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Monstrous Compendium - Mystara Appendix (2e)

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:24:00 CDT

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

Rare dragons, wondrous giants, bizarre humanoids... For years such creatures have filled classic D&D campaigns set in the world of Mystara, along with the exotic hivebrood, rakasta, thoul, and many more.

Now, for the first time ever, more than 100 of Mystara's unique and most popular creatures have been developed and defined in AD&D game terms! This must-have volume will delight and horrify players of the new AD&D Mystara campaign as well as any fan of the all-time favorites within.

Product History

The Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix (1994) was produced by John Nephew, Teeuwynn Woodruff, John Terra, and Skip Williams. It was published in August 1994.

Moving Mystara. In Dragon #197 (September 1993), Bruce A. Heard announced that the Known World of Mystara would "be granted much greater attention and support as a major TSR line." To allow for this, Heard said that the Known World was "graduating" to the AD&D game. According to TSR's original plans, the new line was to kick off with a Monstrous Compendium, a dungeon adventure, a Castle Amberville Gazetteer, an almanac, new novels, and a new accessory about the Savage Coast.

Fans were a bit shocked, and some protested that AD&D didn't need another game world - and they were right there, as TSR's proliferation of game worlds was probably already causing them economic problems. What they didn't realize was that Basic D&D had been losing ground to AD&D for over a decade, and that TSR had been flailing about trying to find some way to support Basic D&D since 1990 - without success. The Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game (1994) would end up being the last release for TSR's introductory gaming system. If Mystara hadn't transferred over to AD&D, the world would have died.

Although TSR supported Mystara for only three years as an AD&D game world, from 1994-96, along the way they produced some handsome boxed sets and largely fulfilled their original plans. It all kicked off in August 1994 with two releases - Karameikos Campaign Setting and Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix.

Sources. The Mystara Monstrous Compendium is a rather impressive collection of almost 15 years of Known World material. It contains numerous monsters from the core sources that you'd expect, including the first four BECMI boxes (1983-84), six B-series Basic adventures, almost every X-series Expert adventure, three CM (Companion) adventures, and two M (or Master) adventures.

It also goes further afield, reprinting monsters that appeared in the DA (Blackmoor), XL (Licensed), XS (Solo), and O (One-on-One) series, as well as monsters from some later releases like Wrath of the Immortals (1992), Champions of Mystara: Heroes of the Princess Ark (1993), and "Rage of the Rakasta" (1993).

Prior to the publication of the Mystara Monstrous Compendium, Known World monsters had largely been collected in three volumes. Monsters from the rulebooks had been compiled in the D&D Rules Cyclopedia (1991) while monsters from adventures were compiled in AC9: Creature Catalogue (1986), which was later revamped as DMR2: Creature Catalog (1993). The Mystara Monstrous Compendium largely supersedes those previously compilations, though it of course updates everything to AD&D.

Because the Mystara Monstrous Compendium is such a comprehensive sourcebook, it also brings together some previously separated classes of critters, such as the living statues, the spider-kin, and the worms. (Yes, for some reason the Known World has tons of worms.)

Monsters of Note. This compilation is most notable for the deeply Mystaran creatures that it brings over to AD&D, among them the hutaakans of the Hollow World, the tentacular kopru, a variety of lizard-kin and spider-kin (the latter including the popular aranea), the lupin of the Savage Coast, pegataurs, the racoon-like phanaton, and the cat-like rakasta.

The Mystara Monstrous Compendium also includes several interesting typed creatures, most notably the unique drakes and crystalline dragons of Mystara - though the sapphire dragon was sadly misplaced. There are also some new inhabitants for the elemental planes, including Mystara's sentient answer to the quasi-elementals, which mix Law and Chaos with the standard elements, and a set of weaker elemental fundamentals.

The most infamous monster in this book is doubtless the decapus, which caused some problems in its original appearance in B3: "Palace of the Silver Princess" (1983).

Sadly, very few of the monsters from Mystara have influenced more recent editions of D&D. The bhut, the Neh-Tallgu brain collector, the choker, the frost salamander, the athach giant, the mud golem, the kopru, the nightshade, and the aranea spider-kin are the only monsters to appear in major Wizards of the Coast supplements for third edition. Several more iconic monsters like the lupin and the phanton showed up in Dragon or Dungeon magazine thanks to interest at Paizo.

About the Creators. This creatures in this book were originally created by a variety of authors over a 13-year period, then revamped and edited by freelancers and TSR staff alike. No doubt this overhaul was a major internal effort at Wizards!

About the Product Historian

The history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, the author of Designers & Dragons - a history of the roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.

Price: $9.99

WGA4 Vecna Lives! (2e)

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:22:00 CDT

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

...and so, after the Rain of Colorless Fire, the One-Named-In-Whispers ascended to the Spidered Throne. In the third year of his ascendancy, Burgred, King of the Mara, refused the tribute of heads the Whispered One demanded. The One-Named-In-Whispers took only himself and Kas, his evil counselor, and devastated the land of the Mara with his magic. Burgred paid with his own head.

Upon their return, Kas struck against his master, so that he might become the master of the Spidered Throne. In the end, both were slain and good people rejoiced.

It is said that not all of the evil Lich was destroyed. So great was his power that his Hand and Eye have lived on, working evil over the centuries....

For centuries, Vecna - archmage, despotic tyrant, the most fearsome of all liches - has been nothing but a fearful legend to the honest folk of Greyhawk. Once the supreme master of all undead sorcerers, even today his Hand and Eye are objects of immense power.

Now something evil is stirring in the lands around Greyhawk. The Hand and Eye of Vecna have been found - and Vecna wants them back.

Product History

WGA4: Vecna Lives! (1990), by David "Zeb" Cook, is the fourth adventure in the World of Greyhawk Adventures series. It was published in January 1991.

The WGA Adventures. The "WGA" adventures (1990) replaced the older WG-series adventures (1982-1989). The first three books in the series formed the mid-level "falcon" trilogy which was tightly connected with The City of Greyhawk (1989) supplement. Vecna Lives is thus a big change for the series. It doesn't connect to the preceding trilogy, and it requires players to use high-level pregenerated characters. Though it starts in the City of Greyhawk, it quickly leaves that environment behind.

It's also the final WGA adventure. The next year, Greyhawk adventures continued in the two-book "WGS" (a.k.a. "Swords") series (1991). Thereafter, Greyhawk publication focused on the WGR ("Reference") series (1990-1993), which was the heart of the setting in the "From the Ashes" era (1992-93). This move from adventure toward background material generally reflected TSR's direction in the 90s.

All about Vecna. Brian Blume invented the artifacts known as the Hand of Vecna and the Eye of Vecna. They're described in Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry (1976) as "the sole remains of an ancient lich who was so powerful that he was able to imbue his hand with wondrous/horrible powers and to enable it to survive even after his long undead body had ceased to exist." The book contains no more detail on Vecna other than the fact that Kas was his bodyguard.

Gary Gygax later said about the artifacts, "nary a detail of those items did [Blume] ever reveal to me." Others have suggested that they were based on the Hand of Kwll and the Eye of Rhynn from Michael Moorcock's Corum Swords Trilogy (1971), and it's widely accepted that Vecna is a purposeful anagram of Vance -- the author of The Dying Earth (1950), whose spells influenced D&D.

The artifacts reappeared in the Dungeon Master Guides for first (1979) and second (1989) edition AD&D. The second edition book suggested that Vecna's spirit still remained within the hand. However, only in Vecna Lives! is it revealed that the ancient lich has become a demigod since his death.

Though Vecna's story begins in Greyhawk, it goes beyond that world following this adventure: Vecna Reborn (1998) and Die Vecna Die! (2000) form a trilogy about the evil mage's modern-day plans.

Expanding Greyhawk. Vecna Lives is most notable as a Greyhawk adventure because it's a world-spanning epic. To that date, previous Greyhawk adventures had been largely focused on individual locales, with the exception of WG8: Fate of Istus (1989). Vecna Lives! instead gives a strong impression of the world as a whole (and of the ancient magics and legends that underlaid Gygax's vision of the setting).

The adventure is also notable for its detailing of the Greyhawk villain Vecna and his cult and for the attention paid to Mordenkainen, his Circle of Eight, and their henchmen. The Circle of Eight had been hinted at for many years during the first wave of Greyhawk publication, but was revamped and revealed as a group of magicians in The City of Greyhawk; this new book continues with City's version of the Circle.

Vecna Lives! further includes details on the City of Greyhawk, the Viscounty of Verbobonc, the Gnome Warren of Osnabrolt, and the Stone Circles of Tovag Baragu - all set in Greyhawk. However, the book is an adventure, so none of the details are particularly significant for the expansion of Greyhawk.

Verbobonc deserves some additional comments because it had been a major element of published Greyhawk ever since T1: "The Village of Hommlet" (1979). Zeb Cook accidentally gives a new description of the city of Verbobonc in this adventure, contradicting material printed previously in WG8: Fate of Istus (1989). He later acknowledged the error with the simple staement, "what can I say. Oops." There seems to be no agreement on which version of Verbobonc City is canon.

About the Creators. In 1990, author Zeb Cook was entering his second decade at TSR, having just finished the creation of the second edition AD&D game. He would also design the next major milestone in Greyhawk's history, Greyhawk Wars (1991).

