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I3 Pharaoh Review

Pharaoh is the first adventure in the Desert of Desolation series. It is written by Tracy and Laura Hickman. The adventure is written for use with Advanced Dungeons and Dragons and was published by TSR in 1982. Pharaoh is 34 pages long including the covers and maps.

This particular adventure has an Egyptian theme. In particular, the god Amun-Re, figures prominently in the story line. There have been several Egyptian themed adventures for Dungeons and Dragons over the years. It is a popular pantheon to use as an adventure theme. Sometimes it works out well. Other times it does not.

The adventurers begin this adventure surrounded by a large group of soldiers. One of the leaders of this band reads a decree from the local ruler of this barren wasteland which basically hijacks the players and forces them on a mission. They are to chase down some raiders who seem to have fled to a nearby desert to escape justice.

The adventure is written for characters of 5th to 7th levels of experience.

What I like about Pharoah

I like the idea of using various ability checks with a D20. I use them in my own games from time to time. Generally I use a harder method of rolling 4D6 under an ability score but it really depends upon how difficult I want a check to be. Ability checks have obviously become a more important part of the game with later editions. But in AD&D 1st edition no such system was offered. Many DMs home brewed such systems into their games for things that could not be anticipated.

It is a desert adventure. These are fairly uncommon in the catalog of adventures for AD&D. Eventually, of course, it ends up underground. But there are wilderness elements to the adventure.

There is boxed text with this adventure. Fortunately it is brief. And it is not filled with the stilted speech you often see with such text.

What I do not like about Pharoah

When I saw that this was written by the same authors as Ravenloft I thought that this could be another gem. Unfortunately….it is not a gem. Not at all. I am not a fan of this adventure for a number of reasons.

If you have read my previous reviews, or any of my own adventures, then you know that I love using tricks (as defined in the DMG on page 216. I use them in most of my adventures. And there are always a few in just about every TSR or Judges Guild adventure. So I know that I am not alone in loving these. The problem in this adventure is, believe it or not, there are just too many of them. They are in every room just about. In some cases there are more than one in a room. They are hardly confounding or surprising when you encounter one every ten feet.

I do not especially like hijacking players and forcing them on a mission. This is too railroady for my tastes. This alone is enough to immediately turn me off from an adventure. I realize that this sort of fiction is used in a few other notable tourney modules but this is not one of those. I can live with it in a tourney module because the players do not have a lot of time to discuss what they would like to do.

I do not like the format of the room descriptions. Early on the adventure tells you that encounter rooms will follow a format that has bold headings of Play, Monster, Trick/Trap, etc. I do not really dig the idea of the module telling me in each encounter how to play it.

There is a lot of lore and writings on walls and such in the dungeons. This is shown with a different font to make it obvious to the dungeon master. They picked something Egyptian looking (I guess). Unfortunately it is not easy to read.

A whole lot of the monsters in this adventure are repetitive and boring. Right off the bat there are many rooms with dervishes in them to fight. Yes some are variants. But still….that gets a little boring quickly. Later on though it does start giving you some new and more interesting encounters.

Would I recommend Pharoah to others?

If you are looking for an Egyptian themed adventure this one might be right up your alley. But I have seen a few better ones out there. So I think I would shop around a bit before settling on this one. I know that one of my readers was interested in the Desert of Desolation series and wanted me to review this one. So I read it. I have not yet read through the other two modules so I cannot say with certainty that I would not like either of those. I might. We will see.

Would I run Pharoah with my own group?

I probably would not. I think that there are better adventures for characters of this level range and I would choose them before this one.

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S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks Review

Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is an adventure written by Gary Gygax for use with Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. The module is intended for use with characters of 8th to 12 levels of experience. The module is 76 pages long but more than half of that is maps and illustrations. The adventure was published in 1980 by TSR.

This was the first module that I ever participated in as a player. When I began playing Dungeons and Dragons in the summer of 1979 we had two dungeon masters. Both were friends of my older brother who had come back home from college for the summer. Each had played Dungeons and Dragons at their respective colleges and had come home intending to start a group with friends from high school. As the tag along little brother I came to the group with my older brother. The better of our two dungeon masters chose this module to run. By better I mean more skilled. The other DM was far more eager to run adventures on a regular basis so he tended to run most of the games. But this was one hell of a fun adventure at the time.

Mysterious attacks from creatures never seen before have devastated the lands in the Grand Duchy of Geoff. The Grand Duke has summoned the greatest adventurers in the land to go explore the source of these raiders and put an end to the raids.

This module is a blast

What I like about Expedition to the Barrier Peaks

This adventure involves a space ship that has landed on the World of Greyhawk. But it easily could have landed in your own campaign world. It is a multi-leveled ship with aliens, altered or mutated creatures from D&D and even robots. There are futuristic weapons and all kinds of futuristic technology.

One thing that is very well done in this module is the limits on this high tech stuff. Gary clearly understood how this kind of thing could blow up a campaign. Allowing characters unlimited access to laser guns and blaster rifles and grenades might make them overpowered and ruin any later fun. But these items all have limited charges. And they will soon deplete and be worthless.

The module does a great job of giving you illustrations to show the players. These illustrations allow the dungeon master to create the flavor of this future star ship without the need for boxed text.

The ship has six levels. Each level has a different theme. Each of these themes introduces different elements of the far future to the story.

There is no one big bad guy in this adventure. It is up to the players to explore and figure out how to complete their mission here.

Lots of new creatures and lots of new items fill the pages of this adventure. Granted….most of these will not be really useful for other adventures. But it is all new and different.

This adventure has lots to explore and plenty of combat challenges. But this is not a hack and slash type adventure. The place itself is a mystery. And the players must solve the mysteries in order to complete their mission.

This module is fun for everyone!

What I do not like about Expedition to the Barrier Peaks

There is a bit of repetition in monster encounters. There are a lot of robots. They can be encountered on several levels. There are a lot of vegepygmies. They can be encountered in many places.

