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Dragon Mountain was originally published in 1993 (cool, this is a 10th anniversary review) back in the heyday of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition. I remember it coming out back when I was in Jr. High/High School and the first thing that struck me about the boxed adventure module/campaign was how heavy it felt. Ads proclaimed it to be 'the most deluxe dungeon ever' and they weren't kidding. Inside you'll find 3 64-page adventure books/GM guides, 3 massive 24"x48" color-coded gridded maps detailing the mountain, about a half-dozen 8"x11" cardstock map add-ons, a booklet with stats on monsters unique to the module (Psionic monkeys? What the hell?) and a bunch of player handouts (of dubious game use). Artwork is numerous and done by a pre-Planescape Tony DiTerlizzi. Personally I'm not a fan of the illustrations but that's just my opinion.
Way back in Jr. High I played in a Dragon Mountain campaign that never finished. Since it's an out-of-print game I bought my new copy on Ebay for about $10 (including shipping and handling).
The adventure itself is designed for 10th-15th level characters and is broken up into two parts. The first part, Book 1 of the module, consists of a series of quests to put together the clues to find Dragon Mountain along with a special magic amulet. It's a pretty bland and stereotypical opening, even for Dungeons & Dragons standards. You could probably do with just using your own adventure hooks to get the players to the mountain and the only notable element in Book 1 is the magic amulet, which is so ridiculously overpowered when converted to 3rd Edition that its presence automatically unbalances the game. Since I was new to d20 at the time I let the players keep it. I regretted the mistake once and that was continually.
Books 2 and 3 describe in depth the mountain itself. Originally a vast Dwarven city the mountain was attacked by a red dragon and her kobold minions. Afterwards the dragon settled into the mountain and ruled over the kobolds, whom were free to forge an organized and disciplined society. The kobolds, protected by the dragon and financed by the dwarven mines now plague the countryside. Oh yeah, and to further protect her domain and the treasure the dragon placed a permanent enchantment on the mountain so that it shifts to a different plane every 2 months (that way you can fit it into you existing campaign settings). Both Books 2 and 3 are keyed to the 3 color-coded maps and detail which sections of the mountain are ruled by the 12 kobold clans and their supporters.
Taken at face value the module isn't all that great. Kobolds, the primary enemy for 90% of the adventure, weren't challenging for 10th level characters even back in AD&D times. But Dragon Mountain's charm comes from its adaptability. A perfect candidate for d20 conversion, Kobolds make for perfect mook enemies when given NPC levels (mixed in with PC-class chieftains). Rather than just throwing them into straight battles a GM has to be sneaky, conserving NPCs while trying to lure the characters into ambushes and traps. And the mountain is given enough description to provide a setting but left open for a GM to flesh out unique scenes. Most surprising of all is how well-developed the kobold society in the mountain is detailed. For a group of players interested in dungeon-bashing it provides for a colorful background for their enemies and for a group more interested in roleplaying it offers a chance to work at negotiation.
My character party, the inbred dungeon-smashing Strongdar family (brothers, sisters, cousins, half-cousins, etc.) tried both methods in the mountain. Constantly out-witted by the kobolds the Strongdars opted to dabble in politics and play the clans against each other. It worked well... until the kobolds betrayed them. Then it was back to Plan A.
Having a pre-designed dungeon allows the GM the freedom to focus on making the current scene interesting rather than worrying about what comes next. You can chart the progress of the characters on the maps and gauge how many game sessions are needed and thus you can control the pace of the game (something totally lacking in most games). Personally I found Dragon Mountain an excellent Gamemastering aide, helping me to highlight D&D's strengths (fun, low-attention span, powergaming) and downplay its weaknesses (lack of seriousness, powergaming, limited roleplaying scope).
Most importantly, after 20-odd game sessions, each presenting unique challenges the players and I have a wealth of stories and cool memories to laugh over. In all a good use of an out-of-print game and $10 well spent. Hopefully D&D 3.5 will do the same for ‘Return to the Tomb of Horrors’ what 3rd Edition did for ‘Dragon Mountain’.