About the Product Historian

Price: $9.99

Dungeon Survival Guide (3.x)

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:19:00 CDT

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

This lavishly illustrated guide explores the fantastic dungeons of the fictional D&D world, from the perilous Tomb of Horrors to the Sunless Citadel and the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. Aimed at the novice dungeoneer, this book provides tips and tricks for surviving deadly dungeons of all sorts, enticing would-be dungeon explorers with stories of fabulous treasures guarded by fierce monsters and terrible traps!

*****

Product History

Dungeon Survival Guide (2007), by Bill Slavicsek and Christopher Perkins, is something of an odd beast. It's targeted at new players, aiming to be a beautiful full-color hardback of only 64 pages that introduces players to the vast array of classic dungeons that have been published over the decades. The producers seemed to be striving for somethig like the Practical Guide to Dragons, but targeted toward adults instead of kids. In this it succeeds. There are lots of superb illustrations, limited text, advice for new players, and a number of descriptions of classic adventuring locales.

Where it misses the mark, I think, is in not making it incredibly clear that the book doesn't have new RPG rules or mechanics in it. So, don't be surprised.

This book doesn't have new RPG rules or mechanics in it. It's not meant or intended for experienced players. This is what you give someone to introduce them to the hobby.

Back to Basics. This book breaks down the basics of an adventuring party as it walks the reader through demi-human races and what their heroes need to gear up for adventure. Witty comments from the iconic heroes abound. Different dungeon environments are described, along with traps and typical nefarious denizens. This is a book I can also see being handed to a relative or a parent who says, "How does that dungeon game work?" It introduces the hobby and gives a glimpse at the history behind it.

I Remember That Adventure! Famous and classic adventure sites tend to resonate in memory, retaining a certain amount of nostalgic love. Dungeon Survival Guide works to communicate that sense of wonder and nostalgia to new players. Locations such as the Tomb of Horrors, Castle Greyhawk, Castle Ravenloft, the Dungeon of the Slave Lords, and the Keep on the Borderlands are described. Since most of these are no longer in print, it's clear that the goal is to give new gamers a common language for discussing the hobby with more experienced players.

Apples to Apples. Know what to expect; this is a trip down memory lane and a short introduction to the game. It's a shame that the original book was inaptly marketed, as it disappointed experienced gamers who were expecting something different. If you want a beautiful, art-rich book to introduce someone to the language and history of gaming, this is for you.

About the Creators. Christopher Perkins is a 15-year veteran of Wizards of the Coast and the most prolific adventure writer in Dungeon magazine's history.

Bill Slavicsek is the former Director of Roleplaying Design and Development at Wizards, and is currently a writer and content designer at Zenimax Online Studios.

About the Product Historian

History and commentary of this product was written by Kevin Kulp, game designer and admin of the independent D&D fansite ENWorld. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to kevin.kulp@gmail.com.

Price: $7.99

The Great Modron March (2e)

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:19:00 CDT

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

THE NEXT MARCH WASN'T DUE FOR ANOTHER 189 YEARS. TRY TELLING THAT TO THE MODRONS!

On a regular schedule, the Great Modron March spills out of Mechanus, and the lawful automatons files their way around the Great Ring. No one knows why they do it, but everyone stays out of their way - because when the modrons march, they'll walk right over a berk who doesn't know enough to move aside.

But this March has started decades before it was supposed to begin, and that's even more of a mystery. Caught unprepared, the planes shudder under the modrons' collective footsteps - and even the modrons themselves seem a little out of sorts.

The Great Modron March anthology features 11 adventures for characters ranging from 1st to 10th level, as well as new information about the modrons of Mechanus. Each adventure can be played separely or linked together to form an extended campaign. The modron procession touches every Outer Plane in turn - and it isn't always welcome. On their unswerving path, the clockwork creatures will destroy celestial towns, be attacked by evil knights intent on using modron parts in foul experiments, and lead characters onto the deadly plains of the Abyss and into the famous prime-material labyrinth of Undermountain. Without help, they'll be lost in the swirling chaos of Limbo or even fail to complete the March entirely.

And along their route, every blood on the planes seeks the answer to the most important question: Why have the Modrons abandoned their normal, lawful schedule to march years before they're due?

Product History

The Great Modron March (1997), by Monte Cook and Colin McComb, is a series of adventures that give the heroes a tour of the Great Wheel, acompanying the clockwork automata from the plane of Mechanus around the multiverse on an unscheduled tour. It's eleven separate adventures can be played in almost any order, skipping around as desired in order to customize the adventure path's pacing. They're designed to take heroes from 1st level to 10th.

There are also a lot of good set pieces in these adventures that can be yoinked by DMs for use in their own home adventures, and the module definitely delivers its money's worth. Good thing, too.

A True Story. I pretty much cackled with glee when I read The Great Modron March for the first time. The adventure was full of clever fights, intriguing villains, and exotic planar locations; just the sort of thing I loved. It was also a perfect lead-in into Monte Cook's upcoming Dead Gods adventure.

And so I planned for my campaign to focus on modrons for the next year or so. With the PCs already in Sigil, it was no trouble to set up the beginning of The Great Modron March; on cue, the modrons poured forth from the gate-town of Automata to begin their oddly unscheduled circuit of the Great Wheel, trampling anything in their wake. The heroes watched with awe.

"Wow," said one of my players, "that modron just walked through someone's house. Modrons are kind of jerks."

"Lawful neutral," said another player, "whatcha gonna do? You know, there's a lot of other heroes here who can deal with this. Let's go back to Sigil and just check in on them later to see if anyone found out why they're marching."

"Good idea!" chorused the group. And back to Sigil they went.

With them went my modron-related dreams, hopes, and aspirations. But I'm not bitter. Nope. Not at all. Even if to this day when trying to decide what to do in my current D&D campaign, a player occasionally says, "Let's go see what the modrons are doing!"

Jerks.

And when the modrons finally finished their march, and the PCs asked why they had been marching in the first place? I didn't tell them.

Wherein Your Historian Learns a Lesson. I think I would have been fine if I'd used the adventure hooks in the adventure instead of trying to create my own. Even so, modrons aren't necessarily sympathetic characters, and you'll want to think about how to humanize them enough that the heroes want to follow them and discover what's going on. The adventure does address this, but perhaps not in as much detail as I would have liked.

Varying, Epic Tone. The tone of each adventure varies somewhat. The book's content careens from a horrific facility that is trying to create monstrous human/modron hybrids from dismembered modrons to a lesson in unanticipated consequences when the PCs help right an ancient wrong, to roleplaying with an insane modron judge, to the challenge of being summoned and pressed into service by an extraplanar conjurer. I think these adventures work best when layered into an ongoing campaign, with side adventures and other exploits between them to help match pacing and tone.

Note that there are moments of dark horror in the adventure, as well as opportunities for exceptionally fun roleplaying. There's even a tie-in to the Forgotten Realms and Halaster's Undermountain.

Overall? This is a slightly uneven, magnificently rich, really fun adventure that delivers a substantial amount of creativity and valuable play for the money.

About the Creators. Award-winning author Monte Cook started working as a freelancer for TSR in 1992 and ultimately left Wizards of the Coast in 2001 to start Malhavoc Press. His 2012 Kickstarter for the post-apocalyptic science-fiction(-fantasy) roleplaying game Numenera raised over $500,000.

Colin McComb is the creative lead on inXile's Kickstarted RPG Torment: Tides of Numenera, which uses Monte Cook's upcoming sci-fi/fantasy game Numenera and which follows in the creative vision of Planescape: Torment. Also an award-winning designer, he has written dozens of games and adventures for TSR and Paizo Publishing.

About the Product Historian

History and commentary of this product was written by Kevin Kulp, game designer and admin of the independent D&D fansite ENWorld. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to kevin.kulp@gmail.com.

Price: $9.99

DMGR4 Monster Mythology (2e)

Tue, 14 May 2013 00:00:00 CDT

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

Maglubiyet... Blibdoolpoolp... Diinkarazan... Panzuriel.... Such names are whispered in the dark on the far side of midnight, or muttered fearfully around jugs of wine when old, scarred adventurers tell their tales. They are the unseen, unknown things worshipped by monsters and monstrosities.

Learn all about the avatars and shamans of giants, goblins, the Underdark - even illithids and beholders - in this expansion of the popular Legends & Lore.

*****

Product History

DMGR4: Monster Mythology (May 1992), by Carl Sargent, is the fourth book in the prestige Dungeon Master's Guide Rules (DMGR) series for second edition AD&D.

Continuing with the DMGRs. Like its predecessors, Monster Mythology is a prestige leatherette book for use by game masters. However, it once more breaks new ground in its topic by presenting a whole book's worth of nonhuman deities. As such, it's the first DMGR book that obviously could have been a hardcover book - showing TSR's changed focus in the 90s, moving from the hardcovers that were common during 1st edition era to a variety of prestige-covered trade paperbacks.

Despite covering new ground for the DMGR books in some ways, Monster Mythology is quite like DMGR1: Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide (1990): Whereas the earlier book contained material intended for the 2e Dungeon Master's Guide (1989), this book contains material that could have gone in the 2e Legends & Lore (1990).

About Legends & Lore. When Legends & Lore appeared for 2e AD&D, the writers acknowledged that it was focused on historical deities: "the deities in its pages reflect only the human experience." GMs were invited to adapt human deities if they wanted to create their own nonhuman ones. This was a notable change from the 1e Deities & Demigods (1980), which had featured a whole section on nonhuman deities.

Thus, Monster Mythology - which contains all of those missing nonhuman deities and many more - is very much a companion book to Legends & Lore. Unsurprisingly, it also matches the new deities format created for Legends & Lore, which focuses on avatars and priesthoods. This format would continue to be used by TSR until the release of Faiths & Avatars (1996), which revamped the presentation style once more.

