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Castle Amber (Château d’Amberville) in play

If you’ve never heard of Castle Amber (Chateau d’Amberville), it’s a 1st edition D&D module; specifically, it’s module X2.

Trapped in the mysterious Castle Amber. you find yourselves cut off from the world you know. The castle is fraught with peril. Members of the strange Amber family, some insane, some merely deadly, lurk around every corner. Somewhere in the castle is the key to your escape, but can you survive long enough to find it?

Published in 1981 and written by Tom Moldvay, this module is a classic. In fact, it’s been rated as the 15th greatest D&D adventure of all time. Now, it’s not a classic because its an epic adventure or because the adventurers run through it are so memorable. No, it’s because it’s so. freaking. weird.

I have actually played through the first part of it and I could never wrap my head around it. A few years back, someone on RPGnet decided to update it to 3.0 and run his players through it. I highly recommend taking the time to sit down and read it. It’s long (24 pages) but definitely worth it.

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=116562

Here are some of my favorite quotes:

“It ate our mule!” exclaimed Scarlet.

“Don’t get me wrong, lady,” he said. “I’m just a regular guy trying to get by in the world. Even if it isn’t my own.”

The Mysterious Mule-Eating Mist was gone, and age caught up with the Château in an instant, crumbling the walls and toppling the turrets. Before long, the manse was in ruins. The players cheered heartily at the sight.

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Posted in: 3E, Gamer Life, Humor, RPG

6 Responses to “Castle Amber (Château d’Amberville) in play”

Professor Pope October 23rd, 2008 at 9:09 AM

It’s funny; this module just got a mention over at Grognardia the other day:

http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/10/retrospective-castle-amber.html

I’ve never played it, but the more I hear about it the more I want to. I did just pick up Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, though. I hope to run it at an NC Game Day soon.

Professor Pope´s last blog post..Fringe — 10.22.08 (”The Cure”)

Stuart October 23rd, 2008 at 10:54 AM

I love Castle Amber.

Stuart´s last blog post..The Tyranny of the Turn

reveal October 30th, 2008 at 1:35 PM

@Professor Pope – Guess I’m not the only blogger who likes it.

Blog dot Graphite Golem dot com, another sketchblog by another illustrator. » Blog Archive » Dragon-A-Day Reboot: Day 6 March 26th, 2011 at 9:34 PM

[...] On Friday night, I was playing 2nd Edition D&D. The party came out of a cave, and we were ambushed by a red dragon who was cruising through the neighborhood. It nearly wiped us out in the first round with its fiery breath, putting most of us in the single-digit hit point range (translated from geek speak: It almost killed us), and killing the cleric’s NPC wife. The dragon then stayed aloft, out of shortbow and sling range (but not Thrown Rock range, apparently; Belt of Giant Strength FTW) because there was no real reason for it to try and engage us in melee, as apparently only one of us could fly, that being Dale the cleric (who had been given wings sometime last year while we were losing our minds trying to lift the curse of Castle Amber). [...]

Nick April 3rd, 2011 at 1:59 PM

This is one of the greatest adventures of all time, by one of the greatest game designers of all time. I would love to see a 4E version, and I am working on one.

Dragon-A-Day Reboot: Day 6 | Dragon-A-Day October 14th, 2011 at 11:01 PM