{"id":6441,"date":"2020-01-06T07:20:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-06T12:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=6441"},"modified":"2019-12-30T08:22:27","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T13:22:27","slug":"the-warrens-of-zagash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=6441","title":{"rendered":"The Warrens of Zagash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Keith Sloan\nXRP\nOSRIC\nLevels 6-8<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
[…] A recently acquired treasure map points to an ancient dwarven tunnel complex. Could this be the place? Are these the dangerous halls that were once the home for a dwarven cult worshipping an entity they called the Earth Dragon?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This sixteen page adventure details a two level dungeon with about a hundred rooms. Themed to \u201cevil dwarf cult\u201d it comes across as stoic and stuffy. Writing is typical for XRP, being denser than it needs to be for whatever reasons. And treasure is generally boring old book stuff, although a dwarven ring of power is present. Weaker than Forgotten Grottoes of the Sea Lords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dwarf themed areas have some major hurdles to overcome. Given the stoic stereotype, an area trying to evoke a dwarf theme tends to come across stoic. Imagine, for example, exploring the one hundred room dungeon of the cult of nothing \u2026 which contains 99 rooms that are empty and dusty, each in their own way. Maybe the cult of nothing wasn\u2019t a good choice for a dungeon, for while an excellent designer can evoke the cults asthetic it\u2019s not wise to do so since it\u2019s boring as all fuck. While that\u2019s a hyperbolic example, the same issue exists in this adventure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The chambers come across as empty. The creatures a mix of undead dwarves and \u201cstone guardian\u201d statues with a few others tossed in. A lot of empty rooms with dust. Geometric designs and feelings of uneasiness in a alot of\/most temple rooms. So, yes, excellent ability to invoke evil stoic dwarf cult. Maybe not a good choice though. Another room with geometric designs. Hmmm. Another temple room where we feel uneasy. Hmmm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Combine this with OSRIC being OSRIC. Another _2 dagger. Another potion of x, another +1 sword. Another boring old gold bowl worth x amount. It\u2019s flat. It\u2019s abstracted. It\u2019s generic. Not vanilla. Generic. Is that really a design ethos to embrace? To be generic? Abstracted descriptions? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is then combined with the abstracted writing style. GREATER TOMB: This room is filled with 30 low biers each containing the long desiccated body of a dwarf, among the leaders of this cult.\u201d Not exactly awe-inspiring or evocative. Just facts. And then the writing is muddled up with ineffective phrasing and techniques. There\u2019s a lot of \u201cWhat appears to be \u2026\u201d and \u201c… but it is simply a painting\u201d  (Another person needing Ray\u2019s books on editing) Geometric carving after geometric carving. And I really mean \u201cgeometric carving.\u201d That\u2019s the text used. A little more theming would be in order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of. \u201cStone statue attacks\u201d will be a common DM phrase. Other than that, there are some undead dwarves and just a small smattering of something else. This is the \u201ctomb\u201d problem. Tomb adventures require a tomb layout and some guardians that are, all, essentially the sam. Abandoned dwarf cult halls means some undead dwarves and stone statues and maybe a few vermin with little else. It\u2019s hard to justify more in these circumstances \u2026 but the end goal is a fun adventure, right, not an accurate one? Only enough simulation to be in service of fun, not the end all be all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I will say it\u2019s nice to see a dwarf ring of power, good effects and bad effects both present. There\u2019s also a nice wasting curse that, if you choose to die rather than submit to the god (who\u2019s causing you worship him or else waste away) then you get to heal fully when you would die. That\u2019s good design. Keith can design well, but the writing is flat and the setting boring, with to many stone statues and chilling room effects. Too much abstraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I shall also mention my new pet peeve: if you\u2019re going to tell me about constant dungeon effects then it needs to go on the map, or someplace else that it\u2019s always available to me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How much of this is Keith\u2019s writing style is Keiths, How much is OSRIC-enforced genericism, How much is the selected locale, and How much is XRP\u2019s style bringing to the table? Yes, it\u2019s 100 room dungeon in the old style. Yes, it has a theme and executes it. But that doesn\u2019t mean it was the right decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is $14 at DriveThru. There\u2019s no preview. Naughty Joe! Go stick in a preview! 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/274222\/Advanced-Adventures-43-The-Warrens-of-Zagash?1892600<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Keith Sloan XRP OSRIC Levels 6-8 […] A recently acquired treasure map points to an ancient dwarven tunnel complex. Could this be the place? Are these the dangerous halls that were once the home for a dwarven cult worshipping … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dungeons-dragons-adventure-review","category-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/zagash.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6441"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6442,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6441\/revisions\/6442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}