Game
30
Expert
Game Adventure X2
Castle Amber
(1981)
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by Tom Moldvay |
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Development: |
Dave Cook, Allen Hammack, Kevin Hendryx, Harold Johnson, Tom Moldvay, Jon Pickens |
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Editors: |
Harold Johnson, Edward Sollers, Steve
Winter |
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Art: |
Jim Holloway, Harry Quinn, Jim Roslof,
Stephen D. Sullivan, Erol Otus |
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Playtesters: |
Tom Hanlon, Steve Kaszar, Rick
Mansfield, Gordon Schick, Lawrence Schick, Jonathan Smuck, Ralph Wagner, Bill
Wilkerson |
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Special
Thanks: |
Clark Ashton Smith and CASiana Literary
Enterprises Inc., for use of the Averoigne stories as inspirational material. |
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The Realm Review:
Some adventures are so
big, and so grand in scope, that they make the DM feel insignificant. This is one of the first modules that ever
hit me in such a way, and to a degree, it still does. A portion of that has to stem from the fact that I have never had
the pleasure of reading any of Clark Ashton Smith’s novels, and therefore feel
incompetent to accurately portray his works based on the four pages of material
provided in this module. Still, this is
a big adventure. Some parts of it
are corny, like the bridge in the indoor forest. And, yes, those are Stephen’s first words when the curse
is broken. Don’t blame me, I’m just the
converter…
What’s really special
to me, however, and what really makes this module seem huge in my mind, is something
that I read on the Wizards website.
This module was prototypical and inspirational for the original
Ravenloft module. Hence, everything
that I role-play every month owes its original birth to this adventure. The mists are here, and a number of the Poe
stories that show up so prevalently in Ravenloft products—“Masque of the Red
Death” and a little bit of “Hop Frog.” There
are other influences that are in Castle Amber that show up in Ravenloft, and
later in that line of products. If you’re
a fan, keep an eye out for what pops up.
So, here at last, is
the module that I have never wanted to DM, and always wanted to play. Now, finally, I can…Finally, I can.
Realm Rating: 4.5/5
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