Friday Fantasy: The Darkness Under The Water Foul

Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part is notable for two particular facts. One is written and published by Heidi Gygax Garland—yes, the daughter of E. Gary Gygax—and her husband, Erik Gygax Garland. The other is that it is a frustratingly bad module, a linear dungeon design with almost no plot, limited player agency, and a majority of its encounters designed to do nothing more than impede and confound both players and characters. Published by Gaxland Games, it is a module written for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and Player Characters of First Level. Conversion, of course, to the rules of the Game Master’s choice is far from challenging, but the PDF version of the scenario is accompanied with conversions for both Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition and Castles & Crusades. In addition, the PDF version includes some setting background that the module itself does not. This details Sørholde, a warm, dry, and fortified Dwarven port-city sitting on the island of The Dundel. In Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part, the Player Characters were hired by a famed auctioneer to rescue a local noblewoman, the Lady Heiress. She had been kidnapped by Crikpaw and was being held hostage on Governor’s Island, which lies north of Sørholde. In addition to returning with the Lady Heiress, safe and sound, the Player Characters were expected to return with the signet ring from the house of Ukoh An—which Crikpaw is searching for—and ideally with Crikpaw. Dead or alive. Unfortunately, none of that was actually possible in Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part with the module ending with the Lady Heiress sailing off into the distance. Which leads us to Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul.

As the title suggests, Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul expands upon Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part. Or rather, it is a sequel rather than an expansion, since it is set very much after the events of Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part. The good news is that Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul is better than Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part. The bad news is that it is not much better than Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part. Further, it does nothing to advance the plot of Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part, such as it was.

Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul is designed for Player Characters of Second Level and opens with them returning to Governors island, the scene of previous adventure in which they not so much fail their objectives as were not allowed to attempt them by the authors. They have been overcome by need to return the pair of keys they were given during one of the first encounters in that adventure. The keys draw them through the wreckage of the dungeon to what is one of the most idiotic and pointless encounters in the adventure. This is the room with the paddling pool in which floats a rubber duck and which contains surprisingly deep water at the bottom of which is a locked gate. In the description of this room in Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part, the Dungeon Master is expected to advise her players that, “It becomes obvious that the gate is unreachable at this time”. Which begs the question, when will it be reachable and what does it actually add to the adventure?

Well, as it turns out, with Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul, it is now possible to open the gate because the Player Characters have the keys. The problem with this is that the keys were gained by the Player Characters during the playthrough of Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part. So, that begs the question, why did the keys not draw the Player Characters back to that room with the paddling pool and the rubber duck when they were actually on the island the first time?

The Player Characters are free to wander through the rest of the dungeon, effectively tramping through the debris that they behind on their first visit. Thankfully, the truly stupid encounter with the Bucket of Fish is gone, having been replaced by an infinitely superior empty room. There are some combat encounters to be had along the way, but they are neither here nor there, and definitely far from interesting. In fact, the only interesting encounter is at the end of the dungeon with the female Barbarian depicted on the module’s front cover. Or rather it would have been interesting had the authors given anything more to do than just say hello. Unless she is there to fight the Player Characters, it is up to the Dungeon Master to decide what her motivation is.

That though still leaves what is below the room with the paddling pool and the rubber duck now that the Player Characters can gain access. There are six rooms or encounters below the paddling pool, three of which are combat encounters, two of which provide a little colour to the dungeon and one of the latter that has a sense of having had purpose. The final encounter is the finale of Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul. Here the Player Characters are faced with a big puzzle, a series of riddles that are not all that challenging. If the Player Characters solve the riddles, they cause a crypt to open. What climbs out is a Lich. A Lich with over one hundred Hit Points, numerous resistances and immunities, the spellcasting abilities of an Eighteenth Level spellcaster, and Legendary Actions, one of which is Frightful Presence, which the Lich will immediately use upon climbing out of his crypt. Of course, since the Player Characters are second Level, they have no hope of making the Saving Throw and withstanding the effects of Frightful Presence. Nor are they meant to and even if they could, it does not matter, because the Lich simply thanks the Player Characters for releasing him and vanishes.

What this Lich wants and where he is going, the scenario does not say. How he relates to the plot of Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part, if at all, the scenario does not say. It is not made clear that there is a connection between the Lich and the keys that drew the Player Characters back to Governors Island. Of course, the players and their characters are going to feel as if they have been duped. Which is correct, because they have. That said, they have earned some Experience Points and gained some treasure and had an experience, just not a very satisfying or enlightening one.

As an expansion to Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part, there is nothing in Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul that actually expands it in terms of plot or story. For that reason, there is no need for the Dungeon Master to even consider buying it. The only thing it does is add some rooms behind a gate that the Player Characters cannot under any circumstances get through unless the Dungeon Master does purchase Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul. And if she does and then she decides to run Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul, then out of twenty-four pages, only six pages, detailing two rooms, actually matter. One of those is the room with the paddling pool and the rubber duck, and the other is the room with the crypt for the Lich. Anything else is window dressing at best, distractions or delaying tactics at worst. They simply do not serve any purpose or add anything to the scenario. In fact, those six pages could have been shortened further by not including the stats for the Lich, since is mechanically and narratively impervious to the Player Characters.

Physically, Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul is not badly presented. The artwork is reasonable, the cartography is decent, and the two handouts are divided between the plain and the intriguing. It does need an edit.

Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul is an expansion to Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part in two senses. One is physical, adding further rooms to the dungeon in Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part. The other is in terms of questions and answers. As in the number of questions it raises as to what is going on, what the plot or story is, and so on, that it raises, and the number of answers it fails to give. In terms of narrative, it does not so much as expand the narrative of Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part, such as it is, as to bolt on another narrative that it does not do anything with. That said, there is the glimmer of inventiveness in the design of the puzzle in the scenario’s anticlimactic finale, but as for the rest of Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul? Well, it is simply not worth the effort to read as it adds nothing to what was already a poor scenario and really, the authors very much needed a developer or editor or friendly voice to point out the very many flaws of both Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part and Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul.

in the event that any Dungeon Master is attracted by the names attached to Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part or Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul, she should avoid both. Both are frustratingly poor designs and Dungeon Expansion GG1: The Darkness Under The Water Foul feels like a bauble stuck on a rubber duck.