Customer Reviews

The Sunless Citadel (Dungeons & Dragons Adventure, 3rd Edition)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My group and I are all in our 30's. We're gamers from the old days who decided to give 3e a try. As the DM, I was very pleased with this module. My players were, too.

First, I was pressed for time before our first sitting and knew there was no chance I'd have time to read two new rulebooks *and* compose my first dungeon in 15+ years, so buying a ready-made adventure was a necessity, not a luxury.

Second, even if I'd had time, I wouldn't have wanted to start off with a module of my own creation the first time out of the gate with the new rules. The odds were too high I'd make it just about any degree of difficulty other than the right one. So, again, a pre-made module seemed a good idea to get used to the new rules and give me an idea what to do to make my own later without making them either too easy or impossibly hard.

Third, I needed to be able to have a fairly easy time running a game with a new set of rules unfamilair to us all *and* running the adventure at the same time. This module was very nicely balanced, giving my players ample oportunitys to try out their various skills and included an abundance of rules tips and assistance for me.

In short, this module met all of my needs very nicely. It gave the characters a couple of decent hooks and some mysteries to solve, gave each of them several ways to be involved throughout, and allowed them to use a number of different gameplay approaches (rather than just hacking-and-slashing) so that it stayed interesting. Meanwhile it gave *me* lots of help and several interesting NPCs to play for them while still allowing me to do some creative DMing as I went. I was entirely satisfied and my players had a great time without ever feeling like they were being led by the nose or were on rails.

Also, because it's nicely ambiguous about the larger questions and gameworld, I am able to integrate it seamlessly into the ideas I have for where I want to take their campaign. My only complaint would be that Oakhurst, as other have noted, seems like an afterthought. More detail there - especially the same kind of attention to NPC characterization that the dungeon itself has - would have been appreciated.

All I really hoped for when I bought this - the one option available for a brand-new set of characters - was an adequate starter module that would get my players and I back in the groove after all these years. What I got was considerably more. The gameplay (some fighting, some puzzle-solving, some diplomacy, some sleuthing) provided a nearly perfect start to my campaign and matched the tone I wanted to set exceptionally well. I would not hesitate to recommend it for others just starting with the new rules, whether they're brand-new to gaming or old-timers coming back after a long hiatus.

Pretty well put together starter adventure for the 3rd Edition. You have to be careful with your players though, if they are of the "charge in and slay everything" (you KNOW who they are) they will run into some serious problems lest you resort to GM fudging. In a way that's good though, as it forces and encourages a more professional approach to the dungeon (with their new characters).

The first time in my players made several nasty mistakes and ended up fighting at three to one odds. They chose to stay and fight and ended up with a total party wipeout (gotta love the new sorcerers). Well written, with some hooks that are easily avoided for the thinking man's party, this adventure has just enough bite to be challenging and dangerous. All the things D&D should be. It fits nicely into any campaign world and the premise behind the citadel itself is quite good.

I am one of those people who hate to create their own D&D adventures, so the first thing I did when I decided I wanted to run a 3rd Edition game was purchase an adventure also. Since this was the only one available, this was the one I bought. After reading through it fully, I have to admit that I'm glad I bought it.

This adventure gives DMs the chance to explore the new rules -- it offers suggestions of what skills a character can use. It lets each character have their moment. It's very simple, yet it offers character options other than combat. (For example, at one point the characters can choose to be diplomatic with one group of creatures rather than battling through them.) It does a good job of giving characters the feeling that they can choose what to do next while limiting their options so that the DM is not overwhelmed.

I was a little disappointed by rule inconsistencies between the Player's Handbook and the adventure rules, but I assume that's because they were being designed concurrently. I was also disappointed that the town and its inhabitants weren't detailed just a tad more. One last complaint is that the Adventure Hooks are weak and few. Overall, however, it's worth buying.

I'm a busy guy. I've got a job, a wife, a baby. This adds up to not a lot of time to plan adventures. Thank heaven for Wizards, who every few months, pump out a few more adventures for busy fellows like me.

Sunless is a dungeonhack. It's got it all: magic, mystery, goofy characters (just wait until your players get to meet Meepo, or as my players called him "meatball"), vile enemies, and just a really messed-up bad guy at the climax (good thing there is no therapist NPC in D&D, otherwise we'd lose a lot of our best villains).

It's a canned adventure, similar to Forge of Fury: the players have limited options on where to explore, until they progress through the plotline, eventually solving problems and gaining access to more and more sections of the dungeon. This works out well for light- hearted adventuring.

I recommend this adventure to all DM's, it's a great example of how to setup a D&D 3rd Ed. dungeonhack, but I feel that those DM's that have more time to create their own adventures will find the plotline a bit stale in Sunless. Nonetheless, it's really fun to play, with loads of kooky NPC's to role-play and entertain your players with.

I have attempted over the years to design D&D adventures, so I have some idea how hard this adventure was to produce. Overall, this adventure is great. The cover art is wonderful and the line art inside evokes images of D&D days gone by. "Back to the Dungeon" looks like it will be a big success.

The Sunless Citadel gives you everything you need to start a D&D3E campaign: a skeletal town suitable for plopping in to any campaign world, villians worthy of recurrence and an interesting place to explore. Also, this is one of the few 1st level adventures I have read that is actually engaging.

This adventure has something for each character class and painstaking "how-tos" for the DM. I have not run the adventure yet because my players are currently in a homebrewed adventure (which sucks in comparrison to this). Oh, the possibilities...

