Superhero Evolutions: Wonder Woman, part one

“Go in peace my daughter. And remember that, in a world of ordinary mortals, you are a Wonder Woman.”

Wonder Woman has changed a lot in both powers and looks in her 80-plus years of existence. Even today, in an era where creators try to keep continuity more or less consistent, she changes radically from writer to writer. So let’s look at the greatest of the female superheroes, her origins, and the changes she’s been through over the years.

Troubled Times, Troubled Adventures: Tantras, part six

And now we’re on the final chapter of Tantras. In a good module, this would be a massive and memorable set-piece that would have the players talking about it years later. Bane is about to invade Tantras, meaning that he’s going to do battle with Torm. While chaos rages in the city, the PCs have to find their way to the Tablet of Fate, all the while dodging the two brawling gods in the streets.

But this is the Avatar Trilogy, meaning that interesting choices and perilous scenarios aren’t really allowed. The PCs are accompanied by Midnight, Adon, and Kelemvor, who will do everything for them if necessary. Additionally, Elminster is around this time, grabbing the heroes by the wrist and leading them along the way.

Troubled Times, Troubled Adventures: Tantras, part five

The old saying from Spaceballs is that evil will always triumph because good is dumb. In the Forgotten Realms, it’s the other way around – evil is so very, very stupid. To illustrate that point, Chapter 5 opens up with the following off-screen event:

“Cyric arrives in Scardale, leading a Zhentilar force. To test this rising star in his ranks, Bane has sent him (along with Durrock, the assassin who led the assault on the PCs) to Tantras, to kill Kelemvor for his treachery and to capture Midnight. Bane is worried that the PCs are getting close to the Tablet of Fate.”

You would think that Bane curing Kelemvor of his panther-itis would have come with a price, but it didn’t. Bane gave Kelemvor everything he needed on good faith that the warrior would betray his friends. Moreover, he’s worried that the PCs are getting close to the Tablet of Fate…didn’t he just capture them last chapter? It’s a case of, “Why don’t you just kill them?” He knows that Midnight is the one of value, and she was sitting bound and drugged in a cell when either Adon or the PCs saved her. Had Bane just killed the helper characters, he wouldn’t have had to make his idiot bargain with Kelemvor in the first place. Not that I’m advocating that the PCs should have been killed off, but it would have been nice to see a villain show some competence. Bane supposedly got his divinity by tricking the old god of death, Jergal, into relinquishing his power. Did Jergal have the intelligence of a tree stump, or has Bane just become really stupid in his later years?

Before the events begin, the PCs finally arrive in Tantras. A guardsman calls out to them as they dock:

“Ho, the ship!” bellows one, from a raised stone deck ahead of you. “Lose way – you’re too fast in, by far! Fend you off from these” – he waves at three gigantic, seagull-covered spires, rising dark and glistening from the water – “and turn in here. That beyond’s for larger boats. Turn in, I say!”

Around the officer, as he speaks, a dozen archers come to look down at you, and ready shafts to their bows.

Wait…what?

This is going a bit far…the designer is begging to give the PCs an excuse to get killed here. The docking could have gone nice and smooth, but instead the PCs’ first impression of Tantras is thirty archers aiming bows at them for what amounts to illegal parking. If the PCs ignore the warning, they become perforated. If they have common sense, they dock and everything goes smoothly. An adventure is perilous enough as is…is it really necessary for a module to contain the possibility of the PCs getting killed by overzealous traffic cops?

Troubled Times, Troubled Adventures: Tantras, part four

Chapter 4 picks up after the PCs have been captured and brought to Scardale. They had to go to Scardale to get to Tantras anyway, so I’m not totally sure why there was such a need to have them captured. Maybe the capture was actually meant to enforce the plot in case the players have any resistance left. I haven’t read the novels in a long while, so maybe this was a scene from the novel. Or maybe the capture was put in after the fact because the module was a bit short page-count wise and they needed to beef it up. Either way, the PCs are bound for Scardale no matter what.

