This article originally appeared in d20 Weekly

Idylls of the Rat King

Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King

Published by Goodman Games

Written by Jeffrey Quinn

Cover Art by Jeff Dolan

Interior Art by Brad McDevitt

32-page b&w softcover; $11.00

If the words "Player's Handbook" conjure up images of a fat, grinning idol with pile of dead lizardmen at its feet, then Idylls of the Rat King is aimed straight at you. The module is designed to look, feel, and play like an old-style Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventure. Everything is there that you remember; a multi-level dungeon crawl, familiar critters, a plot that can be gleefully ignored if you just want to kill stuff, even maps that are printed inside the adventure's covers with colored ink.

Physically, Idylls does an excellent job of capturing the old-school look. The layout is clean and simple with reasonable margins and readable fonts. There are only five interior illustrations, but they have that almost whimsical quality from the old adventures. The maps are spartan mazes with simple TSR-style icons. There is an online preview available that includes interior art and maps. Each room description includes read-aloud text in italics and a stat block for any creatures encountered. The introduction includes a table that lists every encounter by location and encounter level, and the last page provides some player handouts (also available online. There is no index or glossary. Also, for those who like electronic formats, Idylls of the Rat King is available for . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.



Article publication date: March 12, 2003

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