Just recently, I found out that the old 2nd edition boxed set, the Night Below, was on the 'Drive Through RPG' print on demand list. So I checked it out and splurged and got myself the hardbook copy.
I never had this when it came out, so I was interested to see any Greyhawk usefulness in it. I was glad I did, it was written by Carl Sargent, and he made it set in a generic world, but it was written to be easily added to any Greyhawk setting.
Additionally, it has been retrofit into Greyhawk by various persons, a good example is that Anna Meyer put the locations in her map of Greyhawk in the Yeomanry region.
A few things I liked about it: The game specifically did not have drow involvement, I think they get overused in these settings. The designer has a lot of side notes about how side quests can be used to gain experience and treasure and which are just in the game as extras. The printing in the hardbook style was very nice, though I wish they did a separate map pack instead of just scanning each map page into the binding.
This makes a massive tome to add to your bookshelf, but it is well worth it. I have been bitten by this print on demand bug, and am now rounding out my Greyhawk collection with some of these reprints as much as possible. I suggest that you check this out and if you have not gotten this particular adventure before, it stacks up well with other 1st and 2nd edition Greyhawk adventures.
Just recently, I found out that the old 2nd edition boxed set, the Night Below, was on the 'Drive Through RPG' print on demand list. So I checked it out and splurged and got myself the hardbook copy.
*snip*
This makes a massive tome to add to your bookshelf, but it is well worth it. I have been bitten by this print on demand bug, and am now rounding out my Greyhawk collection with some of these reprints as much as possible. I suggest that you check this out and if you have not gotten this particular adventure before, it stacks up well with other 1st and 2nd edition Greyhawk adventures.
The hardback version has the entire boxed set as one big book. It is about an inch thick and contains everything that was in the box before.
That is: 3 64 page books for the adventure, the handouts, the reference cards and all the maps. This makes for it to be a little confusing when trying to refer to a particular map, but I think it is worth it. This comes in softcover as well, but with the sheer amount of pages you are getting, the binding is a little off on this version (there area couple of videos on youtube of people showing the different printings if you are interested - that is how I found out about this).
With this purchase, I am looking forward to what other releases become printable. Most of the purchase options on this site are just the pdf, but periodically they are available for printing. Now I see that "Vecna Lives" is now available as a softcover book, so I will be getting that as well.
You can also get this as a single big paperback book. I bought that version.
I'd recommend the hardback version, to anyone wanting to open this a lot. I read my copy by clamping the spin between my thighs and holding the left and side of the book. With a hardback, you could open it flat on a table. _________________ David 'Big Mac' Shepheard<br />My Greyhawk links: http://www.thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=9355<br />(If I am not here, you can find me at the Greyhawk or Chainmail forums at The Piazza.)<br />
Night Below is a solid product. The flaws I noted were:
1. It may be too big. My players enjoyed it but started burning out by the end of the second part. We finished with new PCs for the third part, and the conclusion was reasonably satisfying.
2. The last part is, like many TSR products of that era, less than complete. The notes for the two major encounter areas underground are pretty much just that - notes. The DM will have to add a bunch of detail, including location maps, to finish the campaign. Of course, those areas are cities, but the level of detail is very minimal.
3. While it introduced a number of intriguing concepts, such as earth nodes and master glyphs, it had a few others that are somewhat questionable. The background on the master villain was contradicted with later development causing some compatibility issues there. And the background of a new race became overused with similar groups to the point of making its use here a weak surprise at best.
4. The mildest flaw, if at all, is that it definitely needs some DM inserted side quests for smooth level advancement.
And that is about it. Everything else is quite good, though far from easy, and as noted above, it is very long, so be prepared for the long haul.
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