Black Gate

Forgotten Realms City System (TSR, July 1988). Cover by Larry Elmore

City System is an interesting Forgotten Realms boxed set that was released in 1988 by TSR, written by Ed Greenwood and Jeff Grubb, and with cover art by Larry Elmore. Except for one very slim booklet, this essentially is a box full of maps (by Dennis Kauth), detailing the most famous city of the Realms, Waterdeep.

Now, I must admit, I have always favored Greyhawk over FR, because it’s what I cut my teeth on, but this set is pretty nice for the development of an enormous city in any campaign. Poster maps include the typical grid of the city, a beautiful, three-dimensional artistic rendition of the city, and then 10(!) poster maps that zoom in on different wards.

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Charlemagne’s Paladins (TSR, July 1, 1992)

One of the more interesting developments during the AD&D Second Edition years (1989-2000) was the Historical Reference series of campaign sourcebooks.

These green “splatbooks” were well-researched, taking a broad view of history, myth, and legend, and looking at all of it through a D&D lens. Charlemagne’s Paladins is one such shining example. Written by Ken Rolston, illustrated by Roger Raupp, and with cartography by Gaye O’Keefe, this sourcebook adapts the historical setting of the Carolingian period into a quasi-game world, featuring the historical and legendary personalities and events of Charlemagne’s time.

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Mordenkainen’s Fantastic Adventure by Rob Kuntz and Gary Gygax (TSR, 1984)
and Dungeon Magazine 112 (Paizo, July 2004). Covers by Clyde Caldwell, Wayne Reynolds

As we approach the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, I recalled and located Dungeon Magazine #112, published by Paizo, which was released for the 30th anniversary of D&D.

This issue featured a retread of the classic AD&D World of Greyhawk adventure module, Mordenkainen’s Fantastic Adventure, by Rob Kuntz and Gary Gygax. It was updated by Erik Mona and company for the (then current) third edition of D&D and retitled Maure Castle.

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Against the Giants by Gary Gygax (TSR, 1981). Cover by Bill Willingham

Against the Giants (G1-2-3) is an absolute classic by the legend, Gary Gygax.

These three strung-together adventures are some of the finest he wrote, IMO. I enjoyed this series first as a player when I was in the 5th or 6th grade, and then running it myself as DM years later. Hill giants, frost giants, fire giants, and drow! Oh, how I enjoyed recurrent use of the drow as a diabolical, super-intelligent, evil menace.

This is how Mr. Gygax described them.

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