Review & Commentary on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - 'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' For Your Old School Campaigns

 "This is the second in a series of groundbreaking AD&D® accessories. Within these pages are nearly 70 fully developed adventures that can be inserted into any campaign. They are ready-to-play challenges for all levels of characters. DMs need not spend long hours creating diversions for their players—we've done it for you."

"If you have The Book of Lairs, you already know what you'll find herein. These mini-adventures are arranged by terrain type (city, desert, hills, mountains, forest, etc.), with monsters in alphabetical order for easy access. At the back of the book is a combined monsters statistics table, showing all the necessary figures at a glance."

"These are familiar monsters (like the gnome, brownie, and ettin) and not-so-familiar ones (like the bakemono and tengu), from both original AD&D sources and the Oriental Adventures book. Some of these mini-adventures are mere diversions; others can turn into minor campaigns! In any case, DMs and players alike are sure to be pleased with The Book of Lairs II."

So let's pick this up   'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' after this blog entry here?!   'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' was a second release at  in  (1986) & is the fourth AD&D REFerence and the secound of the Lairs books of short adventures. It was published in April 1987. And 'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' is a very heavy adventure anthology with some incredibly iconic & mythological monsters of Advanced Dungeons & Dungeons first edition or Advanced Dungeons & Dragon 2nd edition. 

'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)'  takes the adventure anthology outlook & brings in one hit point monsters all of the way up too iron golem. Why because this book takes the adventure anthology of encounters formula and brings it into shape for both editions of the grand game. It does this by using displacer beasts, fungi, beholders, and mind flayers as the encounter fodder for adventure groups. 

This makes 'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' a perfect fit for OSR retroclones such as OSRIC or for Gold & Glory. 

Each of the encounters within 'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' can be tailored to your old school campaigns circumstances call for. And this makes 'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' perfect for bringing into Greyhawk or other old school campaigns. 

'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' adventure encounters can be tailored from gritty to full on high fantasy. And with a bit of effort could be brought into a Sword & Sorcery game such as Hyperborea rpg third edition as one off displaced entities or monsters. Not so with Greyhawk where each & everyone of these encounters feels at home. 

'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' takes the adventure encounter anthology format and brings it up a notch because of its diverse cast of authors. Authors that were quartinated by one of classic TSR's best. According to the Drivethrurpg entry; "Project coordinators Bruce Heard and Karen S. Martin herded twenty different contributors, some TSR staff and some freelancers: Anne Brown, Scott Bennie, Deborah Christian, David Cook, Jane Cooper, Ed Greenwood, Jennell Jaquays, Robin Jenkins, David E. Martin, Karen S. Martin, Anne Gray McCready, Bruce Nesmith, Jeff O'Hare, Steve Perrin, Jon Pickens, Michael Price, Rick Swan, Gary Thomas, William Tracy, and Allen Varney." This showcases some incredible talent across such a sprawling & wide range of areas from classic TSR. So is  'The REF4 The Book of Lairs II (1e)' a part of the lists of underrated classics?! In my humble opinion?! Yes! 

Review & Commentary on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - REF5 Lords of Darkness For Your Old School Campaign

"The Undead. Denied the eternal rest of Death, cursed to wander the many planes and worlds forever, their very existence a mockery of life they constantly crave yet cannot have. Created by the foulest of magics, they have only one thought, on burning goal: revenge against the living. Or do they? "

Back in Eighty Eight I received  REF5 Lords of Darkness (1e) as a gift one Christmas from my family. The book is a great adventure anthology & one that's very fitting for Halloween. But confession time I hate the Forgotten Realms with the passion of a thousand suns. 