A Note on Contents. Though the book is putatively a "monster" mythology, it actually contains deities for demihumans, humanoids, and monsters alike. The monsters that receive attention here are mainly restricted to those found in MC1: Monstrous Compendium Volume One (1989) and MC2: Monstrous Compendium Volume Two (1989) with a few exceptions.

On Organizing the Mythology. Author Sargent says that one of the "trickier" elements of putting together Monster Mythology was organizing the 131 deities and priesthoods that appear in the book. Offering examples, he says that Blibdoolpoolp could have gone in the "Underdark" or "Scaly Folk" sections and that Deep Sashelas could have appeared as an "Elf" deity or one of the "Gods of the Seas and Skies."

A History of Nonhuman Deities. Nonhuman deities date back to the earliest days of AD&D. Though a chromatic dragon and a platinum dragon appear in Supplement I: Greyhawk (1975), they weren't named as the dragon deities Tiamat and Bahamut until the release of the Monster Manual (1977). Three demons from the Monster Manual have also been co-opted and non-humanoid deities over the years: the gnoll god Yeenoghu, the ixixachitl god Demogorgon, and the occasional aboleth god Juiblex. Meanwhile, drow favorite Lolth appeared in D1: "Descent into the Depths of the Earth" (1978), and the kuo-toa goddess Blibdoolpoolp premiered in D2: "Shrine of the Kuo-Toa" (1978). (See the combined D1-2: "Descent into the Depths of the Earth," 1981.)

Gary Gygax's Elder Elemental God almost appeared in the GDQ-series modules, but then was shuffled off to the side at the last minute. Instead the EEG's first appearance was over a decade later in FOR2: The Drow of the Underdark (1991), and then only in a substantially different form; Greenwood's Drow sourcebook also produced Vhaeraun, the drow god of thievery, who also reappears in Mythology.

The first major source of nonhuman deities for AD&D was Deities & Demigods, in which Lawrence Schick presented stats for over 20 deities. Bugbears, centaurs, dwarves, elves, giants, gnomes, goblins, halflings, hobgoblins, kobolds, kuo-toa, lizard men, locantah, mermen, ogres, orcs, sahuagin, and troglodytes all receive some divine love in that volume. The dwarvish Moradin, the elvish Corellon Larethian, the ogrish Vaprak, and the orcish Gruumsh are probably the most important deities to appear in that tome.

The second major source of nonhuman deities was a series of articles written by Roger E. Moore for Dragon #58-63 (Feb - July 1982). In the first five articles, Moore wrote about the demihumans - dwarves, halflings, elves, gnomes, and orcs - each of whom received four or five new deities. Then in issue #63 he broadly covered the humanoids, adding a deity each to the kobold, goblin, hobgoblin, and gnoll pantheons. Together with the gods from Deities & Demigods, this brought the total nonhuman deity count up to about 50; it was the last big source of nonhuman deities prior to the release of Monster Mythology.

After those books, Monster Mythology more than doubled the count of humanoid, demihuman, and monstrous deities. In particular it detailed new gods for underdark races like beholders, illithids, myconids, and svirfnebli, new undersea gods, new draconic gods, and new faerie gods (including Shakespearian favorites Titania and Oberon).

Expanding the Underdark. The Underdark got its real start as an adventuring locle in the Dungeoneer's Survival Guide (1986). The focus on the Underdark ramped up in the 90s thanks at first to Forgotten Realms books like the aforementioned Drow of the Underdark and also Menzoberranzan (1992). Sargent took the next step in Monster Mythology with his description of Underdark deities, which helped to produce a more generic Underdark, not one focused on the Realms. Sargent would follow his Underdark work up a few years later with Night Below: An Underdark Campaign (1995).

Future History. A missing elf deity, Rilifane Rallathil, appeared in an article by Sargent in Dragon #191 (March 1993). Chris Perry added some elven deities of his own in "The Seldarine Revisited," which appears in Dragon #236 (December 1996); his many purpose was to support elven worshipers who weren't Chaotic Good.

Meanwhile, later humanoid-focused supplements like PHBR9: The Complete Book of Gnomes & Halflings (1993) and FOR5: Elves of Evermeet (1994) tended to lean heavily on Monster Mythology.

About the Creators. Carl Sargent was one of TSR's best-respected authors in the 90s. He wrote Monster Mythology around the same time as From the Ashes (1992), which kicked off his work on the third wave of Greyhawk supplements.

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HHQ4 Cleric's Challenge (2e)

Tue, 14 May 2013 00:00:00 CDT

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

Pommeville is a sleepy little town that seems like a good place to stay for the night. That is, until the town's dead rise from their graves and begin terrorizing the village! Ancient evil threatens to overwhelm the good folk of Pommeville unless someone can find a way to comfort the restless dead.

A lone, player character cleric will have to be clever, courageous, and more than a little lucky to solve the mystery and save Pommeville from the mindless zombies that threaten it!

"Cleric's Challenge" is a special ONE-ON-ONE ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS adventure designed for a DUNGEON MASTER and one player - perfect for very small playing groups, or for the player who wants his or her character to earn some extra experience.

*****

Product History

HHQ4: "Cleric's Challenge" (1993), by L. Richard Baker III, is the fourth in the series of "Head-to-Head Quests" for AD&D and the last of the original sequence, which covered the cleric, fighter, thief, and wizard roles. It was published in October 1993.

Continuing the New One-on-One Adventures. "Cleric's Challenge" finishes the one-one-one adventures' walk through the core AD&D classes. Like its predecessors, it lets one player play his or her own PC (of the appropriate class) in a generic adventure that'll allow the PC to gain experience.

Adapting for Cleric Play. Each of the HHQ adventures focuses on topics appropriate to the class in question. For "Cleric's Challenge," that means an adventure heavy with undead. The introduction notes that other classes could play the adventure, but they'd probably need to be a couple of levels higher - showing how much clerics get to shine when they crank their undead turning up.

"Cleric's Challenge" also gives players the unique opportunity to bring on allies or other hirelings. The reader can decide whether this is a great way to supplement the classes that might be less combat-ready in a head-to-head adventure or if it's a bit of a cheat. (In either case, it's definitely not the methodology used for the Thief or Wizard Challenges.)

Adventure Elements for the 90s. Like all three of its predecessors, "Cleric's Challenge" is very much an exemplar of adventure design of the 90s - practically providing a checklist of things that PCs can do besides explore dungeons. You thus get a well-defined town, pages of allies, event-driven encounters (as zombies ravage the town), an investigation, and a wilderness trek.

There is a bit of a dungeon too, though. To be precise, about a quarter of the adventure is taken up with descriptions of a temple, which is a pretty good ratio for adventures of the era.

About the Creators. Baker joined TSR in 1991, so "Cleric's Challenge" was one of his earlier works. The same year it was published, Baker also produced supplements for Dark Sun, the Forgotten Realms, and Ravenloft. Baker would become more central to TSR's design team in the next couple of years as he worked on products like First Quest (1994), Birthright (1995), and the Player's Options (1995-96).

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Price: $4.99

PHBR8 The Complete Book of Elves (2e)

Tue, 14 May 2013 00:00:00 CDT

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

The glorious world of elvenkind shines from these pages!

Detailed in this tome are their societies, rituals, and myths - and their physiology and psychology. Descriptions of every kind of elf abound. Rounding out this information are 11 new kits; new optional rules and suggestions for running elven campaigns; and special elven equipment, spells, and magical items.

Forget what you thought you knew about elves - The Complete Book of Elves sheds new light on this mysterious race!

*****

Product History

Colin McComb, author of The Complete Book of Elves (1992), recently gave a somewhat unconvincing apology as part of a Kickstarter reward: Book of Elves has a reputation of being the most over-powered 2e Complete book. McComb states that, for his first professional RPG project, he chose to balance fantastic, creative ideas with roleplaying checks and balances instead of mechanical constraints. He's clearly still proud of his work, as he has a right to be, and while he's apologizing on film you can still see that he loves this book.

I can see why. The Complete Book of Elves is much like The Complete Bard's Handbook in that it's filled with really clever, fun, creative ideas that happen to shove game balance out the window and wave it goodbye as it plummets, laughing and singing all the way, to the stony ground below.

Individually, each small rule doesn't cause too much fuss. If they are taken collectively, though, a DM needs to be strict in order to prevent elven PCs from quickly overshadowing other characters.

What I like about this title, though, is that, even with the problems outlined above, it's a rich collection of imaginative ideas and clever design. The non-crunchy flavor text is a superb description of how to play an elf. As a testament to its place in the D&D oeuvre, a few of the kits first introduced here (such as the spellfilcher and bladesinger) have made it into every edition of the game since.

An Elf by Any Other Name. The book starts by delving into elven history and mythology. Not a lot had been written about this previously, and McComb expounds on the creation myth, the shooting of the chief orcish god Gruumsh, and the split that created the drow elves. Elven sub-races are explained for every campaign setting, with rules, history, philosophy and culture discussed. The elven tree of evolution, showing a unified approach to elves in different campaigns, is particularly interesting.

It's in the third chapter, "Physical Attributes," where power inflation starts to appear. McComb gives elves the ability to empathically share their feelings in exchange for combat bonuses, gives them resistance to heat and cold, suggests that they are largely resistant to diseases, and provides them with the ability to "manifest." Best described as the ability to suddenly loom large and become imposing, manifestation admittedly has little game mechanical impact outside of roleplaying.

