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Title: The Sunless Citadel (Dungeons & Drangons Adventure, 3rd Edition) by Bruce R. Cordell ISBN: 0786916400 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: October, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.97
Rating: 4
Summary: Player's perspective
Comment: Fun little dungeon crawl. The actual adventure gets 3 stars, because it gets pretty repetitive. But the setting--the Sunless Citadel itself--is very very cool. 5 stars. Reminds me of the first D&D adventure, In Search of the Unknown. In fact, players who remember the first encounter in that classic module are in for a nostalgic "easter egg".
The game has a nice mix of encounters that allow each class to shine. Fighter-types will, as always, see the most action. There are opportunities for non-combat roleplaying and creative spell use, as well as plenty of hack-and-slay combat.
There are a few annoying moral dilemas:
At one point, you find yourself with a bunch of civilian goblins. Women and children. Well, gee, now what? You can't just kill them (not if you're playing a Good-aligned character, anyway), but if you abandon them they'll be killed by the other monsters. So, what, you take 50+ civilians with you? Set them up on a government-assisted program? Relocate? I don't play D&D to deal with these... issues. I just want to explore old dungeons and have fun with the new magic item creation rules of Third Edition.
Anyway, a fun romp, and there's certainly plenty of very, very interesting adventure hooks for further adventures: use the Citadel as a base of operations? Why was it sunk? What's with all the dragon imagery? If you just leave it after the adventure, what moves in now that it's empty?--could be a "Return to the Sunless Citadel" there...
Highly recommended.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Good Starting Adventure for 3rd Edition D&D
Comment: I just got finished reading this adventure. It will be my first time DMing in 3rd edition after DMing in 2nd edition for over 10 years. I loved the layout of the dungeon and the story concept. Even a novice DM or a DM trying 3rd edition for the first time will find the adventure easy and fun to run. The rules for 3rd edition are explained briefly as they are used which makes life much easier when you are just learning new rules. All the creatures contained in the adventure have full statistics supplied so you don't need the monster manual to play. I think the length of the adventure is adequate for a beginning low-level adventure. However, I thought the creatures encountered are a little two difficult for a 1st level adventure. Fortunately, the creatures that are too difficult like the troll and shadow can be avoided or evaded. The rest of encounters are balanced and difficult enough to keep player interest. The adventure allows for a significant amount of roleplaying if the PCs don't kill everything first. I do recommend this adventure especially for new DMs and players since they will not know the difference; however, the introduction and background setting for the adventure leave a lot to be desired. The town of Oakhurst is not detailed at all and provides no reason for adventurers to be there.
For those who play in the Greyhawk setting, the town of Oakhurst doesn't exist; but, since it is a small town it can be placed in any inland area like Keoland or Veluna. As a matter of fact the only the only shred of evidence that the adventure is even set in Greyhawk is that the paladin, Sir Bradford, carries a holy symbol of Pelor, a Greyhawk god. Essentially this adventure can be played in any campaign setting including Forgotten Realms. I do hope that some adventures designed for the Greyhawk campaign setting will be written!
Rating: 4
Summary: A Very Good Introduction
Comment: My group and I are all in our 30's. We're gamers from the old days who decided to give 3e a try. As the DM, I was very pleased with this module. My players were, too.
First, I was pressed for time before our first sitting and knew there was no chance I'd have time to read two new rulebooks *and* compose my first dungeon in 15+ years, so buying a ready-made adventure was a necessity, not a luxury.
Second, even if I'd had time, I wouldn't have wanted to start off with a module of my own creation the first time out of the gate with the new rules. The odds were too high I'd make it just about any degree of difficulty other than the right one. So, again, a pre-made module seemed a good idea to get used to the new rules and give me an idea what to do to make my own later without making them either too easy or impossibly hard.
Third, I needed to be able to have a fairly easy time running a game with a new set of rules unfamilair to us all *and* running the adventure at the same time. This module was very nicely balanced, giving my players ample oportunitys to try out their various skills and included an abundance of rules tips and assistance for me.
In short, this module met all of my needs very nicely. It gave the characters a couple of decent hooks and some mysteries to solve, gave each of them several ways to be involved throughout, and allowed them to use a number of different gameplay approaches (rather than just hacking-and-slashing) so that it stayed interesting. Meanwhile it gave *me* lots of help and several interesting NPCs to play for them while still allowing me to do some creative DMing as I went. I was entirely satisfied and my players had a great time without ever feeling like they were being led by the nose or were on rails.
Also, because it's nicely ambiguous about the larger questions and gameworld, I am able to integrate it seamlessly into the ideas I have for where I want to take their campaign. My only complaint would be that Oakhurst, as other have noted, seems like an afterthought. More detail there - especially the same kind of attention to NPC characterization that the dungeon itself has - would have been appreciated.
All I really hoped for when I bought this - the one option available for a brand-new set of characters - was an adequate starter module that would get my players and I back in the groove after all these years. What I got was considerably more. The gameplay (some fighting, some puzzle-solving, some diplomacy, some sleuthing) provided a nearly perfect start to my campaign and matched the tone I wanted to set exceptionally well. I would not hesitate to recommend it for others just starting with the new rules, whether they're brand-new to gaming or old-timers coming back after a long hiatus.
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Title: The Forge of Fury (Dungeons & Dragons Adventure) by Richard Baker ISBN: 0786916443 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: November, 2000 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: The Speaker in Dreams: An Adventure for 5th-Level Characters (Dungeons & Dragons Adventure) by James Wyatt ISBN: 0786918306 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: January, 2001 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: The Standing Stone: An Adventure for 7th-Level Characters (Dungeons & Dragons Adventure) by John D. Rateliff ISBN: 0786918381 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: April, 2001 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Heart of Nightfang Spire: An Adventure for 10th-Level Characters (Dungeons & Dragons Adventure) by Bruce R. Cordell ISBN: 0786918470 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: August, 2001 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Dungeon Master's Guide: Core Rulebook II (Dungeon & Dragons, Edition 3.5) ISBN: 0786928891 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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