Retrospective: U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh

Published in 1981, U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh stood out from any adventure for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons which had come before it for many reasons. The most obvious one being that it was written and published by TSR (UK), the British arm of TSR, which would have a profound effect upon both the type of adventure its pages contained and the type of fantasy. Famously British roleplaying fantasy, grounded in a ‘real’ medieval history such as the Wars of the Roses, rather than the idealised one of American roleplaying fantasy, is full of mud and shit and death, most famously idealised in Games Workshop’s Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Yet, in U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh this mud and shit and death is not really present, but rather there is a feel of grime and grubbiness, of working lives, and of course, a degree of danger. What is absolutely not present is the grim sense of death and of course Chaos which would come to influence British roleplaying fantasy so heavily with the publication of the aforementioned Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.

Like so many adventure modules, U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh presented a village in peril, an ancient legend, and a mystery. A set of clichés by today’s standards, this set-up goes all the way back to classic adventures like T1 The Village of Hommlet and U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. The difference is that where most adventures with this set-up, including T1 The Village of Hommlet, detailed the imperilled village or town in full, U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh famously does not. Instead the Dungeon Master is given half a page of advice on how to create the town herself, including detailing the members of the town council, drawing a map of the town, and deciding its taverns and inns what gods the townsfolk worship. Now given that the town of Saltmarsh is meant to be in Keoland in the World of Greyhawk, and thus an official location, it seems odd that the Dungeon Master would be expected to put in all of this effort rather than it be included in the module. Yet really, this reflects the fact that nearly forty years ago gamers had more time to do this and what the authors were quietly encouraging was the Dungeon Master making both the module and the World of Greyhawk his own.

That said, the notes do point towards a society which the player characters will be interacting with. This is enforced later on with the player characters being expected to capture rather than the kill various NPCs and their capturing of loot like barrels of brandy and bolts of silk that the antagonists are trying to avoid paying tax on. The player characters even get to work with some excise men!

The set-up in U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is a haunted house, with the front cover reinforcing that with it depicting the adventurers approaching the house along the cliff tops as bats wing their way out of the ruined building. Saltmarsh’s townsfolk will hire the player characters to investigate an abandoned house on the hill, once home to a sinister magician and alchemist, but who has not been seen in nigh on twenty years. Recently strange lights have been seen in the house at night and the townsfolk fear that whatever is cause might be a threat to the town. So, what then, is the sinister secret of Saltmarsh?

Famously, in fact, the thing the module is most famous for is the fact that authors do a bait and switch on the player characters. In fact, they do it twice, but the second comes at the end of the adventure. U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is set up as a mystery and a haunted house, but where it is a mystery, it is not a haunted house. Instead, U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh does something which is so utterly American it is a surprise that nobody had published anything like it before, because its set-up is actually so straight faced it is brilliant. In what has become known as the ‘Scooby Doo’ set-up, instead of being haunted, the sinister secret of Saltmarsh is that the house is being used as the base of operations for a smuggling ring which accepts regular cargoes from the ship that is the scene of the second half of U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh and which has links to one or more merchants and persons in the town itself. One issue is that the Dungeon Master will need to decide who that is, but will not find about the existence of this merchant until deeper into the pages of the module itself. The smuggling ring has employed an Illusionist who has deployed his magic in ways to suggest that the house is haunted in order to keep the townsfolk away, but bold adventurers of course will not be so deterred.

U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is divided into two parts. ‘Part One – The Haunted House’ goes into some detail in describing the twenty or so rooms of the house’s ground and first floor. This is a house which has definitely been lived in, but which has since fallen into a dilapidated state of repair, covered in layers of dust, cobwebs, and damp. The descriptions have a mundane feel to them, coupled with a sense of eerie abandonment, and there are barely any monsters or combat to be had in these rooms, and with one exception, they consist mostly of spiders and insects. With elements such as footprints in the dust, creaking staircases and floorboards, and mysterious notes, the house is also creepy, an aspect that the Dungeon Master is expected to play up. The exception to the mundane monsters is Ned Shakeshaft, who has been left stripped of all his possessions and bound in one of the upper rooms. Now Ned Shakeshaft is an Assassin—in fact, a Third Level Assassin compared the First Level characters the players are expected to be playing—employed in desperation by the merchant in the town with connections to the smuggling ring to prevent the party from learning of its operations in the cellars of the house. Now he poses as a Thief, but the problem is that there is relatively little reason for the players and their characters to trust Ned and given the paranoia of most playing groups, it is unlikely that either will.

Below the house in the cellars and the connecting caves, the truth of what is going on in the ‘haunted’ house will quickly be discovered, as might be the fate of the house’s previous owner. There are smugglers moving about and signs that the rooms and passages are occupied. This compounds clues to be found in the house above and the player characters should soon find out what is going on. There is a quite nasty creature to be encountered down here, a body infested with Rot Grubs, which perhaps could have been better handled, perhaps by giving a chance for the searching players to spot signs of their infestation.

The second half of U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is ‘Part Two – The Sea Ghost’. At the end of the first part, the adventurers should not only have learned of the smuggling ring’s operations in the house, but the fact that the ring is in regular contact with a ship, the Sea Ghost. The player characters are again hired by Saltmarsh’s Town Council, this time to row out to the Sea Ghost and board and capture it. The whole of this second part is set aboard this ship and is essentially a cutting out expedition against a pirate ship. Where the first part provided plans of an ordinary house, this second part includes the deck plans of the Sea Ghost as well as a diagram of its rigging. In comparison to ‘Part One – The Haunted House’, ‘Part Two – The Sea Ghost’ is much faster paced, a climatic action-based encounter that will see the player characters facing the crew, who are as much pirates as they are smugglers. 

