What If...

Okay, so I've been working on a project in my 'spare time' to keep my mind busy. This is an alternate timeline, a 'what if' scenario that I've been thinking about for quite a while. I'm going to post some of the story here and see what people think of it.

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December 9, 2002

The Office of Robert Shaye – New Line Cinema Headquarters

The office is thick with the smell of expensive tobacco and the nervous energy that always precedes a New Line premiere. The Two Towers is about to conquer the world, but inside the executive suite, the atmosphere is more “war room” than “celebration.”

Robert Shaye didn’t look like a man who had just minted billions. He looked like a man who had been told his house was being renovated by a squatter who was now charging him for the privilege. He paced the length of his mahogany desk, a copy of a legal injunction from the Jackson camp crumpled in his hand like a spent shell casing.

Toby Emmerich sat coiled in the deep leather armchair, a stark contrast to Shaye’s restless pacing. As the President of Production, he viewed the staggering tracking numbers for The Two Towers not with the warmth of a fan, but with the cold, calculating eye of a man tired of being the junior partner in his own success. To Emmerich, the projected billion-dollar haul was a double-edged sword: it proved the genre’s dominance while simultaneously handing Peter Jackson the leverage to bankrupt the studio’s autonomy. He watched the rain lash against the window of the Los Angeles office.

“He wants more, Toby,” Shaye growled, tossing the paper onto the desk. “More points. More oversight. More ‘creative autonomy.’ I gave that man the keys to the kingdom when nobody else would give him the time of day. I sat in meetings and defended a six-hour pitch for a three-movie gamble! And now? Now he’s treating me like a vendor.” He grabbed the paper again, took a quick glance, then crumpled it up and tossed it in the general vicinity of the wastebasket. “He thinks he’s got me over a barrel because of ‘The Hobbit.’ He knows I can’t even touch that script without MGM sniffing around for a distribution fee, and he’s using that stalemate to squeeze me for more points on Return of the King. He wants to wait me out until I’m desperate enough to give him the moon just to keep him from taking the ‘prequel’ to a rival.”

Emmerich sighed, leaning back in a leather armchair. “The problem, Bob, is that the narrative is already set. The press thinks Peter Jackson is the franchise. They think New Line is just the bank. If we push back too hard on Return of the King, we look like the villains in our own fairytale.”

“Then we change the narrative,” Shaye snapped, stopping at the window overlooking Los Angeles. “We prove that the ‘fantasy epic’ isn’t just a New Zealand thing, it’s New Line’s thing! We find something else. Something bigger. Something with dragons that actually talk and a world that doesn’t require us to fly halfway across the planet to a sheep farm. I want a production that I can touch. I want a director who knows his place in the ecosystem. I want to show the world that the ‘New Line Magic’ is about the studio’s vision, not one man’s ego.”

Before Emmerich could reply, there was a knock on the heavy oak door. It was an interruption Shaye usually would have barked at, but today, he was looking for a distraction.

“Enter!” Shaye commanded.

Shaye didn’t even look up as the door opened. He was too busy stabbing a finger at a map of the global box office projections.

“I don’t care if the New Zealanders think they’ve cornered the market on elves,” Shaye muttered, his voice dropping to a dangerous, gravelly low. “I want a property that makes Tolkien look like a warm-up act.”

Emmerich let out a sharp, dry laugh, shaking his head. “And there isn’t anything like that out there, Bob. There’s nothing with that level of cultural connection. It’s like trying to replace the Bible. You’re asking for lightning to strike twice in the same bottle, except this time you want to control the weather.”

The silence that followed was heavy. It was the kind of silence that usually sent subordinates scurrying for the exit.

Mark Sterling, assistant to one of New Line’s VPs, felt the weight of it. He was twenty-six, dressed in a suit that cost more than his car, and he had spent his weekends since 1985 tucked away in basements rolling twenty-sided dice.

He was supposed to drop the trades, summarize the overnight tracking for The Two Towers, and vanish. Instead, he watched Shaye’s shoulders tense. He saw the genuine, burning frustration of a mogul who felt his legacy was being stolen by a director ten thousand miles away.

Fortune favors the bold, Mark thought. He cleared his throat. It was a small sound, but in the vacuum of the room, it sounded like a gunshot.

Shaye spun around, his eyes narrowing as if only just realizing there was a third person in the room. “Who are you? Where’s Miller?”

“He’s out sick today, Mr. Shaye. I’m Mark. From the creative development floor.” Mark’s heart was hammering against his ribs, but he didn’t look down. “I was listening to what Mr. Emmerich said. About the Bible.”

Emmerich raised an eyebrow, leaning back. “It was a figure of speech, kid. We don’t need a sermon.”

“I know,” Mark said, taking a bold step toward the desk. “But you’re wrong about there being nothing else. There is a property. It’s got the scale, the dragons, the magic, and most importantly, it’s got a fan base that has been waiting almost twenty years for someone to take it seriously. It’s not Tolkien... but for millions of people my age, it means just as much.”

Shaye crossed his arms, his curiosity finally piqued by the sheer audacity of the interruption. “Go on then. Give me a name.”

Mark didn’t blink. “Dragonlance.”

