tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post304095683136510139..comments2024-03-28T09:41:39.187-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: Retrospective: Tomb of the Lizard KingJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-19155074883071694672022-04-27T12:16:34.542-04:002022-04-27T12:16:34.542-04:00If there is no appearance made by Jim Morrison I a...If there is no appearance made by Jim Morrison I am not interested.Matthew Mantelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13516805202174430356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-22057639299309301582022-04-21T00:55:46.403-04:002022-04-21T00:55:46.403-04:00Having run I2 at least once or twice back in the d...Having run I2 at least once or twice back in the day, it's pretty vicious...black dragon ambushes have a tendency to TPK or (at least) discourage parties from further participation. <br /><br />However, I think the real downgrade of the module is the beginning of extensive box text and railroady-ness that comes right from the opening "scenes" of the adventure. Aside from the trade dress, THIS more than anything marks a departure from earlier adventures (compared, for example, to I1: Dwellers of the Forbidden City). Admonitions against allowing clerics of high enough level to render the adventure "too easy," allowing special snowflake NPCs to escape brutal PC justice, etc....I2 included many precursors of bad things to come.JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03263662621289630246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-88755144098340842352022-04-21T00:49:37.236-04:002022-04-21T00:49:37.236-04:00He had the ring before his undeath: first he wishe...He had the ring before his undeath: first he wished himself magical abilities...later he wished to return from death and drink the blood of his enemies.JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03263662621289630246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-52382908498720096202022-04-08T14:37:00.511-04:002022-04-08T14:37:00.511-04:00That assumes he had the ring before he became unde...That assumes he had the ring before he became undead. I don't recall that being an established fact. As a vampire he'd have no reason to wish himself back to mere mortality - D&D vamps aren't generally angsty bemoan-my-fate types.Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-40399540233830426502022-04-08T03:57:43.836-04:002022-04-08T03:57:43.836-04:00This is a module I always felt just needed a bit m...This is a module I always felt just needed a bit more rewrite to make it stand out. For example the backstory of Sakatha, pleading to the gods to let him come back from the dead, when in actuality, he has a ring of wishes and could have used one to heal him instantly back to health. Personally, I'd probably would have skipped the ring and vampire shenanigan's all together and have made him the last of the Lizardmen kings, wrecking havoc on the lands with his motley crew of orcs and bad guys.Old Black Staffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15673828726570977353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-53218884723811421502022-04-07T05:03:26.832-04:002022-04-07T05:03:26.832-04:00I would have to change the name of the Count if I ...I would have to change the name of the Count if I ran this, lest I fall foul of my players' inevitable "grumpy donkey" jokes.thekelvingreenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-55551300275060176462022-04-07T01:43:44.351-04:002022-04-07T01:43:44.351-04:00SPOILER AHEAD!
I ran this for my group some 15 yea...SPOILER AHEAD!<br />I ran this for my group some 15 years ago and found it decent but not excellent with a couple of flaws. <br />The one that more or less stuck to my memory is the River of Nothingness and the caves that give access to the tomb proper.<br />I think that's the worst written part of the module, and I dare say somewhat non-sensical.<br />Either that, or I badly failed my DMing roll.artikidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17474295473142339717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-45941912340465632512022-04-06T19:48:01.910-04:002022-04-06T19:48:01.910-04:00From my experience, the genericness of the County ...From my experience, the genericness of the County made the adventure easy to place . . . and the tomb and the swamps were very entertaining. So much so I adapted it for GURPS and used it as a side-area in my own current GURPS Dungeon Fantasy campaing:<br /><br />https://dungeonfantastic.blogspot.com/search/label/Cold%20Fens?m=0<br /><br />We ended up with a dozen or so sessions in the swamps and the dungeons themselves, and the BBEG ended up being an important connecting piece in my campaign. Good stuff - I enjoyed it back in the day and recently again.Peter Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14246000382321978462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-55773790152485292832022-04-06T19:34:39.134-04:002022-04-06T19:34:39.134-04:00I agree, its bare bones approach is enough. . And ...I agree, its bare bones approach is enough. . And some of the illustrations, added flavor to our campaign. The pic of Barto Trume, the traumatized soldier with his mail shirt and migration era sword, suggested the campaign was set in a merovingian/carolingian era. my 2d, thanks for a great review of an old favoriteFrancisco Verdugohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13688083926283386191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-1686821810807558852022-04-06T17:19:10.459-04:002022-04-06T17:19:10.459-04:00It's also noteworthy for the Big Bad being qui...It's also noteworthy for the Big Bad being quite an original and surprising idea back in the day. In 2022 the concept of a non-human vampire is tame, but back then a reptilian bloodsucker was quite the shock for a lot of players when they finally confront him. Adding magic user levels on top of that was icing on the cake.<br /><br />Very hard to recapture the surprise these days with the module having been around so long and the internet spoiling everything, but I still have fond memories of the "no way, he's a lizard man vampire?" moment on my playthrough way back when.Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-85509900130926466312022-04-06T13:52:37.411-04:002022-04-06T13:52:37.411-04:00It IS enough, in my opinion. I just finished runni...It IS enough, in my opinion. I just finished running this for my 1e group, and it was a hell of a good time! Of course, having had this module since the 80's, it's not the first time that I've run it, but it was the first time in over 20 years, I'm sure. The older modules gave you enough detail to work with without overwhelming you, which is how I feel the direction of later D&D modules (or adventures) went.cmg88https://www.blogger.com/profile/05460468800415480757noreply@blogger.com