As in the haunted house, there are some tough opponents aboard the Sea Ghost, a Fifth Level, two Third Level, and several First Level NPCs, perhaps too tough given the fact that the player characters are First Level. That said, the notes in the modules do make clear that the adventure is designed to be played and run intelligently and that the NPCs will not necessarily fight to the death. Another oddity is that there is a Pseudo-Dragon aboard who might attach itself to one of the player characters should the NPC it is with be killed… It seems so mercenary of it! Once the player characters have captured the Sea Ghost, they will learn that the pirates are not only smuggling goods into Saltmarsh and beyond, but weapons to a nearby tribe of Lizardmen. The question is, are the Lizardmen preparing for war against the townsfolk of Saltmarsh? That is a question which is answered in U2 Danger at Dunwater, the sequel to U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh.

Although the town of Saltmarsh is not fleshed out, the two locations in both ‘Part One – The Haunted House’ and ‘Part Two – The Sea Ghost’ are well designed with excellent floor and deck plans. The illustrations are pretty much all nicely done, many depicting the abandonment of the house, though there is a split in style and feel of the artwork. Some of it feels at odds with the mundane nature of the fantasy in U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, a little too fantastic compared to the grime and grubbiness of both house and boat. Jim Holloway’s illustrations though capture that grime and grubbiness of the setting and a certain shiftiness in the NPCs he depicts.

Oddly, U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is designed to played by between five and ten(!) characters of between First and Third Level. This is a lot of characters and for that many Third Level characters this module becomes a whole lot less of a challenge. Worse, the included twenty pre-generated player characters are expected to start play with a magical item apiece. This feels a little too much given how ordinary much of U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is in its play.

There can be no doubt that U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is highly regarded. In November 2004, in 116 of Dungeon Magazine, U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh was listed at number four in 30 Greatest D&D Adventures of All Time. At the time of its publication in 1981, Jim Bambra in White Dwarf No. 35 (November, 1982) awarded it nine out of ten, saying, “…TSR (UK) are to be congratulated on their first module, the series should prove to be interesting and entertaining.” In Different Worlds Issue 20 (march, 1982), Anders Swenson commented, “While the characters in this adventure are not placed in a position where they must decide whether or not to break the laws of God and man, they are immersed in a social context where any random infractions would have to be accounted for. Furthermore, the characters are placed in a situation where they must work with the locals in order to further their tastes for adventure - this is a good source for a lot of role-playing.” before concluding that “Overall, I like The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. It is nice to explore a house for a change. If modules U2 and U3 are as good as this one they should turn out to form a solid campaign.” In the Capsule Reviews of Fantasy Gamer Number 2 (Oct/Nov 1983), David S. Turk called the mystery behind U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh “cleverly conceived”, but said, “A weak point in the module is the lack of strength in the pacing of the plot. It is too easy for a familiar "chop and slaughter" dungeon to replace the clever plot. There are too many major villains and sidekicks to keep track of, so careful dungeon mastering is needed. In conclusion, the module is a strong one. With proper dungeon mastering and an everwatchful group of player characters, this module is superior and quite enjoyable. It will surprise even the dungeon master with its creative story and twisting plot. I recommend it.”

U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh nicely combines a strong sense of naturalism with underplayed fantasy—one which actually makes the adventure really easy to adapt to other settings and genres. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay would be easy, Legend of the Five Rings can work too as would Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space – The Roleplaying Game. That naturalism and underplayed fantasy, situated in what feels like a real world, also serve to make U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh a truly great adventure, strong on atmosphere and mystery. 

Designers & Dragons I

As the gaming hobby reaches middle age, its sense of nostalgia and reflection have not only driven it to look to the past to bring back old games in new editions, but also to take an interest in its own history. Although there have been books about the hobby, they have tended to be minor affairs such as The Fantasy Roleplaying Gamer's Bible; focused on particular aspects such as 40 Years of Gen Con and Hunters of Dragons; or academic works like First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. A complete history of the gaming hobby, that is, of the roleplaying gaming hobby, did not exist until 2011, when Mongoose Publishing released Designers & Dragons, a buff hardback that would win a Special Award at UK Games Expo and a Judges’ Spotlight Award ENnie in 2012. This single volume collected the ‘A Brief History of Game’ columns written by Shannon Appelcline that ran between 2006 and 2011 on RPG.net. Unfortunately, the book got a limited print run and it was published by Mongoose Publishing, so received neither the push nor the quality that such a book deserved.

Fortunately, a successful Kickstarter campaign and another publisher, Evil Hat Productions, LLC, best known for publishing Fate Core, has enabled the author to not only revisit those columns, but also to expand, revise, and update them. The result is Designers & Dragons: A History of the Roleplaying Game Industry series—not one single volume, but as of 2015, five volumes. The first four volumes each address a single decade of the history of the industry, in turn the seventies, the eighties, nineties, and the noughties, whilst the fifth, The Platinum Appendix is a collection of miscellaneous articles. It should be noted that this series covers only the English speaking market of the hobby, and although that this is where it stemmed from and the one that remains the largest, it ignores the various other language markets. This is not to say they are not important or that they do not have influence upon the industry—as will be seen in later volumes, but the history of the gaming industry in the French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Swedish, and other language markets will have to wait for a further volume or at least another history.

