This second Dungeon Fantasy Adventure book deals with an expedition
to the long-abandoned (yeah, right) ruins of a draconic monarch's
palace.
Things start on the edge of civilisation, with the party given a
basic briefing and an artefact to look for, but quickly move through a
short wilderness trip into the ruined palace itself. There are maps,
but they are not entirely consistent with the text descriptions (the
entrance staircase leads "down to the entrance for the southern end of
the vestibule", but the staircase isn't shown on the map of the
vestibule – only some double doors). A gate is described as having
identical stats to another; "However, it is not so damaged that it
can't be opened". But, er, neither is that other gate.
Much of the place is inhabited, largely by static enemies who wait
until their spaces are invaded before doing anything, but there are
also wandering patrols which will show up at random (more probably
when there's noise, or if the party leave enemies alive to escape).
The enemies aren't set up to expect an attack, so there's no plan for
a concerted defence. A side area allows for challenges from
non-sapient monsters and general decay, and a possible complicating
factor in the main adventure.
Having every location mapped with hex-grid precision so that one can
have fights on it may well be useful to people who play with
miniatures, but it bulks out the book and means more paging through
it; I'd have been tempted to make the maps a separate PDF file.
Stats cover everything that hasn't been in previous books, ranging up
to enemies that should be able to deal with a party if the PCs are
stupid enough to attack head-on.
This isn't a dungeon designed for going in frontally and killing
everything; it will reward at least a bit of subtlety, working out
what's going on and where to exert force for maximum effect. But it
is still a dungeon to be bashed, not a village or a functioning
stronghold. GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 2: Tomb of the Dragon
King is available from
Warehouse 23.
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