Publisher: Wizards of the CoastThis entry-level D and amp;D module, perfect for the new player, includes a short adventure with wizards and other monsters.
An exciting beginner-level module designed to get novice game players started in the D and amp;D world.
Product History
DDA3: and quot;Eye of Traldar and quot; (1991), by Carl Sargent, is an adventure for the Basic D and amp;D game. It was published in June 1991.
Origins: A Transitional Adventure. The New Easy To Master Dungeons and amp; Dragons Game (1991), sometimes called the black box or D and amp;D 5th edition, marked a new era for the Basic D and amp;D game. This change would be most obvious in the new lines that followed the publication of the black box, including black boxed supplements such as The Dragon's Den (1992) and the Thunder Rift line, beginning with and quot;Quest for the Silver Sword and quot; (1992). However, those changes began here, with DDA3: and quot;Eye of Traldar and quot; (1991), the first supplement to bear the new logo of the black box, including its bright red ampersand.
This reboot resulted in and quot;Eye of Traldar and quot; being quite different from the previous two adventures that used the and quot;DDA and quot; code, DDA1: and quot;Arena of Thyatis and quot; (1990) and DDA2: and quot;Legions of Thyatis and quot; (1990). They were both more complex adventure that were deeply entrenched in the Known World; they even edged into Expert-level play. In contrast, and quot;Eye of Traldar and quot; is a much simpler and shallower adventure.
With that said, and quot;Eye of Traldar and quot; is also obviously transitional: TSR was still finding its way with the updated Basic D and amp;D line. Though and quot;Eye of Traldar and quot; features the new Basic D and amp;D logo, it doesn't include the new cover iconography that would show up with DDA4: and quot;The Dymrak Dread and quot; (1991), and it's also longer and somewhat more enmeshed in the Known World than later adventures (especially the Thunder Rift line).
Origins (II): What's Next. and quot;Eye of Traldar and quot; promises that it will be followed by and quot;The Dymrak Dread and quot;, which will be a and quot;sequel and quot; that begins with the adventures on the road to Luln. This turned out not to be the case. Since author John Nephew probably turned in his first draft of and quot;The Dymrak Dread and quot; on June 1, nine months after signing a contract, this can probably be chalked up as miscommunication with the marketing department. In any case, DDA4: and quot;The Dymrak Dread and quot; (1991) has just a few paragraphs about connecting the adventures.
Adventure Tropes. and quot;Eye of Traldar and quot; is a macguffin hunt for the eponymous Eye of Traldar. The heart of the adventure focuses on a large dungeon crawl, which was the only gameplay really supported by the new black box. Eye of Traldar does expand on that a little bit, via a bit of wilderness travel, but it's tightly constrained as a couple of episodic encounters.
Exploring the Known World. Eye of Traldar returns to Basic D and amp;D's original setting: Karameikos. More specifically, it's set in one of the most evocative areas of Karameikos that had never been detailed: Fort Doom in the Black Eagle Barony and mdash; a realm that had previously been a major element in the D and amp;D Companion Rules Set (1984).
With that said, the setting information is almost non-existant. Bruce Heard explained the reasoning in Dragon #174 (October 1991), saying and quot;the new D and amp;D boxed game deals exclusively with dungeons and does not mention anything of the Known World. This is why we could not expand on the subject of the Black Eagle Barony and quot;.
Players who wanted to move beyond the dungeons of Fort Doom that are described here can find additional details in Dragon #206 (June 1994), where and quot;Karameikos, Ho! and quot; by Jeff Grubb, provides excellent background on the area.
NPCs of Note. The PCs are trying to steal a gem from none other than Baron Ludwig von Hendriks, the ruler of the Black Eagle Barony.
About the Creators. Sargent did a lot of work on the Basic D and amp;D line in his first years freelancing for TSR, but this was the last of them. Starting with WGS1: and quot;Five Shall Be One and quot; (1991), he'd be much more focused on Greyhawk, eventually leading to his work in the From the Ashes era (1992-1993).
About the Product Historian
The history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, the editor-in-chief of RPGnet and the author of and nbsp;Designers and amp; Dragons and nbsp;- a history of the roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.