Dwellers of the Forbidden City is an adventure written for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons First Edition. It was written by David Cook and published in 1981. The adventure is for characters of 4th to 7th levels of experience.
The Jungles to the south have been reported as the source of recent bandit raids on merchant caravans. Strange reports of headhunters and cannibals in those jungles have kept adventurers from exploring those places for some time. A great deal of valuable treasures have disappeared into the jungle. One could get quite wealthy if they could recover even some of it.
Dwellers of the Forbidden City was used at the 1980 Origins AD&D tournament. The module itself is not presented as a tourney module.
What I like about Dwellers of the Forbidden City
A lost city in a jungle. Who would not like that? It also introduced several new monsters into the AD&D universe including: Yuan Ti, Aboleths, Tasloi and Bullywugs. Yuan Ti are a favorite of mine. It also introduces the Pan Lung (oriental dragon) and the Yellow Musk Creeper.
This lost city has to be reached before it can be explored. As the city is down in a canyon the adventurers will have to find a safe way down into it. Some of the safe ways…..are not so safe at all. Some are fairly safe. It is a crap shoot for the adventurers as to which method they choose.
There are factions here which could be played off of each other. Fighting everything here might be a recipe for a total party kill. With a little help from friends, though, this should not be an impossible place to get some good loot.
This adventure does not have a lot of the magical “tricks” that I like so much. But it does have a few good ones. But it does have a few good “role playing” encounters. These are encounters where the adventurers may well lose a few lives if they do not use their wits and negotiate a little.
This adventure has a few villains but finding and defeating them is not critical to the success of the adventurers here. They could easily avoid the biggest baddest dudes here and run off with the loot. Or they could solve the problem of the “bandits” should they wish to do so. It is totally up to them. No one is being railroaded into doing anything in this adventure. This module provides the place for adventure and leaves the decisions to the players themselves.
What I do not like about Dwellers of the Forbidden City
While I like the maps…..they are not well marked. The large “city map” has a number of locations that are important to the Dungeon Master that are very difficult to find. What I am referring to is the blue tile map with blue lettering. In the busy map it is very difficult to make out this lettering and figure out exactly where these important locations are in the city. I had to scour the map for an hour or so to find all of them and mark them more clearly so that I could find them during game play.
A few of the “entrances” into the city are not clearly understood. At least not by me. Specifically the entire sequence of caverns referred to as the “main tunnel entrance.” The blue city map only has a reference for area C11 which is the end of that sequence of caves. On the blue map it is shown as a series of four pillars. So where is this cave entrance? It is not shown. There is a separate map for the tunnels themselves but nowhere does it show where these tunnels begin in reference to the city map.
A couple of the encounters seem a bit tough for characters of this level. But I suppose that the adventurers must make good decisions if they are going to succeed and survive in this hostile place.
In fact….the entire sequence of caves listed as the primary entrance to the city is a deadly area for adventurers of this level range. They may well burn up all of their healing resources here or even lose a few characters to the Aboleth.
Would I recommend this adventure to others?
Absolutely. This looks like a well designed adventure and could lead to several play sessions. Or it could end in a total party kill. Either or. But I am ok with that. That is a risk that dungeon delvers take when they explore strange and dangerous places.
Would I run Dwellers of the Forbidden City with my own group?
I intend to. My current group is now reaching second level. In a couple of levels from now they should be ready to visit this jungle lost city.
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- Torture Devices
- Sieges in Dungeons and Dragons
- The Tax Man
- Illusions Part one
- Illusions Part Two
- Psionics in Dungeons and Dragons
- Tricks, Emptry Rooms and Basic Trap Design Review
- Warfare in Dungeons and Dragons
- Weather in Dungeons and Dragons
- Omens and Prophecies
