Tag Archives: Palace of the Vampire Queen

How much description should a dungeon key include?

Posted on November 21, 2016 by David Hartlage

The conventional Dungeons & Dragons adventure includes a dungeon key describing numbered locations on a map. When D&D co-creator Gary Gygax created his first dungeon under Castle Greyhawk, he usually wrote a 1-line note for each room. These notes served … Continue reading →

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Mapping—or not-fun things that Dungeons & Dragons players learned to skip, part 1

Posted on May 11, 2016 by David Hartlage

In 1978, when I found the Dungeons & Dragons basic set, I noticed that the dwarf description included lot of fluff: stocky bodies, long beards, and an ability to detect slanting passages, shifting walls and new construction. I figured the … Continue reading →

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9 facts about D&D’s first standalone adventure, Palace of the Vampire Queen

Posted on May 3, 2016 by David Hartlage

Before Curse of Strahd and Ravenloft came Palace of the Vampire Queen, a dungeon written by California gamers Pete and Judy Kerestan and distributed by TSR Hobbies. 1 Palace of the Vampire Queen may count as the first Dungeons & … Continue reading →

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