because the entire module comes across as nothing more than a mediocre dungeon crawl. The title promises so much, and the adventure delivers so little!

So what does this module have going for it?

First off, the basic adventure structure is a good one: Find the hidden route through the caves of Drachensgrab, sneak through the Hidden City, and lay siege to the Aerie of the Slave Lords. As an outline, that sounds fantastic! (But, as the saying goes, the devil is in the details.)

Second, although both the caves and the catacombs are poorly done, the Hidden City portion of the adventure is very well done: There is a complete encounter key for the entire city (detailing every building), and the premise itself here is strong – even awe-inspiring. In playing the module, whenever a group of PCs emerges from the caves to see the Hidden City sprawled out beneath them, a moment of silence invariably settles over the group.

(The Hidden City also benefits from the inclusion of a Player’s Map.)

CONCLUSION

A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity and A2: Secret of the Slavers Stockade are both very strong modules, in need of little more than a minor clean-up job. A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords, on the other hand, presents little more than a few good ideas – particularly when it comes to the first and third sections of the adventure.

That being said: The structure presented here is a good one. And the Hidden City material probably makes this a worthwhile purchase. You’re going to have to put in a lot of work to make this serviceable for your game table, but there’s enough raw material here that it’s going to make your job easier than working from scratch. For $5, that’s probably good enough to justify the purchase.

Style: 2
Substance: 3

Author: Allen Hammack
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Line: AD&D (ESD)
Price: $4.99 (ESD)
ISBN: 0-935696-27-X
Product Code: TSR9041
Pages: 30
Year Published: 1981

A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords was one of the very first D&D modules I ever purchased, plucked out of the Used bin at Pinnacle Games in Rochester, MN. I pored over its pages and ran the dungeon section of the adventure many times, despite not having access to the rest of the A-series until several years later. (As a neophyte GM I could not wrap my head around how the underground city was supposed to work, although I sort of stumbled through it once.)

Next: A4 In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

The best installment of the Slavers series of modules.

Originally Published March 16th, 2002

 This review builds on my review of A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity. It’s probably a good idea to read that review, located here, before reading this one.

The four modules in the A-series were written by four different creative teams. With A2: Secret of the Slavers Stockade Harold Johnson (along with Tom Moldvay) picked up where David Cook, who had written A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity left off.

CONCEPT

Warning: This review will contain spoilers for the A-series of modules. Players who may find themselves playing in these adventures should not read beyond this point.

At the end of A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity the PCs should’ve acquired a map. This map leads them to “an old fort lost in the midst of the Drachensgrab Hills.” A2: Secret of the Slavers Stockade picks up with the PCs standing outside of this fort, currently in use as a stockade for the humanoid slaver caravans.

The stockade is a guarded compound, and the adventure is designed with this in mind – in fact, the central concept of the adventure is that the PCs are laying siege. Although the adventure is compromised in this regard somewhat by its original status as a tournament adventure (the NPCs are just a little too static in their response to the PCs in my opinion), Johnson does succeed in presenting a gritty, dangerous, well-fortified fort. Getting in won’t be easy, getting out will be even tougher, and that’s the whole point.

A2: Secret of the Slavers Stockade also features a larger number of Slave Lords than A1 (which only had one): Markessa is the overseer of this fort, an extremely dangerous fighter and wizard who is currently engaged in various experiments involving human subjects. She is caught in a power struggle with Icar, the fort’s commander, and Blackthorn, a representative of the Slave Lords. They are accompanied by Executioner, Icar’s lieutenant, and Gulyet, Markessa’s assistant and apprentice.

WEAKNESSES

A2 shares many of the same general weaknesses as A1: The artwork and presentation is sub-par by modern standards, and some elements of the adventure don’t stand the test of time well. But, in comparison to A1, these weaknesses are also far less severe.

In fact, the only seriously debilitating element of the adventure, in my opinion, is a series of rooms inhabited by a madman pretending to be a ghost through a variety of parlor tricks: I simply can’t accept that a fort controlled by a powerful sorceress would put up a real ghost for long (let alone a fake one). A handful of similar, but less severe, flaws are also here – requiring some minor clean-up work. But these problems are not serious, and can be easily resolved (probably in less than a half hour of work). Unlike A1, I would be able to run Secret of the Slavers Stockade straight out of the box without having a bad taste in my mouth afterwards.

One change I would heartily suggest here: Take the defenses of the stockade up to the next level. The fort’s defenders could benefit from a bit more dynamism; and I would particularly like to see more involvement from the fort’s leaders in organizing, coordinating, and contributing to that defense.