The first volume is Designers & Dragons: the ‘70s. Now that suggests that it deals with just the foundation of the hobby and the period between 1974 and 1979 when this is not really the case. It does indeed detail the industry’s beginnings and early development, but it really begins by laying the foundations of the industry in the hobbies of E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson beginning with their exposure to Avalon Hill’s Gettysburg wargame in 1958 and thus their interest games and the fantasy genre. Further, what it really does is tell the histories of the publishers that were founded in the 1970s right up to their closure, their bankruptcy, or indeed, their current status, rather than abruptly cutting off in 1979. Thus it gives us the histories of thirteen publishers, seven of which are no longer in business, two are a shadow of their former selves, and four are still in business. These histories are of TSR, Flying Buffalo, Games Workshop, GDW, Judges Guild, Metagaming Concepts, Fantasy Games Unlimited, Chaosium, Gamescience, Heritage Models, Grimoire Games, DayStar West Media, and Midkemia Press. Of these, the histories of Judges Guild, Metagaming, and TSR have been expanded since their appearance in the previous version of Dungeons & Designers, whilst those of DayStar West Media, Gamescience, Grimoire Games, Heritage Models, and Midkemia Press are new additions.

Designers & Dragons: the ‘70s is divided into four parts—‘Part One: Founding Days (1953—1974)’, ‘Part Two: The Floodgates Open (1975—1976)’, ‘Part Three: The First Wargaming Phase (1976—1977)’, and ‘Part Four: Universal Publishers (1978—1979)’. The first part is solely devoted to the history of TSR, comprising in total, a quarter of the book. This is understandable, since TSR both founded and dominated the hobby for three decades and more. Now, Jon Peterson’s Playing at the World explores this history in more detail, but since the remit of Designers & Dragons: the ‘70s is much wider, it is not quite as scholarly or as detailed. Now this is not to detract from the detailed historical overview that is Designers & Dragons: the ‘70s, as this is an immensely readable history. Rounding each of the company histories is set of pointers as to what to read next, further connections to the company's history, and what to read next in order to find out more about its luminaries. For example, the history of TSR suggests that the reader can simply read on to find out about the second RPG publisher, Flying Buffalo; or to find out about its first licensee, read the chapter on Judges Guild; read the chapter on Wizards of Coast to learn more about the later history of Dungeons & Dragons; and to see what E. Gary Gygax did next, read the chapters on New Infinities Productions, GDW, Hekaforge Productions, and Troll Lord Games in this and future volumes in the series. Of course these are hangover from the original presentation of this material as regular online columns accompanied by hyperlinks. As hyperlinks, these only work in the PDF versions of these volumes, but as pointers they are nevertheless useful.

Throughout each chapter, sidebars and lengthy boxed subsections—sometimes lasting several pages, explore particular aspects of a company’s history in detail. So for TSR, sidebars and subsections look at how much early RPGs cost, the history of the Greyhawk setting, the D&D Cartoon, Dungeons & Dragons computer games, and Dungeons & Dragons comics. Other sidebars explain both Steve Jacksons, Judges Guild’s The Wilderlands setting, details Different Worlds magazine, and more. In addition, mini-histories are given of minor publishers such as Wee Warriors and Little Soldier Games.  These are short pieces, but their inclusion is an indication of their influence upon the industry. For example, in the form of The Character Archaic and Palace of the Vampire Queen, Wee Warriors published the first commercially available character sheet and the first standalone adventure respectively.

Rounding out the first volume in the series are the appendices that give ‘10 Things You Might Not Know About Roleplaying in the ‘70s’, a bibliography, and a good index. Physically, the oxblood-covered Designers & Dragons: the ‘70s is well written, decently illustrated—though sadly in black and white—and decently organised. It does need an edit here and there, but these are minor issues. The index looks to be decent enough and supports the pointers are end of each write-up.

As a history, Designers & Dragons: the ‘70s is informative and knowledgeable, helped by the fact that the author can draw from a great many primary sources, that is, the many of those who were involved in the early days of the hobby. Unfortunately, the deaths of other significant figures mean that he has instead had to consult secondary sources. Nor is the history an exact one, but the author is open and honest where this is the case, whether due to conflicting stories or sources. This only points to the fragility of our hobby, the industry, and our collective memories—and thus the aim of Designers & Dragons, that is, to have a definitive record. Or at least as definitive a record as is possible.

Having been writing about games for over fifteen years and been collecting for much longer, my knowledge of the hobby is decent enough, but this does not mean that references—old or new—are not useful or unwelcome. For many years, Lawrence Schick’s Heroic Worlds has been a useful guide to RPGs and supplements published before the early nineties, whilst more recently, Hunters of Dragons proved a useful reference for Dungeons & Dragons. Now both of those books have been joined by the Designers & Dragons series. On a broad scale, my knowledge of the industry and its history is reasonable enough, but nevertheless, Designers & Dragons: the ‘70s builds on that knowledge, adding greatly to it, especially in its coverage of the new additions to this volume. So even the most informed of gamer—like myself—is likely to find something of interest in Designers & Dragons: the ‘70s, whilst anyone relatively new to the hobby will find it as definite a history of the industry during this period as there is, but whatever their level of knowledge, both will find Designers & Dragons: the ‘70s an informative and thoroughly engaging read.

