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.

Friday Fantasy: Till Death Do Us Part

Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part is notable for one particular fact. That it is written and published by Heidi Gygax Garland—yes, the daughter of E. Gary Gygax—and her husband, Erik Gygax Garland. 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 are hired by a famed auctioneer to rescue a local noblewoman, the Lady Heiress. She has been kidnapped by Crikpaw and is 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 are 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, Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part starts by committing a cardinal sin. It leaps straight into the set-up for the Player Characters with a lot of exposition and absolutely no explanation for what is going on for the Dungeon Master. Nevertheless, it quickly moves to the action with a strange encounter just off Governor’s Island. A Septopus—a seven-tailed Octopus—will approach the boat the Player Characters are on and it will await their reaction. If they attack, the Septopus will respond in kind and then descend into the depths never to return, but if they are receptive to communication, it will tell them some of the secrets about Governor’s Island and give them some keys to doors on the island and some treasure. The treasure is nice enough, but cannot be used in this scenario. It is a nicely done encounter and rewards the Player Characters with a little useful information.

After this first encounter, though? There are some truly pointless encounters in Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part. The second encounter is with a beached pair of adventurers, the last survivors of an encounter with the first encounter, the one with the Septopus that the Player Characters have just survived, either by driving it off or by actually learning something useful from it. Both of them want to leave Governor Island and will negotiate with the Player Characters for help in getting to the ship that the Player Characters arrived on. This, though, is not before both adventurers explain to the Player Characters what happened to the rest of their comrades in what is a detailed splurge of exposition that takes up two pages, and apart from this, neither adventurer has anything useful to tell the Player Characters. The encounter will either show the Player Characters what would have happened if they got the first encounter right or show them that they were not the only ones to get it wrong, but how exactly does this help either them or the story? Logically, perhaps this encounter should have been first, with the adventurers clinging to wreckage rather than washed ashore, thus foreshadowing the encounter with the Septopus, rather than the illogical four pages devoted to it to no purpose.

There is a mad goblin who is dressed as a bridegroom and will beg for news of his bride, and when he does not get it, he will attack the Player Characters. He knows nothing that will be of any help to the Player Characters and although there are the scraps of a torn letter to be found in the same room, there is no explanation as to what the contents of the letter actually mean. Another room consists of a paddling pool in which floats a rubber duck and which contains surprisingly deep water at the bottom of which is a locked gate. There is nothing else in the room. The adventure states that there is no way to get to the gate and 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? It is bad enough that the description of the room fails to mention its exits—one obvious, one secret—but having the central feature of a room do nothing and add nothing…? Another has two ‘Apocol-imps’ that walk around in a circle each wearing a sandwich board and declaring the end is nigh and again, there is no explanation as to how this relates to the plot, if at all.

Continuing the pointless encounters with containers of water is a room with the magical artefact known as the Bucket of Fish. Its waters contain visions of ethereal figures swimming in the mist and if a Player Character stares into waters and fails a Saving Throw, he will see the ‘partner of his dreams’, will find himself cursed, and loses points of either Intelligence or Wisdom until the curse is removed. According to legend its appearance is a terrible omen, but an omen of what? If the curse is lifted, and that is a challenge all of its own, the person lifting the curse automatically knows where the Bucket of Fish is and knows that he must return to the Bucket of Fish himself to rescue his beloved from the bucket. Further, the Player Character who suffered the curse, will lose half of his wealth, including his possessions and any treasure gained from the adventure. So doubly punished for failing a Saving Throw. Lastly, if a player states that his character is going to ‘kick’ the Bucket of Fish, he has to make a Saving Throw versus Death. He does receive a bonus, because as the adventure states, “[T]he writers of this adventure aren’t complete dicks.” However, if the character does die, the writers do give permission for his player to be teased by his fellow players. Which is fine, because as the adventure states, “[T]he writers of this adventure aren’t complete dicks.”

The encounter ends with further advice that, again, the Dungeon Master is expected to advise her players that, “It becomes obvious that the Bucket of Fish cannot be affected by your actions at this time” as the bucket cannot be moved or damaged by their characters. So again, what is its purpose? The only thing it can do is punish the Player Characters and not only punish the Player Characters, but also a player too, all for asking to do the most obvious thing that you would do with a bucket.

There is another hint as to what is going on some twenty-four pages into Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part. After saving Heiress’ best friend, she will tell them that she came with Heiress to Governor’s Island in order to save her friend, Crikpaw, and she will also explain where the love-besotted Goblin came from. This is from the Bucket of Fish, which begs the question why did it work differently for Heiress and her best friend than for the Player Characters?

The scenario comes to an end with a big fight with a demon, the discovery of a sealed letter that the Player Characters are not expected to read, but give to their employer, and the Player Characters failing to find Heiress, Crikpaw, or the signet ring of the house of Ukoh An. They do see a ship sailing off, presumably with Heiress and Crikpaw aboard, but ultimately, everything is fine, as although the Player Characters’ employer is angry, he will still pay them despite their failure.

Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part is designed as the first part of an eight-part series, so obviously, in later parts, the Player Characters will find Heiress and Crikpaw and presumably find out what is actually going on. This though, does not excuse or stop Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part from being a frustratingly stupid adventure. To begin with, the Dungeon Master does not learn the identity of the actual villain until after the adventure has finished and worse, even if she had known at the start of the adventure, it would not have affected the running of the adventure. It certainly would not have affected the plot, as effectively there is no plot to Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part and even if there were, there is nothing that the Player Characters can do to affect it. So, it almost does not matter that nowhere is there an explanation of the overall plot to the series, let alone this single adventure. Except, of course, such an explanation might have persuaded the Dungeon Master to want to look at the sequels to Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part.

Further, only three encounters matter in the whole of Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part. The first is the encounter with Septopus, which will provide the Player Characters with some useful information as to what they might find in the dungeon; the second is with the Heiress’ best friend, who will tell them a little of what is actually going on; and third, discovering that Heiress and Crikpaw have already left. Between the first and last encounters, it does not matter what the Player Characters do in this linear dungeon. In fact, the best thing that the Player Characters can do is touch nothing and just get to the end as quickly as possible, because almost everything they encounter is either pointless or designed to punish them, if not both. The last thing that these encounters are not designed to do is engage in the plot to Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part, putting aside the fact that there is actually very little plot to Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part.

Physically, Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part is not a bad looking product. It apes the classic booklet in a card folder with a white on blue map on the inside format of many of the modules from TSR, Inc. The map is incredibly large given that it has to depict twelve locations one after another. The scenario needs a slight edit in places, but the artwork is decent and it is tidily laid out.

There are encounters in Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part which are interesting and playable—the encounter with the Septopus and another with some Leaf Spiders. They suggest that the authors can write encounters that are either interesting or playable—or even both, but two interesting and playable encounters out of twelve do not make for a good adventure. The rest really are dreadful, often managing to be just randomly pointless and punishing, taking up time until the Player Characters can discover that all of their efforts have been to naught. To be fair, that is often the way of stories, the protagonists failing to achieve their objectives in this part, but making another attempt in a later part. Yet that failure should be interesting in itself and the protagonists of the story—in this case, the Player Characters—should learn something that will help in the subsequent parts. Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part fails to do this. It also fails to tell the Dungeon Master its own plot, let alone that of the series as a whole. So, it fails to sell the whole series too.

Lastly, Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part costs $35.

Dungeon Module GG1: Till Death Do Us Part does not provide the purchaser with $35’s worth of entertainment. As to the amount’s worth of entertainment it does offer, it is difficult to determine how much this exercise in frustration and pointlessness is actually worth, but $35 it is not by any stretch of the imagination.