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"The Axe of the Dwarvish Lords" is probably the only TSR/AD&D product I truly have been waiting for this year. The concept of a great adventure involving one of the major relics of Dwarvenkind got my blood singing with the glory of battle yet to come (Maybe I went too far?). Now don't get me wrong, I may be biased about the game but not in the way you think. I had such high hopes for this book that if it didn't hold up to some very critical nit-picking, then it would be worthless in my eyes. After TSR proved they can do an old school epic campaigns like "Return to the Tomb of Horrors", then there is no excuse on why they should fail on "The Axe of the Dwarvish Lords". Well, let me tell you they did succeeded in making another soon-to-be classic.

First the art in the book was pretty good. The cover art wasn't very dramatic or active but the clean and sharp artwork in the book really did help set the tone of the book. The dwarves looked very powerful and the orcs (the common enemy of the book) looked evil and threatening. Speaking of the orcs, there were a few clever things used with the orcs to make them a threat to a high-level party. The first main thing you read about in the book is all the neat tactics that the orcs have to combat their foes. As the book points out, orc may not be that smart but they are cunning. A few orcs running at a party may not scare them, but things like a shield wall with pikes and spear sticking out may cause a party to stop and think.

Then there is the tomb where "The Axe" is kept. It is a well designed placed with plenty of nasty traps that would stop some of the most experienced dungeon crawler. The dungeon is also done in enough of a different style that it doesn't feel like a rerun of the tomb in The Tomb of Horrors or the dungeons of the Undermountain series of box sets and adventures. I would talk more about it, but I may give away some of it's secrets.

"The Axe of the Dwarvish Lords" has a good plotline that make the adventure/campaign flow without any real hitches (Like the plot devices that really prevents any player from keeping the Axe because the Axe is too powerful to actually let a player have). TSR was also nice enough to not put this book with some loose maps and call it a box set. There is a book of maps attached in the back of the book and it's even perforated so it can easily be torn out. So in conclusion, if you are an AD&D player or DM and want to play a game which could be "the stuff legends are made of," then this is worth the money and the time to read it.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)