Shaye squinted, the name echoing in the high-ceilinged office. He repeated it slowly, tasting the syllables as if trying to determine if they sounded like “money” or “another lawsuit.”

“Dragonlance,” Shaye said. “Sounds like something I’d see on a black-light poster in a head shop. Toby, have you heard of this?”

Emmerich rubbed his chin. “Can’t say that I have. Where did you hear about it, kid?

Mark turned to the stern executive, keeping the catch out of his throat as he replied. “It’s a fantasy world built by TSR back in the mid-80s. I played in it as a kid. Wizards of the Coast owns it now; it’s one of their classic Dungeons & Dragons settings.”

Shaye didn’t just scoff; he recoiled as if Mark had suggested they pivot to producing hardcore pornography.

“Dungeons and Dragons?” Shaye’s voice rose an octave, thick with disbelief. “Are you kidding me, kid? I sat in a screening room two years ago and watched Jeremy Irons chew the scenery until he choked in a movie that looked like it was filmed in a Bulgarian parking lot. It was a joke. It was a punchline. We’re New Line Cinema. We have the Ring. Why the hell would I go from the gold standard to the bargain bin?”

Emmerich leaned in, his expression more clinical but no less skeptical. “Not only that, but Sweetpea still has the rights to that brand. But the 2000 movie didn’t just fail; it poisoned the well. The brand is toxic in Hollywood. If we announce we’re doing a D&D spin-off, the trades will bury us before we even cast a single wizard. They’ll say we’ve run out of ideas and we’re desperate.”

Mark felt the sweat prickling at his hairline. This was the wall. “That’s exactly why you don’t call it ‘Dungeons & Dragons,’ Mr. Emmerich. You call it The Dragonlance Chronicles. You treat it like Star Wars, not a tabletop game. And if I’m not mistaken, Dragonlance is technically a separate IP from generic ‘D&D’. It would be a job for the lawyers, not me, but I think Dragonlance would be available. The 2000 movie was a generic mess because it didn’t have a story. It was just ‘thieves steal a rod,’ and none of us gamers connected to it at all. But Dragonlance is a Greek tragedy with fire-breathing lizards, with a huge fanbase.”

“It’s still guys in capes with funny names,” Shaye muttered, reaching for a cigar. “What’s going to make this anything other than a discount Tolkien?”

“Middle-Earth is stable, and has been for a long time. It’s a world where the evil is growing, and the heroes are just that: Heroes. Aragorn is the perfect king, Legolas surfs down a staircase shooting orcs, and Gimli spends his time in combat counting bodies. Dragonlance is nothing like that. It’s a post-apocalyptic world where three hundred and fifty years ago, the gods dropped a mountain on the world and completely changed the landscape. Then they disappeared. Now, they’re returning, and they’re bringing flights of dragons with them.”

“Post-apocalyptic,” repeated Shaye, his eyes narrowing. “So, this is a world where civilization is wrecked?”

“Not quite, but close. Most towns are on their own, there’s not a lot of central government. The Knights are fractured, the dwarves are hiding, and it’s very much a ‘my town is all that matters’ attitude.”

Emmerich nodded. “Okay, that’s the background. What about the characters? What makes them different from Tolkien’s heroes?”

“These characters are only heroes because they have to be. But none of them are perfect, none of them are paragons. This story is about a man named Tanis Half-Elven,” Mark pushed, his voice steadying. “He’s a bastard child of two races who belongs to neither. He’s not Aragorn; the elves don’t trust him because he’s half-human, and the humans don’t trust him because he’s part elf. He’s the definition of a reluctant hero. And it’s about Raistlin Majere, a mage who’s literally rotting from the inside out because he traded his health for power. And his twin brother, Caramon, who’s the strength to Raistlin’s weakness, the ‘big brother’ that Raistlin both loves and hates. These aren’t ‘heroes’—they’re a group of broken people who haven’t seen each other in five years and frankly don’t always like each other anymore. They meet at a bar to have a drink, and they find out the gods have returned to the world, and brought the dragons with them. It’s a war epic with deep characters, people who feel real instead of being perfect archetypes.”

Emmerich leaned back, his eyes glinting as he thought. “Twin brothers? At odds with each other?” He softly caressed his chin as he pondered the possibility. “The kid might have something, Bob.”

Keenly aware of Emmerich’s scripting vibe, Shaye stayed silent and waited. Mark tried his best not to fidget in place as Emmerich sat in silence for a full minute. When Emmerich returned his attention to Shaye, there was a predatory glimmer on his face that matched his smile.

“He really might have something,” repeated Emmerich. “Phoenix, maybe, for this Raistlin character. If he’s not too young. And a big guy for the brother, like Brendan Fraser.” He blinked and focused on Shaye again. “Think about it, Bob. Jackson’s movies are about ‘destiny’ and ‘purity.’” He glanced at Mark. “You’re saying that this is about choice. It’s grittier, it’s more cynical, and the villains aren’t just a giant flaming eyeball in the sky, right? These villains are human?”

Mark nodded silently, and Emmerich looked at Shaye. The word ‘cynical’ had landed. New Line had always thrived on a bit of edge—this was the studio of Nightmare on Elm Street, after all.

“And the dragons?” Shaye asked, blowing a cloud of smoke. “Jackson doesn’t have one in this movie, but if he goes on to do the Hobbit afterward, he’s going to have a massive CGI dragon to wow people. How does your ‘Dragonlance’ match that?”

