The Dream Lands campaign setting by Horrible Lurkbeast

Background Info

posted by Horrible Lurkbeast Original SA post

I'm gonna start with some background info.


Dungeons and Dragons
The Dream Lands campaign setting (All of two modules)

Unfortunately there's scarce little information on the internet about the author and the publishing company, but I'll do my best.

From about 1989 until the mid 90's Mitzuv was the sole franchise publisher of TSR and some other gaming and book companies.
Other than D&D and AD&D Mitzuv also published fantasy and SF novels as well as gamebooks from Steve Jackson Games, mostly Fighting Fantasy.

The writer and producer of the modules is Geva Perry, who translated many of the books published by Mitzuv and was by all accounts one of the first gaming and post-Tolkien* fantasy nerds in Israel.

Both adventures are set on a vast continent called Nulimis or Nolimis (Hebrew is a funny language) in the setting of The Dream Lands. Map to come later.


*The Hobbit was first translated into hebrew in 1976.

E: it's 02:20 and I just took Ambien so let me quickly summerize the back blurbs before I turn into a frothing racist and you guys can decide which I'll start with.

Lunar ladies:
Empress Elvira(sic) tasks the PC's with recovering the stolen enchanted staff of fertility back from the amazon women of the moon (and they seem to like fetish cloths).

War of the living statues:
The Baron is missing! The search party is missing! The king hires you to figure out just what is happening.
"The king thinks that the baron intends to rebel against him, but the true occurrences are stranger, more horrible and dangerous by far!"

Post

posted by Horrible Lurkbeast Original SA post

Dungeons and Dragons
The Dream Lands

First up the world map, taken from the second module as that's the better version.



the map is filled with silly and unimaginative names such as Pyromount(transliterated), cities named Gold, Silver, Electrum, and even some regions plainly named Good, Evil, Chaos and such.

I invite any Hebrew fluent person who feels like listing them all to pitch in, if no one does then I'll get back to this after doing both modules.

Geva Perry then goes on to thank Guy Perry (a relative?) who is listed for production and design,
to Carol Dalcanho, the inner illustrations artist.
and a shout out to Ol' Gary Gygex.

*This is true, in the early 90's RPG's were sold mostly at computer and bookstores.
there was a market crash of sorts in the mid 90's, and at the early 00's new FLGS's started popping up to fill the niche.

and now:
The Lunar Ladies


the module starts with a page of some generic starter GM tips; this adventure is for 4-7 character 12-16 level party.
a note that it was first played at Israeli Dragon Tournament in Purim 1991.

* (I'm gonna call it TSF from now on)

up next: the Tismanian empire (that crescent shaped isle in the upper right and a bit of land bordering it)

The Lunar Ladies

posted by Horrible Lurkbeast Original SA post

Dungeons and Dragons
The Dream Lands

The Lunar Ladies

The module proper begins with this gorgeous piece of art:


after that there's a three paragraph description of the Tismanian empire:
800 years ago one kingdom started to absorb its neighbors peacefully or otherwise
and today the empire is a union of various kingdoms and domains.
this was a short summery of background-not-appearing-in-this-module.

player's background:
Tismanian views on gender roles are rather regressive which pisses off the goddess of fertility, Caroline.
The priesthood of Caroline and the struggle for equal rights again, will not impact the adventure in any way.
Hundreds of years ago an empress had no male children, she prayed to Caroline for male heirs and the goddess
gave her a magical staff that will give her the ability to choose what gender the baby will be born as.
BUUUUT Caroline is still a vindictive goddess, and so if the staff is not in the empress' possession than no
males would be born ANYWHERE in the empire.

the possibly NSW staff:
https://i.imgur.com/At6mxXh.png
this awful sidebar is plastered on every single page.

the staff was magicked away by a nation of warrior women (no word on how the empress knows whodunit),
who wish to weaken Tismania for future conquest.
I'll detail the Lunar Ladies when we get there.
The empress is to be executed for losing the staff in one month because we need a deadline, I guess.
Empress Elvira calls for the characters in secret and promises 12,000gp and a magic item each for the job.

