0:09 Allston wrote a lot more than those few things, including well over a dozen scifi/fantasy novels, a big chunk of the D&D Rules Encyclopedia, Hollow World, the Complete Fighter's Handbook and Ninja's Handbook (and Ninja Hero), Champions 5th edition and numerous other supplements for Hero Games. He was also a major factor in the success of Steve Jackson Games in the 1980s, editing and contributing to The Space Gamer at its peak and helping start up The Fantasy Gamer spinoff magazine and Autoduel Quarterly.
Love the series! You should review Chris Perkins adventures from Dungeon Magazine. Before working at TSR and Later Wizards of the Coast, as a teenager he submitted several adventures that were published in dungeon magazine. Dungeon Magazine 011 - Wards of Witching Ways (Chris Perkins credited as Christopher Zarathrusta) Dungeon Magazine 037 - A Wizard’s Fate Dungeon Magazine 038 - Horror’s Harvest Dungeon Magazine 100 - The Lich Queen’s Beloved
Good news, I just went in the opposite direction first apparently, The new Spelljammer Adventures project lead is Chris Perkins. Lol. I'll get to the Dungeon mag adventures eventually
I've read all of the Dungeon Magazines and I'd love to see your reviews of these following adventures. Dungeon Magazine 001 - The Dark Tower of Cabilar Dungeon Magazine 009 - Crypt of Istaris Dungeon Magazine 011 - Black Heart of Ulom Dungeon Magazine 013 - The Vault of Kasil Dungeon Magazine 017 - The Pit Dungeon Magazine 018 - Irongard (Ed Greenwood) Dungeon Magazine 025 - Hrothgar's Resting Place Dungeon Magazine 030 - Elminster’s Backdoor (Ed Greenwood) Dungeon Magazine 030 - The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb Dungeon Magazine 106 - The Black Egg Dungeon Magazine 108 - Challenge of Champions V Dungeon Magazine 141 - Vlindarian’s Vault Dragon Magazine 284 - Gorgoldand’s Guantlet
I'll take a look into these, the dungeoun mag adventures are conveniently (Usually) small enough for me to be able to make a quick video in less then a week. Which is ideal in-between my 20-25 minute ones... which take from 2 weeks to a month to do
@@TheLostAdventurer i edited in the Mud Sorcerer's tomb to the list. I'm a big fan of dungeon crawls which most of these appear to be. If you ever need some suggestions of forgotten adventures not published by TSR, I could give you another list as well such a Pulp Dungeon's "The Executioner" (I have DM'ed this one!) or Gary Gygax's "Uninvited Guests".
I remember blatantly ripping off this adventure to put it in my Amber RPG campaign back in the early 90s. Worked brilliantly. The tower was one of Benedict's outposts and Skarda (fake name) was an elder Amberite. The mirror was an artefact and the world inside worked perfectly as a pocket Shadow. Skarda (re: Osric) was slain by a PC while walking the Pattern which cause a whole heap of bigger problems but this scenario, just slightly re-spec'd, started it all off. Fun times.
Nice review of what sounds like a nice little adventure. There is too many grandiose "epic adventures" and not enough for mid-level characters. The mid-level is really the game's "sweet spot". It sounds very portable which is a very useful.
Mid level is where games thrive or die in our opinion, and you're right, too many modules are a giant, end of the world epic heroes quest. And they shouldn't be. But we don't think publishers would make much money off of basic quest adventures nowadays
Dude you need to do Tree of life i cant find any! on a side note i love the idea of the mirror itself to throw at players as a artifact that can be found to see what they do with it.
I own this module, and I might be a player in it, so I'm avoiding spoilers. Good on you for making the video, though. I'll give it a like but avoid watching it to avoid any spoilers while I might play the module.
@@TheLostAdventurer I have the 1e & the 2e reprint & it is a pretty cool module in my opinion. If I recall correctly, their is a misprint on the module saying it is for levels 1-3, but it should be for 4-6 or so. In this module a King has been killed & his heir, who is on a pilgrimage, has gone missing and a Duke/Prince's Uncle is making his move to take the Kingship. The players (it is assumed they have done work for the Kingdoms Royalty before & are trustworthy) are hired to find the Prince (and Crowning Regalia) before the Duke's men do. There is fighting, but also a mystery aspect & magic/holy site. I ran it once for a Castles & Crusades game & really liked it. Thinking it over, this would be better for a follow up module. If the players foil the Duke in N3, you could have him hire Skarda to help him take back his Dukedom or take over the Kingdom he feels should be his.
Yaaay, another video! While I enjoyed your review, I didn't like what I read in this adventure. The concept of foiling an evil wizard trying to assassinate the Grand Duke was cool. The sense of stage direction the writer gives is heavy handed and too much. The tower scene was pointless and a waste of time, because the party goes through the entire thing to find effectively nothing. I did like the final scene with the fight at the Grand Duke's hunting lodge and the possibilities that opens up for the players.
Each of us has our own preferences, this module isn’t as deadly as I prefer, it’s got a bit of hand holding, but also a bit of DM discretion. It’s an easily survivable adventure (well….. with most parties) but it creates the feeling of pulling off something heroic.
0:09 Allston wrote a lot more than those few things, including well over a dozen scifi/fantasy novels, a big chunk of the D&D Rules Encyclopedia, Hollow World, the Complete Fighter's Handbook and Ninja's Handbook (and Ninja Hero), Champions 5th edition and numerous other supplements for Hero Games. He was also a major factor in the success of Steve Jackson Games in the 1980s, editing and contributing to The Space Gamer at its peak and helping start up The Fantasy Gamer spinoff magazine and Autoduel Quarterly.
