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Author Topic: Moving Maze of the Mad Master - Dark Wizard Games  (Read 947 times)

honeydipperdavid

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Moving Maze of the Mad Master - Dark Wizard Games
« on: August 28, 2022, 03:07:41 AM »
Its an OSRIC/OSR module.  Its decently written.  You get the full back history of the villain including his father killed etc.  They even put in a diorama of key moment of the villain being born, really over the top, I appreciate the camp.  You get how he became a master at geared robots and how he got chased out of the town.  There is a rumors table.  A links to the adventure hooks that can be used to get players into the module.  The actual module has a small outside area and is primarily indoors. 

It is a circular dungeon based on an old colosseum converted to a dungeon/workshop/maze of death.  So building the map in your favorite mapping software depending on what you use could be difficult.  I tend to use dungeonfog, so I'm not 100% sure I'm going to build it matching the map.  But the circular map does look really good.

The map is a trapfest and a bit of puzzles, nothing too hard.  They do put in white statues that has clues, that rewards thinking parties.  I'm thinking of having my murderhobo party run through this one to to teach them to lay off the god damn sword for a few sessions for once.  There are a number of different types of generic traps but also some other traps that are a bit random jumps to avoid and others you have to read and think.  Oh the begging statue with palms up, put some gold pieces on the palms, things like that.  The monsters are gears driven robots, with a half-breed gargoyle/human hybrids.  The Block of Hungry Flesh monster was really a joy, its a blob of humans mashed together into an Ooze, and it will absorb your players and add them to it-resistance if futile.  The boss fight for the master could be upped a bit in difficulty, he's a fighter who hurls lightning bolts, which can make sense thematically but could be reworked to other classes.

There are plenty of side NPC's, one bad guy captured and tortured, a good guy with an exploding collar when he leaves - the party won't know just poof his head explodes when they try to save him, a gnome robber.

As to the Art and look, its 1E AD&D trade dress and art style.  Its just a masterpiece really.  The maps are blue grid square.  The art is clean dark black and white lines, it really matches TSR 1980's style, really just beautiful.  It really makes you feel like you are 12 years old in the hobby shop again buying a module to read Saturday night.

It was a kickstarter, they are selling from their online store, so it is available.

As to glitches, not many.  The title says its a moving dungeon, the dungeon doesn't move.  I was hoping there'd be a spinner for it, but there's not.  Its a bit misleading in title, but I can live with it.  The gnome thief with the chest he was pulling, well there's no treasure in the chest itself.  But if you find the thief's horde, more than makes up for it.

Conversion to 5E, its dooable.  You'll have to make some new monsters.  The treasure will have to be reworked because its OSR.  The amount of coin there would be enough to buy at least one or two orders on nuns and convince them to become prostitutes, it's just over the top for 5E.  You'll probably spend more time thinking about appropriate loot for 5E than monster conversions.

Overall, its probably 8-12 hours of play depending on your players.  Compared to what WotC or Paizo puts out, its a better written module.   It's worth the money and you'll get about three 4 hour sessions of fun.
« Last Edit: August 28, 2022, 03:11:25 AM by honeydipperdavid »