The cover (and some interior) art is by David Dorman (who I'm not familiar with). No complaints. It shows exactly what I'd expect from the title. Without opening this book I am guessing David Collins is the story writer and pro Skip Williams provides the Greyhawkness to the module. Moving on.
The intro states the module is for 4-6 players of 2-4th level characters, so right away this is low level fare. Nothing wrong there, I enjoy low level D&D. The module leads into the setting material immediately which is good and hey this looks useful:
"The World of Greyhawk
The village of Rockburgh-On-The-Marsh
(Rockburgh for short) is located in The
Tors, a range of high hills bordered by the
Hool Marshes on the south and by a spur
of the Crystalmist Mountains on the
west. The Tors and the Hool Marshes
form a frontier area between the Yeomanry (to the northwest) and the Hold of the
Sea Princes (to the southeast). The Hool
Marshes are a no-man’s land, its population being the usual motley collection of
brigands, humanoids, and other evil
scum.
The Village of
Rockburgh- On-The-Marsh
Rockburgh was established to advance the
Yeomanry’s claim to this unsettled border
region, preventing the Yeomanry’s rivals,
the Sea Princes, from expanding their territory at the Yeomanry’s expense. Patriotic volunteers flocked to the Tors,
established the town, and endured a tough
winter. At the beginning of spring, the
town’s future looked bright. Unfortunately, the gargoyles emerged from hibernation two weeks later."
Somehow I missed that this was set in the Yeomanry, placing it close to the hotbed of published adventures near the Sea Princes. The information is tight. The entire political and geographic setting for this module is well established in two tidy paragraphs. It later goes into treaties between the town and gargoyle-kind. Quite unique. I'm sure there peace is broken somehow and the PCs will be picked to fix things.
Right off, I notice the naming conventions used here for NPCs and pregen PCs are basic. Rudy, Rosie, Tom, Jerry, Hubert, Baxter, Stumpy, etc. Okay I'm not expecting Ed Greenwood length names here, and Gygax tended to use shorter names too. These are basic though, I'm assuming for a good reason. Another note, the special "Gargoyles of the Tors" in this module have an write-up in the back. I did not know these were a thing and their main difference is that their wings are detachable, so I'm guessing the Tors gargoyle didn't catch on. The entry explains the whole reason for the wingless gargoyles was previous D&D art didn't have winged gargoyles, but they can fly. So wingless gargoyles is the answer. No the reason is illustrating winged creatures is hard because they take up so much space.
Anyhoo the detachable wings makes these gargoyles rather comical in the adventure. In each town location entry there is a random chart that determines how gargoyles land (or crash). And there is a lot of these charts which take up a good portion of the mere 30 page adventure. The gargoyle NPCs are comic relief as much as a dangerous threat. Their wings are actually integral object of the story as well. Go figure.
The cartography in the back of the book is functional, a regional map of the Tors, a town map of Rockburgh and two other encounter locations. Besides a new gargoyle type (and those charts), there doesn't seem to be any other new AD&D creations, like magic items so often seen in official adventures. So an adventure titled Gargoyle has lots of gargoyles in it, doing gargoyle things while the PCs interact with gargoyles. The only shocker is the players can't play a gargoyle at this point! The pregens for the adventure are a standard D&D mix of classes and races, but the module assumes they are from Rockburgh.
This leads to my conclusion, this is a starter adventure for people still somewhat new to D&D. That explains the low-level, the easy to remember NPC names, the bumbling gargoyles and the HEAVY use of boxed text to move along the story. I can see why Gargoyle is not cherished Greyhawk lore by us hardcore fans, because the silly and weird might detract from the more serious parts of the setting. This is why Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is remote, or Isle of the Ape and Dungeonland are demiplanes, and so on. Gargoyle at least is not a parody module like joke Castle Greyhawk. But taken for its source material it's unique, charming and could be improved on if handled in the right manner. Now, do I have the stomach to read Puppets and Child's Play?
Update 06/27/2021: They called me crazy. But LordGosumba is about to run a special stream with celebrity players on this very module. I dare them to not have a good time!
2 comments:
Always thought this one takes more hate than it deserves. As you noted, it's very much a newbie adventure aimed at people with little or no RPG experience and possibly no exposure to fantasy worth mentioning. As such it's fine, and it's light-hearted enough to not frighten off even the most timid tyro. That said, despite being set in Greyhawk its tone might have fit Mystara better, maybe tied in with the Orcs of Thar (who are also portrayed as surprisingly comedic for a kingdom of humanoid monsters). The detachable wings thing is pretty silly, but at the same time a more serious take on it where gargoyles are naturally modular and can have parts added or subtracted for varying abilities could be neat. Play up the elementally-empowered living statue aspect. Maybe build a culture for them where the strongest of them prey on the weak and use their dismembered parts to add extra limbs, wings, heads (ettin gargoyle?) and just sheer mass. The gonzo basic idea in the module could be the basis for a more serious and dangerous take on a classic critter.
Thanks, Mike. That was fun. Few spoilers, too, for those of us who might read it regardless of its generally bad reputation.
I find that most modules have their fair share of silly, tournament modules, especially. It is there where unique monsters dwell, and likely should remain. But most modules can be gleaned from; begged, borrowed, and stolen from.
The question is, is there something salvageable from the module?
Did you learn something useful? Or is it just standard fare for the young, nothing too deep, or scary, or...shall I say it...offensive? I suppose it was offensive, though, wasn't it...to fans of the setting, or it wouldn't be in the bottom tiers of rank.
Reviewing this was very brave of you. :-) Or would true bravery be to suggest the best of the best are less good than we remember...
Post a Comment