There is not a lot of history given about the aliens or why they are on this world. That is left for the players and dungeon master to guess.

A lot of high tech gear is introduced in this adventure

Would I recommend this adventure to others?

Absolutely. This one is a classic. Once players are in this level range this is a great adventure to play or run. One could hardly go wrong running this with a group. It is fun to play and provides hours of entertainment.

Would I run Expedition to the Barrier Peaks with my own players?

I intend to once my group gets to these levels. I think this is one of the very best adventures written for this game.

New friends await you in this ship from the stars

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Waiting to play this adventure could have bad results

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The Eye and Hand of Vecna in Dungeons and Dragons

The Eye and Hand of Vecna are two of the most iconic artifacts in the game of Dungeons and Dragons. Vecna was a powerful Lich from the Greyhawk campaign of Gary Gygax. Vecna evolved from Lich into a near god. Ultimately he was betrayed by his own lieutenant Kas the Bloody Handed. Kas himself has an artifact named after him which is the Sword of Kas. Kas was the personal bodyguard of Vecna. Vecna procured a powerful weapon for his lieutenant. It was a piece of grey metal which was forged into a powerful sword called the Sword of Kas. Ultimately this sword urged Kas to betray Vecna and rule in his place. Ultimately Kas destroyed the Lich but in the process Vecna brought the doom of his former bodyguard as well.

It is said that the Sword of Kas still has a portion of the consciousness of Vecna. So in a sense he still lives. After the battle with Kas only two parts of Vecna still exist: the hand and the eye.

Ultimately Kas the Bloodyhanded became a vampire. Vecna, himself, rose again as a demigod. And then later rose to a lesser god. An entire cult exists worshiping this lesser god.

Vecna first arrived with the publication of the third supplement to Dungeons and Dragons. In Eldritch Wizardry Vecna is first mentioned. Vecna was an anagram for Vance. The Dungeons and Dragons fire and forget system of magic (used in the earlier editions of the game) were based upon the work of the fantasy author Jack Vance.

The Eye of Vecna is a dangerous weapon in the hands of someone willing to place it in their own eye socket

The Eye of Vecna

It is said that this disembodied eye glows in the same manner as a feral creature. It appears as an agate until it is placed into the eye socket of a living character. Once pressed into the eye socket it will instantly (and permanently) graft itself into the skull of the character in question. It can never be removed or harmed without killing the character possessing it. The alignment of the character will become neutral evil and cannot be changed. The person with the eye will gain infravision and ultravision (early editions). The Dungeon Master will determine other powers of the eye randomly.

In later editions the person will gain truesight from placement of the eye in their eye socket. Unlike the earlier editions the eye looks like a bloodshot organ torn from an eye socket. The item must be attuned by gouging out one’s own eye and then placing it into the eye socket. The eye will then appear as a golden slit like a cat’s eye.

In the early editions the Dungeon Master was tasked with determining the exact powers of the eye randomly. In 5th Edition these powers are set as follows:

  • Truesight
  • X-ray vision
  • The Eye has 8 charges
  • The following powers can be used at the expenditure of these charges: clairvoyance (2 charges), crown of madness (1 charge), disintegrate (4 charges), dominate monster (5 charges), eyebite (4 charges)
  • The eye regains 1D4+4 charges daily until replenished
  • Each time a spell power is used there is a 5% chance that vecna will rip the soul from the person using it and take over that person’s body forever.
The Eye of Vecna has changed in appearance over the years but the Hand has always been described as a mummified hand. Both are powerful artifacts

The Hand of Vecna

The Hand of Vecna appears as a mummified extremity. It is a black and shriveled hand. Possibly from a burned body. If the hand is pressed to the stump of an arm it will instantly graft itself to that arm becoming a powerful arm. In 1st edition it became an arm with 18/00 strength. The alignment of the person doing so becomes neutral evil. The minor powers of the hand could be used in these early editions without fear. But should the major powers be used great evil is awakened in the hand. To use the powers of the hand one must extend the fingers individually or in combinations.

In 5th Edition the Hand of Vecna is still a formidable artifact. The powers are set as follows:

  • Strength becomes 20 unless it is already higher than this
  • Melee spell damage and Melee weapon damage deal an extra 2D8 cold damage
  • The hand has 8 charges
  • The following powers can be used at the expense of charges: finger of death (5 charges), sleep (1 charge), slow (2 charges), teleport (3 charges)
  • The hand regenerates 1D4+4 charges daily until replenished
  • Each time a spell power is used the hand will cast a suggestion spell upon the user demanding that the person commit an evil act (up to the DM unless the player suggests one sufficiently evil)
Use of these two artifacts together can create formidable powers in the hands of the possessor of this artifact. But this person is doomed to be the slave of these objects in the end…..

Use of the Hand of Vecna and the Eye of Vecna together

The Hand and Eye of Vecna are not always found together. But as powerful evil relics it is entirely possible (and likely) that the objects are aware of the location of each other. It is also possible (likely in fact) that the objects will desire to be reunited. For together they may have greater powers.

In First Edition artifacts used together often had additional powers. Strangely, however, the possibility of this was not specifically mentioned in regards to the Hand and Eye of Vecna. It seems a natural that these two items would feed off of each other in this manner. Yet the Dungeon Master’s Guide was silent on that point. Later editions rectified this.

In Fifth Edition the use of both the hand and the eye confers additional powers and benefits as well as other side effects and curses. These additional effects include:

  • Immunity to disease and poison
  • Use of the x-ray vision no longer causes exhaustion
  • User experiences premonitions and can no longer be surprised
  • User regenerates 1D10 hit points per round (as long as they begin the round with one hit point or more)
  • The user can use a special melee attack to turn an opponent’s skeleton to jelly (DC 18 constitution save allowed or drop to zero hit points)
  • Can use an action to cast a wish (once every 30 days)
These grotesque objects will graft themselves to the person willing to place them on their own body

Destruction of the Hand and/or Eye of Vecna

Early editions did not specify the method of destruction. But later editions did. In Fifth Edition the hand and eye must be attached to the same person. If that person is destroyed with the Sword of Kas then both the hand and eye will burst into flame and turn to ash. They will be destroyed forever.

