Finally getting a chance to play catch up this weekend. Dungeon Crawl #2 has been sitting on my compter desktop for a bit too long, and this look is certainly over due.
+Wayne Rossi put together a very complete package with the 25 pages he worked with, including a submission from +David Przybyla - Dave gets a mention in two reviews back to back. Go Dave!
We start out with a very flexible adventure / dungeon - Caverns of Temeluc. Flexible in that room descriptions are set, but their occupants and possible treasures aren't - they each have their own list. It's kinda like the old Chinese restaurant menus - choose one from Column A and one from Column B - enjoy. I haven't had a chance to try it with a live group, but in theory it should work fine.
Next is an article on Traps. The first trap discussed - The "Lilies" , is pretty much what one of the party members stepped in last night in Rappan Athuk. Nicely done.
The Steel Wheel is a magic shield by none other than +David Przybyla . Dave and I share a similar interest - history and flavor for unique magic items. I really enjoyed this.
Ready Reference: Random Crypt Contents and Ready Reference: Stranger Statues are excellent random tables to flesh out crypts and statues respectively. I love well done random charts, and these are well done. The Crypts Contents tables could easily be used in Barrowmaze 1 or 2.
Ready Reference: Save vs. Death Ray! introduces some colored death rays and ray guns. Not as immediately useful but still interesting.
Daily OSR: Charts gives us charts for character motivations, morale failure and magic malfunctions. Certainly stuff to pick through and reuse, even if not used as it.
Dark Age Dungeons: Gaming in Late Antiquity is pretty much a primer for setting your next campaign in a historical setting around the time of the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD. As a former History Major, I enjoyed the article. That being said, it's purpose is to give you a taste for the period - if you were to take the ball and run with it, you'd obviously need to do further research. It accomplishes it's aim.
Next, we are presented with the Obscure God: Oceses, Lord of the Blackened Hand. I really enjoyed this, a god for torchbearers and henchmen. Fun stuff.
Lastly we are presented with 11 new monsters for use in your OSR game. In general, I find new monsters to be hit or miss (the miss is because some monsters are very situational) but always inspirational. Well done. One or two may find their ways into Rappan Athuk, just to keep my players on their toes.
No comments:
Post a Comment