Part the first: the journey south to Moonland(transliterated)

After two days ride (no significant events, just some merchants and travelers SIC) the party reaches The Magic Forest,
here they notice a trail of gold coins!


the trail seems like it was caused by some unnoticed hole in someone's bag, after 200 meters it comes to an opening
in the ground- anyone taller than a dwarf must bend to enter.
This is of course the world's most obvious trap and the party is assumed to take the bait hook line and sinker.


This handsome fellow is a monster called a Goldshitter, which is transliterated. goddamit Geva you fucking hack.
It hides behind some trees and rolls a bolder for 8D10 damage into the lair and then enters through a secret entrance
to finish off the survivors.


It can attack two different characters with its claws then bite another with a 2D10 poison which keeps effecting
until cured (says the only effective spell is Cure-all but I don't have the rulebooks so I'm not sure which spell it is)

Reward: 8,000 REAL gp and a +2 double handed sword.
As you may have guessed other than the treasure in the lair all other coins are monster droppings and while indistinguishable
they disintegrate in 3 hours.

Next: Day 2.

Post

posted by Horrible Lurkbeast Original SA post

Dungeons and Dragons
The Dream Lands

The Lunar Ladies

Day 2

Generic forest description, then it starts raining and everything turns muddy.
Each character has a 1 in 6 chance to notice a quicksand pit, I guess we're on foot now but the module doesn't say.
Anyone in the pit sinks up to their neck in 6 rounds and will then drown in 2 - 4 rounds unless helped,
while this is going on two Mud Golems join the fun (no treasure).


Eventually the party reaches a shallow river, beyond which they see the City of Magic
(it's mentioned the city is 2km away for no reason).

Day 3
The city of magic is only described as a Magocracy which is part of the Tismanian empire,
other than that the GM is told to come up with whatever.

Day ~9

After 5 days riding the party gets to Philosophy City, capitol of the land of Philosophy.
On the way they encounter a patrol that demand 30,000gp tax to continue, those are of course corrupt soldiers
and the players are supposed to figure this out somehow. no advice beyond "this doesn't have to end in a fight"

treasure: 45,000gp

Day ~10

The city of Philosophy is full of universities and "People who like very much to 'philosophize'",
The GM is told to imagine a land based on the mind and schooling and knowledge,
if your fucking peanut brain can grasp the concept! (doesn't say it but that's what I feel he's saying)

There are experts aplenty that charge upwards of 2,000gp for information
the info you can buy is:
1.A geography lesson on Moonland which is completely useless as you got a map, thanks for the gold sucka!
2.Lunar Ladies culture and politics, the single useful bit, unless the players wish to join LL society
is also revealed when the party gets to Moonland.
3.The best route to take. note that any deviation from said route forces the poor GM to create absolutely everything.

Day ~ 13


Between Philosophy and Kozor the party is attacked by a giant Purple Worm. Does it gain surprise? is there a chance
to detect the worm? Geva isn't telling.

Next: the city of Kozor.

Post

posted by Horrible Lurkbeast Original SA post

Dungeons and Dragons
The Dream Lands

The Lunar Ladies

In Kosor city, Kosor land.
The only thing mentioned here is a festival for the local king's birthday.
The party can waste some time Lancing, Boxing and wrestling for rewards of 500-2000gp.
You are damn right those are weakass incentives to waste a day on.

Day ~13

In order to get to the city of Culture the party must climb the Mountains of Specters
(not many specters to report) and enter "The Road of Death" which is a passage.
It's stated that the journey takes a day of riding and seven days of mountain climbing,
and then it a bit confusingly tells you that the climb to the cave takes an hour.
No events are listed in between.
we get:
6 turns a climbing / D20 o' rolling/ Dexterity level a checking/
D6 damage a rolling for every meter of falling.


The Road of Death. (notice the sideways view map on top)
The cave was built by magic and only spells of 4th level and above function inside.

A.Entrance (left side)
Dark, have to crawl into the second chamber.

B.The statue room.
1st character checks Dex on a D20 to not get bonked by a falling brick (2D10).
next characters just have to declare that they avoid the trap.
the room contains two ivory statues depicting "strong and cruel warriors" both have
a silver key on a chain around the neck, which must be used to get onward.
you can actually avoid fighting the obviously animated statues by switching their
chains with a bit of rope and something to weigh it. Indy is shaking his fist somewhere.
otherwise each statue only attacks whoever took the key ignoring any other attacks,
should the character fall down the statue retrieves the key and gets back into place.