All other attempts will appear to work but instead the items will reappear in one of Vecna’s many hidden vaults.

Additional lore about Vecna and his evil artifacts

Over the years additional publications about this arch villain increased the lore of the Lich and his artifacts. It is said that Orcus, himself, taught Vecna the rituals for becoming a Lich. Over time as Vecna ruled his kingdom he became more ruthless and unpredictable. His subjects feared to say his name. They had many titles for him including:

  • The Whispered One
  • Master of the Spider Throne
  • The Undying King
  • Lord of the Rotted Tower

Kas may have wanted possession of the Spider Throne for himself. Ultimately he was seduced by the power of his own sword and used it to slay the Lich and destroy his tower.

In later editions the Eye of Vecna is described as appearing like that of a cat once placed into the eye socket of the possessor

Use of these artifacts in game play

Regardless of which edition of Dungeons and Dragons that you play one thing is certain: finding either or both of these items will drastically change the campaign. The smart characters will, of course, discard these evil items and their potential powers. But those who do not will forever wish that they did. For they will change the alignment and then ultimately destroy these characters. Granted….they provide unimaginable powers….but they also extract a terrible price.

Artifacts are not intended for casual use in the game of Dungeons and Dragons. Use of these relics and artifacts almost always come with a steep price. Curses and side effects are common. And they often far outweigh the benefits of using these items. Ultimately they are a test of the willpower of the characters who find them. Can they resist the urge to use such terrible devices? Can they survive their own insatiable quest for power? Most often the answer will be no……….

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Vecna standing upon the skulls of those individuals who were unable to resist using his artifacts
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JG 190 The Treasure Vaults of Lindoran Review

The Treasure Vaults of Lindoran is a Judges Guild adventure written for use with Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. It is thirty four pages long. The adventure was written by Geoffry O. Dale and was published in 1980.

Long ago the Elf king saw that his kingdom was being overrun by a vast army of undead and demonic warriors. To protect the treasures of his kingdom he sealed his vault forever with magic. The king went off to defend his kingdom and then fell in battle.

Great treasures are said to be buried in this vault. The scepter and signet ring of the king along with a ring of power were lost here. The magical seals protecting this place from intrusion are wearing off now. It might be possible to break into the vaults. But now a new problem has arisen. An ancient red dragon sits beside the only entrance into the place. And he wants a piece of the action!

What I like about the Treasure Vaults of Lindoran

While it never specifically states a suggested level range it is clear that this adventure is intended for characters in the 8th to 10th level range. Characters of a little higher or lower level might still enjoy this adventure.

This was the first Judges Guild product I ever owned. I bought it around ’80 or ’81 from a store in Houston that sold a variety of in print and out of print RPG material along with quite a few boxed war games. And this store still exists!

This adventure contains a lot of magical tricks. I love these things and I just about never fail to point this out when I see it in other published work. This particular adventure uses this device to keep characters from teleporting in and out of the dungeon at will. The magical seals protecting this place along with the lead walls and other things prevent any such transportation.

The Treasure Vaults of Lindoran has lots of undead in it. Most of these are modified skeletons and zombies. They are just about everywhere and are intended to slowly grind down the resources (magic and hit points) of the players. There is a time limit, more or less, built into this adventure. For the doors open at specific intervals. Other than at these times the only way out is to find the magical items that will open the doors and allow exit. And then there will be that nasty red dragon waiting to greet the adventurers as they leave! Will he live up to any bargain that he makes?

The red dragon is a nice little touch. It is a role playing encounter right off the bat. Or the players could fight it. But then they will enter this place with a few dead characters or badly depleted on resources.

There are quite a few traps in this adventure. Many of them are pit traps. This is important. Because some of these pit traps have secret doors in them which lead to important areas of the dungeon. Should they be bypassed the adventurers might never find their way out or find the treasures.

The maps are simple. These were not even drawn on graph paper which most of the old Judges Guild Modules were.

Two new monsters are introduced. Neither is all that unusual but new monsters are always welcome. There are a couple of new magic items as well.

There are a whole lot of keys ans special locks in this adventure. This is an interesting thing to have if done correctly.

It has a false treasure room. I like false entrances and false treasure rooms. There is nothing like it for psyching out the players. They won’t know whether they have found what they are looking for until they get to the top again and discover that they still cannot get out.

There is no big bad boss here. There is treasure. There are monsters. And then it is all up to the adventurers to decide what they are going to do. It is not a good versus evil story. There certainly is evil here. But that is not the purpose of the adventurers. They are not here to save the kingdom. They are here to find treasure.

What I do not like about the Treasure Vaults of Lindoran

The zombies and skeletons are kind of repetitive. They literally are everywhere in the dungeon. They cannot be turned. And they are greatly enhanced. This makes them a fight every time they are encountered. It would not be a difficult fight though. It is more of a deplete the resources type of encounter.

While I like using keys in a dungeon the use of them in this one is kind of random. There is no real rhyme or reason on whether a key will work or not. On one door a silver key might be placed in a silver lock in order to open it. On the next one it might need to be placed in the gold lock. choosing wrong causes shock damage each time. I like the use of special locks that are the only means of opening doors or passages. But there needs to be some way for the adventurers to reason how to choose which key to use in a lock. Trial and error (causing damage each time) is not a great way to do it in my opinion.

Would I recommend this adventure to others?

Of course! It is a decent adventure for characters in the appropriate level range. And it is highly unlikely that your players would have read it already. I certainly did. But I suspect it was not all that widely distributed. There are a few decent challenges in this adventure and I think it will be very entertaining.