ESD Note. The ESD currently available from Wizards has a flaw which the printed module lacks: Due to the poor quality of the scan, the map of the fort is practically illegible. Be prepared to do a fair bit of work trying to reconstruct the map key from the few legible clues which remain. Efforts to have Wizards correct this problem have been met with stony silence.

Note: This is no longer true of the current PDF copies available for sale.

STRENGTHS

A2: Secret of the Slavers Stockade is the strongest installment in the A-series. We’ll discuss the flaws of A3 and A4 in the next two reviews, but in comparing A2 to A1 the differences are clear: A2 is a larger module, giving you more in the way of sheer material; A2’s encounters are better designed and better conceived; and A2’s characters are more compelling and dynamic. (It’s at this point that you begin to understand why people talk about the Slave Lords as being villains of special quality.) The largest difference between the two modules, however, is simply one of execution: The average quality of material on A2’s page is higher than the average quality of material on A1’s page.

CONCLUSION

If you don’t like A2: Secret of the Slavers Stockade, then you’re probably not going to like the A-series as a whole. This is the best of the best, showcasing everything that sets the Slavers modules apart: A strong, well-defined concept, an excellent setting, memorable villains, and challenging encounters. This is classic D&D at its best.

Style: 2
Substance: 4

Author: Harold Johnson with Tom Moldvay
Publisher: TSR, Inc.
Price: $4.99
ISBN: 0-935696-26-1
Product Code: TSR9040
Pages: 42
Year Published: 1981

This was around the same time that I was designing adversary rosters. My desire for a more dynamic defense of the stockade was born from the same impulses, and with adversary rosters would now be trivially accomplished.

Next: A3 Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

The A-series of modules were classics back in the day… But do they have anything to offer to the modern gamer?

Originally Published March 16th, 2002

The A-series of modules was released in 1980 and 1981. Also known as the Slavers series, the Slave Lords series, and the Scourge of the Slavelords (after the omnibus edition released by TSR in the mid-‘80s), it comprised four modules: A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity, A2: Secret of the Slavers Stockade, A3: Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords, and A4: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords. The modules were originally used for the AD&D Tournament at GenCon XIII, and evidence of that remains (in the form of a complete tournament scoring system as well as the design of the adventures themselves – although a few token efforts have been made to make them more flexible). The entire series is currently available in electronic form through Wizard’s website.

These modules are industry classics. By modern standards, of course, the primitive artwork of Jeff Dee (and others) is almost laughable; and the sparse, almost constrained presentation of the material by David Cook (later famous for his work as the primary designer on the second edition of AD&D) little more than quaint.

But as classics they demand our attention: There is a reason these modules earned a reputation for greatness in the gaming community. Whether that bygone glory rests upon a foundation which is still worthy of your consideration today is something this review is going to take a closer look at.

CONCEPT

Warning: This review will contain spoilers for the A-series of modules. Players who may find themselves playing in these adventures should not read beyond this point.

The entire A-series of modules is based around a central conceit: A far-flung network of slavers has been founded, guided by the mysterious conspiracy of the Slave Lords. Finally, the local nobility – spurred on by the recent burning and looting of coastal towns by the slavers – have set aside their own petty differences to take collective action… Enter the PCs.

A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity sets the adventurers down outside a ruined temple compound. (Remember that these modules were originally designed for four rounds of tournament play. As a result, their use in an actual campaign will generally require the DM to fill in all of the details which surround the actual dungeon crawls themselves.) The interior of this temple compound was largely gutted by fire many years ago, but is now being used by the local slaver sect as a base of operations – or, more accurately, the access point for their base of operations.

The PCs need to fight their way through the compound to gain access to the sewers beneath it. There they will most likely need to make their way through a colony of aspis (a variety of giant insect) before entering the underground slave pens. Once they’ve found the pens, the PCs need to free the slaves and kill the local Slave Lord.

WEAKNESSES

Let’s start with the weaknesses.

First, there is a major flub in the design of the temple compound: As far as I can tell, there is absolutely no way to get from the left half of the compound to the right half of the compound. The very first thing you should do before running this adventure is figuring out where you want to insert a doorway. (I’d suggest a gateway leading through the wall from Area 9 to Area 16A.)

Second, the aspis encounters don’t make any sense: Why would the slavers build their slave pens here, where the aspis pose a potential threat? Why wouldn’t the slavers drive these creatures out? And why is there a tunnel leading from the aspis hive straight to the underground office of the local Slave Lord?

