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Dungeons and Dragons adventure module … And The Gods Will Have Their Way

Designer: Bob Blake

8.5” x 11” no binding, 12 pages (including covers)

Edition reviewed: Polyhedron Issue #19, 1984

Number of characters: 6-10

Character level: 4-7

Player summary: The first stage of this adventure begins where the adventurers have used Ishcabeble’s Incants and entered the tomb of Llywelyn in order to resurrect him to become king once again over Pellham. The players unknowingly resurrect Grellyn by mistake (this is unavoidable). The resurrection of Grellyn, however, prompts a simultaneous resurrection of Llywelyn. Both men share a split soul, thus their deaths and resurrection are intertwined. The physician of the gods, Diancecht, wanted the split soul but Arawn beat him to it. The resurrection of Llywelyn prompts an appearance by Arawn to ascertain who has taken a soul from his domain (actually, a split soul; ½ from Grellyn and ½ from Llywelyn). Although the players have seemingly accomplished the task of resurrecting the king, Llywelyn strikes a mortal blow against Grellyn with Arawn’s club. This kills Grellyn but also kills Llywelyn as well. The resurrection of the king worked but only for a few minutes before the split-soul vessels (Llywelyn and Grellyn) died once again.

The players will need to do some thinking in order to come up with a few conclusions. They will be assisted as needed by Diancecht.

There is another heir to the throne, a woman named Ardel, daughter of King Dacquiri. She is the adventurer’s next option for establishing a new ruler of Pellham: Queen Ardel. King Dacquiri moved her to another plane in order to protect her. The team must travel there and convince her to come back with them and become queen.

Dungeon Master information: Ardel is only half the story. Diancecht produced a clone of King Llywelyn in female form, and then sent this clone to the same plane as Ardel. The female clone of Llywelyn is named Marna. The players must retrieve both Ardel and Marna and bring them both back to Pellham (thus, restoring King Llywelyn to the throne as well as allowing Ardel to become Queen of Pellham). This won’t be easy as the two women are leaders of opposing Amazon factions. Additionally, the players don’t know about Marna but are given clues with the assumption they will figure everything out on their own.

The landscape of the other plane is a jungle. There are 12 detailed encounters, although several of them are nothing more than a waste of the player’s time (they can be avoided if the players pay attention to clues received). The narration actually states the encounters are a waste of the players time which I think just reveals portions of the module are completely unnecessary to the storyline, and that's a design flaw. There are additional encounters as well (7 total) that are to be used as random encounters.

When the players meet Ardel, they will simultaneously meet Marna. They will then have to deduce the importance of both women and convince them to return through the portal. Once they have returned one or both women, the adventure will end.

This module is the last part of a larger campaign (The Prophecy of Brie) which is strung together over several mini-modules published in Polyhedron magazine.

My thoughts: Although the module is 12 pages from start to finish, a full 3 pages are devoted to lore and background. There is nothing the characters ‘do’ during this time. It’s simply a matter of revelation through chatting with Arawn and Diancecht, and through the unexpected death of Llywelyn and Grellyn after they are resurrected by the party in King Llywelyn’s tomb. That’s 25% of the module dedicated to discovering information through conversation with very minimal action on the part of the players.

After Diancecht opens a portal to the plane where Ardel and Marna are located, it is only then that the players can start making decisions on their own. However, there isn’t much to decide. The encounters are sort of haphazard in nature, and there are no real ‘goals’ to speak of other than convincing Ardel and Marna of their destiny to return to Pellham. And the players are predestined to meet both of them simply by following the path before them (literally).

For my tastes, this entire module is not enticing enough to want to run it as DM or experience it as a player. It’s mostly an intellectual game; the deducing of facts through intermittent revelations most of which are provided by a scheming Diancecht. In short, this module is too much thinking and too little action to prompt actual gameplay.

From a collecting standpoint, this is the mini-module located in the middle of Polyhedron issue # 19.