Retrospective: Death's Ride

Over the years, I've mentioned my affection for the third boxed set released as part of Frank Mentzer's revision of Dungeons & Dragons, the Companion Rules. The reason for my affection is quite simple: the Companion Rules were an attempt to restore D&D's lost endgame in a way that was accessible and fun for a new generation of players. While reasonable minds can differ about how successful Mentzer was – I judge it a partial success – I hope it's not controversial to say that his attempted restoration may have been the last time that any version of Dungeons & Dragons took seriously the idea of player characters establishing and ruling domains (or "baronies," as OD&D calls them). [I seem to have forgoten the existence of the Birthright campaign setting from the '90s. Silly me – JM]

I've long suspected that one of the reasons the original endgame of D&D was abandoned by both the game's publisher and its players is that there were never any good examples of what characters did once they cleared a wilderness hex, built a fortress, and settled down to ruling. The promise of the Companion Rules was that they might go some way toward correcting this oversight and, in my opinion, they did, albeit with some qualifications. Of course, I had hoped, as I expect many other D&D players at the time did, that the Companion-series adventures would go even further, providing multiple, clear illustrations of how to run a Dungeons & Dragons campaign centered around high-level, domain-ruling characters. 

Sadly, like the Companion Rules themselves, what TSR offered instead was a very mixed bag that did little to clarify the situation. Indeed, if 1984's Death's Ride is any indication, Companion-level D&D was just like lower-level D&D but with more dangerous monsters, more potent spells, and more valuable treasure. It's a real shame, because there was – and is – a need for guidance on this level of gameplay and the ways in which it differs from lower-level campaigns. That's certainly what I was looking for in the CM-designated modules, which is why I bought so many of them during the period when they were being published.

Written by Garry Spiegle, an author I remember mostly for his work on the second edition of Gamma World, Death's Ride takes place in the distant mountain-based Barony of Twolakes Vale. The barony, it seems, has gone silent recently. This includes the cessation of tax payments to the King of Norwold, which naturally raises his concern. Since the barony is remote, he tasks the player characters (who are assumed to be between levels 15 and 20), to investigate the situation and resolve it, if possible. In return, the characters will receive a large monetary reward and the king's gratitude. 

As you can probably already see, the set-up of the adventure does not assume the characters already have baronies of their own to rule, treating them instead just like rootless adventurers in search of another patron. Actually, that's not entirely true. The introductory "How to Use This Adventure" section briefly alludes to this possibility when it cautions:

Some player characters may want to lead large bodies of troops, retainers, or hirelings in this adventure. Don't let too many characters get caught up in this, as it can bog your game down in a mire of detail. Encourage your players to concentrate on their own characters. 

While I find the advice odd, it's important to remember that the Companion Rules are not aimed solely at domain-ruling characters. They, in fact, introduce quite a number of interesting and unique options for adventurers who reject becoming tied down by the demands of rulership and that's fine. What irks me, now and then, is that modules like Death's Ride offer so little for characters who do decide to take up rulership. I think the adventure might have been more useful on several levels if, instead of detailing a threat to an NPC's barony, it had instead detailed one to a player character's. I realize that would have required more work on Spiegle's part, given the likely variability for which he'd need to account, but it would have expanded the utility of Death's Ride immensely.

The Barony of Twolakes Vale languishes under "the Deathcloud," a roiling, black magical phenomenon that has alighted upon the area because a pair of evildoers have opened a portal to the Sphere of Death – an otherplanar realm that is the source of negative energy and, therefore, undead. The Barony is thus overrun with a veritable army of the undead, not to mention a dragon in league with the two main antagonists. The characters thus have their work cut out for them, with plenty of fighting against enemies both powerful and numerous. The result is a bit of slog in keeping with the mantra of "More! Bigger!" that unfortunately characterized Mentzer's Companion, Master, and (Gygax preserve us) Immortals rules. 

As I said earlier in this post, it's all a great shame, because, in principle, an adventure like this has potential. The premise of an evil cleric and an evil wizard joining forces to open a portal to a nightmarish Other World filled with undead isn't a bad one – all the more so when they do so in the domain of a player character. The challenge of overcoming enemies of this sort while at the same time working to limit the damage they can do to one's own holding is a significant one worthy of a high-level character. I would have loved to read such an adventure. Instead, what we got was a fairly unimaginative slugfest without any personal stakes for the characters beyond the quest for every greater gold and XP. Alas!