2 Statues
AC -4
HD 14*
HP 100
ATK 2
Damage 3-18/3-18
Move 30 (10)
Saves as warrior 14
Morale 12
Alignment neutral
XP 2300
Immune to mind effecting spells and non-magical weapons.

C.Cobwebs of the spider
the party has to enter in single file to this room which only matters if the forward guy
is stupid enough to disturb the cobwebs before everybody gets in.
anything touching the cobwebs attracts the spider and the web is immune to anything but
magical fire (60HP). funnily enough, there's no mention of the spider noticing the web
burning so I assume you can just bypass or surprise it.

The Spider of Horror
AC -2
HD 18*
HP 118
ATK 6
Damage 1-10 + poison
Move 40 (14)
Saves as warrior 18
Morale 12
Alignment evil
XP 3150
poison does 2-20 damage (save for half damage)
treasure: Bastard sword +3, Plate armour +2 and a staff of counterspell

D.it's bullshit puzzle time (The enchanted traffic light, yes really)
on a massive you-must-solve-this door there are five coloured buttons
a scroll nearby describes them thusly:
Red - passage
White - nothing
Black - life
Blue - items
Yellow - clothes
Green - barrier
there is no green button, can you guess the solution?
the entire puzzle is figuring out the descriptions omit the word 'no'
(yes 'no nothing' is correct in Hebrew)
Red drops a barrier between the last room and this
white does nothing
black releases poison gas 3D10 every round (save for half) if room C
is open you can just wait it out.
Blue transports everything but worn items to room G
Yellow transports worn items except magical armour to room G
Green (pressing blue and yellow at the same time) opens the door and the barrier if it's down.

E. The Obstacle Rooms
first up is a room which automatically seals as the entire party has entered and then it heats up,
adding another D6 on every round unless someone had the foresight to hold the door against closing.
the door to the next area needs to be damaged by cold spells (25HP) to break down.
now the party is assaulted by 7 Spectral Hounds, but at least there's no bullshit blocking the way.

F.Exit
An items transported are lying on the floor here in case the party is unarmed against the hounds,
Unless you have the 'Faded' debuff from the hounds' special attack, can't pick up items than.

Day ~21
The City of culture.
a single paragraph notes there's plenty of entertainment around.
Nothing special happens, the GM can amuse himself by creating stuff.

Next: The City of Ruby and the Ruby Mountains

Post

posted by Horrible Lurkbeast Original SA post

Dungeons and Dragons
The Dream Lands

The Lunar Ladies

Day ~22
Ruby City, capitol of the Ruby Mountains region
Before even entering the city the party is pounced upon by two adult red dragons.
Why? Who knows. There are two paragraphs of background on Ruby, completely irrelevant
such as how everything is built out of red mountain stone.
I'm sure the Lunar Ladies are just itching for backstories on random cities.

Day ~25
the Forest of Electricity.
Enchanted trees that work like tesla coils, 18 turns of rolling a D20:
1-4 lightning hits close to a character
5-9 a mild hit to a character D10 damage
10-14 direct hit to a character 2D10 damage
15-20 explosion. everybody rolls D20 against Dex or 2D20 damage
The GM is encouraged to allow characters covering in thick clothes or whatever
to get some protection, so there's that at least.

The party now takes a boat ride, paying 500gp per person and 700gp per horse.
All is well until the second night when a Dragon Turtle attacks.

3 sailors (warrior 1) and the captain assist the party.


Day ~28

Moonland - inner sea
the party is to beeline it directly to, let's call it City of Luna.
5 days where they have a 1 in 3 chance to encounter a hostile Lunar Ladies squad
with a leader and 50% chance of a priestess too:


Lunar Ladies are -2 to saves against spells and take double damage from magical sources

Also every morning noon and evening there's a 1 in 6 chance for random encounters:
1- Fembutterfly (I'll tell you about it later)
2- LVL 12 mage with an obsidian golem
3- beholder
4- adult green dragon
5- 8 giant rats
6- 2 malfras

nighttime only gets one roll (still 1 in 6 chance)
1- 3 of that spore thing that looks like a beholder
2- 6 ghost dogs
3- banshee
4- poltergeist
5- 3 crystalline things whatever they're called
6- giant manta ray

so 5 days of suck.