Elven society, mental attributes, elven holy days, elven myths, death, dwellings, all are discussed with respect and reverence for the race. I think it's this reverence - clearly inspired by Tolkien's beatific elves - that rubs some people the wrong way: Despite the remarkable creativity, it's not uncommon for someone reading these chapters to intone, "Who's the prettiest? Elves are the prettiest!" It's perhaps hard to relate to a race that often lives in such an ethereal, gentle state of grace.

One Bow to Rule Them All. Optional rules expand an elven PC's power. Level limits are extended. Bonus proficiencies are granted. Special fighting styles such as bladesinging are explained, and seven new archery techniques are explained. These allow an elf to shoot out mounts beneath riders, shoot two arrows on one bow, shoot bows with their feet, hang upside from trees by their feet to shoot bows, shoot up to 5 arrows in one round at an accuracy penalty, staple people to trees with arrows, and use a trick shot for special effects. All are cool, creative techniques... but they're techniques that give elves extra combat power without allowing the techniques to non-elven archers as well.

Elven kits share the same flaw. They make elves tremendously fun to play, at the expense of possibly unbalancing play. Special hindrances are often roleplaying-based, while special benefits are usually mechanical in nature. In the hands of a player who is willing to let roleplaying slip a bit, this is undeniably problematic.

All that said, this book is a still a trove of good ideas, especially when it comes to rounding out elven society and understanding where your elven PC comes from. Its reputation for power inflation may be justified, but the vast majority of the book is filled with superb roleplaying advice and racial background.

And hey, any rules supplement that triggers an apology when the Kickstarter hits $2.5 million has to be worth reading for that reason alone.

About the Creators. Colin McComb is the creative lead on inXile's recently Kickstarted RPG Torment: Tides of Numenera, which uses Monte Cook's upcoming sci-fi/fantasy game setting Numenera and follows the creative vision of Planescape: Torment. The award-winning designer has written dozens of games and adventures for TSR and Paizo Publishing.

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WG7 Castle Greyhawk (1e)

Tue, 14 May 2013 00:00:00 CDT

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

Deep beneath the keep of Castle Greyhawk, a really nasty device is creating mutated, unpleasant monsters that are running wild throughout the castle and the twelve-level dungeon beneath. The call has gone out for heroic, fearless, and perhaps foolish adventures to out-hack, out-slash, and sometimes even out-think hordes of doughmen, headless mice, manic bee queens, really bad dead things, burgermen, crazed chefs, and movie moguls. If they survive these and much odder obstacles, the characters still have to find the nasty monster creator and put it out of business.

Castle Greyhawkcontains 13 detailed levels for adventuring and exploration. Each is a separate adventure written by different author and each has its own unique brand of baffling weirdness. Some levels involve solving puzzles and some require good old hacking and slashing. The adventure can be played separately or all together as a grand quest to free Castle Greyhawk from the evil, rotten hordes that are plaguing it. The common theme of this dungeon is that no joke is so old, no pun so bad, and no schtick so obvious that it can't be used to confuse and trip up PCs!

13 Adventures for Character Levels 0 to 25.

*****

Product History

WG7: Castle Greyhawk (1988) was theoretically the seventh adventure in the World of Greyhawk series and (theoretically) depicted the infamous Castle Greyhawk. It was written by a huge collection of authors and released in January 1988.

An Adventure Anthology. Though Castle Greyhawk presents a single dungeon, it's actually an adventure anthology, with each level written by a different designer. The first D&D adventure of this sort was B9: "Castle Caldwell and Beyond" (1985), but it was a singular experiment at the time. For some reason, TSR suddenly became very fond of anthologies in 1988, with other releases including DL15: "Mists of Krynn" (1988) and OP1: Tales of the Outer Planes (1988).

Not Expanding Greyhawk. Gary Gygax may have created the Castle Greyhawk dungeons as early as 1972. He promised publication as early as 1980, but only got as far as publishing adventures based on "demiplanes" that were connected to Castle Greyhawk. In the end, there were three: EX1: "Dungeonland" (1983), EX2: "The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror" (1983), and WG6: "Isle of the Ape" (1985).

As for the actual dungeons, Gygax never published them, and this adventure definitely is not Gygax's Castle Greyhawk. In fact, this satirical adventure isn't really a World of Greyhawk adventure, despite its "WG" product code. TSR purposefully superseded it just a few years later with WGR1: "Greyhawk Ruins" (1990) - a better attempt to match the style of Gygax's dungeons, though that one didn't directly derive from Gygax's campaign either. Ironically the other major Greyhawk project from this time-period - Rose Estes' "Master Wolf" series of novels (1987-88) - are also of questionable canonicity.

Historically, Castle Greyhawk falls between the first two major waves of Greyhawk publication: after the last Gygaxian reprint, S1-4: Realms of Horror (1987), and before the first serious release by someone other than Gygax, which was Greyhawk Adventures (1988), by James M. Ward.

The Missing WG7. The Acaeum reports that WG7 should have been an adventure by Gary Gygax and Skip Williams called either "Shadowland" or "Shadowlords." Gygax had first announced it way back in The Dragon #37 (May 1980), where he wrote, "Skip Williams is working on my original outline for Shadowland, and from what I’ve seen so far, we should be able to have a final product out this year. The module will be an adventure on the Plane of Shadow - perhaps that should be Quasi-plane of Shadow." Years later, Gygax noted that he and Williams had created lots of new monsters for "Shadowland" and that he'd outlined an adventure for high-level PCs, 12th and up.

Gygax and Williams were once again working on Shadowland around 1985 when Gygax was forced out of the company. As a result, his version of WG7 appeared in a few TSR product catalogs in 1986 and 1987, but was then cancelled.

Parody & Humor. Though it wasn't the original Castle Greyhawk, this Castle Greyhawk was enjoyed by some for its parody and its humor, which included references to Star Trek, the Marvel Heroes, the Three Stooges and much more. Some parodies and other D&D humor had appeared in April issues of Dragon previously, but as a fairly humorous supplement, Castle Greyhawk was pretty unprecedented.

Was This Castle Greyhawk Produced Out of Spite? Fans of Gary Gygax and Greyhawk have long contended that this version of Castle Greyhawk was produced specifically to spite Gary Gygax, to mock his creations, and/or to make Greyhawk and its prime adventure spot look ridiculous. This assertion is questionable.

Admittedly, Lorraine Williams might have had spiteful feelings toward Gygax, dating back to his attempt to block Williams' purchase of TSR stock in 1985. After that, she appeared to go out of her way to sue both companies that Gygax later published with: New Infinities Productions and GDW. In fact, the TSR lawsuits against those two companies were some of the prime causes that ultimately drove them out of business.

However, laying out that history of anti-Gygax litigation doesn't necessarily suggest that Castle Greyhawk was produced as a purposeful slap in his face. In fact, there were so many freelancing professionals involved with it that it's clear that at least the authors, at least, didn't intend to mock Gygax. Whether the TSR staff who edited the book might have been willing to do so is harder to say, as in the early 80s there had been some real resentment toward Gygax from some of the creative folks.

The bottom line? We don't know if the overall concept was purposefully spiteful, but we can say pretty safely that the specific dungeon levels as written weren't.

About the Creators. Another argument against Castle Greyhawk being produced out of spite? The all-star cast of authors: Fantasimulations Association, the creators of FASA's Star Trek RPG (1983); Greg Gorden, one of the creators of DC Heroes (1985); Paul Jaquays, a well-known illustrator and author for Flying Buffalo, Judges Guild, and TSR; John Nephew, the future founder of Atlas Games; Steve Perrin, author of RuneQuest (1978); Rick Swan, a frequent TSR writer from 1988-95; Ray Winniger, another Mayfair Games star, who'd soon be better known for his work on second edition DC Heroes (1989) and Underground (1993); and many others of note.

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A Guide to the Ethereal Plane (2e)

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:30:00 CDT

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

Within the Ethereal Plane, demiplane islands and creatures both odd and dangerous float in an endless field of possibility. Canny folks know that the Ethereal also leads the way to the Inner Planes, infinite arenas of elemental fury. See, it's more than just a backdrop to other adventures - the plane itself offers wonder and opportunity for those with courage enough to explore its limitless expanse.

This guide includes the following information:

Ethereal environments and conditions - including methods of getting there in the first place
How the alien medium of the Waveless Sea affects combat and magic
New spells, magical items, and proficiencies dealing specifically with the Ethereal Plane
The chant on demiplanes - islands in the Deep Ethereal that obey no rules but their own - including information on old and new demiplanes, plus DM guidelines for creating these unique "pocket dimensions"
A complete listing of the creatures of the Ethereal, including several new monsters and an Ethereal Encounter Table
Two new Ethereal-based player character races: nathri and renegade nethlings

*****

Product History

I'm not crazy about the front cover.

There, I've now said the only negative thing I can come up with for Bruce Cordell's A Guide to the Ethereal Plane (1998), one of the later Planescape books and a fine reference to the vast, misty sea of possibility that is the Ethereal.

The Ethereal has always gotten slightly short shrift in adventures, usually used briefly and only as a medium for transportation; all the fun stuff seems to happen in the Astral, such as githyanki, dead gods, and the pathways to the outer planes. This book does a fine job of changing that perspective. Quite cleverly, Cordell focuses primarily on demiplanes, alternate realities, and specific locations in the Ether. This allows him free rein to create unique and spectacular locations for adventure without having to concentrate on what might make an endless plane into a hotbed of excitement.

