Rediscover the fantasy artwork of X2: Castle Amber (1981), Tom Moldvay’s classic Dungeons & Dragons Expert adventure inspired by Clark Ashton Smith’s Averoigne stories, featuring art by Erol Otus, Jim Holloway, Harry Quinn, Jim Roslof, and Stephen D. Sullivan.
I've only 'played' this module once. That was my first experience with D&D.
I've since DM'd it a couple of times and it's a great module to run but it definitely needs a DM to read through the module thoroughly and do some extra preparation work, if you want to truly get the most that's on offer within the module.
IMO, the thing feels like it should be two modules. There's so much going on with the story that's been barely covered, just a few sentences to give a hint and that's it. There's scope for running an open world sandbox as well as a fun-house dungeon if a good DM can be bothered to put the effort in.
I would say this could also be seen as a prequel to Ravenloft. The Grey Mist, the spooky, strange setting, being portaled to other realms, well that's what Ravenloft did but Castle Amber did it first.
I've only 'played' this module once. That was my first experience with D&D.
I've since DM'd it a couple of times and it's a great module to run but it definitely needs a DM to read through the module thoroughly and do some extra preparation work, if you want to truly get the most that's on offer within the module.
IMO, the thing feels like it should be two modules. There's so much going on with the story that's been barely covered, just a few sentences to give a hint and that's it. There's scope for running an open world sandbox as well as a fun-house dungeon if a good DM can be bothered to put the effort in.
I would say this could also be seen as a prequel to Ravenloft. The Grey Mist, the spooky, strange setting, being portaled to other realms, well that's what Ravenloft did but Castle Amber did it first.