Third, I must confess that I have little tolerance for the Gygaxian style of adventure design in which the entire game world has been structured into a giant puzzle which the PCs must solve. As written, this module plays like an old Infocom text adventure game: Enter room 5A. Pick up barrel of stale vinegar. Go to room 5B. Throw vinegar at glue-like creature in 5B.

STRENGTHS

All that being said, A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity gives you a rock solid foundation. The scenario is engaging; the structure is sound; the maps are well done; the descriptive text is evocative; the character concepts have a lot of potential; and the encounters are generally memorable and of high quality. There are a few caveats here and there, but once you’ve stripped out some of the silliness which lurks in the corners Slave Pits of the Undercity is a great little adventure.

CONCLUSION

Despite its weaknesses, it’s actually trivial to modify A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity into a highly enjoyable adventure. Here’s the few quick steps I followed:

1. As detailed above, I added a gateway between Area 9 and Area 16A (so that the two halves of the compound were no longer segregated.)

2. I removed the aspis tunnels (and the aspis) entirely from the adventure. Their loss was barely felt. In the same vein, I also removed the goblin caverns in the sewers, too. This requires some remapping, but results in a far more utilitarian (and logical) slaver base in the sewers.

3. The Gygaxian puzzles are removed. Just plain removed. The sundew in Area 5B (the glue-like creature mentioned above) becomes a tendriculus, set there specifically to guard against unauthorized access to the temple compound. Beyond that, some basic logic and sense was applied to the slaver activities throughout the entire compound.

4. I also removed the silliness of automated slave pens with remote-control doors. Your mileage may vary, but that type of thing has always been an atmosphere killer for me.

For those looking to adapt these adventures to a D&D3 campaign, the process can be relatively simple or extremely difficult, depending on which approach you take. In general, once you’ve gotten rid of the aspis and the sundew, all of the monsters in Slave Pits of the Undercity can be found in the Monster Manual — simply grab the stats from there (and redesign the NPCs using D&D3 classes) and you’re ready to go.

Of course, if you’re looking to balance the adventure according to the principles described in the DMG, things become slightly more difficult. Fortunately, its relatively easy to make this module fit just about any desired level by modifying the number of creatures in an encounter and/or giving them additional class levels.

So what’s the final word here? Is this worth it?

Yes.

No doubt about it. This is a diamond in the rough, and it may take a little bit of work on your part to clean it up and present it in its best light – but once you do, you’ll have a real jewel on your hands.

Style: 2
Substance: 4

Author: David Cook
Publisher: TSR, Inc.
Price: $4.99
ISBN: 0-935696-25-3
Product Code: TSR9039
Pages: 24
Year Published: 1980

My disparagement of Jeff Dee’s art in A1 will likely be met with great outrage from some, but while Dee matured into a truly great artist, I think anyone honestly looking at this work in 1980 would have to concede he had not yet reached the height of his skills. (Although the raw creativity and fantastical cleverness of his compositions — along with the technical detail of his backgrounds — was already evident. Take, for example, the cover of A1: Not only the halfling clinging to the ceiling, but the multi-limbed fighting techniques of the aspis.)

Next: A2 Secret of the Slavers Stockade

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

Traps & Treachery has received more use in my D&D games than any book outside of the core rules.

Originally Published March 14th, 2002

If a publisher walked up to me and said, “Justin, I want to produce a D20 sourcebook. What should I do first?”

Then I would say: “Buy a copy of Traps & Treachery so you can see how to do it right.”

CONTENTS

Traps & Treachery is a 172-page, hardback D20 supplement which retails for $24.95. Although printed in black and white, this makes it roughly equivalent to the Monster Manual in terms of content. So the simplest question to ask is: Will this book prove to be as useful a reference as the Monster Manual?

In my opinion, the answer to that is a definitive yes.

Warning: This review will contain spoilers for Traps & Treachery. Players who may find themselves pitted against these fiendish traps should read no further.

Traps: Undoubtedly the centerprise of Traps & Treachery are the traps. There are seventy pages of these – including basic mechanical traps and magical traps. A few examples:

Blackstone’s Clever Cage is designed to imprison trespassers, rather than killing them. Simple traps like these can provide a welcome change of pace, particularly at lower levels – where abandoned traps of this variety can serve as minor encounters, without actually draining any significant resources from the party.

Devilish Dungeon Double Slide is designed to split parties up while moving them to deeper and more dangerous areas of a dungeon. This can cause problems if you’re not prepared to run two groups simultaneously, but can pay big dividends if you are.

One Last Coin… sometimes even the simplest of temptations can carry large consequences. In this case, a single coin is being used to seal away a demon.