The portion of the book not focused on adventuring locations covers planar geography; unusual features of the Ethereal, such as Ether Cyclones and Walls of Color; Ethereal magic; and Ethereal inhabitants. As is standard for Planescape, in-character quotes from random adventurers and NPCs pepper the book to provide additional context. The result is a fun, comprehensive supplement that gives a thorough grounding in the Ethereal and still leaves the reader wanting more.

Overall? A Guide to the Ethereal Plane translates beautifully between editions and remains a fun, comprehensive guide to a non-traditional adventuring environment. Highly recommended.

And now, having re-read it, I'm off to go hack together an Ethereal adventure for our D&D Next playtest PCs.

A Grounding in the Basics. Although A Guide to the Ethereal Plane is a Planescape book, it's not intrinsically tied to the cosmology as many other Planescape products are. Of course the book explains how the Ethereal Plane fits into that scheme, but it's much more about the practicalities of Ethereal gaming: Ethereal senses, combat, and the differences between the border and deep Ethereal are all explained in a method that allows for easy insertion of plot hooks. Ethereal combat, for instance, is explained with examples of 3D combat that starts a DM thinking about new and entertaining ways to ambush the PCs.
Demiplanes, Dreams, and You. When you're sailing a misty and unsubstantial sea, islands of color and matter tend to catch your eye. These demiplanes, small ethereal pockets of unique existence, are the best adventuring locations in the plane. Fourteen of these are presented in the book, along with methods for randomly determining more.

Details are provided for the Black Abyss (a spiraling black hole of entropy and decay), The Boundless (a heavenly refuge that consumes its visitors), Ravenloft, the demiplane of Electromagnetism (about as exciting as you might expect), the demiplane of Imprisonment (a place of great interest if you happen to be Lovecraft fan), the demiplane of Moil (Orcus's sleeping city), the demiplane of Nightmares, the much beloved demiplane of Shadow, the demiplane that Lives (a continent-sized sentient living land that treasures knowledge), the demiplane of Time, the Mazes (an endless trap used by the ruler of Sigil), the Semblance (a wizards' refuge), Wormscape (a solid, three-dimensional mass of writhing worms), and more. The landscape of Dreams is also described, with rules for adventuring inside of dreams. Known divine residences are listed, as are a few structures a traveler may bump into by mistake.

More developed is the chapter with specific encounters, giving detailed encounter locations throughout the plane. Ever wanted to explore the Castle at the Edge of Time, or the web of a massive phase spider lurking in the deep Ethereal? You'll get details of what they're like.

Creatures of the Mist. The monster section is divided between (i) creatures that can see into both the Prime and the Ethereal plane and (ii) creatures that live in the Ethereal (a mixture of brand new and well-known older creatures.) Some old 1st edition AD&D favorites appear here, such as the will, thought eaters (everyone's favorite psionic platypus!), tweens, the shedu, and many more. Your players won't lack for monsters trying to eat them.

About the Creators. ENnie Award-winning designer Bruce R. Cordell has been Wizards' go-to designer for psionics and tentacular monstrosities ever since he authored The Gates of Firestorm Peak (1996) and the "Illithiad" triad of adventures (1998). His most recent novel in the Spinner of Lies series is Sword of the Gods.

About the Product Historian

History and commentary of this product was written by Kevin Kulp, game designer and admin of the independent D&D fansite ENWorld. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to kevin.kulp@gmail.com.

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PHBR7 The Complete Bard's Handbook (2e)

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:20:00 CDT

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

Thief, musician, clown, actor, acrobat - just a partial list of the many twists on the bard class to be found in this book!

Seventeen bard kits, multitudes of abilities and powers, new magical items, new proficiencies, rules for gaining patrons and followers, over 100 bardic instruments, and much more await you within. The Complete Bard's Handbook gives you everything you need to create a bard the world will never forget

*****

Product History

PHBR7: The Complete Bard's Handbook (1992) by Blake Mobley is the sixth book in TSR's "Complete" series. It remains one of the most fun, creative books in the series; it also marks the point where consistent power inflation started to show itself in the handbook series' kits. As a result, this title is a little bit of a contradiction: an incredibly fun, creative sourcebook that needs some DM adjudication in order to keep bard characters well balanced. If you like good ideas and want to see how a 2e AD&D class can have its boundaries stretched, and you don't mind making a few tweaks in the name of game balance, it's the book for you.

Actually a Complete Handbook. One of the factors that makes this one of the best organized books in the PHBR line is that the author takes time to gather charts, tables, and rules from other game supplements. The chapter on character creation includes all the basic information needed to generate a bard, from spell progression to thieves' skills to even the various methods of rolling up ability scores. This fills only a few pages, so I'm not sure it counts as padding, and it saves the player from having to flip between multiple rulebooks. It'd be nice to have seen this as a regular feature for the series.

Kit and Caboodle. Yes, horrible pun. I apologize. But it's also a good introduction to the twelve new bard kits that this book introduces. Well, technically 13; the true bard is the first kit listed, being the normal bard straight out of the PHB. The other kits include the blade (an assassin and spy-master), charlatan (a trickster and con artist), gallant (a romantic warrior-bard, like a cavalier), gypsy-bard (a druidic oracle), herald (a linguist and orator skilled at scouting and persuading), jester (a clown and buffoon), jongleur (a juggler and acrobat), loremaster (a chronicler and historian), meistersinger (a "Pied Piper"-like animal charmer), riddlemaster (a clever puzzle solver), skald (Viking poet/warrior), and thespian (an actor and mime).

Make no mistake, the kit descriptions are entertainingly and imaginatively written. Each has a first-person introduction, a description of the kit, a summary of the role, a list of secondary skills and proficiencies, many varied and creative special benefits, and almost no special hindrances.

That's where the balance issue comes in.

Every single kit is superior to the core "true bard." Most kits offer no special hindrances at all, and the ones who do focus on minor and inconsequential abilities or roleplaying guidelines. The charlatan, for instance, can non-magically charm an entire audience at 1st level (!). The gypsy-bard gains a number of druidic abilities, scrying, and psionics, at the expense of only being able to climb trees instead of walls. In all, this power creep is frustrating because the special benefits have fantastic flavor. The kits do a great job of setting the bard character apart from other bards, and in highlighitng unique roles as a bard.

To Be Fair. As long as a DM doesn't mind a little power inflation (which, to be honest, is something the under-powered basic 2e AD&D bard could probably use), then these kits are fun and interesting.

Game Mechanics. Chapters 3 through 6 focus on game mechanics. Demi-, dual- and multi-classed bards are discussed at length, including racial kits for dwarven chanters, elven minstrels, gnome professors, and halfling whistlers (bringing the total count of kits in the book up to 17). New proficiencies are added, bard abilities are explored, and new spells and magic items are presented. Pre-existing magic musical items that have special effects when used by a bard are also listed, in almost every case increasing the item's power.

Note: DMs who introduce the lyre of wounding, a cursed harp that slices off the musician's fingers, just ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Song and Dance. The remainder of the book gives useful information about music and instruments, advice on roleplaying bards, rules for performances, and rules for bard colleges and patrons. The chapter on music is especially useful, particularly for players who don't have any knowledge of musical theory or ancient instruments.

Shining with Creativity, Loaded with Power. Re-reading The Complete Bard's Handbook for the first time in almost 20 years, I'm reminded by how incredibly imaginative and entertaining the book is. Compared to the Complete Priest's Handbook, which seems almost dour and matter-of-fact in comparison, this was written by an author who loved bards and who took great delight in gaming. The ideas presented here are consistently creative and fun to read; if they didn't have such a negative effect on game balance, this book would have been a mainstay supplement in most campaigns. As it is, it remains reasonably indispensable for bard players just for the roleplaying advice and rules presented within.

About the Creators. Blake Mobley is also the author of the superb Ravenloft adventure "Feast of Goblyns," as well as Greyhawk Ruins and several other well-received gaming works including the game Metascape.

About the Product Historian

History and commentary of this product was written by Kevin Kulp, game designer and admin of the independent D&D fansite ENWorld. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to kevin.kulp@gmail.com.

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FOR4 The Code of the Harpers (2e)

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:00:00 CDT

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

From the storm-lashed rocks west of fabled Evermeet to the Plains of Purple Dust, all the folk of Faerun have heard of the Harpers. Noble fools, some call them. Crazy, misguided meddlers, others say. Still others disagree. "The one true hope of the Realms," said one princess.

"A shining light in the darkness of our lives," agreed a sage. "Pray that it never goes out."

Just who are these mysterious, wandering folk who wear silver harp pins and walk softly in the most dangerous shadows of the Realms? This book reveals the secrets, rules, and magic of the Harpers, including

Harper runes
Harper magic
The long, colorful history ot the Harpers
Their evil foes
Their special allies
The fabled High Heralds
What Harpers do
Harper haunts: their strongholds, and the Harpers who (in some cases literally) haunt them!
Joining the Harpers, and how to become a True Harper or a Master Harper?

...and more, from favorite Harper ballads to detailed Harper NPCs. This is a sourcebook you'll turn to again and again. It lays bare the warring power groups who work behind the scenes in Faerun; no Forgotten Realms campaign is complete without it!

*****

Product History

FOR4: The Code of the Harpers (1993), by Ed Greenwood, is the fourth book in its prestige FOR series of Forgotten Realms supplements. It was published in September 1993.

