dunbar@glasgow.glasgow.UUCP (Neil Dunbar) (11/21/85)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE *** Module for levels 28-32??? You've got to be kidding!! Not that I wouldn't like to see such a beast if it exists. Please, would anyone e-mail me or stick some news in this column if They know anything about EGG writing an AD&D module for levels 28 to 32. Perhaps something has appeared in DRAGON, and I just haven't received it yet. Ever since the pointless demise of IMAGINE, things just ain't been the same in Great Britain.
chen@gitpyr.UUCP (Ray Chen) (11/24/85)
EGG is writing a what??? Hmmm. I always thought this was the man who
hated high-level D&D. In straight AD&D, how can you HAVE characters
of 28-32 level???
Also, I believe egg wrote "Tomb of Horrors". If these modules are
anything like that one, STAY AWAY. I and some friends went through
that module in an ex-roomie of mine's campaign. In our opinion,
Tomb of Horrors was designed solely and only for killing off high-level
characters. The tricks and traps were totally unreasonable.
Examples: spheres of annihilation in openings that *seem* like they
could be gates/teleporting portals.
A door that could only be opened by inserting *non-magical*
swords (or things shaped like swords) into 3 slots
simultaneously. (As far as the DM knew, *nobody* who
hadn't read the module had ever figured out how to open
the door correctly.)
Gates that teleport the people back to the entrance to the
dungeon -- and their stuff to a treasure room inside the
dungeon. The dungeon was also set up so that at some point,
those gates were the only even semi-obvious possibility of
getting further into the dungeon.
The final battle too was unreasonable. There were only 3
ways to damage the creature and one of them involved going
astral and casting some random low-level spell like knock,
or shatter, or stinking cloud (I forget exactly which spell
it was). But I do remember it only worked if the
spell was cast from the *astral* plane. The other methods
were similarly obscure or did so little damage that they were
basically useless. Again, stuff that a player would *never*
come up with by himself.
After successfully conquering the dungeon (after 3 or 4 tries, I think)
I was so disgusted with it that our party systematically dissassembled and
destroyed the place stone by stone and then earthquaked the place a few
times for good measure. I didn't want *anyone* to *ever* have to go through
that place again.
By the way, the DM (Brian Ehrmantraut, formerly fisher!bae) kept a count
of how many parties went through and how many lived. I believe it was
something like out of 8 parties or so, 3 survived, and the rest died.
None of the parties were below 14th level (I think).
All things considered, I'll be interested in seeing what these modules
are like. I have my doubts though, if I'd ever want to play in one.
P.S. -- About egg's being fired -- better late than never, I always say...
P.P.S. -- Brian, if you're reading this, I've been trying to send you
mail at wg3b20 and failing miserably due to the fact that
we run a brain-damaged domain-based mailer. I'm going to
try once more but if my message doesn't get through to you
by the time you get this article, my phone number is
(303) 351-4567. Give me a call.
Ray Chen
gitpyr!chen
Georgia Insitute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
...!{akgua,allegra,amd,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!gitpyr!chenmep@ihuxo.UUCP (m. pasternak) (11/26/85)
> Also, I believe egg wrote "Tomb of Horrors". If these modules are > anything like that one, STAY AWAY. I and some friends went through > that module in an ex-roomie of mine's campaign. In our opinion, > Tomb of Horrors was designed solely and only for killing off high-level > characters. The tricks and traps were totally unreasonable. I DISAGREE wholeheartedly with your appraisal of the "Tomb of Horrors." I haven't run or played in the module, but I've read through it thoroughly, with plans to run the module as part of an ongoing campaign. But I have played in other campaigns at about this (or higher) level and have seen (& survived) plenty of DM-deviousness in those campaigns -- quite a bit on par with "Tomb of Horrors". "Tomb of Horrors" is designed for characters of about level 14 being run by experienced players. I'll grant that it's a challenging module, with plenty of devious traps and seemingly unconquerable critters roaming the halls. But I've no doubt that a reasonably well-equipped & experienced party would be able to take on the dungeon ... they might lose a party member and/or use up some expensive magic in doing so ... but, that's life! Modules at this (and at any) levels have to challenge the characters -- so that they're NOT sure they can win, or even come out alive. Besides, at this level of play (14th & up), characters have LOTS of ways of finding out about traps (magical & otherwise) as well as about the best approaches to take ... so that an intelligent party can drastically increase their chances of survival by asking questions and using informational spells. If the party doesn't prepare itself sufficiently, take reasonable precautions, etc, they deserve to be snuffed! Mary Pasternak AT&T Bell Labs ihuxo!mep