Jesus where did we leave off? It’s been a while so I might be out of practice. The meat and potatoes, the solid inner core at the heart of the peach of Barrowmaze is the big fucking megadungeon, 600-700ish rooms of mildewey, cold, dark, ancient tomb between you and the mythical Chaos Tablet, source of … More [Review] Barrowmaze Pt. II (LL); Stonehell.
[Adventure]Deep Carbon Observatory [Remastered] (2020)Patrick Stuart & Scrap PrincessLvl 3-5 Once there was an Empire of unspeakable wealth that traded in secrets, dark wonders and death, and many of the strange things now on earth were theirs. They drew their power and magic from a gate within the earth. But, as their kingdom slowly died, … More [Review] Deep Carbon Observatory (Remastered); The Grievous Miracle and the Beautification of St. Patrick
[Megadungeon]Stonehell Pt. I; Down Night-Haunted Halls (2009)Michael Curtis (Three-Headed Monster)Lvl 1 – 5+ Beware All Who Enter These Benighted Halls of Stone. Within Lies No Solace Nor Any Comforts of Home. Toiling For Our Crimes We Must Dig Where We Dwell, With No Freedom or Mercy In Our Vast Stony Hell.– Message carved above the … More [Review] Stonehell Pt. I (LL): Down Night-Haunted Halls; Overlord
[Adventure]Halls of the Blood King (2021)Diogo Noguiera (Necrotic Gnome)Lvl 3 – 5 A new power is rising in the west. The promising Gavin Norman, of deserved Dolmenwood fame, has taken the OSR by storm with his slick, immaculately laid out B/X retroclone marketed to the young and this is the year of his Rising. People … More [Review] Halls of the Blood King (OSE); Welcome to the Machine
[Adventure]I6 Ravenloft (1983)Tracy & Laura Hickman (TSR)Lvl 5 – 7 “One day I shall have a hall that is dedicated to trad gaming. Through gates of gold and ivory, marked with the motto ‘Roleplayibus non Rollplayiberent’ the players will enter, leaving all their mortal burdens behind. Amid thick wallpapers daubed with the masterpieces of Michaelangelo, … More [Review] I6 Ravenloft (AD&D); First Heretic
[Adventure]In the Name of the Principle (2016)Gabor Lux (E.M.D.T. 22)Lvl 5 – 7 Gabor Lux is probably the best kept secret in the OSR. A Fight On! Contributor, Rappan Athuk afficianado, early Castles & Crusades homebrewer and now the purveyor of the excellent Echoes from Fomalhaut Magazine and the spectacular Xyntillian, his every appearance is … More [Review] In the Name of the Principle! (Swords & Magic); Science Fantasy Done Right
[Adventure]Grakt’s Crag (1980)Will Stephenson (White Dwarf 20)Lvl 3 The delve into White Dwarf, praying for another Halls of Tizun Thane, continues. With some adventures it feels like just another day at the office. Grakt’s crag is a 3 page tomb that never reaches the level of bad but isn’t particularly good or memorable either. There … More [Review] White Dwarf 20/21 (AD&D); Just another day at the mill…
[Adventure]Wrack & Ruin (2010)Jeff “Bighara” Sparks (Faster Monkey Games)Lvl 4 – 6 Another blast from the second wave of the OSR. At a time when people sought to recreate and rediscover the magic of the old days. Sparks has a penchant for making vanilla modules with charming idiosyncratic elements and Wrack & Ruin is no … More [Review] Wrack and Ruin (LL); Quixotic
This is the last part of my review of Imperial Matchmaker. In previous parts I have tried, often in vain, to scratch at the surface of this bulky, horrendously organized but laudably ambitious sandbox, only to be driven back, time and again, by layered bulwarks of flavortext and impenetrable references. We arrive at the last … More Imperial Matchmaker III (5e 3PP); Disorganization Monogatori
[Adventure]Shipwreckers (1983)S.Stone (Mayfair Games)Lvl 4 – 7 Part of an occupational hazard of reviewing adventures for the internet is that at some point you attain the elfgame equivalent of satori and you begin to get a sense of the cosmic pattern of adventure design, and individual entries start to blur together, becoming points on a … More [Review] Shipwreckers (AD&D 3pp); Versimilitude where is thy sting?