“He’s got one dragon,” replied Mark with a bit more confidence. “Dragonlance has three in the first book alone. It was designed specifically to show off dragons in the game. And they aren’t the brainless ones that we saw in 2000, either. They’re smart; they’re characters, not just obstacles. And near the end of the third book, the dragons go to war. Not just one, but dozens. It’s like…like a fantasy version of ‘Top Gun’, but the planes have scales and can think for themselves.”

Emmerich nodded a shade more enthusiastically. “Like the dogfights in ‘Pearl Harbor,’ Bob. Imagine that level of kinetic energy, but with fire and actual stakes.”

Shaye didn’t speak for a long time. He just watched the smoke from his cigar curl toward the ceiling, his mind clearly working through the logistics of a counter-strike. He looked at the crumpled legal papers on his desk, then back at Mark.

Emmerich, sensing the shift in the room’s gravity, leaned forward. He picked up the thread Mark had laid out, his voice dropping into that smooth, analytical tone that had greenlit a dozen hits.

“You know, Bob,” Emmerich said softly, “Jackson’s whole thing is ‘realism.’ He wants Middle-earth to feel like a dusty history book come to life. It’s all brown, grey, and moss. It’s ‘sacred’ to him. And his heroes are, like the kid said, too perfect. Can you even imagine Legolas taking a piss in the forest? He’d never touch something this loud. He’d never do a movie with ‘Pearl Harbor’ dragons or heroes this... jagged.” He paused, a smirk playing on his lips. “It’s the one thing he can’t—or won’t—do. It’s too commercial for an ‘Auteur.’”

The silence that followed was different. It wasn’t the heavy, suffocating silence from before; it was the hum of a machine starting up. Shaye and Emmerich locked eyes across the mahogany expanse. There was no need for words. They were the architects of a studio built on calculated risks and middle fingers to the establishment. They were thinking about the trades. They were thinking about the 2004 winter slate. They were thinking about the look on Peter Jackson’s face.

Shaye finally snapped his gaze toward Mark. The junior exec felt like he was being pinned to the wall by a spotlight.

“Seven a.m. tomorrow,” Shaye barked. “I want to see everything. I want the books. I want a breakdown of these ‘Chronicles.’ I want to know who owns every comma in those scripts. And Mark?”

Mark stood straighter. “Yes, sir?”

Shaye leaned over the desk, his expression turning deathly serious. “If a single word of this leaves this room—if I see so much as a blind item in Variety about ‘New Line looking at dragons’—I will not only fire you, I will make sure the only thing you ever ‘develop’ in this town is a tan while you’re parking cars at the Ivy. Do you understand?”

“I understand, Mr. Shaye,” Mark said, his heart hammering a rhythm of pure adrenaline.

“Get out,” Shaye ordered, already reaching for the phone. “And find me a copy of that first book. The ‘Autumn’ one. I want to see if these ‘friends’ are actually worth a damn.”

Mark didn’t walk out of the office; he practically floated. Somehow, he’d taken his shot. Now he just had to make sure it hit the target.

I'm Still Here...

I've been busy working on a bunch of stuff lately. And I got caught in the big nasty storm we had last week and had to spend the night away from home. That sucked. Anyway, I've basically dropped my other blog about the publication of 3rd edition D&D since there's been little to no interest in it and no feedback whatsoever. Plus, I can't spare the money to buy more of the products anyway. So, it will stay dormant for the time being.

The project I mentioned last time is a 'what-if' scenario involving the potential creation of a Dragonlance trilogy of movies back during the huge fantasy bonanza we got in the 2000s. I've been working with it pretty steadily for the past week and a half, but I ran into a few snags and had to go back to redo stuff at the beginning (and thus invalidate most of what I'd worked on already). But, that's the way it goes. So, I'm going to polish up the beginning and post some of it here for people to look at. If it's well received, I'll continue developing it here.

In the meantime, I hope everyone enjoyed my Top Ten Adventures list. I'm considering doing something else in that vein in the near future. Top Ten lists are a pretty easy way to generate blog content, although it might be seen as lazy. Still, they do give insight into the writer's mindset. So they're not totally self-indulgent. Just mostly.

Anyway, it's late (past midnight here), so it's off to bed and early to rise to make more bread. Yay.

Creative Juices

Well, that's been quite the ride. I've been hit by the inspiration bug and spent the last week doing a lot of work on an 'alternate timeline' project that has really taken on a life of its own. It's already a full hundred pages, which should give you an idea of how much I've fallen into this. I'm tired, sick, and behind on my housework, but I haven't felt this energized in a long time. I'm just not sure what to do with this project. Do I post it here in excerpts, or start yet another blog for people to follow it? Do I post it to an online forum for feedback? Or do I just sit on it and keep it to myself? It's not something I can publish, since it's a modern-day pop-culture alternate history.

Decisions, decisions. Any feedback would be welcome. If you're interested in seeing more, let me know.

My Top Ten Adventures: #1, B10 Night's Dark Terror

Of course it's this one. Was there ever any doubt? There are two kinds of gamers: Those who think B10 is the greatest D&D module of all time, and those who are wrong. This is the absolute peak of D&D right here, everything that made the game great is within these covers. And you'll notice the Union Jack on the masthead; this was one of the contributions from the UK, and they really went all out to make this the best of all time.