Origins. Ed Greenwood asked TSR if he could write Code of the Harpers. He had wanted to do so for three reasons: to explain who the Harpers were, since they'd only been briefly detailed in the past; to provide the back stories of the Seven Sisters, who had been summarily dealt with in previous Realms releases; and to give players lots of fun new magic items that could make magic feel more "real" in the Realms. So Greenwood pitched the concept to Director of Product Development Timothy Brown, who approved it.

The original plan was for Code of the Harpers to be sold as a boxed set, a format that TSR used heavily just a few years earlier, beginning in 1988. These sets resulted in hefty boxed sets full of goodies, including Spelljammer (1989), The City of Greyhawk (1989), and Menzoberranzan (1992). TSR kept publishing boxes in quantity right up to 1997 - though some later reports suggest they were losing money on some or all of them. Yet in 1993, they rejected the idea of Code as a box set because the sales projections for the supplement didn't match the cost of the printing.

Code of the Harpers thus became a prestige-format FOR-series book instead. Along the way, it lost some of the cool stuff it would otherwise have contained - notably a cloisonne Harper's pin. Of course, it still had 128 pages of Realmslore by the creator of the Realms himself.

A Different Sort of FOR. Up until 1993, the FOR books had all been trade paperbacks with gloss-on-matte covers that featured adversarial forces of the Realms - dragons, drow, and pirates. Though Code of the Harpers maintained the formatting of the previous books, it took on a new topic: a benevolent organization. The previous books in the FOR series had also placed lighter emphasis on the Realms, instead focusing mostly on the monsters (or pirates) that were the heart of the books. Code flips that on its head: it's Realmslore from front to back cover, detailing the Harper organization in its entirety.

A Book of NPCs. As far back as the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set (1987), the Realms was a world heavy with powerful NPCs. FR7: "Hall of Heroes" (1987) expanded the Realms' catalog of people by detailing many characters from the novels. Code of the Harpers offers more of the same, spending over 40 pages detailing many Harpers and their friends. Once more, several of them are drawn from the novels, particularly the "Code" series (1991-98) and Kate Novak & Jeff Grubb's "Finder's Stone" trilogy (1988-91).

Expanding the Realms. The two biggest expansions of the Realms in Code of the Harpers were the two that Greenwood had planned: extensive details on the Harpers and some additional info on the Seven Sisters. The Harpers were first publicly mentioned in Ed Greenwood's "Seven Swords: Blades of the Realms," an article about magic swords that appeared in Dragon #74 (June 1983), four years before the Forgotten Realms became a TSR campaign world. In it, he wrote,

Little is known of the Harpers; they consist of bards and a few rangers, are known by the device of a silver moon and a silver harp, operate in the northern regions on both sides of the Great Desert, and are a secretive organization rather than a band or race of people. Of the bards of great power, only Mintiper is thought not to be a member, and of the high-level rangers, only Thulraven and Estulphore are believed to be independent of the Harpers. It is not clear if the Harpers are any thing more than a private club or fellowship at present, although in the past they have acted in concert to keep kingdoms in the northern lands and in the Dalelands small in power, and on at least two occasions have forcibly prevented the expansion of farms and settlements into elven woods.

The Harpers get a page in the Cyclopedia of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set (1987), where they're described as "mysterious," a pretty common adjective in those early days. Forgotten Realms Adventures (1990) increased that to a page and a half that included notes on how to become a Harper and admitted that the organization was "[o]ne of the most extensive of the good-aligned societies in the Realms."

However, there still hadn't been a lot of info on the Harpers before the publication of Code of the Harpers. Given that TSR was now a half-dozen books into a series of novels called "The Harpers," which described the adventures of individual members, it made sense for Greenwood to get the full details down and in print.

The Seven Sisters were even more scarcely described than the Harpers prior to the publication of Code. Five sisters - Alustriel, Dove, Storm, Sylune, and the Simbul - had been mentioned in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set (which means that Laeral and the mysterious seventh were neglected). Yet neither there nor in Forgotten Realms Adventures were they called the "Seven Sisters." That term finally appears in onlyhere in Code of the Harpers, as do other details of "The Tale of the Chosen." Alustriel, Dove, Laeral, and Storm are all described as Senior Harpers within Code, while the Simbul is listed as a Harper Ally.

Future History. Although this book was Greenwood's final word on the Harpers (at least as a major reference), he later returned to the Seven Sisters in FOR6: The Seven Sisters (1995), which refers back to this book a lot, and also in Silverfall: Stories of the Seven Sisters (1999).

About the Creators. From 1987 through 1996, Greenwood tended to produce at least two Realms game books every year. 1993 was a bumper year, which also saw the revised Forgotten Realms Campaign Set (1993), the first of the Volo's Guides (1993) and The Ruins of Myth Drannor (1993) - the last particularly notable because the original, unruined Myth Drannor was where the Harpers originated.

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I3 Pharoah (1e)

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:00:00 CDT

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

Your skin was blistered all day before the hot desert sun sank slowly below the horizon. Now, the deep blue mists of the desert night swirl about you in the lazy wind. The cool night air seems to soak up the heat of the endless desert sands. You shiver as you and your friends huddle around your campfire, glancing nervously at the giant pyramid in the distance. There is an eerie and mysterious feeling about that place.

Gradually, the winds change direction, carrying a thin streak of white mist that swirls into the shape of a faceless man dressed in ancient robes. The moonlight seems to shine through him as he raises his arms toward the pyramid and speaks.

"I am the Pharoah Amun-re, son of Takosh-re of the House of Mo-pelar. I am now only a shadow who has walked these sands for a thousand years in search of wise and mighty warriors to break into my pyramid and plunder my tomb."

The winds shift again; his robes begin to swirl about him and he fades back into the mists and winds. Why does this desert spirit want you to plunder his tomb? Can you survive the challenges of a pyramid that has stood for a thousand years? Or are you being led into a trap?

This adventure can be played by itself or as the first part of the Desert of Desolation series. For character levels 5-7.

*****

Product History

I3: "Pharaoh" (1982), by Tracy and Laura Hickman, is the third adventure in the "intermediate" series of mid-level adventures. It also, uniquely, headed a linked series of adventures for the I-series modules, the Desert of Desolation trilogy. "Pharaoh" was published around the end of the year.

DayStar Origins. "Pharaoh" is one of the few TSR adventures that originated with another publisher. It was first published by the Hickmans through their own DayStar West Media as "Pharaoh" (1980). The Hickmans believed in adventures having plots, and thus "Pharaoh" focuses in part on the theme of the "curse of wealth."

Unfortunately, the Hickmans ended up needing money in the early 80s and thus offered to sell their adventures to TSR. Fortunately for him and for us, TSR wanted not just the adventures, but also Tracy Hickman. As a result, "Pharaoh" was reprinted by TSR two years after its original appearance. The TSR version of "Pharaoh" is somewhat expanded, including new wilderness adventures in the desert.

Welcome to Egypt. Ancient Egypt seems like a great setting for fantasy adventures, but because of the FRP industry's origins in the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, Jack Vance, Robert E. Howard, and others, fantasy roleplaying games have mostly focused on primitive and medieval European societies.

The Hickmans' "Pharaoh" was thus the first Egyptian-themed RPG publication of note. Even by the time TSR published it, the only similar thing on the market was The Egyptian Trilogy (1982) for Man, Myth, and Magic (1980). Palladium's Valley of the Pharaohs (1983) RPG would follow shortly afterward, making 1982-83 the biggest burst of ancient Egypt-inspired publication before the d20 era. This trend is arguably related to the increased interest in Egyptology that grew out of the "Treasures of Tutankhamun" exhibit that toured the US from 1976-79.

TSR later returned to Egypt sporadically. The Desert of Desolation series continued in two additional adventures, which we'll discuss momentarily. TSR also developed two other Egyptian-influenced settings about a decade later in FR10: "Old Empires" (1990) for the Forgotten Realms and HWR2: "Kingdom of Nithia" (1991) for the Known World.

The Adventures Continues. TSR decided to link the Hickmans' "Pharaoh" with another desert-themed adventure they had on hand. As a result, Philip Meyers' I4: "Oasis of the White Palm" (1983) was published about a month after "Pharaoh," with some further development by Hickman. Hickman was then set the task of linking everything together. He did so in I5: "Lost Tomb of Martek" (1983), which finished off the trilogy several months later.

Expanding the Realms. The three Desert of Desolation adventures were originally located in a generic Egypt-like land. When they were reprinted in the I3-5: Desert of Desolation (1987) compilation, they were revised to appear in the Forgotten Realms, where the Desert of Desolation marked the former kingdom of Imaskar. Thus, the Hickmans retroactively became the first major contributors to the Realms other than Greenwood himself. The later "Old Empires" supplement further integrated Imaskar into the Realms by describing a few kingdoms created by former Imaskarites after their own land's fall.

If you decide to count either the 1980 or 1982 edition of "Pharaoh" as a Forgotten Realms adventure, then it was the first - though it post-dated the first actual mention of the Realms, by Greenwood in The Dragon #30 (October 1979). However, you could equally count the 1987 compiled revision that featured the "Forgotten Realms" logo as the first Realms adventure - and perhaps more accurately so. That reprint appeared simultaneously with the Darkwalker on Moonshae (1987) novel, a few months before the release of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set (1987).

