The Ruins of Undermountain
The Ruins of Undermountain is a boxed set for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the second edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. The set, with product code TSR 1060, was published in 1991, and was written by Ed Greenwood, with box cover art by Brom.
 | |
| Author | Ed Greenwood |
|---|---|
| Genre | Role-playing game |
| Publisher | TSR |
Publication date | 1991 |
| Media type | Boxed set |
Contents
The set consists of a 128-page booklet titled Campaign Guide to Undermountain, a 32-page booklet titled Undermountain Adventures, 8 double-sided loose-leaf monster statistics pages, 8 double-sided heavy-stock "adventure aid" cards, and 4 color fold-out poster maps.
The Campaign Guide to Undermountain book uses the same Brom cover art as the box cover itself, with interior art by Karl Waller and cartography by Diesel, Steve Beck, and David Sutherland. This book contains detailed information on the dungeon Undermountain, including non-player characters (such as Halaster Blackcloak) that can be encountered within the dungeons or in the city above it, as well as spells and magic items that can be found. The book also keys the maps to what can be found in various locations, and contains expansion guidelines for creating future adventures and deeper parts of the dungeon.
The Undermountain Adventures booklet describes seven adventures designed to be used within Undermountain, but can be used in any dungeon. The booklet also contains a "Monster Guide" of statblocks and descriptions of monsters not otherwise featured in the boxed set, and a description of the city of Skullport. The booklet has a detached cover, with cover art by Jeff Easley, and maps of some of the encounters on the inside, with cartography by David Sutherland.
The monster sheets detail 11 monsters in the Monstrous Compendium style: elder orb beholder, death kiss beholder-kin, darktentacles, ibrandlin, scaladar, sharn, slithermorph, flying snakes (flying fang and deathfang), steel shadow, and watchghost.
The cards are adventure aids for the Dungeon Master, detailing traps, encounters, treasure, and sundries that can be placed in the midst of adventures.
The maps detail the first three levels of the ruins of Undermountain; level three takes up two of the maps.
Reception
The adventure was ranked the 17th greatest adventure of all time by Dungeon magazine for the 30th anniversary of the Dungeons & Dragons game in 2004.[1]
References
- Mona, Erik; Jacobs, James; Dungeon Design Panel (November 2004). "The 30 Greatest D&D Adventures of All Time". Dungeon. Paizo Publishing (116): 68–81.
- Greenwood, Ed. Ruins of Undermountain (TSR, 1991)
Further reading
- Review: White Wolf #30 (1992)
- "Seeing the Sights in Skullport", Dragon #172
- "Understanding Undermountain--The King of All Dungeons", Dragon #167