Night's Dark Terror is pitched as a bridge between the claustrophobic dungeon crawling for beginners found in the Basic rules, and the far-reaching wilderness exploration of the Expert rules. And it more than lives up to the billing. This is an epic, spanning a large chunk of the Grand Duchy of Karameikos, the default beginner setting for the BECMI series of D&D rules. Most of the Basic modules and several of the Expert modules were set here, either retroactively or explicitly. Karameikos is the heartbeat of Mystara, aka the Known World. And Night's Dark Terror had a huge part in defining Karameikos as presented in the Gazetteer series. Doing a full synopsis would take too long, but here's a brief summary.

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The party begins with a seemingly simple task: escorting a herd of horses to the remote Sukiskyn homestead in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Upon arrival, they are immediately thrust into a desperate, night-long defense of the farmstead against a massive, coordinated siege by multiple goblin tribes. This opening battle reveals that the attacks are more than mere raids; they are part of a larger plot by a sinister slaver organization known as the Iron Ring, who are searching for a specific magical tapestry that holds the key to a lost civilization. 

Following the siege, the adventurers embark on an expansive wilderness trek across more than 20,000 square miles of territory. They must track the Iron Ring’s agents and their goblin allies through various locales, including riverside villages and ruined cities like Xitaqa, to rescue a kidnapped homesteader named Stephan. Along the way, they discover a magical needle and thread that, when used with the recovered tapestry, reveals a hidden route through a northern mountain range into a secluded sanctuary. 

The adventure culminates in the Lost Valley of Hutaaka, where the party finds themselves in the middle of a conflict between two ancient cultures: the jackal-headed Hutaakans and the primitive Traldar. Exploring the valley leads to a final confrontation within the Vault of the Elders, where the players must contend with the remaining leaders of the Iron Ring and an ancient "crawling horror". After securing the valley's treasures and resolving the factional war, the party must navigate a treacherous escape as former allies may turn on them to claim the spoils for themselves.

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Trust me, that only scratches the surface of what's inside. The siege of Sukiskyn plays out on a large map with counters (provided with the module). There are nearly twenty total maps covering different locations, and plenty of side quests as well. This is an adventure that will take many sessions to complete, even if the party is laser-focused on the main plotline and doesn't waste any time with the side quests.

But B10's greater legacy is its impact on the development of Karameikos. Prior to this module's publication, information on Karameikos itself was limited to a few blurbs in the Isle of Dread module, the canonic placement of several Basic modules in the setting, and the city of Specularum detailed in B6, The Veiled Society (details that would be drastically changed upon the publication of the Grand Duchy of Karameikos gazetteer, GAZ1). But here, we get tribal factions, information on the Iron Ring, homesteaders with names that point to the Slavic heritage of the Traladaran people, and even some detail on the Callarii elves of eastern Karameikos. This is a treasure trove of information on Karameikos, and served as a primary source for the 'bible' of the setting, GAZ1.

I'm not sure I really need to add more to this; B10 is a classic by any measure, and everyone should play through it at least once just to really get that feel for the land of Karameikos, and because it's a fantastic adventure in its own right. I cannot recommend this any more strongly than this: If I could only play one D&D adventure for the rest of my life, it's this one.

And that wraps up my diversionary project on my top ten adventures of all time. Next time...I have no idea what I'll be talking about. But hopefully it will be interesting. See you then.

My Top Ten Adventures: Honorable Mentions

Every top 10 list has honorable mentions, right? Of course they do. So, who am I to buck the trend? Well, I often do buck trends; in fact, I kind of prefer to do so. But in this case, we'll go along. Let's see what we have. These are adventures that I really like, but that couldn't muscle into the Top 10 Adventures.

This one was really close to making it, but I already had B1 on it, and I think that's a slightly better introductory kit than this one. Not that this one isn't great; it's got a ton of advice for DMs to get started, and the dungeon is really not that complicated. It's certainly challenging, particularly with BECMI rules. And, unlike B1, this one ties into the Known World/Mystara setting, being directly set in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Along with its follow-up, B12 Queen's Harvest, these make a great introduction to the setting for beginners. My only caveat is that this adventure would be too simple for experienced players to enjoy, but it's still a great adventure. The premise is simple; the party arrives at the village of Stallanford in time for a festival celebrating the long-dead king Halav. However, orcs have raided the village and kidnapped the local priest, and the party are asked to help. Finding him isn't hard, although there are plenty of orcs to dispute the party's claims on the priest. When rescued, he heals the party as best he can, and he tells the party that there is more to the dungeon than they have seen, that even the orcs don't want anything to do with. There's a secret door, of course, and the party finds some nasty undead and the like down there, along with some nice treasure. Again, it's a straightforward adventure, a good introductory dungeon crawl. Highly recommended.