Troubled Times, Troubled Adventures: Tantras, part three

Chapter 3 starts off with a big block of off-stage events for the DM that is not meant to be shared with the PCs. The NPC Kelemvor continues to hunt the PCs, but has doubts about doing so because he feels they were wrongly imprisoned. In an editorial oversight, the text also refers to the PCs as “his former companions,” when he hasn’t been introduced directly in the adventure. Like Adon, Kelemvor is being shoved into the plot because he was in the novels. It seems like Shadowdale was set up to at least try to allow the PCs some wiggle-room away from the events of the book, but that Tantras is running lock-step with the novel. I’m thinking some tight deadlines were involved, resulting in this module (and probably the whole series) getting rushed out before it was even proofread or playtested. The latter might be a moot point, because I’m not entirely sure that TSR under Lorraine Williams ever actually playtested their products.

In other off-stage events, Myrkul has restored Bane after his battle against Elminster at the end of Shadowdale. Bane’s new goal is to capture Midnight, whom he correctly believes to be linked to the now-dead Mystra.

Troubled Times, Troubled Adventures: Tantras, part two

Chapter 2 is about as close as Tantras gets to resembling an actual adventure. It details the trip down the Ashaba River, which is a tumultuous one thanks to the magical chaos effecting the land. It really boils down to a series of random encounters that don’t have a huge effect on the plot, but those encounters are particularly precious in these adventures. After all, they’re the only times when the PCs get to actually go something for themselves.

Troubled Times, Troubled Adventures: Tantras, part one

Elminster has been murdered.

And to make matters worse, the player characters who helped save Shadowdale from the armies of Zhentil Keep in Shadowdale (FRE1) have been sentenced to death for killing the old sage. They’re innocent, of course, but in this time of troubles in the Realms, truth and justice are not always served. Imprisoned in the Tower of Ashaba, the heroes must escape if they are to survive!

Later, when the heroes start their quest for the first of the mysterious Tablets of Fate – mighty artifacts stolen from the overlord of the gods himself – they come up against an even greater peril: Bane, the God of Strife, and his ally, the God of Death, have set in motion a plot to capture the heroes and their companions. You must face deadly assassins, nightmarish monsters, and violent storms on your way across the Dalelands. And the worst threat of all is an unexpected one – the man who helped you earlier has now joined the side of Bane and the forces of Zhentil Keep.

Perhaps it’s the rushed ending of Shadowdale, but the blurb for Tantras doesn’t nearly seem as appealing as the one from the previous module did. Maybe it’s because of the whole “sentenced to death” line – the last module ended with the PCs being accused of killing Elminster, but not sentenced. One would assume that Lord Mourngrym, a fair man who the heroes had a chance to speak with in the last adventure, would give them a just trial. But if we’re really starting off with being sentenced to death, it looks like the opportunity for the PCs to defend themselves will never really get realized. A shame, as trials in RPGs can be amazingly satisfying when done well.

Superhero Evolutions: Hal Jordan

“In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil’s might beware my power…Green Lantern’s light!”

Next to the Incredible Hulk, Hal Jordan is my favorite superhero. As a kid, I liked him because he had the coolest costume and the coolest superpower. As an adult, I like him because he’s fearless and heroic but also a hard-headed moron. I can sympathize with a character who is kind of a jerk at times but who has a good heart and will do the right thing when the chips are down. I don’t really know of too many other characters in comics who are believably flawed like that. Arguably, there’s Guy Gardner, another Green Lantern, and over in Marvel there’s Hank Pym, who is like that but veers more toward overt mental illness at times.

Overall, I find Hal to be a strong enough and believable character to cross over the nostalgia filter and move from my childhood hero to my second favorite superhero ever. The journey hasn’t been easy for Hal, though. He was victim to one of the biggest cases of character derailment in comics, and it took him a full decade to recover from it.

So let’s take a look at the history of Hal Jordan, the Silver Age Green Lantern, as he went from hero to psychopath to hero once again.

