[.ca] The Sunless Citadel (ISBN 0786916400)

Quality production, fun setting...:
Warning, spoilers follow: First let me say I haven't played this module, or DMed it. The production quality is quite good, glossy colorful cover, clear and nicely drawn maps, evocative black and white drawings throughout. The adventure itself allows for a wide number of plot hooks for a starting group, and supposedly leads into one of the later modules in this series which is a nice touch. The final encounter is quite interesting, a mix of different types of creatures in an unusual location (a grove underground). The sunken temple is an unusual dungeon too, and there are areas that have been controlled by goblins and kobolds as well as areas that have been unexplored by anyone in ages.. a nice mix. There are nasty traps, the ability to help kobolds out and make the temple easier to handle, prisoners to release, and even an unusual dragon encounter. As an opening module for a group wanting 'traditional' style AD & D adventuring, I highly recommend this module. While there may be too many encounters with the kobolds and goblins, there's enough here to reward the party that takes their time to explore and roleplay instead of killing everything in sight.

Hack Hack Slash Slash Blah Blah Blah:
This is a fairly boring dungeon crawl. There's no real intrigue at all -- all of the puzzles are either solved or they're not, none of them have stages or long-running consequences. It starts off billed as a search/rescue/explore, but in the end it's just explore-and-slaughter, which kind of steals any sense of accomplishment from the players. (Same players different characters rather preferred Green Ronin's "XYZ in Freeport" series in which you *do* rescue the guy they're hired to rescue.) The other thing about WotC mods -- it says it's for first level characters, but it lies: we had 6 of 'em (plus a wolf) in our party and had to rest and heal 22 hours/day. When we finished the end run as level 2s -- which took *hours* and involved a ranged-dice attack on the DM -- we only had half of the party left standing \oless the wolf\c, one of them with 1 HP. The short of it is that it's only for first level characters if the DM is a complete sadist.

Good buy for the begining campaign:
I ran this adventures, and my players and I had alot of fun. two things I would note: 1st, the party MUST have at least four characters, with one of those a cleric. My players went in with only two characters, and keeping them alive was tough at times. 2nd, It is a little tough to blend in with a pre-existing campaign world. We use forgotten realms and I had to do quite a bit of rewriting on the backstory to make it fit. If you are starting a new campaign from scratch, no problem. Overall, I found it an excellent adventure and recommend it. Just make sure you take enough time to really familiarize yourself with the module before you begin play, and make sure your players understand that sometimes talking is better than fighting.

Good Template For low-level Adventures. Spice it up.....:
I enjoyed DMing this adventure, because I used the basic premise as a template and spiced-up the Adventure. There are numerous ways to make this module more fascinating for the characters-- for instance, I placed an "Assassin Vine" in the 3rd-level tunnel, which connects one half of the 2nd level to the other. So, the PCs had to actually Struggle to get to the climax, instead of just casually strolling-along to the conclusion. ... One thing I did to speed-up play and keep things rolling for the Adventurers, was to do prep work in-advance. I drew the Dungeon on hand-graphed poster board, including the 2nd level, the covered the sheets with clear contact paper and cut them out. This way, each room could be dropped onto the table, like placing a puzzle together. This increased game time, considerably. Normally, we draw-out the rooms, with an easy-erase marker, as they occur. I found that making the rooms in advance made the Players much happier and kept them in-character. Also, this module has plenty of Rescue options, and my players pursued those options, instead of just killing everything in-sight. One character even adopted the Bad guy's familiar. One thing this module really needs is more healing Apples (hint, hint), or the party needs a Healer of some kind. I know one DM who has not been able to get a party to the 2nd level of the Dungeon, in this module. The DM may need to spice-up this module a little, but it is a Great template and a great opportunity for future development, with a little imagination--esp., if the party rescues the Dragon. Imagine a Dungeon, ruled by a Dragon, with Kobold minions.... Or, a Dungeon controlled by Dwarves, who come after the special Minerals found here. This adventure module holds much promise and can be used for a base of operations or a future city. I described the Assassin vine that I placed in the lower-level tunnel in such a way that the party walked right into the trap--it was perfect--then, they had to fight their way out. If you think of this module as a template, you can do amazing things with it!

A Very Good Introduction:
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.