Would I run the Treasure Vaults of Lindoran with my own group?

I very well might. When my players get their characters to the right level range this one would be an interesting one to run.

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T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil Review

The Temple of Elemental Evil is a megadungeon. It is 145 pages long from cover to cover. It consists of four installments. This module was written by Gary Gygax and Frank Mentzer. It is set in the Wold of Greyhawk. The adventure was published by TSR in 1985.

Long ago a powerful demon was trapped and bound deep in a dungeon far beneath the earth. That demon is working it’s way free again. Two villages stand in close proximity to the ruins of this evil and desolate place. But the ruins are not uninhabited. New forces of evil, and good, have moved into these ruins.

What I like about the Temple of Elemental Evil

In the summer of 1980 I was visiting my grandparents in the Biloxi, Mississpi area when I came across part of this module for the first time. It was at a KB toy store in a nearby mall. Up to this point all I had seen from TSR were the various giant modules and the Tomb of Horrors. I had not yet read any of the others. But I stumbled on T1 Village of Hommlet at this mall in a place I really never expected to find any Dungeons and Dragons stuff. Village of Hommlet was a stand alone product at the time. There was no “Temple of Elemental Evil” yet. None of the other T series installments had yet been published. Nor would they be for five more years. When I first bought this module I did not not what to expect. Or what to do with it. It seemed as if it was just intended to be a starting village for low level adventurers. And that is what I used it for.

At this point I was just starting High School. The Dungeons and Dragons group that I began with in 1979 only lasted until about ’81 or ’82. I started a couple of groups of my own with others from high school. But nothing really consistent was formed. After a few years I was off to college and more or less forgot about D&D for a while. The other installments of the series came out during that time I was not really into the game all that much any more. It was not until after I was done with school that I came back to the game and really began playing regularly again. And then I found this module again along with the additional portions that were not available for me when I first read it.

This is a mega dungeon. It is, more or less, an entire campaign from first to about eighth level. There are two separate villages presented. And one very large set of ruins with dungeons beneath it as well as portals to other planes. There are lots of magical “tricks” in this adventure which are a staple of Gygax adventures. If you have read any of my own adventures then you know how much I love these as well.

With such a large inhabited place a small low level group is not going to storm the place and kill everything in sight and then walk away with all of the loot. Instead they are going to have to make allies. They are going to have to play enemies off of each other. They are going to have to pick their enemies wisely. And they are going to have to use more than just their swords and spells to win the day.

This adventure has a big bad demon meanie and as the adventure progresses it becomes stronger and a little freer than it was when the game begins. Ultimately this demon is the boss of the dungeon but not in a specific sense. The demon does not run things here. It is just the baddest thing in town. There are other factions that vie for control of this place. And those each have their own designs for this demon which, of course, has plans of it’s own.

In addition to different factions in the dungeon there are also many prisoners here. Some can provide useful information. Some can become allies or even party members.

The different elemental planes come into play in this adventure. There are temples to each of these four planes of water, fire, earth and air. In different places in this dungeon there are portals to each of these planes and a little mini version of these planes provided in the form of elemental nodes.

This adventure is very much about Greyhawk. Back in the early 80s I was very interested in Greyhawk. But there was little published about it yet. There was this Greyhawk Folio thing that came out about then. I bought a copy back then. But it was really just a bunch of maps and a very terse description of each of the many lands in that world. It did not really do much for a budding young dungeon master that wanted to run games in that world. This adventure is an entire campaign within that world. Including a pair of demigods who are involved in what is happening in this temple.

Unlike some of the other early TSR adventures this one is not a giveaway fest. One problem that I had with the giant series is that it seems to just hand away magical goodies in every room despite Gygax specific admonitions against doing this in the DMG. But Temple of Elemental Evil does not really do this. Yes. There are magical items to find here. There are, in fact, many of them. But few are overly powerful. Most are really mundane items. Magical weapons with a +1 or +2 bonus. A few potions and scrolls. There is plenty of treasure of course. But much of it would be extremely difficult to extract. If you are playing by the book and are giving experience points on a one gold piece per one experience point basis for treasure extracted it is highly likely that taking treasure will be the backbone of the experience levels obtained here. And that is fine by me. I think that is how it was intended and that is how I run my own games. But killing this is fun too. And there will be plenty of that here.

The villages here are kind of complex. They are more than just a list of places one could visit. Some of the NPCs in those villages are involved in what is happening in the temple. Many of the NPCs are evil. I found that quite interesting when I first read T1 Village of Homlet. Because I had no idea of what was to follow.

The ruined moathouse from T1 Village of Hommlet

What I do not like about the Temple of Elemental Evil

One aspect of this adventure that I don’t especially like is actually a criticism of how many TSR adventures were written. If the author is going to tell us specifically how a room is laid out and what creatures are present in a room then why do they always tell us treasures in terms of random rolling? If we know there are six trolls in a room then why are we told that there is 2-8 pieces of jewelry in a room worth 2000-12000 each? This makes little sense to me. Why not just save the space (and our time) and tell us there are three pieces worth 1000 each or there is a brooch worth 1500, a ring worth 1200 and a necklace worth 2500? Wouldn’t that make more sense?

There are a whole lot of repetitive encounters here. There may be twenty rooms each with gnolls, trolls and bugbears. I realize that this makes for a sense of realism. But is there ever really a sense of realism in a dungeon adventure anyway? A bit of ignoring disbelief is kind of required for both players and dungeon masters in order to make the game work.

And I know this is a minor point. And I have mentioned it before in other reviews. But is it really necessary to tell us the room dimensions for every room in the heading when we have a map that clearly shows us all of the room dimensions? That seems like wasted text to me.

Would I recommend this adventure to others?

Absolutely. If you want to start a campaign for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons this module would give you many weeks (months or even years) of play. And it is set in Greyhawk which sets you up for using the giant series or one of the other myriad of TSR products later on.

