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Rappan Athuk, The Dungeon of Graves: The Upper Levels is a Necromancer Games adventure for the D20 system. Looking through the book, it is designed for groups level 4 - 9, though I would recommend a minimum level of 7. This is something that should have been on the cover, but isn't. As you may have guessed, this adventure details the top levels of a very large dungeon complex. I will admit a little bias here, as I generally do not care for such adventures. They just don't make much sense to me. Necromancer Games tries to avoid the pitfalls associated with giant dungeons, namely that most of the creatures living there have no food sources and all happily get along. They do a fair job, having some areas just not connected to anything else, and having scout parties from other parts of the dungeon show up. Book construction: the adventure is 48 pages, though one is for the standard D20 license and the other is an ad for a different product... a practice which is becoming very popular lately and one that I don't care for. The cover artwork is nice, not incredible, but not bad. Interior artwork is quite good, and the maps are workable. Typeface is easy to read, without an overabundance of white space.

The adventure: basically it's a dungeon. A brief history of just how the dungeon was created is presented. Pretty standard fare. There is also a list of all the dungeon level names, including those not covered in this book, which I think is a good idea. There are multiple areas that can be accessed from the surface, depending on which entrance you use, which I think is kinda neat. The monsters presented are generally pretty tough, and Necromancer gives them all basic strategies which they will use, which I really like. None of the monsters just stand around and wait to die, they have plans and contingencies in place in case someone wants to kill them. This is one of the high points of the adventure for me. Monsters encountered include wererats, undead, a rakshasa, basilisks, and other nasties. And there are a TON of traps. Many of them are very deadly. If the PC's aren't careful, they will die. Spoilers ahead!

Playtesting the Adventure

I ran this adventure as written, without cutting the PC's any slack. I figure it's the best way to test one :>.

The party consisted of all level 8 characters. 2 fighters, a priest, a mage, and a rogue. They started out well enough, handily destroying the gargoyles before breaking into the entrance. Going down into the main room, they were quickly trapped. After some futile heroics, they were squished. The next attempt, they found the key and tried again. This time they were doing ok until one of the fighters decided to sit on the toilet seat. After his untimely death, the group continued onward. They went through the wererats trap with ease, which wasn't a surprise. They then made their way past Marthek, though the priest was burning through cures after they set off the spiked ball trap. Continuing on, they lucked out and found Saracek's tomb. He made short work of the party, allowing them to start over at full strength. The next try, they went down the well. They unfortunately were not prepared for displacer beasts as they were climbing down the cliff being attacked by rats. They died again. They tried it again, this time making it all the way to Zelkor before becoming newly animated undead. Next, they decided to avoid the well. This time they made their way back through the main entrance, doing much better against most of their previous adversaries (they avoided Saracek). They got to the next level, and killed a purple worm before being ensnared in Scramge the Rakshasa's illusions. He killed them off one by one. At this point, I could not get them to continue. They had a pretty good time, but agreed that the adventure is insanely difficult. Unless a DM is willing to fudge a LOT, they can expect similar results when they run this adventure. I give the adventure a 4 for style and a 3 for substance. It would have a higher rating, but it is next to impossible for a group to survive unless the DM helps them.

Rappan Athuk, The Dungeon of Graves: The Upper Levels
Rappan Athuk, The Dungeon of Graves: The Upper Levels Playtest Review by Dan Buterbaugh on 07/01/02 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average) A decent dungeon for the D20 system. Product: Rappan Athuk, The Dungeon of Graves: The Upper Levels Author: Bill Webb and Clark Peterson Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Necromancer Games Line: D20 Cost: 9.99 Page count: 48 Year published: 2000 ISBN: 1-58846-156-4 SKU: R1 Comp copy?: yes Playtest Review by Dan Buterbaugh on 07/01/02 Genre tags: Fantasy Generic	Rappan Athuk, The Dungeon of Graves: The Upper Levels is a Necromancer Games adventure for the D20 system. Looking through the book, it is designed for groups level 4 - 9, though I would recommend a minimum level of 7. This is something that should have been on the cover, but isn't. As you may have guessed, this adventure details the top levels of a very large dungeon complex. I will admit a little bias here, as I generally do not care for such adventures. They just don't make much sense to me. Necromancer Games tries to avoid the pitfalls associated with giant dungeons, namely that most of the creatures living there have no food sources and all happily get along. They do a fair job, having some areas just not connected to anything else, and having scout parties from other parts of the dungeon show up. Book construction: the adventure is 48 pages, though one is for the standard D20 license and the other is an ad for a different product... a practice which is becoming very popular lately and one that I don't care for. The cover artwork is nice, not incredible, but not bad. Interior artwork is quite good, and the maps are workable. Typeface is easy to read, without an overabundance of white space. The adventure: basically it's a dungeon. A brief history of just how the dungeon was created is presented. Pretty standard fare. There is also a list of all the dungeon level names, including those not covered in this book, which I think is a good idea. There are multiple areas that can be accessed from the surface, depending on which entrance you use, which I think is kinda neat. The monsters presented are generally pretty tough, and Necromancer gives them all basic strategies which they will use, which I really like. None of the monsters just stand around and wait to die, they have plans and contingencies in place in case someone wants to kill them. This is one of the high points of the adventure for me. Monsters encountered include wererats, undead, a rakshasa, basilisks, and other nasties. And there are a TON of traps. Many of them are very deadly. If the PC's aren't careful, they will die. Spoilers ahead! Playtesting the Adventure I ran this adventure as written, without cutting the PC's any slack. I figure it's the best way to test one :>. The party consisted of all level 8 characters. 2 fighters, a priest, a mage, and a rogue. They started out well enough, handily destroying the gargoyles before breaking into the entrance. Going down into the main room, they were quickly trapped. After some futile heroics, they were squished. The next attempt, they found the key and tried again. This time they were doing ok until one of the fighters decided to sit on the toilet seat. After his untimely death, the group continued onward. They went through the wererats trap with ease, which wasn't a surprise. They then made their way past Marthek, though the priest was burning through cures after they set off the spiked ball trap. Continuing on, they lucked out and found Saracek's tomb. He made short work of the party, allowing them to start over at full strength. The next try, they went down the well. They unfortunately were not prepared for displacer beasts as they were climbing down the cliff being attacked by rats. They died again. They tried it again, this time making it all the way to Zelkor before becoming newly animated undead. Next, they decided to avoid the well. This time they made their way back through the main entrance, doing much better against most of their previous adversaries (they avoided Saracek). They got to the next level, and killed a purple worm before being ensnared in Scramge the Rakshasa's illusions. He killed them off one by one. At this point, I could not get them to continue. They had a pretty good time, but agreed that the adventure is insanely difficult. Unless a DM is willing to fudge a LOT, they can expect similar results when they run this adventure. I give the adventure a 4 for style and a 3 for substance. It would have a higher rating, but it is next to impossible for a group to survive unless the DM helps them.