The Mines of Bloodstone
AD&D | |
Character levels | 16 - 18 |
---|---|
Campaign setting | Generic or Forgotten Realms |
Authors | Michael Dobson & Douglas Niles |
First published | 1986[1] |
Linked modules | |
H1 H2 H3 H4 |
H2 The Mines of Bloodstone is an official game adventure or "module" for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1st edition) fantasy role-playing game.
Plot
The Mines of Bloodstone is an adventure in which the player characters travel through a blizzard to reach the Bloodstone Mines, through which they can get to the duergar kingdom of Deepearth, and the Temple of Orcus.[1]
The adventure begins with a series of village encounters, before some further encounters and difficult weather in a big valley. The characters then proceed into the Mines of Bloodstone, where the
The module includes two battles between armies of gnomes and duergar for the Battlesystem rules.[1]
Publication history
The Mines of Bloodstone was written by Michael Dobson and Douglas Niles, with a cover by Keith Parkinson, and was published by TSR in 1986 as a 48-page booklet with an outer folder.[1] Cover art was by Keith Parkinson, with interior art by Graham Nolan.
It is a sequel to H1
The modules contains options for use of the
Reception
John Saunders reviewed The Mines of Bloodstone for White Dwarf #88. The review was highly critical, with Saunders explaining that "Strong criticism requires justification in great detail."[2] He called the encounters before the mines "time-wasting", the fight between the duergar and svirfneblin a "splatterfest", the temple of the duergar a "super-killer zoo dungeon", the adventure's climax "ultra-gross", and the whole adventure "just a gross dungeon bash".[2] He also criticized the "well-stocked zoo" of many dozens of monsters encountered before the adventure's climax, and the fact that the many undead present cannot be turned.[2] Saunders also felt the "treasure haul is equally gross", with millions of gold pieces and gems, noting that "Magical treasure is sprayed around like confetti."[2] Saunders also complains that the module never tries to deal with the problems of high level play, such as how the DM should deal with powerful magic spells being used to upset the adventure's plot. He also felt it did not make sense for the script to assume that the players would attack the temple while the svirfnebli fight the duergar, as it is bad tactics to divide the forces and attack two sets of opponents simultaneously if the player characters can take them on sequentially. Saunders concluded the review by stating, "This effort is the best argument I've ever seen for retiring high-level AD&D characters. Quite appalling."[2]
See also
References and footnotes
- ^ ISBN 0-87975-653-5.
- ^ ISSN 0265-8712.