Retrospective: Starstone

For those that remember it, Starstone begins in October 1982 with White Dwarf #34. The highlight of the magazine was ‘Troubles at Embertrees’, a scenario by Paul Vernon that capped the author’s ‘The Town Planner’ series that had appeared in the previous three issues and served as a showcase for Starstone. Published in the same year, this further explored the setting presented in ‘Troubles at Embertrees’, known as the County of Starstone. Within a compact few pages, ‘Troubles at Embertrees’ described the village of Embertrees, it inhabitants and their motivations, as well as the troubles that best the settlement. The scenario was nicely detailed and for gamers of a certain age, very fondly remembered. Certainly the quality of the scenario was enough to pique the interest of the hobby when adverts—the first in same issue of White Dwarf as ‘Troubles at Embertrees’—and then reviews appeared for Starstone.

Published by Northern Sages, Starstone: a Medieval Fantasy Campaign is all but unique. Unlike in the USA, there were just the two independently published scenarios for use with fantasy roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons, but not specifically Dungeons & Dragons or Advanced Dungeons & Dragons released in the UK. No Honour in Sathporte was one and Starstone was the other. This, of course, to avoid copyright infringement and the lack of license available from a notoriously litigious TSR, Inc., but the stats given in Starstone were simple enough to adapt to almost any fantasy RPG in 1982—and they still are.

Designed for five to eight beginning characters—though not beginning players, Starstone contains two complete scenarios, each comprised of dungeon, wilderness, and urban areas, plus an introductory adventure. The setting is the County of Starstone, a vassal region of the Kingdom of Vedra to its south. It is a hilly, bucolic region, best known for its gold mine and the death of Risten, the paladin who helped free the county from the grip of the evil sorceress, Daretta. The majority of its population consists of humans leavened by gnome villages and various dwarves who work at the gold mine. Notably, elves are rarely seen in Starstone. The county is currently under the rule of an appointed lord lieutenant after the death of Risten, the previous ruler, and the disappearance of Risten’s son. More recently, the Kingdom of Vedra’s war with its western neighbour, Toxandria, has forced the king to withdraw troops from the county, reducing the number of patrols and so leaving it vulnerable to incursions and attacks by forces—both humanoid and monstrous—from the Great Northern Waste.

It is against this background, plus a rash of disappearances—of both people and gold shipments, that the adventurers find themselves travelling north into the County of Starstone, working as caravan guards travelling north to the fishing port of Ristenby. This is the set up for the four-page introductory scenario, ‘Strange Goings on at Longbottom Down’, which due to a broken bridge, begins with the caravan being forced them to divert to the village of Longbottom Down and a night’s stay at the Lord Varmok inn. Unfortunately, in the morning, their employer is nowhere to be found. Discovering where he might have gone is relatively easy, but getting him back might be a problem. In some ways, ‘Strange Goings on at Longbottom Down’ is too straightforward an adventure, possibly even linear. It is in places too easy, but the foes the adventurers will face are tough—ghouls, a weakened vampire, and a comparatively high level ‘necromancer’—for a party of First Level characters. They will need to show caution and perhaps be methodical in their exploration rather than rushing into things if they are to survive.

Unfortunately, the transition from ‘Strange Goings on at Longbottom Down’ to ‘Sardkirk’ is poorly handled. For starters, the aftermath of ‘Strange Goings on at Longbottom Down’ is not detailed, but then the introduction to ‘Sardkirk’ reads like a jump cut combined with a punitive flashback, the latter involving very heavy taxes being levied on the adventurers! This has an ‘Old School’ feel, but not in a good way. 

In response, a guild of merchants, frustrated at the lord lieutenant's failure to deal with the issues that threaten the county, step forward and hire the adventurers on a retainer. In return the party is expected to investigate these issues and deal with whatever the cause might turn out to be—and pay a tithe to the guild on all found treasure in the process. So essentially, they go from a big tax to a small one, though there are benefits to having the merchants’ support. Their first task is to investigate a number of disappearances near the village of Sardkirk.

The second scenario itself, ‘Sardkirk’ concerns the Gnome village of Sardkirk and the disappearances in the surrounding countryside. The village is known for three things. First, its mine, a source of sard, a semi-precious carnelian-like stone that is worked into the second, the village’s distinctive pottery, and third,  it being the last resting place of Kelti, the Gnome deity/hero said to have fought his last battle there and thus has become a site of pilgrimage. Outwardly, Sardkirk is a pastoral idyll, but this is a village full of interrelated families, so it is not really a happy place—and not just because of the disappearances. Thus Sardkirk is rife with petty ambitions and jealousies—and this highlights one of the best aspects about Starstone, the effort made to detail the NPCs beyond their mere stats, to give the DM their motivations and reactions in a relatively simple fashion. So there is quite a lot going on in the village and this coupled with the table of events and visitors serves to bring the village and its inhabitants to life.