Remember when I said that there were plenty of railroad-type adventures in early D&D, even if they weren't called that at the time? Well, this is the exception that proves the rule. This is a great, packed module with lots of stuff going on and many different plot threads for players to unravel. There's the mongrelmen and the captive magic-user. There are the yuan-ti, in their first-ever appearance. There are tasloi and bugbears, bullywugs and an aboleth (also making its first appearance). There are multiple ways into the city, all with their own perils. The first part of this adventure was used as a tournament module in 1980, and Dave Cook wrote the rest of the module around that. This 32-page module could have supported a party for months, if not years, of gaming.

If you're wondering why this is so great, I'll simply point you to the two words at the top of each of the modules. Hollow. World. I came really close to putting this in the list, but Volturnus demanded a spot. Still, this trilogy is a full campaign arc that takes characters inside Mystara to the Hollow World and the continent of Iciria. And there, they will encounter monsters and cultures that have been extinct on Mystara's surface for centuries, millennia, and even millions of years. They'll meet and have to deal with Azcans, who are basically Aztecs. They'll find the lost kingdom of Nithia (ancient Egypt), complete with pyramids and the like. They'll journey to an island that has an Indian culture, and I don't mean North American; I mean Indian sub-continent. Oh, and they'll also get involved in an Immortal plot to corrupt magic throughout Mystara, both on the surface and below. This is epic fun.

Alright, that's my honorable mentions. Next up, I'll bring you the grand finale, the all-time greatest adventure I've ever owned, played, or heard of. And believe me, the voting was not even close. I'm sure you already know what it is, because this is everyone's favorite. And no, it's not Keep on the Borderlands.

Top Ten Adventures: #2, DL1 Dragons of Despair

The year is 1984. TSR is now ten years old, and is the undisputed king of RPGs, not only with Dungeons & Dragons, but games in a bunch of other genres. Boot Hill, Metamorphosis Alpha, Gamma World, Top Secret, Star Frontiers, Gangbusters, the new Marvel Super Heroes game...but everything was about to change in a way no one had anticipated.

The top-secret plan was to do something D&D had never done in the previous decade: Base a set of adventures around dragons. It makes sense; the game is called Dungeons & DRAGONS, after all. But when you look through the classic TSR modules, including the ones written by Gary Gygax, you won't find many dragons. And you certainly won't find any taking center stage. So, when Tracy Hickman approached the TSR brass about doing a dragon-based series, they went with it.

This was a huge production; the modules were only a part of it. There were novels, calendars, miniatures, Dragon magazine tie-ins, the works. The trade dress for the modules was unique and eye-catching. The cover art was done by men like Larry Elmore, Clyde Caldwell, and Jeff Easley, who were the second wave of TSR artists following the earlier artists like Erol Otus, Jeff Dee, and Dave Trampier. Margaret Weis came in to help write the novels, the first that TSR would publish. It was a new aesthetic, and it worked. Boy, did it ever.

The first novel, based on the first two adventures of the series, became a New York Times bestseller. And while the second adventure rightly gets labeled a railroad, the first one was a magnificent module that combined storytelling with exploration and mystery, things that D&D had always done well.

Dragons of Despair was the first adventure that not only provided pre-generated characters, but expected you to play with them. Not as much as later adventures would expect (it was just recommended here), but the module flat-out says, 'this is a story' on the first page. And it was the first module that tweaked the rules and made the setting feel different from a normal D&D module. This wasn't Greyhawk; this was Krynn. And the setting had rules to enforce that. No clerical magic, no dragons, gold is worthless, and halflings are now kender, and you will be annoyed by them. They even got new special abilities: Immunity to fear and Taunting. So they could be even more annoying.

I'm sure you know the characters: Tanis Half-Elven, Flint Fireforge, Sturm Brightblade, the twins Raistlin and Caramon Majere, and Tasslehoff Burrfoot, later joined by Goldmoon and Riverwind. In time, they would become legends. Here, they're just mid-level D&D characters ranging from 3rd to 6th. Raistlin is the weak link (in more ways than one); he's just a 3rd-level magic-user. Meanwhile, his twin brother Caramon is a 6th-level fighter with more than four times his brother's hit points. Note that the recommended level range for the characters is 4-6. Raistlin just refuses to conform to expectations.

The 'back story' for this adventure is contained on the backs of the tiny character cards. The party, old friends from the town of Solace, have been wandering for five years, seeking signs of the true gods, and everyone came up empty. Now they've gathered together again, and things are about to change. They meet Goldmoon and Riverwind, fight some hobgoblins, and learn of a mysterious blue crystal staff that mysterious armies are searching for. The party has to escape with the staff and find its resting place, where they will then discover the greatest treasure the world has ever known.

The settings in this adventure alone are evocative and amazing to see. The Darken Wood, which terrifies even the most stalwart of heroes; the village of Solace and the town of Haven, the destruction of Que-Shu, and the ruined city of Xak Tsaroth, buried in a swamp and infested with gully dwarves. And of course, the dragon. An ancient black, Onyx is one hell of a challenge for a party of this level. And this is just the kickoff to the saga.

So, why is this my second-favorite adventure of all time? Oh, there are plenty of reasons. First, as I said, it's the first part of an amazing epic series, but it's playable on its own if you really want to do that. There's a definite beginning and ending here, although there's a final bit of boxed text that hints at what is to come.

Second, the maps. Xak Tsaroth is a brilliant design, a dungeon in three dimensions as there are multiple levels all shown on the same isometric map. The elevator, the gully dwarf king, the tube slide...there's so much here. And the rest of the maps are inspirational, too.

