Customer Reviews

Return of the Eight (AD&D Fantasy Rolepaying, Greyhawk Setting)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Return of the Eight, an adventure set in Greyhawk, gives player characters the opportunity to save that most famous of AD&D cities and civilization in the Flanaess along with it. It is intended for four to eight characters of levels 6 to 12.

Return of the Eight includes a variety of enjoyable fantasy elements from the world Greyhawk that are likely to appeal to players familiar with this milieu, including exploration of famous wizards' towers and lairs; potential encounters with such legendary beings as Tuerny the Merciless and Tenser the Archmage; and battles in a variety of exotic venues with many sorts of dangerous foes.

The few maps in this 64-page adventure are decent, especially the colored ones on the inside covers. A few other illustrations appear throughout the booklet but are generally unexciting (some done by an artist with only a limited knowledge of weapons; i.e., a war hammer looks like something intended for tapping beer kegs, and a battle ax is shown at least twice as large as it should be).

A party will fare best in Return of the Eight if it is strong and well-played and contains one or more paladins or rangers and a tough wizard; other parties can still succeed, of course, but should expect to suffer more casualties and grief ...

--Michael J. Varhola for Skirmisher Online Gaming Magazine

The alternating column size is distracting. I surmise this was done to give Greyhawk something that sets it apart visually, and it might be a good marketing technique for a gaming product. But when you think about it, I mean, is any creative layout really necessary anyway? All thats needed is a single font, and a few machine drawn maps. The border graphics are not needed, neither is the internal artwork. Its all for appearance. If this alternating column size was created to give Greyhawk a different "feel", and I think I can get used to it, even if it is just a bell & whistle. But I did find it odd that the NPC descriptions were not in this new column format, and instead reverted to the standard sizes. The internal maps should have grids. I prefer floor plan maps to have much more of a machine drawn look to them. The "sloppy" look is fine for external maps, but for inside I need to know how far apart everything is. Getting out a ruler is discontiguous in game play. The story is quite plot driven, especially the start and ending of Act One. There are very specific events that must take place to segway the adventure along. I found both the introduction and the background somewhat convoluted. It would have helped if there was a succinct chronology of events somewhere, perhaps under "Dungeons Master's Notes". Jallarzi's Tower is your basic good mini "dungeon crawl" here. I was a bit unclear as to why Jallarzi was changed into a man instead of being killed outright (other than for a plot device) as well as Marial (feeblemind by a demon? hmmmm). While I did find this gender switch unusual for a TSR adventure (unprecedented?), I don't think it would have affected her quite as much as the "Conclusing and Consequences" section states... I mean, she is used to polymorphing, being a wizard and all. I can understand why she would be "deeply bothered" by a forced alingment change, but I suspect the gender chan! ge would have been old hat for her. Tenser's Castle is another more extensive dungeon crawl ("From Oerth to the Moon" - ha ha). I was quite pleased by the description and layout of the land bridge, external protection systems (verme fish, underwater watchglobes, 600 bloodhawks, teleportation dampening field, etc.), and the village of Magepoint. I'm glad we now know where the Scepter of Might and Regalia of Might are located, as well as a Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga chicken leg. I was pleased to learn that Prince Thrommel of Furyondy, although dead, can be restored to life if his soul gem is found and placed back into his signet ring. I realize these were only suggestions, but they were good ones. I enjoyed reading about the explanation for the "strange mechanical noises" emenating from under Tenser's castle, but I would have liked to know a little more about oerthblood. Is it really Oerth's blood, or is that a nickname? Do the drow, duergar, or other UnderOerth creatures know about the oerthblood vein? Do they not have access to the magma lake cavern where it is mined? Why not? How do Oerth's magical ley-lines fit into this picture? As a proponent of Greyspace I feel that Luna was a very appropriate place to put this gate. The description of the bizarre lunar flora and fauna were superb (purple, yellow spotted treetop spiders - love it). I find it appropriate that Tuerny the Merciless is now a nalfeshnee demon, but don't we have enough extraplanar creatures running around the Flanaess? How is anyone getting anything done? Doesn't anyone just farm anymore? Not to mention the reference concerning Graz'zt capture by Tuerny's human form 900 years ago, and then Graz'zt turing around and doing the same to Tuerny.... it had shades of Iggwilv. If Graz'zt is always being captured, how does he stay in power? What's his problem? I know that Iggwilv was kept ambiguous on purpose, but a few stats would have been nice. Having spell effects "in excess of 2! 5th level" does give the DM somewhere to start though, and overall I was pleased with her write-up. I liked the subplot concerning Tenser's resurrection via a secret clone. Having him polymorphed into a bizarre blue dretch-like creature is hilarious, if not fitting. After he's rescued, it mentions his willingness to destroy Rary and Robilar, and to form a Lawful Good "Circle of Eight" made of heroes, clerics, and paladins with the goal to destroy Iuz's armies... I smell a boxed set coming on. Warnes Starcoat's hair got quite a bit longer since Isle of the Ape (page 28). Agath of Thrunch might outshine him, but I think Warnes was the right choice. Agath is a Neutral Good cleric, and this falls in opposition with the Circle's philosophy. Warnes worships Zagyg - is this why he's dresses like Captain Hook? Theodain Eriason is a high elf character that is sound,but I am a little disturbed by the unexplained bizarre Hautna Masq switcharoo. I wish motivations were explained in more detail. Hautna Masq has appeared, and now we have another female Greyhawk dragon, this time polymorphing into a real person's identity. I surmise the "Masq" is short for "masquerading as Theodain", but what is her motivation. Is she spying on the Circle or just curious? The text states she doesn't attend Circle meetings, but her title reads, "Undetected member of the Circle of Eight" which implies some involvement. Alhamazad the Wise is a Baklunish wizard on the Circle! I love this colorful character. His last two descriptive paragraphs have a lot of adventuring potential. The text indicate he is aware of ancient Baklunish Empire ruins, but I was under the impression there were none (except Tovag Baragu). I suppose some underground parts of major cities could still exist after the Invoked Devastation. There is even an Oriental adventure connection. Nice ideas.

I'm an avid fan of the Greyhawk setting so it pains me to say I am a little dissappointed in this new module. The main flaw is that it is completely scripted and leaves little room for the alteration that most modules require. The NPC's are extremely powerful and even the encounters are so over powered it is hard to change them to work in a less magic filled campaign. I always thought it was a lame fabrication that a member of the Circle of Eight could be killed and every clone destroyed. Just not possible. I was glad to see an official reversal of this even if only slightly. I liked the castle design and would love to see designs for the residences of others of the Circle of Eight in the future (with accompanying plot lines). Overall I'm glad to add another Greyhawk module to my game collection. I hope following modules will have similar plots ideas, but be more free and open about how events must occur and what events must occur.

I am someone who really thinks that most 2nd edition + TSR stuff is rubbish but this module (apart from the appallingly bad cover artwork) really surprised me. The layout is beautiful, as is the border artwork, and the NPC section is great with the best AD&D artwork I have seen since the 1st edition Manual of the Planes. Some of the artwork is like Mike Mignola's!