Troubled Times, Troubled Adventures: Shadowdale, part six

And now we’re at Chapter 6, the last section of this adventure. There are no random encounters in this chapter – everything that happens from here on out is plot-related.

To summarize the story so far:

• In Chapter 1, there was a really bad storm. A bunch of important stuff happened, but the PCs didn’t get to see any of it.
• In Chapter 2, a mysterious woman named Caitlan begged the PCs to help find her mysterious mistress who was being held captive at Castle Kilgrave. Whether it was the chance for adventure, the inviting sound of the castle’s name, or the fact that Caitlan cried and groveled if they refused, the PCs took the job. They were also joined by a magic-user named Midnight, whether they wanted her or not.
• In Chapter 3, a bunch of ill-defined stuff happened at Castle Kilgrave. The text is vague, leaving it up to the DM to come up with personalized material for each of the players. I thought that modules were supposed to make less work for the DM, but whatever. What is defined is that Caitlan was actually an avatar of Mystra, the goddess of magic, who had been captured by Bane, the god of strife. Mystra merged with Caitlan and took a plot MacGuffin from Midnight.
• In Chapter 4, a ton of cool stuff happened, including the death of Mystra and the PCs finally being informed that the gods have all been cast down from the heavens. Unfortunately, the PCs didn’t get to take part in any of these events – it was all just read aloud by the DM.
• In Chapter 5, the PCs and Midnight had to set out for Shadowdale to meet Elminster the Sage. If they didn’t, a 14th-level paladin showed up to kill them.

Let’s see if this chapter goes any better…

Troubled Times, Troubled Adventures: Shadowdale, part five

Chapter 5 of Shadowdale is essentially the insurance chapter to make sure the PCs are following the plot. It’s even got events planned specifically to keep them on the intended course. As always, in order to actually create a story of their own, the DM and players have to rely on random encounters.

I’ve suggested that these modules are the worst ever, but I guess in a way they could be seen as the perfect modules – not in terms of fun, but in terms of defining the difference between AD&D 1st and 2nd editions. 1st edition was all about exploration and dungeon crawling. There was very little in terms of an overarching plot and the world was built slowly. A lot of times, folks would play without a setting at all – just a dungeon and a loosely-defined home town. 2nd edition is the edition for those who love campaign settings. The Forgotten Realms hit the height of its popularity then, and innovative settings such as Dark Sun and Planescape came about. The adventures became more about heroism on an epic scale. But, at the same time, the settings got routinely demolished by novels, which TSR ranked as their big money-makers. Dark Sun was totally redesigned in the span of five books that came out immediately after its release. The Realms got wrecked numerous times, so much so that it became a tradition that remains even today.

Even when the PCs pursued these epic adventures, TSR’s official canon was constantly determined by novels. Case in point: Dead Gods, a Planescape adventure. The PCs, if they win, prevent the resurrection of the demon lord Orcus…except that later publications established Orcus’ resurrection as canon. So even if the PCs saved the day, the official material for D&D undoes their achievement.

These modules are a bridge between AD&D editions in more ways than one. They’re meant to provide a transition rules-wise, but they also highlight the shift in publication style for TSR in this era. The random encounters have a number of different solutions to them and can be a lot of fun, a la the old dungeons of 1st edition. But they don’t have any effect on the plot. The actual plot events are rigid – the PCs can’t change them, largely because they’re based on novels that became a part of the official Forgotten Realms canon. They’re effectively the more story-based adventures of 2nd edition, taken to such an extreme that the PCs have no leeway at all.

That synopsis is probably not fair to 2nd edition AD&D, which I do think was a legitimate improvement over 1st edition system-wise and flavor-wise. But the edition happened to occur in the era of Lorraine Williams’ run as CEO of TSR, during which time she regularly produced products that took a big ol’ dump on long-time gamers and ran the company into bankruptcy as a result. 2nd edition had great ideas, but often poor follow-up…a lot like these modules.

Personal rant aside, let’s get back to Shadowdale…if you dare.