Would I run the Temple of Elemental Evil with my own players?

If I were starting up again at first level I probably would. This would make it easy for me to run a campaign for quite a long time with minimal effort. There are extensive maps here and a whole lot of things for the adventurers to do. I think that it is a wonderful introduction in the Greyhawk world.

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The cover of T1 Village of Hommlet (the version I had anyway)

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Curses in Dungeons and Dragons

The adventurers arrive in the village after three days of riding. It was a hard journey and the party was looking forward to a cold mug of ale and a fine meal in the local tavern. But something was obviously amiss in this village. It was summer time yet the trees here had no leaves. The fields had no crops. And the villagers were no where to be seen. Even the tavern seemed to be barren when they entered. This place must be cursed……..

Curses in Dungeons and Dragons can be the result of a magic item, scroll or the action of an NPC or monster. They can also be an important campaign element which can lead to adventures all on their own.

It is not wise to offend a Gypsy even if you do not like the fortune she tells

Curses in Dungeons and Dragons as a plot device

Curses do not have to be an affliction on your player characters to drive the action. Sometimes the curse may affect others and cause the adventurers to go on a quest to seek the cure. Perhaps some witch has cursed this village. Or some evil witch or wizard. Or perhaps the entire land is plagued. Some possible curses of this sort might include:

  • Famine
  • Drought
  • Locust plague
  • The prematurely aging king (from Lord of the Rings)
  • The local villagers are turned into zombies or skeletons
  • First born babies dying (From the Bible)
  • Thinning (from the Stephen King Book of the similar name)
Whatever happened to this guy seems likely to be a curse

Curses in Dungeons and Dragons can come in the form of magic items

There are many cursed magic items in the various editions of Dungeons and Dragons. One who picks up and uses one of these devices is often stuck to the object whether they like it or not. Some great examples of cursed items are as follows:

  • Rings of weakness, contrariness or delusions
  • Bags of transmuting
  • Bracers of defenselessness
  • Gauntlets of fumbling
  • Iron Flasks
  • Necklace of strangulation
  • Mirror of opposition
  • Amulet of inescapable location
  • Scarab of death
  • Rope of constriction
  • Backbiting spear
  • Berserking sword
  • Missile attracting shield

When one finds one of these items they are likely to test it in order to find any magical properties that it might have. Once these properties are discovered it is often too late to just discard the item. Sometimes a remove curse might solve the issue. In other times more complicated methods of disposal might be in order.

Obviously an identify spell could avoid this issue but wizards tend to be stingy with such spells. Rarely do they want to waste one on every potentially magic item that they come across. They would prefer to use those 1st level spells on magic missiles and such. Therefore cursed items often catch parties unaware until it is too late.

A witch is someone you should avoid at all costs

Curses In Dungeons and Dragons can be bestowed by scrolls

This was a common method of introducing curses in First Edition. One picked up a scroll and began reading it to determine who could use it. Some of the suggested curses in that edition for scrolls included:

  • Reader is polymorphed into a monster of equal level which immediately attacks others nearby
  • Reader is turned to liquid and drains away
  • Reader and all within 20′ are teleported 200-1200 miles in a random direction
  • Reader and all within 20′ are transported to another planet, plane or continuum
  • Disease that is fatal to the reader in 2-8 turns (20 to 80 minutes) unless cured
  • Explosive runes
  • Or a randomly rolled spell affects the reader at 12th level of casting

And of course these scroll curses tend to hit the wizards and other spell casters the hardest as they are the ones most likely to read the scrolls they come written on.

Don’t make her angry…..you won’t like it when she is angry…..

Curses in Dungeons and Dragons can be the result of some non player character or monster

Gypsies are known to bestow curses from time to time. In Dungeons and Dragons they are referred to as the Vistani. Offending a Gypsy is inadvisable for this reason. Most people tend to give them a wide berth when their caravans come rolling through fantasy cities and towns. Often they are asked to camp outside of towns and villages. While some locals might like to have their fortunes read most do not trust these wandering people.

And of course hags, witches and crones are known to bestow curses. One should take great care when in the presence of such women. They are dangerous to cross. And even crossing them is not necessarily all that it takes to make them bestow a curse. Sometimes one is just a target of opportunity for them to show their anger at the world around them.

The Hand and Eye of Vecna are two artifacts that have curses associated with them

Artifacts in Dungeons and Dragons are often cursed

Artifacts and relics are powerful magic items in Dungeons and Dragons. But most come with curses and side effects. Using an artifact is often a risky proposition. When one is found it is wise to discard them quickly. They might be safe enough to use one or two times in desperate situations but using them consistently is likely to bring serious harm to the one in possession of it over the long term.

Whatever curse this guy is suffering from you do not want any

A list of possible curses to bestow on unsuspecting victims

This list is hardly exhaustive. There is an excellent reference work that I will link later for you in this article that is free to download and contains a great deal of curses for your players to……….enjoy…….

  • Blindness
  • Deafness
  • Mute
  • Thinning
  • Gaining weight
  • All food tastes horrible
  • The adventurer smells so awful that others cannot stand within 20 feet or become nausous
  • Any plant that the character touches dies
  • No animal will come within 100 feet of the adventurer
  • Dogs howl at the adventurer
  • Weakness
  • Loss of intelligence
  • Loss of dexterity
  • All gold possessed by the explorer turns to lead
  • Undead are attracted to the adventurer
  • Adventurer makes all saving throws at -2
  • All to hit rolls are made at -2 by the adventurer
  • The adventurer cannot control himself and sometimes randomly strikes an ally during combat
  • The explorer can no longer tell the truth
  • The adventurer cannot tell a lie
  • The adventurer cannot speak in a whisper. Everything said by the adventurer comes as a shout
  • The character is only able to speak in rhymes
  • It rains wherever the character goes but only five feet around him or her
  • Lycanthropy
  • No words that come from the mouth of the adventurer can be understood. No spells will work. No one understands anything that they say.
This snow witch is someone you probably do not want to mess with if you know what is good for you

Some Curse links that you might find useful

These are free resources which list curses that you might use in your games:

There are probably many more sites and documents on the web involving curses but these should get you started. Please torment your players well with these.