About the Creators. Tracy Hickman joined TSR in 1982. His first year at TSR resulted in a full half-dozen adventures, all of which had their basis in DayStar West: I3: "Pharaoh" (1982), I4: "Oasis of the White Palm" (1983), I5: "Lost Tomb of Martek" (1983), B7: "Rahasia" (1984), and most notably I6: "Ravenloft" (1983). Many of these books were coauthored with his wife, Laura. Shortly afterward, Tracy would begin work on what would be his biggest accomplishment, "Project Overlord" -- the Dragonlance series (1984-86).

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A Guide to the Astral Plane (2e)

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:19:43 CDT

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

"So - why do they call it the silver void? Must mean there's nothin' there? Right?"

- Some clueless sod

Most berks think the Astral Plane's an empty place, serving as nothing but a cosmic highway connecting all the other places in the multiverse. Canny planewalkers know differently, though. Here are just a few of the "Secrets" of the Silver Void that this book explains:

It is the backdrop of the multiverse, where phenomena such as space and time are so vastly different form " normal" that only a true blood knows his way around.
When he's on the Astral Plane, a basher moves, fights, and acts solely with his mind.
It is the closest thing the multiverse has to a " plane of magic," where sorcery and spells are not only more powerful, but are palpable, tangible objects.
The primary inhabitants are the infamous githyanki, an ancient race of wizards and warriors who know the dark of many secrets forbidden to others.
The Astral Plane is literally the dead-book of the gods.

Now, that's not nothin', is it, berk?

*****

Product History

Monte Cook's Guide to the Astral Plane (1996) is that very rare rules supplement that is a joy to read due to entertaining text; attractive to look at thanks to good graphic design, and well organized, it is so full of plot hooks and game ideas that you could practically run an entire Astral campaign from this 96-page book alone. It takes a feature of D&D that has been around since the early days and spins it out into a legitimately fun source of adventure. Whether you run a Planescape game or not, regardless of the rules system and edition you use, this is a worthwhile book to buy if your heroes ever venture into the Astral.

Huh. Re-reading that last paragraph, I think I might like this one a little bit. It's justified, though: the rules fatigue you get from reading some game books never happens with this supplement, mostly because it's so darn entertaining to read. Snarky quotes from Planeswalkers pepper the book, occasionally with responses from the people they're speaking to. The result breaks up the pacing just enough to catch the eye and underscore important points in the text.

Berk Berk Berk Berk Berk. Berk Berk? Berk! The one caution for non-Planescape fans is that this book, like almost all Planescape products, uses a moderate amount of cant (or "planar slang") throughout. It's kept to a reasonable level, far less intrusive than a few Planescape products that have laid it on a little too thick even in non-first-person rules discussions, but the slang may seem affected and intrusive to people not familiar with the custom.

That said, try saying "berk" about twenty times quickly. It's sort of fun. Berk.

Organization. The book starts off by discussing the nature of the Astral Plane, Astral movement, Astral combat, Astral magic, and proficiencies. Some interesting concepts are explored here, including the nature of combat in a plane where physical strength has no meaning. Magical addiction, Astral ships, the nature (or lack of) extradimensional spaces, spell keys to make magic spells function correctly, and the like are all explained.

Following that are chapters on "conduits" - the whirling connections that criss-cross the endless starry field of the Astral - and Color Pools, portals into other worlds. These are both used to travel around the Astral, and knowing how to use them becomes key to not getting yourself into more trouble than you can handle. From there the book discusses dead gods, the forgotten and rotting husks of slain deities that dot the Astral Plane. Hey, if a god dies, the corpse has to go somewhere. Making these into explorable adventure locations was an act of genius by someone on the Planescape team. Each dead god is a uniquely themed, unpredictably exciting site where deific memories may be the best treasure you can find.

Githyanki, the Lich-Queen, and You. Major chapters cover the githyanki and other Astral denizens. Githyanki have been a fan favorite ever since they graced the cover of the original 1e Fiend Folio; the militaristic race and their evil, undying Lich-Queen have featured in scores of adventures. Secrets of the race are revealed here, including their different organizations and societal structures, their cities, and their fortresses. Githyanki plans and tactics are discussed, and rules are even supplied for making them player characters - good luck trying to not get devoured by the Lich-Queen after 11th level, though.

Other Astral monsters get their own chapter. Brain collectors, devas, and the ever-famous (thanks to its appearance on the cover of the 1st edition AD&D Manual of the Planes) Astral dreadnought join a handful of other monsters that swim the Astral for prey. There aren't many standouts here - Astral streakers are handy messenger birds, but not particularly useful foes -- but there's good variety for rounding out the already established planar monsters.

Locations in Nowhere. The book finishes up with a series of nine Astral encounters, mapped locations that provide spectacular play. An unimaginably large floating cloud of undead skeletons, the headquarters of a faction who wish to kill the gods themselves, a living sea of intelligent water, a warehouse and prison for the detritus of the multiverse... these, and more, provide locations for adventuring.

To sum up, this book is one of the winners in the Planescape line. Fun to read and useful for a planar campaign, it turns a boring transitional plane into a place of mystery and adventure.

About the Creators. A core Planescape author, award-winning author Monte Cook started working as a freelancer for TSR in 1992 and left Wizards of the Coast in 2001 to start Malhavoc Press. His 2012 Kickstarter for the post-apocalyptic science fction roleplaying game Numenera raised over $500,000. We like to think of him lounging in his secret lair and gaming with solid gold dice, but the truth is that he remains one of the most creative and hard-working authors in the industry.

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Complete Champion (3.5)

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:19:43 CDT

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

Divine Power at Your Command

Mastery of divine power is no longer reserved for the cleric or paladin. With devotion and dedication, any hero can become a divine champion and a force to shake the heavens. Your strength comes from the universe itself, and you can use your divine gifts to create, heal, or destroy. Your choices shape the world.

This book gives players and Dungeon Masters an unprecedented resource for using divine power and religion in their game. In addition to new feats, spells, items, and prestige classes, the Complete Champion game supplement presents exciting adventure locations, afilliation mechanics for different deities and organizations, and a system for designing your own religions based on the cleric domain system. Alternative class features for every standard class and more reserve feats provide extended options for players interested in creating or advancing characters along the road to divine power.

For use with these Dungeons & Dragons core books: Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual.

*****

Product History

Complete Champion: A Player’s Guide to Divine Heroes (2007), by Ed Stark, Chris Thomasson, Ari MArmell, Rhiannon Louve, and Gary Astleford, isn't what you might think. It's not just a sourcebook for paladins and clerics per se, as the title might suggest. Instead, it's an in-depth examination of how to integrate and expand the role of religion in your campaign world, using the pantheon of Greyhawk for examples.

Let's face it: 3rd edition D&D, both in the 3.0 and 3.5 editions, used Greyhawk as its default setting, but never really took advantage of this fact in the published works. As many DMs use their own gods or the gods of other campaign settings in their games, developing the Greyhawk pantheon took a back seat for some time. Complete Champion fixes that. The book allows every character a method for integrating their faith with rules crunch, and does so with balanced, interesting rules.

Affiliations, Organizations, and Faith. In Chapter 1, the churches of the Greyhawk gods are all detailed as individual organizations, each using the Affiliation rules presented in the Players Handbook II. Gaining respect and demonstrating loyalty within a religion puts characters in good standing, granting them certain advantages and benefits that vary between churches. Delightfully, churches aren't considered to be dogmatically consistent across every chapel and location; sects and variations of the religion are expected to exist, giving a DM plenty of latitude to twist the expected philosophy and credo into cults, adventures, and plot hooks. Fully 14 church organizations are detailed in the book, along with five abbreviated organizations for evil gods such as Hextor and Vecna. The first chapter also gives rules for building and fleshing out D&D churches in a non-Greyhawk campaign.

Organizations are presented in Chapter 2. Each organization has a prestige class associated with it, many of which have only three or five levels. The intent is to allow PCs to embody their church organization's philosophies and tactics by encouraging a dip into the associated prestige class. Doing so gives some nifty abilities, ties the PC more firmly into the world and into the politics of their church, and adds good plot hooks.

Rules and Options. As you'd expect, a multitude of new spells for divine classes are included. Every class gains alternate class features that focus on the organizations, the churches, the divine in general, and on the new prestige classes. They're a little uneven in usefulness, but all are entirely optional. New feats focus on domains and provide spell-like powers.

New magic items include holy symbols keyed to particular gods, power components that are also tied to specific deities, and magic staffs known as "domain staves" that help divine spellcasters specialize and differentiate themselves. For anyone who loved the more customizable domain system of 2nd edition AD&D (as our group did) and who was hoping for a similar approach to 3.5 D&D, this is worth considering.

Holy Ground. The book finishes up with holy sites and special quests. These pilgrimages and adventure seeds are designed to be integrated into any campaign using the default gods, but could easily be adjusted for other use. There's a focus on flavor here, indicating that there are mysteries that PCs may never know and magics that they will never be able to master. It's a welcome approach, encouraging awe and wonder for the heroes who worship D&D's gods.

DMs who use the 3e/3.5 core gods, or who play in Greyhawk regardless of edition, are going to get the most out of this book. Regardless, the concepts and rules here are easily transferrable to the deities of other campaigns, and this gives DMs a superb tool kit for expanding and customizing religion within their own campaign world.

About the Creators. Ed Stark is currently a content developer at Zenimax Online, working on Elder Scrolls Online.

Chris Thomasson's work includes the 3e Fiend Folio and DMGII.

Ari Marmell is a novelist and game designer who writes the Widdershins Adventures Young Adult series.

Rhiannon Louve is a writer of science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, and steampunk fiction, as well as contemporary Pagan theology and table-top roleplaying games -- and she's in the geek metal band Megatherium, which makes her particularly cool.