I loath the Forgotten Realms it represents everything I hate about harmonized Advanced Dungeons & Dragons second edition. From cookie cutter settings to having to buy tons of books just to learn the secrets of the setting which were well known to players. The Forgotten Realms remains my least favorite second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. The fact of the matter second edition remains one of my least favorite incarnations of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Forgotten Realms sucks. It is the archetype of generic fantasy with no character whatsoever. I understand that dungeon masters like the Forgotten Realms  because it gives them a lot of flexibility, but  the trade offs are not worth it. I suggest choosing a more interesting setting. My opinion was formed because of the Forgotten Realms novels & no I will not read a single one ever again.
Now with all that said REF5 Lords of Darkness isn't any of those things at all. This book is a solid anthology of horror & the undead which shouldn't even have the Forgotten Realms label on it. Because REF5 Lords of Darkness works with just about any Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first or second edition campaign. It works very well for all of the right reasons & if you don't believe me then let's take a look at what Jim Bambra had to say back in Dragon magazine No. 151 (November 1989); "Jim Bambra reviewed Lords of Darkness for Dragon magazine No. 151 (November 1989).^[2] Bambra felt that the style of presentation for the fictional pieces describing the undead in action "is far superior to the dry style adopted by many supplement writers".^[2] He noted that four of the adventures lack maps, reducing their usefulness as plug-in scenarios, and that two adventures "are set in castles that cry out for at least schematic diagrams to show their layouts".^[2] Bambra felt that the quality of the adventures also varies greatly, and that while most are "fairly good", he continued "[a] few are so thin and underdeveloped that I wondered why they were included".^[2] He contended that the adventure dealing with zombies is "the worst of the lot", partly because the characters would be facing "opponents who are likely to stomp them into the ground", but called the mummies' tomb and the lich's lair "fine examples of the dungeon designer's art".^[2] He called the optional Horror Check rules "a laudable attempt to instill fear of the undead but not sufficiently developed to be effective", because "the system isn't integrated into the AD&D rules in a satisfactory manner, as characters will deteriorate to the stage where they are unable to function effectively—a situation contrary to the spirit of the game and more in keeping with the grim tone of Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu game".^[2] Bambra said the accessory "expands greatly on the background of undead in the AD&D game and provides a source of short adventure settings."^[2] He also said it was a good resource in terms of "new necromantic spells" and "information on the ecologies of the undead", but concluded: "its lack of maps and the underdevelopment of some of its adventures make it a merely useful rather than essential item.""
From here you can see REF5 Lords of Darkness is a solid addition to any AD&D dungeon master's tool box. These encounters & adventures represent everything right about this as a second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons product.

Everything within REF5 Lords of Darkness can easily & completely be used in an OSRIC or Labyrinth Lord Advanced campaign with little modification that's because of the nature & solid adventure construction within the contents; 

""Tales From Beyond the Grave" (pages 4–75) presents ten complete adventure scenarios, each one highlighting a "classic" undead type, with the challenges increasing from one scenario to the next. Creature notes accompany each adventure. The scenarios are from five to nine pages each, and include the following: "Skeletons", by Deborah Christian; "Zombies", by Michael Stackpole; "Ghouls and Ghasts", by Paul Jaquays; "The Tombs of Deckon Thar", by Steve Perrin; "Shadows", by Christian; "Mummies", by Jaquays; "Vampires", by Vince Garcia and Jean Rabe; "Ghosts", by Garcia; "Oriental Spectres", by Christian; and "The Dread Lair of Alokkair", by Greenwood.

"The Night Gallery" (pages 75–84) details the main character or creature of each adventure and can be used to plan a series of encounters. "A Mundane Guide to Wards", by Greenwood (pages 85–91), explores the magic and lore of dealing with undead. "The Lords of Darkness", by Greenwood (pages 92–96), presents new spells for necromancers.

Cover art for Lords of Darkness was done by Jeff Easley and interior art by Karl Waller, and the book was published by TSR in 1988 as a ninety-six page book.^[1] Editing was by Scott Martin Bowles, and cartography by Dave LaForce.^[2] This supplement was perfect bound, and released for the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons^[2] with product code TSR 9240."

What makes REF5 Lords of Darkness work is the sheer variety & depths of these adventures & how they can even be applied to a product such as Lamentations of the Flame Princess or even the Sword & Sorcerous depths of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. 

REF5 Lords of Darkness is one of those books that I feel should be on the shelves of any series OSR or old school dungeon master. Five outta five in my archives. 