A curse can be very difficult to get rid of

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Some curses can last an eternity

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JG 111 The Mines of Custalcon Review

The Mines of Custalcon is an adventure from Judges Guild for Original Dungeons and Dragons. It is 52 pages long. This adventure is actually part of the Judges Guild Wilderness series. It is the first installment. It is written by Bryan Hinnen. There is a short mini adventure included with this campaign book.

The Judges Guild Wilderness campaign is a series of modules which detail and map the areas around the City State. Much of this book are hex maps from that campaign world. This series, more or less, adds to the Wilderlands campaign. Most, if not all, of the Judges Guild Dungeons and Dragons products are set in this campaign world. This installment was published in 1979.

What I like about the Mines of Custalcon

The wilderlands campaign of Judges Guild is really just an open world for the dungeon master to run a campaign in. It is pretty much the first published one. Yes….Greyhawk and Blackmoor existed before the Judges Guild one was published. But neither of those were published that early. TSR really did not understand the need to publish campaign settings or modules until they realized how popular the Judges Guild ones were becoming. And then they jumped in with both feet.

The Wilderlands setting sets up a detailed history and a whole lot of maps. There are descriptions of some interesting places in the individual hexes on those maps. But those are not detailed. That is left to the dungeon master to do. Many if the later installments in the series add detail to individual maps and hexes. Some of the later modules place themselves in specific places on these maps.

There are detailed random encounter tables and an extensive history set out. The local town has a description of all of the shops and the primary NPCs that might be met there.

The mini dungeon is three levels deep. It is fairly low level in terms of challenges.

What I do not like about the Mines of Custalcon

For the most part this is just a bunch of maps. There is a detailed village or two. And a small mini dungeon. But there is no real “adventure” here other than a couple of pages of the mini dungeon.

A lot of the Judges Guild wilderness installments are really kind of boring. So is this one. Yes….if you are going to run a campaign in this game world then you probably do want to own the products that give you the maps and overviews. But it is not exciting reading.

The mini dungeon is kind of dry. There is little in the way of magical tricks. There are a few monsters to fight and some treasures to loot. But that is about it.

Would I recommend this product to others?

If you intend to run a campaign in the Wilderness campaign then you probably would want to have this installment. If you are not going to run one there then I probably would not bother with it.

Would I use the Mines of Custalcon with my own party?

I have considered running a campaign in the Wilderness Campaign of Judges Guild. But I have always run things in my home brewed world which allows me to place just about any module in it anyway. So no. I probably won’t.

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RA 726 Lich Lords Review

Lich Lords is an adventure from Mayfair Games written by Lynn Sellers. It was published in 1985. It is part of their “Role Aids” series of adventures and products. This is the first of the Mayfair Games adventures that I have reviewed. These are written a bit differently that the TSR adventures or the Judges Guild ones. It takes a little getting used to when you read through it the first time. It is written for use with Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. It does not specify which edition. My guess would be second given that it came out in that time frame. But it could easily be used with either.

This is a high level adventure. You could probably figure that out just by reading the name. But given that there are five Lich in this adventure….you might want to consider this before putting your players through this adventure. It states that it is for characters of 12th to 16th levels of experience. This is probably an accurate range. How difficult this adventure becomes depends greatly upon how quickly the adventurers get to the villains and face them. The more time it takes the stronger these villains become. For this reason it might be advisable to use the pre-generated characters provided with the adventure.

The general story line is this: ages ago five wizards were given golden crowns by the gods and nearly became gods themselves. The gods feared that they had made these wizards too powerful and then chose to destroy them. But the city that these wizards lived in survived. It was badly damaged. But the wizard kings recovered over the years and now have possession of their crowns again. They are becoming more powerful by the day. And soon they will be back to full strength again. The adventurers are summoned by the king and sent on a mission to destroy these Wizard Kings and their crowns so that the land can return to peace again.

What I like about Lich Lords

This adventure comes with a few creative ideas. The Lich getting more powerful over time is an interesting twist. Five Lich is scary. But five weakened ones isn’t nearly so. There are a few new rules provided (optional) that might make this adventure more interesting. These new rules cover the use of wishes. Naturally these Lich all have access to wishes. And they would use them for their own defense. The module offers some suggestions of specific wishes and the outcomes of them.

The adventure involves an ancient city. Basically it is a city of the dead. Naturally these Lich are the leaders of this place. And each of the Lich controls a different part of the city.

To succeed the adventurers need to play the Lich off of each other. As powerful wizards these guys all have huge egos. And rivalries. They will aid those who might make their own positions better. And this is their weakness which can be exploited. One who just goes crashing in and expects to kill all five without help will likely be rolling up new characters shortly afterwards.

Each of these Lich have different defensive setups. They have chosen different wishes to defend themselves. They have contingency spells set up to protect them. And each is still recovering power after regaining their crowns. Each has a unique spell list and will use these spells differently than the other Lich.

The adventure shows two versions of each Lich. One is the before the deadline version and the other is the fully recovered version. The players who get to the city quickly can meet the weakened versions of the Lich. Those who waste time will find them fully recovered.

Time is a critical factor in this adventure. To win…one must get to the city quickly and them go to work. Keeping track of time is essential. Providing the adventurers with side quests and delaying tactics is part of the job of the DM in this one.

There are parts of this adventure that are wilderness. And other parts are in a city. It is an old ruined city. So it is more or less just a dungeon. Parts of the wilderness adventure offer some key weapons that the adventurers might need in order to defeat these Lich.

Normally I am not a big fan of “read aloud” text. This is the boxed test that some adventures have for the DM to read to the players. In this case, however, the read aloud text is short and to the point. And it is not stilted language that no one would ever choose to use. In this adventure it should work just fine.