Third...the music. Yes, the music. Remember the Castle of the Blind Sun, that had recommended classical music selections? This one does it one better. There is actual sheet music in this adventure. Seriously! And it's playable and sounds great! I'll prove it to you. Check out a live performance of Goldmoon's Song and tell me that doesn't have you feel the D&D oozing through your veins. There were several other adventures that included music; off the top of my head, I can remember songs in DL2, DL4, and DL8.

Finally, the story itself. It was a different kind of adventure from what we'd seen before then. There were stakes that went beyond 'don't get killed while you're trying to loot the dungeon'. And sure, adventures like Against the Cult of the Reptile God had stakes, but that was local stuff. These stakes were world-shaking. And yes, there were some railroady bits here and there, such as the looming dragon armies that would herd the characters in the right direction if they strayed. But let's be honest, the earlier dungeon modules were often railroady in nature as well. You had to get to the Frost Giant Jarl, or travel through the Underdark in search of the drow, or escape from the dungeon of the Slave Lords wearing nothing but a loincloth. This used the railroad aspects to drive the adventure forward; the cool stuff was in Xak Tsaroth anyway, so why not go there?

Now, I know a lot of people dislike this module because of the change in gameplay that it portended. After all, this was indeed a shift, and it was a very popular one. The sales figures were through the roof. People wanted what Dragonlance was offering, so TSR made sure to give it to them in spades. The location-based sandbox-style was diminished, and storytelling gaming became the thing. Was that a good thing for the hobby? Yes and no. It broadened the game's appeal, but it was a change that many old-schoolers never accepted. To each their own; I'm just going by this particular adventure.

So, that brings us to #1. But before I do that, I'm going to post some honorable mentions, modules that I like a lot but don't quite make it to the top ten. In the meantime, Happy Valentine's Day, and game on.

Top Ten Adventures: #3, The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb (Dungeon 37)

Another 'first' for me, this was the first issue of Dungeon Magazine I ever bought. And boy, was it a good one. There was a yuan-ti lair for mid-level characters, a destroyed wizard's tower for levels 1-3 starring an imp, a Celtic-style adventure hunting a dangerous beast, a side-trek starring some pet leucrotta...and The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb, a high-level (10-14) adventure that rivaled the Tomb of Horrors for player challenge and devastation. I absolutely love this adventure.

Seven or so centuries ago, a cult of magic-users who mixed water and earth magic into a bizarre style of sorcery that earned them the derisive nickname, 'mud sorcerers' from the more sophisticated practitioners of the magical arts. They were students of the long-dead, totally deranged, lunatic wizard-priest Jezule, and they were fanatical about secrecy. Therefore, little was actually known about them except their style of magic.

Oracles predicted the downfall of the cult, so their leadership came up with a plan to thwart this future. The leaders of the mud sorcerers would be entombed in huge, labyrinthine crypts in temporal stasis so as to await a time when their faithful followers would take advantage of the renewed chaos of society and awaken their masters. Unfortunately, a strong leadership rose to power in the region and hunted down the cultists with zeal and ferocity, purging them from the land through execution. Thus, the tombs of the mud sorcerers were forgotten for centuries.

Nice background, isn't it? Apparently, about 30 of these tombs have already been found and plundered, but there are quite a few more that are still hidden. And the lucky player characters get to find one themselves.

Like the Tomb of Horrors, there are some ground rules that will change the tactics of the players, such as wards that prevent spells like teleport and passwall, so the party can't skip ahead. Even blink doesn't work in here. Also, undead can't be destroyed, only turned, and even that is only hedging them out of a 10' radius circle. The Dark Side is strong in here. If the party is casting water or earth-based spells, there's a chance they'll summon a mud grue that will be laser-focused on killing the caster regardless of how many party members get in the way. And divination spells are hindered or reduced in power as well. So, this will be a bit of a slog. Enjoy.

If the party is smart enough to consult a sage before delving into this tomb, they'll get some helpful hints, like 'prepare for lots of poison', and 'expect traps even if you don't find them'. They'll also learn of the cult's predilection for using false sepulchers, which might help them avoid thinking they've cleared the tomb too early.

The main difference between this adventure and the Tomb of Horrors is that this one has more monsters to fight. There are hill giant mummies, a spirit naga, an annis hag, water weirds, a ghost, some clay golems, and more. There's also a neat little twist at the end if the party actually does get all the way to the end and find the actual mud sorcerer's hiding place.

All in all, this is a really fun and dangerous adventure that will test the party's abilities and the skill of the players. It's a great homage to the Tomb, with the addition of clues about an ancient cult that plans to return to wreak havoc on the world. Maybe the party will be inspired to seek out more of these tombs in the future.

Two left! My second-favorite adventure started the greatest campaign in D&D history. I'll tell you all about it next time.

My Top Ten Adventures: #4, N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God

Terror by night! The village of Orlane is dying. Once a small and thriving community, Orlane has become a maze of locked doors and frightened faces. Strangers are shunned, trade has withered. Rumors flourish, growing wilder with each retelling. Terrified peasants flee their homes, abandoning their farms with no explanation. Others simply disappear...