This effort is continued with the true threat to Sardkirk—‘The Broch Caverns’. This extensive dungeon and cave complex is home to three interconnected tribes of goblins that have not long returned to the area. Their activities are detailed over the course of the day, as are those of their guests. So far the tribes have been kept from simply attacking the village by the tribes’ backers, but various factions within the tribes chafe under this restriction, something that the adventurers can take an advantage of. In fact, it is probably best if they do, since this is a large—over a hundred locations, tough dungeon, especially if the party decides to simply assault its inhabitants. This is a dungeon that the party is likely to visit more than once, though if alerted the goblins will be prepared on subsequent visits.

Overall, this is an excellent dungeon with plenty of the campaign’s trademark detail and emphasis on investigation and interaction. In fact, both are crucial if the adventurers are to learn of ‘The Broch Caverns’. Again, much like ‘Strange Goings on at Longbottom Down’, the scenario suffers from a lack of discussion about the consequences of the adventurers’ actions.

The second scenario involves the investigation of another village—‘Dolgold’. This is home to Starstone’s Dwarven run gold mine, and although it has also seen its own rash of disappearances, the issue in this community is that it has divided into factions that have been set against each other. The old villagers hate the new villagers because they do not respect their druidic religion and their ways, the quarrymen think that the dwarves are murdering them—and vice versa, and the dwarves hate the castellan of the castle because he collects the taxes levied on the gold by the lord lieutenant. Getting at the causes of these rivalries will take some digging upon the part of the adventurers as this a much more difficult adventure, but if they are successful, they will learn some more about the plots going on behind the scenes of the County of Starstone as well as some of its secret history. 

As a scenario, ‘Dolgold’ feels smaller than ‘Sardkirk’—and it is. Less of Dolgold is detailed, but it is larger and even then, the scenario manages a decent balance between detailing NPCs who are important to the plot and those who are not. Of course, the outcome of ‘Dolgold’ has greater consequences than does that of ‘Sardkirk’—and again, these are not detailed. Yet the scenario does continue the supplement’s practice of doing much to bring the village and its inhabitants to life, and it is only through interaction with, and investigation of them, that the adventurers will prepare themselves for the final foes they might face. Again, they will present the heroes with a tough challenge.

Physically, Starstone is a decently presented black and booklet, one that is a little rough around the edges. The layout is dense, with the occasional indication that the book was not laid out using a computer, but rather via Letraset. The cartography is good, although in places, the connections between rooms and levels could have made much clearer—especially in the text. Whilst any illustrations are infrequent, some of them are really very good—the book’s take upon goblins as more akin to naughty, evil, and sharp-toothed children than other interpretations of them is interesting, if not refreshing—and some of them poor indeed. Fortunately, the latter are vastly outnumbered by the former. One issue with the book is that the maps come as a separate folded A3-sized sheet, which even folded is larger than the book by an inch or so. This makes it slightly more difficult to keep the map sheet in good condition.

One notable feature of the writing is how the author gets around direct references to Dungeons & Dragons. This primarily shows in the character stats, which are limited to actual armour type (from which the Dungeon Master can extract an Armour Class), Class, Level or Hit Dice, Hit Points, and Attacks. No NPC is given any attribute scores, although some are given the effect of high stat bonuses in some case. Two notable inclusions are each NPC’s Wealth stat and his Influence Level or standing with the community. Both are potentially useful when comes to interacting with them. The second area where the effort to avoid references to Dungeons & Dragons occurs in the spell names—Ball of Fire or Curse Removal, for example—and the bonuses for magical weapons. These are given as percentiles rather than single numbers. Of course, these stats do point towards Dungeons & Dragons, and fairly obviously so, but they are not exact. Rather they are just easy to translate.

—oOo—

Back in 1982, Starstone was well received in the press. Writing in White Dwarf #40, Daniel Collerton gave the module nine out of ten and said, “For those who prefer a coherent, highly detailed medieval milieu for their campaigns, Starstone could hardly be bettered. Even for those who don’t like such a background, it still represents excellent value for money merely as an example of meticulous campaign design. Very highly recommended.” 

The UK’s other RPG magazine of the time, Imagine, was not quite as complimentary. Reviewing it in Imagine #4, Robert Hulston lamented that, “The main plot is not actually solved in Starstone; players must wait for the publication of Ristenby Town to carry the story on.”, but said that, “As it is, though, Starstone will provide entertainment for many evenings, is exceptional value for money (being packed with 3 or 4 times the material of similarly priced modules) and is highly recommended.” 

Similarly, Eric W. Pass writing in Dragon #97, said, “Starstone is one of the best-detailed modules I have examined. If you have the time and the inclination to sample superior module design, buy it. The few faults I have listed in no way detract from the overall presentation. Hopefully, Mr. Vernon will consider these small points and address them for us before the town of Ristenby appears off the North American coast.” The review ends with the note that Starstone is distributed in the USA by The Armory in Baltimore, indication that it got wider distribution than just the United Kingdom.

—oOo—

In 1982, Starstone: a Medieval Fantasy Campaign cost just £2.99—and at that price it was a bargain. Especially in comparison to the slightly costlier scenarios of the time published by TSR, Inc. Considering its original £2.99 price, today it would likely cost £14.99 or more—and again, that would be a bargain. With just a print run of three thousand, in the thirty years since, copies of the module have rarely appeared on the second hand market. Today it would probably fetch at least £30—if not double that or more. As high praise as Starstone received in 1982, it was never reprinted nor did it receive any further support. This was despite a second supplement, Ristenby Town being mentioned at the end of the supplement.

