Mini Review - The Dungeon of the Rat (Tunnels & Trolls)

The Dungeon of the Rat is a GM Adventure / Delve for a party of T&T players.  This is in and of itself a general rarity in T&T adventures, as solos dominate the available adventure selection.  This one is written by Mike Hill, a well known Tunnels & Trolls adventure writer, who has had many articles and adventures  in The Hobbit Hole (The Hobbit Hole is no longer authorized by Mike and a number of others to publish their work).  The Dungeon of the Rat first appeared in THH.  This edition is released by Lone Delver Games, with all proceeds going towards a transplant fund to raise money for Jeff Freels (author of Bean! and frequent T&T artist) and his wife.  Your $4 goes to a noble cause.

Now, on to the adventure itself.  The Dungeon of the Rat is actually two parts:  Millet's Crossing (a village for your party to use as a home base) and the Dungeon of the Rat (surprise, a dungeon).

The village itself is very nicely described, with a selection of hooks for later use by an enterprising GM.  The map has a hand drawn, penciled look to it.

The Dungeon of the Rat is located in town, in the basement of the Troll's Trove Inn, so your party need not go far for their first adventure.

That first adventure is designed for novice characters AND players.  It's a teaching dungeon in a sense, with the expectation that by the time the party of delvers complete it, they should have a decent understanding of the gameplay involved and some basic puzzle solving, not just in T&T but rpgs in general.

If you are looking to start a new T&T campaign, and if you're not, you should be, The Dungeon of the Rat won't steer you wrong.

From the blurb:

The village of Millet's Crossing is a small and unassuming place. There is little of interest to the wandering sword-for-hire except for a nice inn and a general store. But the Troll's Trove provides a welcome bit of rest and relaxation to your band of road-weary adventurers. Just as soon as you have settled in, however, your host offers you a rather odd business proposition. It seems that the Troll's Trove has rats in it's cellar and these rats are stealing things all over town. What is really odd is that they are leaving behind small jade rat statues. A nice reward awaits those that can clear out the infestation and put a stop to the thefts. It appears to be a simple task, but one must be careful; even rats have gods.

This book contains details for the village of Millet's Crossing and the Dungeon of the Rat which lies right beneath the calm, rural community. The Dungeon of the Rat is suited for a party of four to six first-level characters. A mix of character types is recommended including at least one wizard and one rogue.

The Dungeon of the Rat is designed for use with the Tunnels and Trolls™ game system. You will need a copy of the T&T™ rules to play this game.

Special Note: All proceeds earned from the sale of The Dungeon of the Rat will be donated to the Jeff and Raquel Freels Transplant Fund (http://jeffwerx.com/tf.html). Jeff is a great friend and contributor to the Tunnels and Trolls™ community. Both he and his wife are in need of kidney transplants.