Gary Astleford has worked on numerous Star Wars and other RPG titles, and is currently Senior Content Designer at Carbine Studios.

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HHQ3 Thief's Challenge (2e)

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:19:43 CDT

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

For years, trade and travel along the river Thadysh have been peaceful. Suddenly a masked renegade, known only as the Gullwing Bandit, has turned the waters of Thadysh into a pirate stream. Who is this bandit? What nefarious plot is he weaving? Not even the local thieve's guild has been able to unveil the truth.

"Thief's Challenge" is a special ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS adventure designed for a DUNGEON MASTER and one thief player character. It's a perfect break from group play, tailored to the character who's seeking some extra experience. Suited to clever beginners as well as more experienced rogues, "Thief's Challenge" lets a thief take full advantage of his special talents.

Can you unmask the Gullwing Bandit? The reward is great, but beware: adventure and danger await at every turn of the river!

*****

Product History

HHQ3: "Thief's Challenge," by Troy Christensen, was the third in a series of "Head-to-Head Quests" for AD&D. It was published in February 1993.

Continuing the New One-on-One Adventures. "Thief's Challenge" continues the march through all the core AD&D second edition classes. Like its predecessors, it lets one player play his own PC (of the appropriate class) in a generic adventure that'll allow him to gain experience.

However, this head-to-head module also breaks new ground by breaking the HHQ series' links to the PHBR series. The previous two one-on-one adventures had each purposefully use materially from the appropriate Player's Handbook reference, but this adventure and its subsequent one, HHQ4, do not.

Adapting for Thief Play. Each of the HHQ adventures focuses on topics appropriate to the class in question. Christensen's editor had thus asked for a book that was "noir-ish" and "Raymond Chandler-ish." HHQ3 comes through on this request. As the adventure notes, it's "primarily a mystery, a story thick with finger-pointing and double-crosses."

HHQ3's cover text also states, "Combat and the acquisition of magical oddities are rare in this adventure." Like HHQ2: "Wizard's Challenge," this new adventure suggests the use of alternate experience point awards found on page 48 of the Dungeon Master's Guide (1989) to make up for the lack of fighting.

A Town Adventure. Each of the previous HHQ adventures described a community as a starting point for its adventure. "Thief's Challenge" takes a step further, setting almost its entire adventure in the city. It extensively describes the people of the town, gives some attention to its geography, then lists out "plot points" that might occur as players investigate the mystery of the "Gullwing bandit."

This sort of city-focused, investigation-driven mystery plot was rare even in the 90s, though there were a few predecessors, such as N1: "Against the Cult of the Reptile God" (1982) and L2: "The Assassin's Knot" (1983).

Out of the Dungeons! Like many second edition adventures of the 90s, "Thief's Challenge" is far removed from dungeons. The closest you come is the "Hideout of the Gullwing Bandit," which takes up just three pages plus a map (and forms the climax of the adventure).

About the Creators. Christensen was a freelance RPG writer whose most notable early work was a number of small-press RPGs: Phantasm Adventures (1980, 1987), Advanced Phantasm Adventures (1988), Bloodbath (1988), and Multiverse (1991 or 1992). Christensen published his games alternatively through his own T.C. International and through Dai Nippon Kaiga, a division of the Japanese game company Artbox that Christensen was introduced to while going to school in Japan.

At TSR, Christensen contributed to two of the early DMGR books: DMGR2: The Castle Guide (1990) and DMGR3: Arms and Equipment Guide (1991). "Thief's Challenge" was Christensen's only major work for AD&D; he asserts that he got the plumb assignment because he was "very persistent."

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X1 The Isle of Dread (Basic)

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:19:43 CDT

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

Hundreds of miles from the mainland, surrounded by dangerous waters, lies an island known only as the Isle of Dread. Dark jungles and treacherous swamps await those who are brave enough to travel inland in search of the lost plateau, where the ruins of a once mighty civilization hold many treasures - and many secrets!

The Isle of Dread is the first in a series of adventures for use with the D&D Expert rules. The module is designed as an instructional aid to help novice Dungeon Masters design their own wilderness adventures. For character levels 3 to 7.

Included in the module are 13 maps of the isle, 16 new monsters, and suggestions for further adventures on the Isle of Dread. A special continent map, complete with background information, is also included.

The Isle awaits! Will you be able to find the lost plateau and discover the secrets of the Isle of Dread?

*****

Product History

X1: "The Isle of Dread" (1981), by David "Zeb" Cook and Tom Moldvay, was the first "expert" level adventure for Basic D&D. It was released in January 1981 - both as a standalone module and packaged with the Dungeons & Dragons Expert Rules (1981).

Two Editions. Adventures B1 to B4 (1980-82) and X1 to X2 were all produced using TSR's original full-color trade dress, with its flat-color background and its diagonal logo. Of them, only "Isle" was revamped and reprinted with the more professional trade dress that TSR began using in 1983 - which featured gradient backgrounds and a horizontal logo. The Acaeum reports this fourth printing of "Isle" was bundled with Frank Mentzer's BECMI edition of the Expert Rules (1983).

Origins. Parts of the outer island were adapted by Moldvay from things he'd run pre-TSR, possibly as part of the Known World campaign that he'd GMed in Ohio with Lawrence Schick. Cook created the interior of the island from "whole cloth."

Pulp Inspirations. Historically, we think of the 70s and early 80s as a time of dungeon crawls, but Cook and Moldvay both frequently pushed another aesthetic: pulp adventure.

Cook specifically describes "Isle" as having a "Lost World/Skull Island feel." It was one of two pulpy adventures he wrote at the time, the other being I1: "Dwellers of the Forbidden City" (1981), which centered on a lost city in the jungle. He'd later author two pulpy RPGs for TSR: The Adventures of Indiana Jones RPG (1984) and the Conan Role-Playing Game (1985).

Moldvay also had plenty of other pulpy experience. James Maliszewski thus identifies "Isle" as the first book in Tom Moldvay's Pulp Fantasy Trilogy. It's a pretty apt name, as "Isle" contains a dinosaur-filled island, X2: "Castle Amber" (1981) directly references the pulp writings of Clark Ashton Smith, and B4: "The Lost City" (1982) features a city beneath the desert sands.

The adventure's "Skull Island feel" means that it also also owed something to King Kong (1933). TSR would even more explicitly return to this inspiration with WG6: "Isle of the Ape" (1985).

Enter the Wilderness. D&D was also moving away from the dungeons in another way, thanks to the D&D Expert Rules, which introduced the idea of a wilderness "hex crawl" to D&D. Here, players traversed a hex-delineated wilderness area rather than a dungeon. "Isle" was the first D&D adventure to use this innovation. It even included a hex map for the players to fill in, which showed only the outlines of the Isle of Dread.

As a wide-open hex map, "Isle" was also one of the earlier sandboxes for D&D; it offered a wide array of places for players to explore as they saw fit. Hex crawls were common in the expert-level D&D adventures that followed, but somewhat rarer in AD&D; sandboxes were almost unknown.

L1: "The Secret of Bone Hill" (1981) had a substantially smaller scale for its hex crawl, but maintained X1's sandbox nature. Gary Gygax's S4: "The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth" (1982) and WG4: "The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun" (1982) were theoretically hex crawls, but they focused on finding a specific locale. More frequently when AD&D went into the wilderness, it instead focused on railroaded outdoor travels centered on sequential encounters. Like Gygax's two Greyhawk adventures, this resulted in adventures which were definitely not sandboxes.

Expanding the Known World. "Isle" worked hand-in-hand with the D&D Expert Rules, which had introduced the Known World. However, "Isle" considerably expands what was found in the rules, which focused only on the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. "Isle" not only shows (and describes) nearby lands as far away as Glantri, Thyatis, and Ylaruam, but it also maps out the whole Sea of Dread - as well as the Isle itself, of course.

If the Expert Rules introduced the Known World, then it was "Isle of Dread" that expanded it into the full form that would be used for years thereafter.

New Monsters. "Isle" contains almost three pages of new monsters - many of them dinosaurs that hadn't previously been seen in Basic D&D. Cook also introduced the monstrous kopru amphibians - which he described as part of his "cthonian/pulp phase" that also resulted in the aboleth appearing in I1: "Dwellers of the Forbidden City."

Moldvay also created the racoon-like phanaton and the cat-like rakasta.

Future History. Paizo Publishing moved the Isle of Dread to Greyhawk with the publication of Dungeon #114 (September 2004), which included setting info, a poster map, and a 3.5e D&D adventure "Torrents of Dread," by Greg A. Vaughan. They later built a whole adventure path around the Isle of Dread: the "Savage Tide" ran from Dungeon #139 to Dungeon #150 (October 2006 - September 2007), making it Dungeon magazine's great swan song. Issue #139 (October 2006) featured a reimagining of the original cover to "Isle", while issues #142 (January 2007) through #145 (April 2007) depicted the actual Isle.

More recently, the 4e Manual of the Planes (2008) named-checked the Isle of Dread as a Feywild location that sometimes "falls" into various worlds.

About the Creators. Moldvay and Cook wrote "Isle" at the same time they were revamping the entirety of the Basic D&D game. Moldvay wrote the new Basic Rules (1981) and Cook wrote the new Expert Rules. The two had previously teamed up (sort of) to produce two of the four adventures in the A ("Slavers") series - which also included contributions by Harold Johnson, Allen Hammack, and Lawrence Schick.

"Isle" would be Moldvay & Cook's last joint work.

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