JG 88 The Dark Tower Review - Old School Role Playing

The Dark Tower is a Judges Guild Adventure written and illustrated by Jennell Jaquays. It was published in 1979. This was one of a series of adventures written by Jennell Jaquays for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. It was very much a “Mega” Adventure in that there are many levels and two separate towers detailed. There is also a local village presented. All in all it is seventy pages long from cover to cover.

This was one of the earliest attempts to design adventures for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. The rules were still new. Many of the monsters were new. Some of the creatures presented in this adventure are not exactly the way there were presented in the Monster Manual. But the flavor of the adventures definitely old school. Where no clear rule exists it makes up what it needs. That is the nature of the old school game.

Like most true mega dungeons this one has many layers. There are opposing factions in these towers. Notice how I say….towers. The title suggests but one. But there are actually two here. A “dark” tower and a “light” one. Playing these factions off of each other is possible. But more likely is direct alliance with the one that most closely fits the alignment of the party.

Some new monsters are presented here. As are several new artifacts. The artifacts in this adventure are not the Wand of Orcus type of thing that will totally unbalance a game. These are much more toned down than that.

This adventure is about the constant struggle between two deities and their clerics and minions. Set and Mitra are the opposing forces in this adventure. There are many clerics and minions of each presented here. Clerics aligned with either of these deities gain powers and advantages.

Dark Tower Link

What I like about the Dark Tower

As stated….it adds new monsters and new artifacts. Artifacts themselves are a fascinating addition to any adventure. This adventure has many of them. None of them are overpowering or unbalancing to the game. The new creatures are specific to this tower and would not likely be used in other adventures. The new artifacts are creative and interesting.

This adventure has lots of those special magical rooms and objects that are referred to in the Dungeon Masters Guide as “Tricks.” If you have ever read any of the adventures written by me you will know how much I love these. Some of these are creative. Some not so much. But there are tons of them in these towers.

The history and background is short. I like short when it comes to these. Nothing bores me more than having to read twenty pages of background to play an adventure.

The adventure includes a nice little town to retreat to when necessary. And it is highly likely that it will be necessary often. There is a lot of stuff in these towers. And most of it has teeth and will cause the players to need rest often. This adventure is written for 6-8 characters of 7th to 11th level of experience.

The background that is presented sets up the constant battle between Mitra and Set. Or the battle between good and evil in the towers. Little space is wasted in the effort to set up the conflict necessary for the action to flow.

These towers have levels and sub levels. In addition to flat maps showing these areas the adventure also offers a side view map so that one can actually see the relationship between the levels of the towers.

The towers have relatively simple low level creatures like rats, kobolds and skeletons. It also has high level monsters such as shedu and liches. One never knows what one will find behind the next door. Sometimes it will be wise to talk rather than to fight.

One of the creatures is a 21st level Cleric lich. Cleric only! That brings up the age old argument (commonly argued on several forums that I visit) about whether anyone can be a lich without having the powers of necromantic magic. In other words can one be a lich at all without being a magic user (or magic user cleric)? judges guild certainly thought so. In fact another adventure of theirs I reviewed had a lich that was a druid! As I stated earlier…Judges Guild writers had no problems at all in changing the rules to suit their adventures!

What I do not like about the Dark Tower

Some of the traps are a little over the top. Some are just a bit too “gotcha” for my taste. In one room there are 40 crossbow bolts that are invisible and will fire simultaneously when vibrations occur. This will result in several being fired at each player in the group. In another area a magical statue fires 15D6 lightning bolts while another fires 15D6 fireballs every round. Players hate traps. But they understand the need for them. Dungeons and not supposed to be safe places to visit. They are supposed to have traps. But no player ever likes traps that are just automatic deaths for their characters. Some of these really do border on that kind of trap.

There are a whole lot of teleportation rooms in the Dark Tower. A few is always nice. I am not sure of the need for so many of them here. But I guess for mega type dungeons a quick way in and out is always nice.

Would I recommend this adventure to others?

Of course. There are few Judges Guild adventures that I would not recommend but there are some. A few of the ones that are specific to the Wilderlands campaign seem a bit dull and dry reading to me. I have not reviewed those yet but will at some point later on. This one should play well. With the battle between good and evil here a party could find allies and could do well here. Without such allies one might find the towers a dangerous place to visit.

Would I run the Dark Tower with my own group?

Perhaps. My players recently suffered a total party kill and re-rolled characters so we are a long way from the levels necessary to play this one now. I do intend to run some old modules like this one with them though. So anything is possible.

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