Dungeon Magazine Summary: Issues 51-75

It should be noted that even the decent/good adventures have The Usual Dungeon problems.

Dungeon 51
Nbod’s Room is an interesting little piece. Describing a haunted room in an inn, it’s actually a locale for the party to visit over and over again, teasing out the secrets of the various magic items in the room, mostly teleporters that take you to different adventure locales.

Ailamere’s Lair was a Dragon adventure that was zoomed out to include elements about the dragon and his environment not usually found in a Kill The Dragon adventure.

Dungeon 53
Clarshh’s Sepulchre is a little adventure with a nice village and a decent exploration elements. Clues, a social element, it’s not so bad by Dungeon standards.

Steelheart does a good job of going just a little bit more on each encounter to turn them from perfunctory things in to something that feels a little more realistic.

Dungeon 54
Unhallowed Ground is a Name of the Rose knockoff. It needs work, but the monks come off as human and the core structure is good.

Redcap’s Revenge felt forced and blunt in places, but is one of those adventures that, with a rewrite, could turn in to something better.

Dungeon 55
Umbra, a Sigal adventure, is linear as fuck. As a con game, edited down to be comprehensible, it could be a fine time, if you wanted a linear adventure

Dungeon 56
Janx’s Jinx is a nice low-key adventure with strong social elements. It feels very real, and very human.

Dungeon 57
Cloaked in Fear is a little side-trek with a lot of good frightened villager stuff going on in it. DM torture porn, but a guilty pleasure.

Dungeon 58
The Baron’s Eyrie is a Ravelnloft with nice imagery and is quite tight, but Dungeon standards. Factions, maps, it’s a decent all around adventure.

Dungeon 59
The Mother’s CUrse ia hag adventure that FEELS like a hag adventure; quite the rare thing. Good atmosphere & complications in need of a MASSIVE edit.

Dungeon 62
Rat Trap had potential, even though it featured wererats in a city. A good core concept not taken advantage of.

Dungeon 65
Knight of the Scarlet Sword has a lot going on at the same time, which is always a plus in an adventure. Sandboxy with a suggested timeline.

Unkindness of Ravens is top notch. It’s got great atmosphere, a “fantasy but not D&D” vibe, timeline, a little bit of Nancy Drew or Scooby Doo thing going on. Great adventure.

Dungeon 66
Enormously Inconvenient has a lot of giant animal tropes in it as well as a decent wilderness map. Inoffensive … an accomplishment for Dungeon.

Dungeon 67
Witches’ Brew has a richness of style and atmosphere that’s rare. Needs a MASSIVE edit to cut it down.

Eye of the Storm is a side trek that’s just pure chaos … AND I FUCKING LOVE CHAOS! Just a series of complications to take care of, but the potential here is wonderful, given the … madcap? Nature of the village.

Falls Run, for Masque of the Red Death, channels Call of Cthulhu quite hard and does a decent job, railroad or no.

Dungeon 68
The Trouble with In-Laws is that rare adventure that is organized well but falls flat in the imagination category. One dimensional and lacking flavor.

Merkin’s Magic is notable because of the lack of a Tolkien vibe in it. It’s like fantasy from the 60’s or 70’s, out of time.

Dungeon 70
Homunculus Stew has a nice folklore vibe going on, even if it is three encounters long.

Ssscaly Thingsss has great swamp atmosphere and A LOT going on at the same time. Head & shoulders above most of Dungeon.

Kingdom of the Ghouls is widely acknowledged as a great adventure, and I agree. Social elements, good atmosphere, and an underdark that doesn’t feel generic.

Dungeon 71
Wildspawn and Priestly Secrets both have some qualities that I can appreciate, but deep flaws that require a lot of work to get past.

Dungeon 72
No Stone Unturned continues Peter Spahns generally high level of writing. A good variety of situations with very real motivations.

Plundering Poppof is a B&E job in a wizards home Good atmosphere.

Dungeon 73
Quoitine Quest is a quiet little adventure with a good amount of interesting roleplaying offered.

Dungeon 74
Scourge of Scalabar is full of gnomes, gunpowder, and submarines, WHICH I LOATHE, but leaves things mostly open for the party to explore solutions.

Vale of Weeping WIllows has a nice eerie vibe, even if it is just a side trek.