Review & Commentary on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons - I13 Adventure Pack I For Your Old School Campaigns

"I13: Adventure Pack I (1987), by Scott Bennie, Anne Brown, Deborah Christian, Jennell Jaquays, Harold Johnson, Anne Gray McCready, Steve Perrin, Warren Spector, Rick Swan, Ray Winninger, and Allen Varney is the thirteenth intermediate-level adventure for the AD&D line. it was released in May 1987. "

Eighty seven was a bumper year for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, & I13: Adventure Pack I isn't a product that gets a lot of airtime in old school circles. That's fine because its about time that this adventure anthology gets its due.  I13: Adventure Pack I is a classic adventure anthology in the sense that it presents actual useable side quests that a DM can insert into their OSR or old school games. And it does it with style. Why?! Because this is an intermediate title in the 'I' line of adventures. These are specifically tailored adventures for mid level & middle of the road adventurers & these adventures follow specific categories that enable a DM to tailor the material to their home campaigns.

And if you don't think that I13: Adventure Pack I (1987) is a classic then think again the reviews over the years have borne this out; "In his review for Adventure Pack I for White Dwarf No. 92, Graeme Davis said, "I'm confused over why this product is called I13 rather than REF5; it certainly has more in common with the two Books of Lairs than with any of the Desert of Desolation adventures".^[2] Of the adventures, he said that "some are thinly-disguised monster bashes, whilst others rely on thought and subtlety. Some look like Book of Lairs ideas which grew in the writing, and some are not so easily classified."^[2]Davis concluded by noting that the adventures were designed to be used at any point in a game, and were generally long enough for a single evening of play. He added that the styles of the scenarios were so varied that they might not all suit a group's play style, but said, "However, even so I13 is worth a look if you play a lot of AD&D and like to have fill-in adventures handy."

Yeah your gonna see that word 'handy' a lot and it shows because this is the same style of review that Ken Rolston also gave  I13: Adventure Pack I ; "Ken Rolston briefly reviewed Adventure Pack I for Dragon magazine No. 129 (January 1988).^[4] Rolston called it "a good collection of short, stand-alone AD&Dgame adventures by a number of established and promising designers".^[4] He felt the plots, tones, and flavors of the adventures were particularly original and offbeat. His favorites were "Steaks" by Allen Varney ("a compact, charming, nicely staged gaming vignette with a clever central plot device") and "Terror in Skytumble Tor" by Paul Jaquays ("a sharp little adventure with clever plot devices and vivid NPCs in a derelict sky castle that is ponderously tumbling end-over-end toward the earth").^[4] Rolston felt that while reading long modules could be rather dull, these short adventures were a good length. He considered them long enough to present an idea, but short enough to read straight through without getting bored, and "the varied tones — some light and clever, some earnest and heroic — make for a more pleasant reading experience".^[4] He concluded that "the adventures here are comfortably conventional in their AD&D game feel, and can easily be slipped into a typical house campaign""

But is I13: Adventure Pack I  still useful today in the world of old school & OSR campaigns?! Yes it is for a number of reasons. First of all it works with OSRIC & easily translates over to Labyrinth Lord Advanced without any  issues.


So what's in I13: Adventure Pack I ? The fact is that the whole package reeks of old school AD&D within the middle period of the Eighties;" Adventure Pack I is a collection of eight scenarios and three mini-scenarios, including a mystery at a magical circus (written by Warren Spector), a war between assassins (written by Steve Perrin), and a mission to the spinning sky castle of a dying storm giant (written by Paul Jaquays).^[1] The adventures average 8-10 pages in length, and are intended for character levels 4-10.^[2]

The individual scenarios are titled "Blood and Laurels", "The Circus of Gandolfo", "The House of Long Knives", "The Lauros Road Bandits", "Reign of Triumph", "Scavenger Hunt", "Sharla's Zoo", "Steaks", "Terror in Skytumble Tor", "To Kill A Kraken" and "The Weird Woods of Baron Orchid"" 


Its the flexibility & sheer variety of adventures & slices of old school encounters that make I13: Adventure Pack I such a classic. Any of the retroclones or even the B/X  Dungeons & Dragons systems can benefit from this module anthology. I13: Adventure Pack I is a class act all of the way around & should be in any dungeon master's tool box.