Love the series! You should review Chris Perkins adventures from Dungeon Magazine. Before working at TSR and Later Wizards of the Coast, as a teenager he submitted several adventures that were published in dungeon magazine.
Dungeon Magazine 011 - Wards of Witching Ways (Chris Perkins credited as Christopher Zarathrusta)
Dungeon Magazine 037 - A Wizard’s Fate
Dungeon Magazine 038 - Horror’s Harvest
Dungeon Magazine 100 - The Lich Queen’s Beloved
Good news, I just went in the opposite direction first apparently, The new Spelljammer Adventures project lead is Chris Perkins. Lol. I'll get to the Dungeon mag adventures eventually
One of my favorite modules back in the day.
The parts where the author adds guides for the DM was very helpful at the time.
I've read all of the Dungeon Magazines and I'd love to see your reviews of these following adventures.
Dungeon Magazine 001 - The Dark Tower of Cabilar
Dungeon Magazine 009 - Crypt of Istaris
Dungeon Magazine 011 - Black Heart of Ulom
Dungeon Magazine 013 - The Vault of Kasil
Dungeon Magazine 017 - The Pit
Dungeon Magazine 018 - Irongard (Ed Greenwood)
Dungeon Magazine 025 - Hrothgar's Resting Place
Dungeon Magazine 030 - Elminster’s Backdoor (Ed Greenwood)
Dungeon Magazine 030 - The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb
Dungeon Magazine 106 - The Black Egg
Dungeon Magazine 108 - Challenge of Champions V
Dungeon Magazine 141 - Vlindarian’s Vault
Dragon Magazine 284 - Gorgoldand’s Guantlet
I'll take a look into these, the dungeoun mag adventures are conveniently (Usually) small enough for me to be able to make a quick video in less then a week. Which is ideal in-between my 20-25 minute ones... which take from 2 weeks to a month to do
@@TheLostAdventurer i edited in the Mud Sorcerer's tomb to the list. I'm a big fan of dungeon crawls which most of these appear to be. If you ever need some suggestions of forgotten adventures not published by TSR, I could give you another list as well such a Pulp Dungeon's "The Executioner" (I have DM'ed this one!) or Gary Gygax's "Uninvited Guests".
I remember blatantly ripping off this adventure to put it in my Amber RPG campaign back in the early 90s. Worked brilliantly. The tower was one of Benedict's outposts and Skarda (fake name) was an elder Amberite. The mirror was an artefact and the world inside worked perfectly as a pocket Shadow. Skarda (re: Osric) was slain by a PC while walking the Pattern which cause a whole heap of bigger problems but this scenario, just slightly re-spec'd, started it all off. Fun times.
I feel like the adventure has all a DM needs to transform the players from local heroes, to heroes of the realm, and sounds like you did exactly that!
Nice review of what sounds like a nice little adventure. There is too many grandiose "epic adventures" and not enough for mid-level characters. The mid-level is really the game's "sweet spot". It sounds very portable which is a very useful.
Mid level is where games thrive or die in our opinion, and you're right, too many modules are a giant, end of the world epic heroes quest. And they shouldn't be. But we don't think publishers would make much money off of basic quest adventures nowadays
6:12 Well THAT definitively reflects the world we live in today! 🤣
Dude you need to do Tree of life i cant find any! on a side note i love the idea of the mirror itself to throw at players as a artifact that can be found to see what they do with it.
Ah. The tree of life, the all Elf Adventure. We'll see what we can do with that.
I own this module, and I might be a player in it, so I'm avoiding spoilers. Good on you for making the video, though. I'll give it a like but avoid watching it to avoid any spoilers while I might play the module.
I hope you enjoy it, I rated it pretty good
Thanks for the review, it sounds interesting. With some reworking this could be a lead in to the AD&D module N3 Destiny of Kings.
I've never actually played, nor read through N3, though I got its reprint just sitting on my shelf
@@TheLostAdventurer I have the 1e & the 2e reprint & it is a pretty cool module in my opinion. If I recall correctly, their is a misprint on the module saying it is for levels 1-3, but it should be for 4-6 or so. In this module a King has been killed & his heir, who is on a pilgrimage, has gone missing and a Duke/Prince's Uncle is making his move to take the Kingship. The players (it is assumed they have done work for the Kingdoms Royalty before & are trustworthy) are hired to find the Prince (and Crowning Regalia) before the Duke's men do. There is fighting, but also a mystery aspect & magic/holy site. I ran it once for a Castles & Crusades game & really liked it.
Thinking it over, this would be better for a follow up module. If the players foil the Duke in N3, you could have him hire Skarda to help him take back his Dukedom or take over the Kingdom he feels should be his.
Yaaay, another video! While I enjoyed your review, I didn't like what I read in this adventure. The concept of foiling an evil wizard trying to assassinate the Grand Duke was cool. The sense of stage direction the writer gives is heavy handed and too much. The tower scene was pointless and a waste of time, because the party goes through the entire thing to find effectively nothing. I did like the final scene with the fight at the Grand Duke's hunting lodge and the possibilities that opens up for the players.
Each of us has our own preferences, this module isn’t as deadly as I prefer, it’s got a bit of hand holding, but also a bit of DM discretion. It’s an easily survivable adventure (well….. with most parties) but it creates the feeling of pulling off something heroic.
I live near Richmond, VA
I've had a stint there and in the wonderful locale of Norfolk.
p͎r͎o͎m͎o͎s͎m͎
300xp