first day in moonland the party meets two women with a man who look exhausted,
they relate how the Lunar Ladies killed every able bodies man with them
while leaving the women and a one-eyed one-armed man alone.
they also tell about the magic vulnerability.
these by the by those are noted to be adventurers from Femininia, so there.
what happens to them after the info dump is not mentioned.

second day in moonland tall grass is actually Grasping Grass!
and 10 scorpion men appear because fuck you.

third day in moonland is uneventful (except random encounters), at night
a Treant possessed by an Odik.

forth day just rain until dawn the next day

fifth day a Drolem, at evening the city of Luna is finally in view.

Day ~33 (I hope no one revealed the mission or the empress loses her head)
the city of Luna.
All males in the party have to use magic to appear crippled,
then the party pays 500gp a head to enter.
The city is ruled by women who maim every male baby because evil feminists?
the party gets a room in a boarding house overlooking the palace, from which
the queen can be seen leaving at night and entering a sekrit entrance!

I'm stopping here for now, but here's a new monster:


.5 meter tall, weaves herself a cocoon at night.
these creatures subside on human and demihuman hair, they attack with two knives
attempting to shave off your beautiful neckbeard!
they try not to kill so I guess you can just lie down and take it.
"therefore in most cases they'll they will try to attack women as their hair is longer"

they also got some magical abilities, such as charm person twice daily.
they speak common, elf and Halfling.

The Lunar Ladies

posted by By popular demand Original SA post

Dungeons and Dragons
The Dream Lands

The Lunar Ladies

previous posts:
background- https://forums.somethingawful.com/s...1#post484620150
1. https://forums.somethingawful.com/s...1#post484634940
2. https://forums.somethingawful.com/s...1#post484641785
3. https://forums.somethingawful.com/s...1#post484648453
4. https://forums.somethingawful.com/s...1#post484666483
5. https://forums.somethingawful.com/s...1#post484672714

Last time on this poor excuse for a module:

Underground dungeon (English letters added by me)

(A) Entrance:
The queen has left through a secret door by the time the party arrives.
there's also a misleading sign that identifies (B) as the treasure room.

(B) The fake treasure room:
2 rounds after the door is opened a Delayed Fireball fills the room (6D12 damage)
after that the room can be seen to be full of piled treasure of all kinds including the Staff of Fertility, all of which is actually just mundane junk enchanted to look valuable.
no notes on how long this enchantment lasts nor how the party may see through it.

(C)
Nothing here.
as the party arrives at (D) though, very loud singing is heard from nowhere (magic)

(D)
A Gargantuan troll attacks. (not a surprise attack)
"An easily found secret door leads to (E)"

(E)
The room is completely filled by a solid cube of ice, it takes 100 HP worth of magical fire damage to melt a passage to the door (E1)on the south.
once said door is opened it reveals another ice wall, this one is deceptively thin and holds a pocket of combustible gas behind it (12D6 damage).

(F)
A shark pool (20 giant white sharks) with a narrow bridge leading to a fake door, which collapses the bridge and also hits 3 characters with lightning (6D10 damage, no save to halve).
Should the party try to knock on the door and listen instead of being chumps they might figure it out since the door has a solid wall behind it.
the actual way out is hidden underwater (1 in 3 chance per character in the water to detect every turn)
the water is noted to not flow to (G) because magic.

(G) Treasure room
Queen Moonia is here, "messing about with her many treasures kept here".
The Queen immediately attacks (Warrior 25, 18 Agi, Str, Con, has +5 sword, +3 leather armour and +2 shield)
If the Queen is not silenced within 4 rounds a big group of 10 level guards join the frey, with 2 more arriving every subsequent round.

I'm not going to detail all the loot, I'm just going to note that the convenient flying carpet available can carry everybody +5000 coins of weight.
I hope you enjoy spending the rest of the session bored out of your tits while your players argue about what to take/ alternate plans of leaving.

The final bit!!!
I'm just gonna quote the whole ending:

hoo boy, next update I'll present the six premade characters (seven are promised in the intro) which were used originally when this module was made for a tournament.