The final of the classic Slavelords series, following
Assault on the Aerie of the Slavelords, In The Dungeons is was originally the final session of Gen Con XIII. The module is a short, 32 page booklet with a cardstock cover, featuring some excellent Erol Otus artwork both on the cover and throughout the booklet. Some particularly fine examples of his style include the Cave Fisher on p1, the Welcoming Committee on p12, the Myconid convention on p13, and the gang of Slave Lords on p21. Unlike previous modules in the series, this one has not been expanded for non-tournament play, which regrettably makes for fairly short play. A competent group of players should be able to complete the module within a few hours of play.
The premise of the scenario is that the Slave Lords, having captured the PCs in the previous adventure decide that the rumblings of a nearby volcano indicate that the Earth Dragon is hungry and, as is their want, dump the PCs in a cave complex (despite the title, not a dungeon at all) minus all equipment and with clerics receiving special treatment to ensure that they only have a handful of spells. Thus, totally in the dark and with no equipment whatsoever (a scroll tube appears early on) and wearing merely a loincloth (which will soon be removed), the PCs must get out as soon as possible - with occasional tremors with increasing regularity serving as a not-so-subtle reminder.
Designer Lawrence Schick provides some excellent notes at the start of the module, such as reminders on on the difficulty of fighting in pitch darkness, mapping without light and equipment, but spoils the section with, after making the excellent recommendation that occasional tremors will spoil any attempt to rest, declares "The best way to deal with this [attempts to rest] in a time-important situation ... is to have the characters' rest time equal real time"! Apart from this the main challenge, and indeed theme, of the module is the realisation of how dependent PCs are on their equipment and how inventive the players can be under the circumstances. There are several opportunities in the complex for the characters to try to make fire, construct weapons out of sticks and stones and even, in one instance, to make a bridge!
The module really only consists of two major parts. The first is the dungeon itself. This is basically a number of winding tunnels with encounter blocs. In one direction there are a group of dying kobolds, which would normally be no challenge at all for characters of level 4-7 (and presumably of the higher degree given that this is the last in the series), but when you're AC10 and the best weapon you have is a rock, things are a little different. The kobolds are evidently incredibly stupid and will probably destroy their main supply of calories in the encounter. Still, at least the PCs will smell nice for the giant crab or giant lobster, or even the giant ants found in later locations.
There is a heavy fungoid motif in the dungeon, and it is a case of good art damage that the first mushroom garden follows (in the text at least) an encounter with a grumpy badger. Encounters with the mycondids, an walking, intelligent fungus species may prove to be beneficial as long as long as one can stomach the magnificantly disgusting "Welcoming Committee" and deal with being enspored.
Regrettably the design of the complex means that the PCs may not encounter myconids. There are three main exits and one is in entirely the wrong direction for such an encounter. One irksome oversight of the complex is an area where "the tunnel must be near the surface at this point, for here long taproots from plants above pierce the ceiling". Now, given that one of the scrolls the PCs has includes the spell "Dig", would it be at all possible that this is a possible escape route? Well, you would think so. Does the module make this suggestion how far it is to the surface?
Assuming the party eventually finds an exit they will discover that half of the countryside and city is on fire due to volcanic eruption. There are a handful of essentially random, but well placed in terms of flavour encounters (e.g., looters, vengeful slaves, frenzied giant goats, para-elementals) before the PCs make it to the docks where they will encounter their friend from the previous module and a new set of Slavelords who are trying to escape the devastation (the others meeting their demise in the ruined city). If they are defeated the PCs will recover their equipment (it was about to be identified then shipped off for sale), the equipment of the slavelords themselves, a boat to get off the island (very important) and, amusingly, a scroll of demonic drawings form the Drow artist Ool Eurts.
One other matter that is not mentioned and comes to mind is what did Gen Con XIII do for the inevitable unarmed combat that would arise, especially in the early stages of the module? Because I seriously doubt that they used the system used in the AD&D1e DMG.
In the Dungeons of the Slavelords is an excellent concept and largely well executed. There are plenty of opportunties for thinking and inventive players in this tricky situation and the myconids (and to a lesser extent the para-elemental magmen) are a wonderful and and alien species which are well worth inclusion in any FRPG game. It is clearly written with the some artwork largely appropriate for the text (although I regret the back cover image of the vampire doesn't make an appearance) and finishes the slavelords story in a challenging and appropriate manner. Where the module is most frustrating is largely due the lack of size and detail; much could have been gained by elaborating it to non-tournament use, as was done with other modules in the series. Overall however, this is an excellent product, one of the best AD&D1e scenarios ever produced - just keep in mind that it is a single-session product.
Review Summary