Fun little dungeon crawl. The actual adventure gets 3 stars, because it gets pretty repetitive. But the setting--the Sunless Citadel itself--is very very cool. 5 stars. Reminds me of the first D&D adventure, In Search of the Unknown. In fact, players who remember the first encounter in that classic module are in for a nostalgic "easter egg".

The game has a nice mix of encounters that allow each class to shine. Fighter-types will, as always, see the most action. There are opportunities for non-combat roleplaying and creative spell use, as well as plenty of hack-and-slay combat.

There are a few annoying moral dilemas:

<minor spoiler alert>

At one point, you find yourself with a bunch of civilian goblins. Women and children. Well, gee, now what? You can't just kill them (not if you're playing a Good-aligned character, anyway), but if you abandon them they'll be killed by the other monsters. So, what, you take 50+ civilians with you? Set them up on a government-assisted program? Relocate? I don't play D&D to deal with these... issues. I just want to explore old dungeons and have fun with the new magic item creation rules of Third Edition.

</minor spoiler alert>

Anyway, a fun romp, and there's certainly plenty of very, very interesting adventure hooks for further adventures: use the Citadel as a base of operations? Why was it sunk? What's with all the dragon imagery? If you just leave it after the adventure, what moves in now that it's empty?--could be a "Return to the Sunless Citadel" there...

Highly recommended.

I just got finished reading this adventure. It will be my first time DMing in 3rd edition after DMing in 2nd edition for over 10 years. I loved the layout of the dungeon and the story concept. Even a novice DM or a DM trying 3rd edition for the first time will find the adventure easy and fun to run. The rules for 3rd edition are explained briefly as they are used which makes life much easier when you are just learning new rules. All the creatures contained in the adventure have full statistics supplied so you don't need the monster manual to play. I think the length of the adventure is adequate for a beginning low-level adventure. However, I thought the creatures encountered are a little two difficult for a 1st level adventure. Fortunately, the creatures that are too difficult like the troll and shadow can be avoided or evaded. The rest of encounters are balanced and difficult enough to keep player interest. The adventure allows for a significant amount of roleplaying if the PCs don't kill everything first. I do recommend this adventure especially for new DMs and players since they will not know the difference; however, the introduction and background setting for the adventure leave a lot to be desired. The town of Oakhurst is not detailed at all and provides no reason for adventurers to be there.

For those who play in the Greyhawk setting, the town of Oakhurst doesn't exist; but, since it is a small town it can be placed in any inland area like Keoland or Veluna. As a matter of fact the only the only shred of evidence that the adventure is even set in Greyhawk is that the paladin, Sir Bradford, carries a holy symbol of Pelor, a Greyhawk god. Essentially this adventure can be played in any campaign setting including Forgotten Realms. I do hope that some adventures designed for the Greyhawk campaign setting will be written!

This adventure is like most TSR adventures(especially the old ones) where it provides NO plot or story. It is what TSR calls a "site-based adventure." They provide a map of the Sunless Citadel and a description of every room. But maps of dungeons dont make a good adventure. I completely disagree with the guy who said it was lazy man's D&D. In order to make it half-way decent the DM must come up with some reason for the pc's to be in the dungeon. The reasons in the book are silly and they are only explained in one paragraph. I am giving this 4 stars becuase the dungeon is particularly good and detailed, and provides an excellent framework for a campaign. Definitly worth buying for Dm's(like me) who are no good at coming up with dungeon crawls.

I just hope the next set of adventures links with this one a little.

This was alot of fun for my PCs. It was a great way to start playing with and learning the 3rd edition rules with wonderful sidebars to really help out the DM. I went through and made a separate notebook for my own reference, because I thought I'd need the extra info to hand. Guess what...it got thrown out. They really did a great job of giving you what you need and it ended up being easier to flip to the back of the book for creature stats than to keep going back and forth from module to notebook.

We spent over 30 hours on this, but I do more random encounters when traveling than recommended. Also, my players do more role-play than the norm since I award extra experience for it.

There are many great threads here, and I especially liked (and used), the link to the next adventure, The Forge of Fury. Also, my PCs really get into the additional rewards that are available if they perform certain extra tasks for NPCs. Some of the hints for getting started and the extra quest really helped the players get into this new campaign.

All in all, I had no complaints about this adventure. Great job!

I'm stunned by the number of rave reviews I find about D&D materials these days. While I agree that the Forge of Fury isn't bad, the Sunless Citadel is a decidedly mediocre product.

I have to admit that I did run an adventure that seemed to be enjoyed by all. The biggest problem was really the lack of logic in the module. How did Meepo keep the dragon in the cage? It hated him and could kill him in 6 seconds (even with an accidental sneeze). Why do the goblins have no way out of the dungeon except through Meepo's room? Even if you give them another means of egress, according to the module, they still travel through Meepo's room to get out.

There are also some issues I simply associate with laziness on the part of the game designers. Why use the stats for a troll for a mummy? The broken gravel around the citadel is a lame way to keep characters from wandering far. The kobold lair was utterly uninteresting (non-combatants all in one big room, the rest are elite kobolds who travel around in little packs, ...).

Now, these complaints are not to say the module can't be fixed. Also, the gauntlet the goblins force you to run can be a pretty fun romp (it was). And none of my players seemed to notice these "horrible" shortcomings so maybe I'm just too picky.