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8/08/2020 11:03 pm  #1


Tegel Manor Reborn Review {Spoilers}

I would imagine that most people here are at least aware of the classic Tegel Manor adventure, even if they haven't played it.  First published in 1977 by Judges Guild and written by Bob Bledsaw, it was one of the forerunners of the so-called megadungeon, and a gonzo haunted house without parallel.  I first encountered it in 1983 when I bought a 1980 reprint for a cool $4.50 at a hobby store in Sierra Vista, Arizona.  Yes, I still have that copy, which will be relevant below.

So in 2018 Frog God Games announced that they were doing an updated version of this classic with new material and a custom map.  The original actually came with two maps of the haunted house; one regular one and an empty outline for the players or DM to fill in.  But this was to a huge full color affair, like the whole adventure,printed on glossy paper and published in hardcover.  So I jumped on the kickstarter for the Swords & Wizardry version.  As I recall, they also did versions for the steaming pile of trash that is 5e, and Mathfinder.  Whatever.  Making stuff for them is like collaborating with Nazis.  Understandable on some levels, but repugnant nonetheless.  In any case, the hard copies and pdf arrived last fall.  We finally got around to playing it, with our Labyrinth Lord group, this past week, finishing today.
I'll start by saying the production values are very good. The book is hard cover and full color, with two large (21x25 inch) color maps, one of the manor itself, and the other of the region around it.  There are also color maps of smaller areas inside, though at least one whole dungeon level's maps are missing entirely, at least from my copy.  It has has lots of illustrations.  By contrast, the original has a semi-colored map of the region, but all black and white otherwise, and does not have a single illustration.  However, as a true old school guy, I could not care less about color maps or pictures.  And in fact, as pretty as the maps here are, they are not very useful because the artist put the contents and room names on the maps.  Coupled with their unwieldy size, this makes them hard to use.  In fact, I ended up using my old 1980 map at the gaming table.

As for contents, you do get a lot more, but that's a mixed bag. This clocks in at 185 pages compared to 30 for the original.  Tegel Village, described in 3 lines in the original, gets a short chapter. There is another chapter about the surrounding lands, and an entirely new 40 page adventure involving a sinister monastery, a corrupted temple and a cult of Tsathogga.  This adventure is of particular interest to AS&SH players and could be seamlessly dropped into any AS&SH campaign.  But it should be noted that this adventure is (in some case literally) a meat grinder.  They claim it's for 4-6 PCs of 8th-10th level, but that will be tough.  Our group had 7 PCs of 7th-8th level and only made it through with lucky rolls, still losing one of them, heroically going down in blaze of glory under a swarm of cultists.   In some encounters you'll face 10 or more demons/daemons/devils at once.  So there's lots of fighting, but some interesting magic items as well.  One is tied to Frigga, whose temple is the one corrupted herein and there's a nifty way for someone to convert to her worship earlier in the adventure.

As for the manor itself, it is also much expanded.  Dungeon levels have been added.  There are extensive details of the Rump family who now haunt the house as various forms of undead.  There are lots of evocative images and descriptions.  This can be fun to read, but is not conducive to the table.  Whereas the original was simplicity defined, with as many as 20 terse room descriptions on single page, these ones tend to be 1-3 meaty paragraphs each, even for rooms without occupants.  That amount of backstory will usually be wasted on players.  That being said, there are some great and bizarre encounters scattered throughout.  Ghosts, ghouls, vampires, animated furniture, possessed toys; there's something for everyone here.  And the adventure on the whole is easier than the earlier one, primarily because there are more reasonable numbers of foes in each room.  And it's huge; over 250 rooms.  So you can get a lot of play out of it.

So overall, there is much to recommend this, but note the issues with the maps and over-writing that may slow things down at the table.  If you like haunted houses, evil cults or both, this may be worth your time.

Rating: 4/5 


"Could you fancy me as a pirate bold?  Or a longship Viking warrior with the old gods on his side?  Well, I'm an inshore man and I'm nobody's hero.  But I'll make you tight for a windy night and a dark ride."--Jethro Tull
 

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