What I do not like about Lich Lords

The story line itself leaves a bit to be desired. Why do the adventurers choose to take this mission in the first place. What, exactly, is their motivation. If your players are anything like mine they are going to be asking exactly that. Why would I want to go up against five Lich. What is in it for me?

Five powerful Lich could easily make this a total party kill. It will be challenging….to say the least.

Would I recommend this adventure to others?

If your players have characters in the right level range for this adventure then I would recommend this one. It is a high level adventure. It will be challenging. You might want to consider using the pre-gens….if your players are really attached to those characters. And by the time characters are that high in level most people are really attached to them. But if you cannot find challenges for such characters then even the players will be thrilled to have one for a change.

Would I run this adventure with my own players?

I might. But I would probably use the pre-gens. Or I would wait until the characters are so high in level that they are getting bored with what I am putting in front of them on a regular basis. Groups do get like that. I have had a couple that have gotten to that point. When your characters start getting into the 12-14 level range there is not that much in the game that is really dangerous to them any more. Instead of one beholder to challenge them you might need six or seven. You can always throw more monsters at them but even that gets boring after a while. This adventure has some creative ideas on how to make these Lich more challenging. I think it would be interesting enough to run and I think my players would enjoy it.

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Deck of Many Things in Dungeons and Dragons

The explorers had reached the top of the wizard’s tower. They had defeated the stone golem protecting the staircase to this level. They slay the Homoculus that was following the party and was keeping eyes on them for the master of the tower. But no wizard had yet been found. On this final room in the tower they carefully creep into the room. The thief ever so quietly slides into the shadows and enters the room. He searches but finds no sign of the wizard. Perhaps he has fled! The treasures to be found here are all ours now…….

But lying on the table is perhaps the most valuable treasure of all. A set of tiles are set out on the table face down. There are twenty two of them. Each is intricately designed with a pattern that boggles the mind. The very powerful magic in these cards seem to ooze out of them.

Grayson the magic user is the first to take a seat at the table. He is eager to find one of the cards that might increase his personal power. He draws Idiot card and has now lost 4 points of intelligence. He holds his face in his hands in shame crying at the edge of the room.

Gaon the Dwarf is distrustful of these cards and refuses to draw.

Longbottom the halfling thief decides that just one card is a small risk considering the possible rewards that might be his. He draws a Gem card and is immediately rich.

Gaon seeing this mere halfling gaining so much treasure quickly changes his mind and draws a card. Flames. He is now the worst enemy of a Devil. Now he cowers in fear as the others draw.

Jamox the priest draws a Vizier. He now knows the answer to the next dilemma. He smiles smugly with this knowledge.

Unam the ranger decides to take a chance as well. He has drawn the Donjon card and has been imprisoned. The deck disappears.

About this time the laughing of the evil wizard can be heard from the doorway. “So…you find my little treasures did you. I am glad you did. For now there are less of you to deal with……”

Want to fight this guy one on one? Pick the wrong card and you might just have to

The Deck of Many Things in Dungeons and Dragons various editions

The Deck of Many Things has existed from the earliest edition of the game. In the first supplement to Dungeons and Dragons the item was first introduced. This was the Greyhawk supplement which was published in 1975. It has appeared in most of the later editions of the game over the years.

An article in the Dragon (issue #77) offered a much expanded version of the deck with 78 different tiles. Regardless of which edition that you play one thing is always certain when this item comes into play. Utter chaos!

Various physical decks have been made so that Dungeon Masters can just deal the cards themselves instead of using regular playing cards

The Various Cards of the Deck of Many Things in Dungeons and Dragons

The basic cards have not changed all that much over the years. The specific mechanics of the different editions are the real differences in this magical item usage.

  • Sun – Gain a beneficial (1st edition) magic item (wondrous in 5th edition) and 50000 experience points
  • Moon – You are granted 1-4 wishes (1st edition) or gain the ability to cast 1-3 wish spells (5th edition)
  • Star – Immediately gain 1-2 points on major ability score (1st edition) gain 2 points on an ability score not to exceed 24 (5th edition)
  • Comet – Player must single handedly defeat the next hostile monster (or monsters) to gain the benefit of this card. If successful the adventurer will move to the mid point of their next experience level (1st edition) or move to the next experience level (5th edition)
  • Throne – Gain a charisma of 18 and a small keep (1st edition) or gain proficiency in persuasion and ownership of a small keep which is held by monsters and must be cleared by you.
  • Key – Gain a treasure map and a magic item (1st edition) or gain a rare or rarer magical weapon (5th edition) which appears in your hands
  • Knight – Gain the service of a 4th level fighter (1st edition and 5th edition)
  • Gem – Gain your choice of 20 pieces of jewelry or 50 gems (1st edition). The jewelry will all be gold set with gems. The gems choice will all be 1000 gold piece base gems. The 5th edition version is 25 pieces of 2000 gold piece value jewelry or 50 gems worth 1000 gold pieces.
  • The Void – The body of the drawer still functions but the soul is trapped elsewhere (1st edition). The 5th edition variant is much the same except that the soul is located within an object at the discretion of the DM and is guarded by one or more powerful monsters. A wish will not restore the soul but will reveal the location of it.
  • Flames – Enmity between you and a devil. This will be a greater devil or arch devil (1st edition). Or with a powerful devil (5th edition). This creature will seek your ruin.
  • Skull – Defeat death or forever be destroyed (minor death in 1st edition or avatar of death in 5th edition)
  • Talons – All magic items owned by you are torn from you forever (1st edition) and artifacts are not destroyed but are removed (5th edition)
  • Ruin – Immediately lose all wealth and real property (1st edition). Fifth edition excludes magic items in immediate possession.
  • Euryale -A penalty of -3 on all saving throws versus petrification (1st edition) or -2 on all saving throws (5th edition)
  • Rogue – One of your henchmen turns on you (1st edition) or an NPC of the DMs choice will become your enemy
  • Balance – Change alignment or be judged (failing to adhere to this new alignment will result in total destruction) (1st edition) or your alignment will be changed to a diametrically opposed alignment (lawful good to chaotic evil for example). Those with a true neutral alignment would be unaffected (5th edition).
  • Jester – Gain 10000 experience points or 2 more draws from the deck (both editions)
  • Fool – Lose 10000 experience points. Draw again (both editions except that the 5th edition variant allows the player to keep just enough experience points to maintain the existing experience level)
  • Vizier – Know the answer to your next dilemma (1st edition). The 5th edition variant puts a time limit of 1 year and broadens the information gained to include answers to a question or problem or puzzle.
  • Idiot – Lose 1-4 points of intelligence and you may draw again (1st edition) or 1D4+1 points of intelligence and may draw again (5th edition)
  • Fates – Avoid any situation you choose one time only. The wording is different between 1st and 5th edition but the meaning is pretty much the same.
  • Donjon – You are imprisoned. Either by spell or physically. All gear and magical weapons are stripped from you. (1st edition) or you disappear and are entombed in suspended animation in an extradimensional sphere. All gear and magic items are left behind in the space you previously occupied. A wish spell can find your location but divinination magic cannot (5th edition).
Gaining enmity with this guy might ruin your day