No one seems to know the cause of the decay--why are there no clues? Who skulks through the twisted shadows of the night? Who or what is behind the doom that has overtaken the village? It will take a brave and skillful band of adventurers to solve the dark riddle of Orlane!

This module is designed for 4-7 characters of first through third levels. It includes a map of the village and a description of its buildings and occupants, an overland journey to a challenging underground adventure for especially brave (or foolhardy...) characters, and a list of pre-rolled first-level characters.

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S3 was the first adventure I ever played in; I knew nothing of what was going on. As I got more into the game and bought the Advanced rulebooks, this was the first adventure I ever bought myself. The nasty lizardmen, coupled with the text I copied above from the front cover, was all I needed to plop down my paper-route money and snatch it up. After returning home to read it, I wasn't at all disappointed with what I found inside.

This is a Douglas Niles adventure from 1982. Niles was a prolific contributor to TSR in those days; off the top of my head, I can think of a few things he worked on, such as DL2, Dragons of Flame, the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide, and the War Machine mass combat rules from the BECMI Companion set. I know there's more, but those are the ones I remember the most.

Niles was a proponent of the more 'story-based' gaming style that would come into its full flowering with the Dragonlance Saga. And while this predates that series by two years, it definitely shows hints of that style. This is a mystery, not a hack-and-slash adventure. The party comes upon the town of Orlane, and things are just as bleak as the cover text suggests.

Although the adventure suggests 1st-3rd level characters, I wouldn't take first-level characters into Orlane, especially with beginning players. There is a lot of stuff going on here that the characters won't know anything about, and they're going to have to be very careful to avoid getting caught up in the cult's clutches. Beginners will struggle, no question.

But as an adventure for more experienced players, this is fantastic. Exploring the town will take time and patience, and gaining the trust of any of the townsfolk will be rough going. But there are clues, and there are allies to be found if the party is cautious and clever.

The first part of the adventure takes place in Orlane, where the party first has to discover the existence of a cult that is kidnapping villagers and bringing them to the 'reptile god', the spirit naga Explictica Defilus. There, they are either charmed by the naga's gaze, or they are killed and thrown to the reptiles or reanimated as zombies. Either way, it's not good. Those who are charmed return to the town to swell the ranks of the cult; by the time the party arrives, about one-quarter of the populace are now cultists, including the constable, the blacksmith, and the entire staff (and clientele) of the Golden Grain Inn. Oh, and the temple's priests are also converts. Good luck with the healing.

Assuming the party is able to gain information on the cult and make some friends in town (including a ranger and a reclusive wizard), they can discover that the cult's headquarters is in the Rushmoors to the east. They might, if they are persuasive and in sufficient need, convince the reclusive wizard, Ramne, to accompany them on the journey. Sort of like Gandalf, except he's old and decrepit and will slow the party down significantly on the journey. But his magic might be the only thing that keeps the party alive.

Once they get into the moors, there are encounters to be had before they find the cult's lair. Inside, they will have a two-level dungeon to explore, parts of which are underwater, and the entire thing is inescapably damp and smelly. There are cultists as well as prisoners down here, along with troglodytes, harpies and crocodiles. Eventually, they will come face-to-face with the evil serpent, and it is here that Ramne will prove his mettle as he has both a minor globe of invulnerability and a dispel magic spell to offset the naga's magic. Because she's got a fireball, and she's not afraid to use it. I don't need to tell you what a 5-dice fireball can do to a low-level party, do I?

Ramne will be the party's ace in the hole; he'll throw a lightning bolt if he can, but his primary purpose (aside from the globe) will be to dispel the naga's charm magic if she gets too many party members with it. But they are still going to have to take her on in melee to beat her, and she's more than happy to oblige. She is, after all, a spirit naga with 9 HD and a poison bite, so if she's not feeling the magic, she'll chew them up. Literally. This will be a tough fight, to say the least; 3rd-level characters stand a much better chance.

If the party survives and defeats the naga, Orlane is saved. The cultists will all be freed from the charm, and while it will take time for people to regain the trust and friendship they once had, it might still be possible. And of course, the party will be recognized as heroes for their efforts.

So, what did I like about this adventure? The mystery, of course, and the epic feel of that final battle. For a low-level party, this is like fighting a dragon; all that's missing is the breath weapon. The treasure is quite generous, but not excessive. And this adventure covers all the basics: town adventuring, wilderness, and dungeon.

One odd note, though: Despite being charmed and worshiping the naga as a goddess, the clerics in the temple are still getting spells from somewhere, and not just the low-level ones that only require meditation and rest; Abrama, the highest-level cleric in the Temple (7th level) is still casting 3rd- and 4th-level spells. So, what deity is backing the naga's play and giving her clerics spells? There's a question to ponder...

And there it is. I still have my top three to go, and #3 will be yet another Dungeon magazine entry. I'll see you then.

My Top Ten Adventures: #5, XS2 Thunderdelve Mountain

One of the disadvantages of being very non-social is that D&D is a social game. And sometimes it's difficult to find a group of people to play with. Fortunately, D&D did release a few modules designed for solo play, such as Blizzard Pass, Lathan's Gold, and Mystery of the Snow Pearls.. This is the best of the bunch: Thunderdelve Mountain.

