It’s like the authors took a “d100 random rooms in a megadungeon” brainstorming exercise and turned it into a book, without actually creating a plot or progression…And as-written, the biggest danger to most parties is dying of starvation. EXPLORE THE MAZE OF THE BLUE MEDUSA. Here’s one of the entries I’m fond of “Waerlga: Animated statue of a Vampire. It houses a medusa “timeless eons old” who runs the place kind of like a prison, petrifying the worst of the worst. Of course. And Maze of the Blue Medusa is the madly innovative game book from the award-winning Zak Sabbath of A Red & Pleasant Land and Patrick Stuart of Deep Carbon Observatory. Maze of the Blue Medusa works with your favorite fantasy tabletop RPGs. The maze itself has two entries. This is SO much more interesting than just getting attacked by everything. Longtime readers will recall that I think that the purpose of the adventure text, the actual language used, is to inspire the DM. Tragedy. Future generations shall think themselves accursed they were not here and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks they played Maze of the Blue Medusa.This is a 304 room dungeon described over 144 pages. A sudden bursting out of a squealing pig. It’s frightful, etc. Some thing to interact with. Is it a rescue mission, or a “just because” or “make it up your ownself”?I believe this is the hook: “The PCs acquire the painting “The False Chanterelle” (Halls 1). It’s not a maze, in the minotaur/labyrinth sense, but rather a large (304 rooms!) I’ve been fighting myself for hours. If I were a murder hobo and I ran in to a group of women armed with machetes in a dungeon I think I’d pee myself a little.Did i miss the hook? Characters poking about in a ruined scene, full of shadows and potential danger. This plays with format in the same way that the One Page Dungeons do, and in the same way Stonehell does. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies. It’s great. An anarchic wax golem wanting to overturn the power structures … but who is terrified of the consequences … or getting found out. He paces back and forth on cloven feet, listening at the western door, waiting for his chance, whispering to the knife he holds: “Now ..? Energy. It’s one of the best adventures ever produced, ranking among the best both in creative content and usability.In the forward there’s a short note from the publisher. Maze of the Blue Medusa is in some higher tier than The Best. It seems very complex but I suspect if you forget some of the goals/motivations along the way in some sessions it won’t matter.
I’m fighting against saying this is the best thing ever produced. The facing page shows another version of the map section in question, closer to what one would expect a traditional supplement map to look like, along with a small inset showing this section relation to the greater section it’s a part of, and where it fits in the entire maze/dungeon. This isn’t a hack piece where monsters attack when you enter the room. How about a sword that turns blood into wine? There was this vibe in Caverns of Thracia where things felt a bit … older? Of the over one-thousand adventures I’ve reviewed this is the best. No? Islanders clean and maintain the maze, wearing masks of unattractive women to avoid unwanted attention from the dungeon's inhabitants. You point out that the magical items are unique, but if this megadungeon is to be the driver of player development I think it lacks just a bit in traditional magic items. However, I see a lot of groups and gamemasters checking this out and “putting it back on the shelf” so to speak.
Hundreds of rooms filled with all sorts of random shit that is all interconnected and constant random encounters that are also interconnected? It is the music of the Moon Man mourning his stolen sons.” You don’t need a thesaurus to write an impactful description.The encounters proper are creative and full of potential energy. Instead of Gygax/etc writing D&D based on LoTR and Appendix N, it presumes that instead that context did not exist and they made a fantasy RPG based around their love of Greek myths and legends. A couple of pages of introduction for each level just to get you oriented and then everything including the map, on one page. So many designers fail in this. It’s darn creative and evocative, but are there really people who can keep track of this much complexity such that they can run it as an adventure? The dreck keeps rolling out from the big names doing work for the big RPG publishers. Maze of the Blue Medusa is a dungeon. It ranks with that very smaller group of three adventures that I love.
(Zones, with themes! These format are, I think, all trying to solve the problem with the DM having to take notes. Maze of the Blue Medusa works with your favorite fantasy tabletop RPGs. It just IS. You WANT to know what’s going on. I can fit this megadungeon in my sandbox, so if players don’t like the eccentricities they can go elsewhere. PLEASE BUY A COPY OF THE BOOKS THAT YOU USE. I love the same things that you love, so this seems like a no-brainer.