Unlike in 1982, Starstone would have no problems getting published for use with any fantasy RPG today. The terms of Open Game License make it very easy and given the preponderance of Old School Renaissance RPGs, the designer would have plenty of choice, whether that is Goblinoid Games’ Labyrinth Lord or Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game. Yet Starstone would work equally as well with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, and arguably, would give any of the scenarios released so far for the new edition of Dungeons & Dragons a run for their money in terms of the quality of the adventure and the storytelling. Doubtless any of the Old School Renaissance publishers would leap at the chance to publish Starstone and that even after the author discounted the possibility of funding this on his own via Kickstarter. Indications are that the author has seriously considered bringing it back, but that was several years ago. So if a PDF version exists…?

Yet as good as Starstone was in 1982, it was not perfect and it is definitely not perfect now. As it is, Starstone is a living place with events going on as the adventurers investigate and deal with the issues that threaten the county and many these of events and especially the plots to each scenario and the campaign in general, are buried in the text. Getting to both events and plots is not easy because of this. Another issue is that the transition from ‘Strange Goings on at Longbottom Down’ to ‘Sardkirk’ is poorly handled, combining the equivalent of a jump cut with a punitive flashback. Similarly the consequences of each scenario are not well handled either, which is disappointment given how Starstone is meant to be a 'living' setting.

In addition, because the follow up supplement, Ristenby Town, was never published, it has left the full scope of the plots going on in the County of Starstone unrealised. Also, in hindsight, it seems odd that the links between Starstone and ‘Troubles at Embertrees’ seem underplayed, especially given the scenario’s favourable reception. That though was in 1982. Today, it seems likely that making such links would be problematic given how possessive of its properties that Games Workshop is—even properties it has owned for decades and has absolutely no interest in doing anything with. In the case of ‘Troubles at Embertrees’—and so many other things—this is simply a shame.

So should Starstone: a Medieval Fantasy Campaign be brought back over thirty years since its original publication? Indubitably so… The Old School Renaissance would welcome the reprint of this book, but could it be brought back? In an era of Kickstarter and numerous Old School Renaissance publishers, there are multiple ways in which this could be re-published—and that even before the possibility of self-publishing. Now that leaves the question of whether or not it should be a straight reprint? The answer is no, it should not be straight reprint. Ideally, a second edition would be edited to address the problems in terms of the scenario’s plot and the presentation of said plot. It would ideally also expand upon the port of Ristenby, perhaps even leading to the publication of Ristenby Town.

Starstone: a Medieval Fantasy Campaign is a low fantasy campaign, with a certain sense of desperation and an underlying mood of fear that together prefigures the ‘Grim and Perilous Adventure’ of Games Workshop’s Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay five years later… It certainly has that RPG’s same emphasis on investigation and interaction over combat—though there is plenty of scope for the latter—even if the DM will need to work a little harder to extract such an emphasis from the book’s dense text. Whilst its handicaps mean that it is not quite perfect, Starstone: a Medieval Fantasy Campaign is a classic mini-campaign, rich in gaming potential, and unfinished as its plots are, rife with possibilities for the Dunegon Master to expand.

Dungeoneering & Dragon Hunting

Roleplaying is all but forty years old, and thus, so is Dungeons & Dragons. As evidenced by the recent number of books that detail the hobby’s history, role playing has become something more than just a silly game. Mongoose Publishing’s Designers & Dragons, MIT Press’ Second Person – Role-Playing and Story in Games and Playable Media, and McFarland’s The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games are all testament to that. Further, they have also become collectable, and none more so than Dungeons & Dragons. Collecting Dungeons & Dragons has always been something of challenge, for although sites like eBay and The Acaeum have made the task much, much easier, what collecting has always lacked is a guide. That is, until now.

Published by Italian publisher Wild Boar Edizioni srl through Chronicle City, Hunter of Dragons – The Original Dungeons & Dragons Collecting Guide is the complete guide to collecting Dungeons & Dragons. It is important to note this because its focus is entirely on Dungeons & Dragons and what that game became, Basic Dungeons & Dragons, rather than its bigger, bolder, better supported, if not bloated, younger brother, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Its time frame is also thus limited to just a nineteen-year time frame from 1974 to 1993. Within that span it not only covers the various editions of the game, adventures and accessories, miscellaneous items and unreleased products, but also titles from Judges Guild too! It is even more important to note that Hunter of Dragons is not a price guide. That would be impossible to accurately report given that such prices are constantly changing. So instead, it gives a rarity value for each entry.

Hunter of Dragons opens with “The History of Dungeons & Dragons” before discussing “The various editions of Dungeons & Dragons.” What is surprising to note is that there are as many editions as there are – six all together. Each edition is given its own entry with each entry giving the book or product name, its publication date, the names of its designers, its contents, its rarity, some notes, and whether there were any foreign editions. These include the Australian and British editions as well as those in French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish, and even the Japanese and Hebrew books! Some entries also include a trivia entry, for example that B3 The Palace of the Silver Princess Orange version is one of the few TSR titles to have been written by a woman and is one of the most sought after items for Dungeons & Dragons – more so than the fabled ST1 Up the Garden Path. Each section ends with a thumbnail illustration of each of the entries it includes.

