Prey of Darkness is an adventure written by Edward R G Mortimer and published by Judges Guild. It was written for use with the JG “Universal” system. This system is, more or less, compatible with Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. It came at a time when JG no longer had the license to publish D&D material. This adventure was published in 1982.
This adventure is a story about Bandits. The players are presented with the opportunity to hunt down a pack of criminals or join them if they are evil. Bounties are provided for some specific NPCs that might be met during the adventure but there is a dungeon to explore (the hideout) which will provide the real adventure.
What I like about Prey of Darkness
One of the NPCs is a headless Ghost Orc Shaman. That is kind of unique.
The bandit NPCs all have a little bit of story to them which makes them a bit less wooden than some of the NPCs in other adventures. And some of them are not truly all that evil at all. This makes them a little different to play.
There are other bounty hunters out there who might be rather ruthless in their pursuit of these criminals. Anyone standing in the way might also get killed.
A few new creatures are introduced which is always a plus.
What I do not like about Prey of Darkness
The “universal” system of Judges Guild is not exactly AD&D and does require a little bit of work on the DM’s part to make it compatible.
Most of the combatants in the adventure will be human or humanoid bandits. After a while this might get a little old. The deeper that you go into the dungeon the more non humans enemies you will find.
Would I recommend this adventure to others?
It would play well enough to keep the interest of most groups for a while. I think that the repetitive encounters, however, might cause a little boredom after a while.
Would I run Prey of Darkness with my own group?
I probably would not. I have no problem with adventures involving bandits but I know my own players well enough to realize that too many bandit encounters in a row would bore them to tears.
If you enjoyed this article then you might enjoy these:
- Lich Lords
- Zienteck
- Spies of Lightelf
- The Black Ring
- Portals of Twilight
- Portals of Torsh
- Portals of Irontooth
- Thieves of Fortress Badabaskor
- Sword of Hope
- Under the Storm Giant’s Castle
- The First Fantasy Campaign
- The Arduin Grimmoire