Blackstone’s Confining Conundrum shrinks the character as they fall down a shaft which diminishes in size right along with them. At the bottom, however, they are returned to full size – essentially trapping them in the room they come to rest in.

Deep Dwarf Darknetter is triggered by the presence of light, making it a perfect trap for all those underground races which do without it.

Puzzles: This section is short, but shouldn’t be undervalued. Logic puzzles, math puzzles, word puzzles, and chess puzzles are all given – along with some unique challenges and tests.

Trap Design: Several people I know have disparaged this chapter as “worthless.” I, on the other hand, consider it one of the high points of the book. This chapter not only covers some basic elements of trap design (expanding vastly on the guidelines provided in the DMG), it also discusses the different ways that traps can be implemented during the course of an adventure. This chapter is also very useful if you’ve ever wondered exactly what it means to “detect” a trap; let alone “disable” it.

Way of the Rogue: And now, kicking sand in the face of Logic, I close my summary with a discussion of the first chapter in the book. This chapter opens with a discussion of trap lore (which is also a valuable resource when it comes to describing the detection and disabling of traps), moves onto the “business of thievery” (guilds, extortion, smuggling, and a half dozen other types of rackets), tosses out a handful of prestige classes (Discreet Companion, Guildmaster, Roofrunner, and Trapmaster), a new NPC class (Thug), new skills, new feats, new equipment, and more.

This chapter is something of a catch-all at times, providing some of the raw tools necessary for the traps which follow it: A couple new arcane spells; several new divine spells; a thievery domain for clerics; etc.

For me, the highlight here (in terms of crunchy stuff) are the new skills, feats, and equipment. The rules for making and using poisons, along with new poisons, are also very valuable.

GOOD STUFF

All the good stuff about Traps & Treachery can be summed up very simply: Information. Lots and lots of information. Accompanied by lots and lots of crunchy stuff just waiting to be dropped into your campaign.

If you’re a DM with any predilection towards spicing scenarios with fiendish traps, then Traps & Treachery definitely deserves a place on your reference shelf. Nor should you be fooled into thinking this book worthless if you don’t run dungeon crawls: The very first use I put this book to was swapping out a trap in Terror in Freeport that I felt was far too absurd. (The concrete mixer became Blackstone’s Killer Kennel.)

If you’re the player of a rogue, then you’ll definitely want to take a peek at all the material in the front of the book (but keep out of the back, you snoop!).

In short, it doesn’t matter who you are: You’re going to find useful material in this book.

One thing I touched on briefly, above, but want to mention again, is the attention to detail. For example, every single trap in the book not only describes the effects it has, but also goes into detail on what it means to detect and disable the trap. This is the type of thing which is invaluable to me as a DM, because it saves me a ton of work.

BAD STUFF

I would have liked to see a narrower focus for Traps & Treachery: I would have preferred to see 172 pages of traps or 172 pages of thief-oriented information. Not half-and-half.

The reason for this is simple: As a DM I would want the traps. As a player I would want the class-oriented information. There’s very little crossover there. And, to make matters worse, as a DM I don’t want my players looking at the trap information.

The other thing you should consider is your tolerance for elaborately engineered and/or over-the-top traps. I, personally, have a very low tolerance for that type of thing – so I will not be using the trap which turns the victim into a mouse and releases house cats to eat them. Or the treadmill which feeds you into a spinning blades. Or the corridor which shoots buzzsaws at you. For me, such things are atmosphere killers and deflators of suspension of disbelief. (This is the same reason why you will never see a tinker gnome in my campaigns. Ever.)

On the flipside, the frequency of these types of traps is rare in T&T. And, in fact, if you – like I – thought Grimtooth’s trap books were great ideas but threw up your hands in disgust at how absolutely ludicrous and ridiculous the content was, then Traps & Treachery is like a dream come true.

CONCLUSION

If the first time you read through a supplement like Traps & Treachery you are constantly stopping to jot down notes of different ways in which you want to use the material, then the book is a success. If the book then earns a place in your gaming bag (so that it comes along with you to every gaming session) because you’re using the material in it in every single game session, then the book is something really special.

Traps & Treachery sits right next to my PHB, DMG, and MM every single time I sit down to the gaming table.

‘Nuff said.

Note: The reviewer has worked on a number of projects for Fantasy Flight Games, including five adventure modules and Mythic Races. The reviewer did not work on Traps & Treachery.

Style: 5
Substance: 5

Author: Greg Benage, Kurt Brown, Mark Chance, Brian Ferrenz, Lizard, David Lyons, Brian Patterson
Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games
Line: D20
Price: $24.95
ISBN: 158994020-2
Product Code: DD17
Pages: 172

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.