Although the book has no index, it is neatly organised. Each section is broken down by edition of Dungeons & Dragons. So that for the Accessories section, the entries are from the game’s first through fifth editions, while for the Boxed sets the entries come from the fourth and fifth editions. Some ranges receive a section of their own, for example, that devoted to the Hollow Earth line. The “other products” section covers the 10th Anniversary Products, the Endless Quest books, novels, Calendars, Electronic Games, licensed items, magazines, and more.

Judges Guild receives a section to itself. This is almost a mirror of Hunter of Dragons, including as it does a history of the publisher as well as the listing of products that it released. The trivia sections for each of these entries are consistently more extensive than those for entries elsewhere in the book and makes for interesting reading.

Rounding out Hunter of Dragons is a trio of interviews, each appearing in print for the first time. These are in turn with Gary Gygax, David Arneson, and Larry Elmore. The one with Gary Gygax dates from 2002 and is the more noteworthy of the trio, being a lengthy piece that covers Gygax’s complete history – before, with, and after his time at TSR. Gygax takes the time to answer each and every question, and does not avoid the difficult subject of the financial difficulties and other problems that he had during his time at TSR. In many ways it is actually the most interesting read in the Hunter of Dragons, to an extent because it really offers the book’s strongest narrative, but mostly because five years on from his death, it presents a retrospective on the father of Dungeons & Dragons, if not the hobby itself, one in his own voice. In comparison, there is a certain reluctance to the interview with David Arneson and an obvious ebullience to the one with Larry Elmore, and as a consequence neither is particularly interesting.

As much as Hunters of Dragons describes itself as the “Collecting Guide” to Dungeons & Dragons, one aspect it does not address is the actual “collecting.” To an extent, this is understandable, for just like the notion of including an actual price guide, it can be countered by the fact that either is by their very nature, ephemeral. Prices change and fluctuate just as the sources that a collector goes to for the titles that he is after will also alter and vary. Nevertheless, some general guidance would have been useful.

Physically, Hunter of Dragons comes as a thick digest book, its vibrant red cover evoking Larry Elmore’s illustration for, and the trade dress of, the classic Red Box Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. In addition to the illustrations for each of the book’s entries, Hunters of Dragons is illustrated with a range of surprisingly interesting TSR adverts. It is a pity that that the book’s many illustrations could not been in colour, as that would aided the collector’s visual identification of any of the books that he is after, but the fact that it is not, is understandable. Another issue is the language. Hunter of Dragons is written in English, but he is Italian and it does show in paces. That said, the author’s English is better than this reviewer’s Italian, and this could have been addressed with a closer edit.

The release of Hunters of Dragons is a timely one in light of Wizards of the Coast’s re-release of its extensive back catalogue for both Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in PDF and thus making them available to all. That said, the re-release of those PDFs by Wizards of the Coast has to an extent superseded some of the details given in Hunters of Dragons, essentially the history and the trivia, thanks to the efforts of Shannon Appelcline, the author of the aforementioned Designers & Dragons. That said, the focus and remit of Hunters of Dragons is much, much tighter and certainly successfully fulfilled by its author. Hunters of Dragons is a well-written, solidly researched, treatment of what to collect when it comes to Dungeons & Dragons that will with any luck be joined by companion volumes devoted to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

Retrospective: English, Grim, and Obscure

When it comes to obscure adventures for Dungeons & Dragons, then there is perhaps no more obscure a title than No Honour in Sathporte to have made it into print. In the early twenty-first century it is sometimes hard to recollect how few scenarios there really were for Dungeons & Dragons before the advent of the d20 System. Between them the market was dominated by TSR, Judges Guild, and Mayfair Games, but there were other publishers, such as Daystar West Media Productions (which would actually be bought out by TSR) or Phoenix Games, Inc. Yet, switch to TSR’s only other arm to publish in English, TSR (UK), and not surprisingly, there were even fewer publishers than in the USA. Best known was Northern Sages, which published the highly regarded Starstone, but there was another publisher, Chaotic Intellect Products, and just like Northern Sages, it too only produced the one product – No Honour in Sathporte.

Published in the same year as Starstone – 1983 – No Honour in Sathporte describes itself as “A fantasy role-playing scenario for priests, curates, initiates of the 1st and 2nd circles, swordsmen, heroes, protectors, defenders, scouts, courses, conjurers, theurgists, tricksters of all kinds, cutpurses, robbers, waghalters, murderers, initiates, brothers and you!!!” In other words this is a scenario for characters of first and second level in an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons campaign. It does not say this on the cover, but inside it mentions not only Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, but also the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Deities & Demigods. Perhaps the most interesting fact is that it specifically thanks Don Turnbull, a notable figure in the British gaming scene, not only as the Managing Director of TSR (UK), but also as the editor of the fabulous Fiend Folio and co-author of the most highly regarded of Dungeons & Dragons scenarios, U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. It says much for the man reputation that he is particularly thanked for taking a “non-monetary” interest.

Written by Christopher Read with artwork by Stephen Ball, Liz Martin, and Pete Sharpe, No Honour in Sathporte comes as a twenty-eight page adventure in a card folder. The inside of the folder contains maps of two of the scenario’s major locations. In addition to the main booklet, pullouts provide with several pages of blank NPC forms, the stats for all of the scenario’s NPCs, and a set of geomorphs that can be cut out and used with miniatures. Altogether, it is quite a sturdy package, but does it live up to the claim on its front cover – “THIS IS A GREAT BRITISH PRODUCT!!”?

