Dragon Issue #21 Hall of Mystery

The Heretic

Should be playing D&D instead
In a feeble attempt to fill the void left by Bryce's lack of access to adventures printed in Dragon magazine, here is my first review.

Dragon Issue #21 - Hall of Mystery by Don Turnbull (published December 1978)

While looking up when this was published I ran into this little tidbit in a prior article:

"Encounters can grow dull and routine, each being practically identical to
all the others. This can be avoided by giving the people the players
encounter personalities. Giving these people pasts can liven up a game
greatly."

Ya think? We've come a long way, haven't we? I suppose this is a good omen for what I just got myself into.

The Hall of Mystery is described as "a section deep in the Greenlands dungeon" and oy I wish it had remained buried.

There isn't very much to this thing and at least it's only two pages long (the map takes the second page). The bulk of the dungeon is a large, pillared hall with a few large mirrors at various points and a central rock cylinder. A writing desk along the east wall contains a rhyme that allows you to unlock the secret to the rock cylinder, which is a dial that teleports you to an outlying room with a single monster and some treasure. That's pretty much it. He doesn't actually tell you what the treasure is, though he does tell you what what he used as guardians in each room. The tone is conversational, the language is descriptive and not evocative, and there is no usability at the table. I see why Bryce gets so grumpy.

This thing is mainly of interest only as a historical curiousity. Next!
 
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