Dungeon Magazine #70 - The Kingdom of the Ghouls
by Woflgang Bauer
An adventure for 5-8 PCs, levels 9-15
From pages 48 to 74 of Issue #70 of Dungeon Magazine is one of the finest adventures written for second edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. The adventure itself is a long one, epic in scale and covers quite a bit of ground. Seriously, this one is probably one of the best that 2nd edition has to
offer; much like my review of Iron Orb of the Druegar I feel confident
ranking it up there with the best of 1st edition as well. I cant state this enough, this thing is awesome: undead, ghouls [true
ghouls at that), cloakers, svirfneblin, driders, undead beholders, deep
dragons, and more! All the creatures you would want placed in a
underground adventure are there.
On top of all of this, it has some new antagonists that make things quite interesting. So, tired of dealing with drow being over used? In step the ghouls.
While set in Greyhawk, it can easily be transported to any campaign world will minimal fuss and if you are like me these things are a god send in these days of little time to prepare for gaming.
The Kingdom of the Ghouls centers around mysterious goings on with the Underdark on Oerth (Greyhawk) in the areas of the Yeomanry. I like this you could plunk down the seminal G1-3 for further use, giving the DM plenty of high-level choices to offer his group. It also has its roots back to 1st edition via Yeenoghu (The Demon Lord of Gnolls) in the Monster Manual: "As this demon prince also receives homage from the King of the Ghouls..." So there you go, one brief passage from the previous edition and BAM! an adventure takes form...
The start of the adventure is the fact that various deep dwelling races are being displaced by some unknown force and the PCs are invited to investigate the matter. Very early on it becomes apparent that all is not right and the PCs become embroiled in the conflict below. Where the PCs get involved is gnomes requesting aide, sounds easy enough...
There are a few paths that the PCs can take and without spoiling it, I will only allude to them. With a big underground space to travel the PCs can and will encounter the evidence of the ghouls depredations. The Ruins of Glimmerfell, the Ghostwood, and the Ruins of Angrimm being very nice touches that add to the overall feel of the module. I particularly like the Ghostwood with the drow banshee.
Each of these are designed to propel the PCs further towards the ghoul menace and deeper into the adventure. In addition to gathering treasure the PCs (smart ones) also have the opportunity to be able to recruit more forces for their assault.
The module culminates at the Ghoul City of Kilenor along the massive cloaker rift. Its situated in a very defensible position with access being tough to negotiate. A group that attempts a frontal assault with sufficient planning and troops (see "Army of Hope" (see below) is going to get mauled. The only other option I can see is trying to sneak in and using powerful magic to mask the attempt.
Strengths
The Lovecraft quotes and the illustrations definitely lend a very creepy feel to the whole work. The tone of the writing carries this as well. The maps and the illustrations dovetail nicely and the maps are well done themselves leading to no confusion on the part of the DM.
As noted right in the beginning there are plenty of adventures from Dungeon that can be tied into this as as well: Shards of Day (Issue #60), Swing Shot! (Issue #66) and Uzaglu of the Underdark (issue #67). A few more come to mind that I can thing of: Chasm Bridge (From Dragon Magazine #131- A special insert) and perhaps even as part of the Night Below campaign boxed set. In short, there are plenty ways this can be used and plenty of material to tie it into. One in particular is Khazefryn from Dungeon #81 the last 2nd Edition issue of Dungeon. This could very well be adapted to be part of this adventure.
Another thing I like about this module is the fact that the ghouls are a force to be reckoned with; which is not what one would expect, especially at higher levels as a PC. They are presented as sweeping aside the other (presumably powerful) underground races.
Another strong-point is the fact is there are a lot of side adventures or call them scenes perhaps, tied into the adventure with their own story that are open ended. Should the PCs emerge victorious these areas can be used as part of an ongoing underground campaign for follow up.
I like the fact that the King of the Ghouls need not stand and fight unless he wants to. There are some mechanisms to facilitate escape and should the DM want it he can become a reoccurring foe for down the road.
The true ghouls themselves- They have a nice host of abilities to cause the PCs trouble. Normally, high level clerics will easily turn ghouls or destroy them outright and depending on the level of the cleric in questions this still may be the case. However, the sheer volume of the ghouls means that the cleric can’t hope to turn them all. I liken it to say "Dawn of the Dead" (2004 version) there are simply too many of them.
Treasure is in line with what one would expect for an adventure of this magnitude as are the XP awards. The PCs can accumulate a fair amount of loot, but a enterprising Dungeon Master can have fun with that. Or if you are like me as a player use it! Give it to henchmen and the like.
Oh yeah, having a Nodwick cartoon for it at the end is always welcome!
Weaknesses
The start of the adventure is the standard "the local lord approaches with a mission" in this case a gnome. While not bad, it is a bit overused. It does not have to be used as is or perhaps the DM could invent other ways to motivate the PCs. In any event a minor quibble.
The Army of Hope mechanism. I’m of two minds on this: one it hearkens back to -War Machine in the BECMI days which is cool. The flip of this is takes away something of the story. Another possibility to combat this is to use Battlesystem or Battlesystem Skirmish for 2nd edition to balance this out. Being a war-gamer I’d go for Battlesystem. For those DMs/groups who are not, then use the Army of Hope as it works to keep the PCs the central focus while the army action takes place as a background event as it were.
Another problem is that assault or infiltrating Blackgate Palace could be an issue even without fighting everything the PCs come across. The reason is that in city filled with ghouls and other denizens; the likelihood of retreating to rest and regain spells is going to be minimal at best. So if the group gets into even minor scrap its going to find it difficult to complete their mission.
Closing
In closing if you are looking for a high level adventure for your group then go no further then this. I have yet to use it, as my current crop of PCs are rising in level this one is becoming closer and closer.
So for those that have this adventure or better yet have played it, what are your thoughts?
NOTE: the original review appears here at dragonsfoot.org
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