The plot to No Honour in Sathporte is a simple one of double cross. The adventurers are hired by the wife of a wealthy merchant to rescue her son who has run away to join the local Thieves’ Guild. He is hiding deep within their complex under the city which their patron wants the adventurers to penetrate the headquarters of the Thieves' Guild and persuade her son to leave with them. If this is not possible, and she informs them that he is a pathological liar, she provides the party with a poison that will drug him and put in a deep sleep for several hours. Not wanting to reveal her son’s activities to her husband or the world at large, she provides a safe house where he is to be delivered.

Of course, none of this is true. The wayward son is anything but. Rather he is a renegade assassin who has fled his guild and taken up refuge with the Thieves’ Guild in Sathporte. He has taken with him poisons and monies that his Guild Master want returned, but this is not the Guild Master’s only motive, he also wants revenge for the loss of face. For the player characters, the difficulty comes not only in getting into the underground headquarters of the Thieves’ Guild, but also in getting their recalcitrant target back out (of course he has no desire to return to the bosom of his former masters) and collecting their payment afterwards. Whilst their true patrons wants the job done, they have no intention of paying for it nor do they want any loose ends left, and that includes the player characters.

Whilst each of the scenario’s four locations – the shop and warehouse run as a cover by the Thieves’ Guild, the Guild’s underground complex, and the safehouse where the party’s patron wants their package dropped off – are fully detailed, the GM is still left with some work to do beyond the simple process of preparing the scenario to run. None of the NPCs are named for example and the locations of the thieves within the complex itself needs to be determined as it varies according to the time of day.

In terms of background, the setting for the scenario is lightly sketched out. This is because the publisher planned to produce a supplement devoted to the City of Sathporte itself. What is given is that Sathporte is a town located on the south coast of the country it is located in, that it is home to some five thousand souls, that it is a major port importing from far and wide, that it is home to several mysterious sects, and that it is ruled by a City Council of three comprised of one fighter, one druid, and one merchant. The predominant faith is Celtic. This lack of detail allows a GM to drop this scenario into any port in his campaign, but it is not difficult to infer what sort of Southern coastal town that the author had in mind. After all, the publisher was based in the English city of Winchester, and the major ports of Southampton and Portsmouth are only twenty miles away or so. That said, there is a seaside town on Merseyside called Southport and it is not impossible to imagine the name “Sathporte” as corrupted version of the name Southport spoken in less than Queen’s English. Of course, we shall never know any more than this, for the promised supplement detailing the City of Sathporte never appeared. As an aside, it should be noted that Chaotic Intellect Products would publish one other scenario, Takishido's Debt for Fantasy Flight Games' highly regarded Oriental RPG, Bushido, and that the owner of Chaotic Intellect Products, Steve Faragher, would go on to become the editor of Arcane magazine, one of the last few attempts to do a general gaming magazine in the UK.

Actual advice for the GM is light, but running No Honour in Sathporte should be a straight forward affair. Perhaps though, it is too straight forward given the slightly linear nature of the complex below the Thieves’ Guild. In addition, the player characters’ progress in getting to their quarry might be hampered if they fail a roll or two, so the GM might want them ensure that their way is not blocked.

Physically, No Honour in Sathporte feels well put together. It is done in black and white throughout and what art there is, is dark and grim if a little heavy in places. It does echo the look and feel of a Judges Guild scenario, but more attention to detail has been paid to this scenario and it has also been better supported than might be found with the average Judges Guild title. If the layout is a little plain, then in hindsight, the designers of No Honour in Sathporte should be forgiven for its slightly amateurish feel. After all, it was the first release from a new publisher in the years before the ready availability of computers and Desk Top Publishing software that would revolutionise and professionalise the hobby industry.

One reason for the obscurity of No Honour in Sathporte is that it was little discussed at the time of its release, though this was in the pre-Internet age and in 1983, there were fewer avenues for public discourse than we have today. Indeed, No Honour in Sathporte was only accorded the one review that I know of, which fittingly appeared in issue #12 of Imagine, TSR (UK)’s house magazine that ran for thirty-one issues in the early to mid-1980s. The review, for which I am indebted to Owen Cooper (whose own blog, Fighting Fantasist, is worth reading by anyone with an interest in British gaming), summed up No Honour in Sathporte with the following:

Chaotic Intellect have put together a good product in Sathporte. The adventure is interesting and challenging, and the various play aids provided show some originality as well as being useful. I think a little more could have been done to provide the DM with some pre-play advice about running the adventure and the size and strength of a suitable party. Finally, the layout could be a bit slicker, perhaps using the system pioneered by TSR which clearly delineates in the text information that the DM should give the players from that which should not be divulged.

It is hard not to disagree with the assessment of the reviewer. No Honour in Sathporte is certainly well supported and has a grimmer tone than most Dungeons & Dragons scenarios of its period. It does lack polish though, its plot and structure are too simple, and it could have done with more advice for the GM on running the scenario. For that, it is not the “GREAT BRITISH PRODUCT!!” as claimed by the publisher on the front cover, but back in 1983, when it would have cost you £3.95, it was worth your curiosity. Nevertheless, No Honour in Sathporte is a well-appointed curiosity from a bygone age that is easily worked into urban based campaigns with a grimmer tone.