This adventure is written for a solo dwarf, between levels 7 and 9. The goal is to rescue the lost Keeper of the Force of a dwarven stronghold that was attacked and destroyed by a fyrnasca, an underground flame serpent. Simple, yes? Well, not so much.

This is a 'choose-your-own-adventure' type of module, with numbered entries for you to follow (if you go east, go to entry 25; if you go west, go to entry 54, etc.). There are six pre-generated characters, and a blank map that you can fill in as you explore; the rooms are drawn out in the entries where you first enter them. In addition, there is a runic alphabet, along with a bunch of inscriptions for you to translate that will give you clues as to what lies ahead in your explorations.

The adventure also has an 'Event Log' that keeps track of things that happen; if you kill the creature in room 74, for example, you mark off Event C in the log. Later on, you might be given a choice based on an event you may or may not have completed. It gives the story a good, organic feel as you go through and actually see results and consequences of what you've done.

The adventure is actually in two parts; there's the 'rescue the Keeper' part, but there's also an ancient artifact, the Hammer of Vitroin, that wants you to kill the fyrnasca. And since it's an intelligent weapon, it can take over your will and force you to obey. Even that is handled well in the game, though, and it doesn't limit your player agency except that you just can't leave the place until you've killed the beastie or died trying.

Since this is a BECMI module, don't expect the pregen characters to have stellar stats; two of them have Constitution scores of 10, and one of them has no scores outside the average range of 9-12. But, they're dwarves, so they automatically have great saving throws, and they're all tough fighters. Any of them has the potential to succeed in the adventure if you are careful.

So, what do I like about this adventure? First, the atmosphere. This is Wagner meets Tolkien at the Sword-and-Sorcery Tavern. Sometimes it feels like you're in the Mines of Moria; there's a definite gloom about the whole place. Second, the runic writings scattered around. They are conveniently collected on a back page (and the back foldout of the module cover), and while it takes time to translate them, it's worth the effort. As I mentioned earlier, there are clues and warnings as to what awaits ahead in these runewords, so don't skip them.

Finally, it's fun to just relax and play a solo game once in a while. Not a lot of RPGs offer solo play, so it's nice to not only have that type of adventure available, but to have one of this quality. And yes, there are suggestions for group play as well, but it's recommended that you play through the solo adventure first before running it for a group. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to take Goin Cleftfist on an adventure.

My Top Ten Adventures: #6, Tallow's Deep (Dungeon 18)

Dungeon Magazine provided a lot of entertaining adventures over the years, across all editions up to 3.5. It also provided a lot of slop that didn't read well and played just as poorly. But sometimes, there is an adventure that really grabs you and gets back to the old-school feel of 'the DM against the players'. And here was a great one: Tallow's Deep, a 1st edition adventure for levels 4-7. And this adventure answered the question, 'if goblins are such wimps, why are there so many of them?' Turns out that the answer is, 'they aren't wimps'.

Back in Dragon magazine 127 there was a legendary editorial called 'Tucker's Kobolds'. It was about a sadistic DM whose kobolds were deadlier than dragons despite having d4 hit points. He used them tactically, and gave the kobolds enough of a cunning strategy that they could wipe out even high-level parties by using traps and ambushes. This adventure did the same thing for goblins.

The adventure starts off with the party arriving at a small frontier mining town which has fallen on hard times. Turns out that the silver mine was near a goblin lair, and when the miners broke through, the goblins wiped them out. Then they wiped out the search party that went to find the miners. Now, the townsfolk are scared to death and need adventurers to clear out the goblins.

However, these goblins have carefully studied Sun Tzu and Clausewitz, and they are loaded for bear. Imagine the Vietnam War, except you're in a series of tunnels that are too small for you (unless you're a halfling or gnome). And the enemy is hitting you from all sides...including above. Ever had a dozen giant centipedes drop on your head? A better analogy might be the Mines of Moria, except the rooms are a lot smaller. Balin's Tomb is your destination, complete with suspenseful drumming as the goblins hunt you down. Murder holes, arrow slits...the goblins are ready and waiting.

There's no heavy plot here; there's no big bad to fight at the end. However, there are 85 goblins in a single room, including their leader, Grishog and his pet worg (along with six others). The one saving grace the party might have in this room is that 1st-edition fighters can attack one goblin a round per level (a 5th-level fighter can attack five goblins in a single round). And after that, there's a long, dark passage that leads to goblin undercities where the Goblin King is planning war on the surface...

There is some nice treasure to be found at the end, but many parties won't ever get to it; the traps and ambushes are lethal and intended to be so. To beat this adventure will require tactical skill, tremendous fortitude, intelligent spellcasting, and no small amount of luck. This is a meat-grinder of an adventure, sort of like the Tomb of Horrors but with more monsters and fewer no-save traps.

So, why do I like it? Because I like all those things. I had a party go through this adventure with only one survivor, and he was lucky to get out alive. He was a gray elf fighter/magic-user, with all the arrogance that goes with that race. Well, the arrogance went away in a hurry after this nightmare of an adventure. Dwarves and gnomes would love this adventure, of course, and it could lead to a military campaign as the goblins come storming out of the lower caverns to destroy the local settlements and wage war on the surface folk.

Next time, I'll head back to the BECMI line for an adventure that bears some similarities to this one.