What exactly is enmity?

Two different cards suggest enmity with someone as a result. But what exactly does this mean? Both 1st and 5th edition variants discuss this. Enmity with a devil could be represented by hot anger, jealousy or envy. This enmity can never be satisfied until one or the other is slain. But in the case of the Rogue card the enmity is secret and might not be discovered until the new enemy decides to reveal his or her hatred of the adventurer in some dramatic way.

An artistic representation of the cards

The Mechanics of the Deck of Many Things in Dungeons and Dragons

Regardless of the edition that you play a few rules are in order involving the use of the Deck of Many Things. A character cannot just keep drawing until they get something good and then quit. Instead they must declare how many tiles they will draw and then they are held to this (unless the cards themselves decide differently). Both editions can sometimes have a 13 card variant short deck (75% chance).

The Dungeon Master can use regular playing cards using the assigned cards to the individual tarot cards to determine which card is drawn. The deck disappears once the last card possible or when certain bolded cards are drawn (Void and Donjon) (1st edition). In 5th Edition the card drawn disappears unless it is the Fool or the Jester card which will reappear in the deck. The 5th Edition variant does not disappear on drawing the Void or Donjon cards.

Draw the wrong card and you might be joining these guys

What does the Deck of Many Things Look Like?

It is often found in a box or pouch. Cards are typically made of ivory or vellum. The magic of the card immediately takes effect on the drawer. Each card is a thin plaque or plate. Each is engraved with magical glyphs, characters and sigils.

Another artistic represenation

The effects of the Deck of Many Things in Dungeons and Dragons games

Whatever cards are drawn the game will be forever changed afterwards. Some characters may be destroyed or forever imprisoned. Others will become rich or powerful as a result of their draws. The effects are chaotic. And this is the point. Players just cannot help themselves when this deck is found. They will almost always want to draw from it. And some will suffer for it soon after.

The Deck can alter games forever….

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Pick a card….any card……
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JG 660 Zienteck Review

Zienteck is an adventure from Judges Guild written for use with Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Unlike many of the adventures from Judges Guild this one specifies a level range for the characters who explore these dungeons. In this case the range of levels if 5th to 9th.

The Adventure is written by Mark Harmon (presumably not the guy from NCIS). The adventure is 32 pages long. About a third of these pages are maps. Both DM and player maps are provided. It was published in 1981.

This adventure takes place in the Black Angel Woods. Within those woods lies the stronghold of the wizard Zienteck. This stronghold was destroyed by dragons that were angered by the wizard. The wizard, himself, was killed during this attack. But his treasures have never been recovered. Many brave adventurers have tried to explore these ruins but none, as yet, have returned alive.

What I like about Zienteck

This is a basic greed adventure. There are no lofty goals here. This is strictly players trying to enrich their characters by exploring a place where treasures are known to exist. There are no railroads here. The adventurers are free to do as they will.

There are dragons here. Several of them. And some are quite powerful. And some are not so much. A bunch of valuable treasure can be taken from these dragons. But no magic will be obtained from them. For that the adventurers will need to explore the dungeon levels underground. But defeating all these dragons is no easy feat. Especially for characters in this level range.

At least two new creatures are provided in this adventure….the Black Angel….and the Fire Chameleon.

The adventure offers a few interesting tricks and traps. And there are several challenging monster encounters within the dungeon.

A few hints and clues are left in places around the dungeon that may allow the adventures to avoid some of the more dangerous hazards….if they pay attention to them…..

The maps are more detailed than most Judges Guild products. This is especially true of the overland maps which are excellently done.

What I do not like about Zienteck

There is very little magic to be found anywhere in the adventure. That is not necessarily a bad thing but it will likely disappoint players running through this adventure. There is, however, plenty of gold and jewels which is still a good thing to find.

At times the author thinks he is particularly funny in places where he really isn’t. I have seen that kind of thing before in some of the Judges Guild modules where the author is talking to the DM in the text of the dungeon in places but probably should not be doing so. It is not really necessary and takes away from the seriousness of the writing.

Would I recommend this adventure to others?

Yes, I would. This is a solid adventure for characters of this level range. Characters attempting to fight the dragons will find that this encounter kicks their ass. It should. But the rewards are great and this might be just a bit too tempting for some. A total party kill there is easily possible. But this is a risk that is up to the adventurers. The dungeon beneath the ruins is quite within the abilities of adventurers in this level range.

Would I run Zienteck with my own group?

I would. And I might. My current group is working through the Caverns of Thracia so they are not currently in the right level range for this one yet. But six months from now……who knows….

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