#timothy truman

Tim Truman cover for Expert D&D module M2: Maze of the Riddling Minotaur by Jeff Grubb, TSR, 1983 – This M2 is part of the “Marker” series of solo adventures, packaged with an invisible ink pen that revealed hidden sections of text during play.  Two years later a different “M” series began for Master rules adventures (the M in the BECMI D&D series – Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, Immortal)

N is for Novice, which would make you think the series of modules is intended to teach folks how to play D&D. Nope! These are just low-level adventures, for the most part, intended for novice CHARACTERS, not novice players (with one notable exception we’ll get to later in the week). N1 - Against the Cult of the Reptile God (1982) isn’t even a good adventure for novice characters.

It IS a good adventure, though, but a little bit of an odd one. It is the third or fourth in a series of D&D modules around that time that investigated the idea of Village-as-Adventure-Site (Hommlet and Saltmarsh both showed up the previous year), but this is the first one to actually set the adventure in the village (to this point, adventure was nearby, not in, the village). The titular cult has agents living in town and NPC-driven events happen independent of player action, which is pretty newfangled for 1982 D&D. The mystery component (folks are disappearing, who could be the cause?) is an excellent way to engage low level characters without exposing them to excessive danger and is a pretty narrative focus for the time as well. It works pretty good, the events in particular inject a nice sense of urgency.

The stumble is at the end, the final confrontation with the cult. On paper, even a group of 3rd level characters is going to have a hard time with that encounter, so the module provides a 7th level NPC mage who can help out. This is a weird decision! I like the idea of putting low level characters up against a too-strong final fight, especially if you give them lots of room to be clever about it. An NPC isn’t that, really. I feel like this demands a deep rework or a dial-down in difficulty. But otherwise, a pretty solid adventure!

Tim Truman on the cover and on the title page (love that black and white one). James Holloway handles most of the interiors. He’s a bit more slapstick here than I want, honestly.

Conan The Barbarian

Art by Timothy Truman

the cover to Scout: War Shaman (1988) #6 by Tim Truman