Review: The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg

 As I mentioned in my last post, I’m taking a short break from the series (that last one ran both long and late) to collect my thoughts, kick back, and do some light readin’ and reviewin’.

Mr. Murder Hobo is kicking back too, but honestly, when isn’t he doing that?

Today at the Savage Lair, we are taking a look at The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg by Greg Svenson, one of the players of Dave Arneson’s original Blackmoor campaign, and released by The Fellowship of the Thing.  These are the minds behind the documentary film Secrets of Blackmoor (which you should definitely check out, if you haven’t.)

I missed the Kickstarter for this book, but I was able to order a paperback copy once this came into my radar, and my enhanced, grogcanthropic senses started tingling.  Therefore, you can count that any bias in this review is only my own.  I don’t have enough OSR street cred (or any at all, really) to just have review copies thrown at my feet like lavish gifts to a highly-desirable courtesan.

You hear me OSR publishers?!  I’m ready to sell out and be your “brazen strumpet,” or is the politically-correct term “saucy tart?”  I personally like the term “Private Dancer.”

*Ahem*  So what is/are The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg?  According to the book (and promotional blurbs for it,) it is “the second oldest Mega-Dungeon.”  Original author and GM Greg Svenson was handed a play-test copy of the Original game by Dave Arneson in 1973 and he used it to start his own campaign, set in Arneson’s Blackmoor map (with his blessing) as the city/town of Tonisborg.  This was later renamed Vestfold in published Blackmoor products; easily remedied either way for the home campaign.

Image from Kickstarter

One thing I failed to mention in my OSR Lessons series thus far is that sharing campaign worlds and GMing duties was seemingly a common practice since way back to the original Blackmoor and Greyhawk campaigns.  Indeed, it is well-known that Robert J. Kuntz, who played (as Sir Robilar,) and shared GMing duties with co-creator Gary Gygax, could/should be considered a third, unsung co-creator of the D&D game.

Now given the timing, I suspect that would make Tonisborg actually the third oldest megadungeon, since I believe the Greyhawk campaign had already been in progress by 1973 (Original D&D being released in early 1974)  If I am mistaken, feel free to correct me in the comments.  I’m not trying to restart the Arneson/Gygax Wars here; just want to be as objective as possible.

The first part of the book goes over the history of the Tonisborg dungeon and campaign (as mentioned above) and how the original documents and maps were thought to have been lost, only to be rediscovered  (as photocopies of the originals) many, many years later.  Some painstaking work was then done to turn these raw notes and fragments into a published product.  Images of the original notes and maps are also included in the book, but the later module section uses “remastered” maps for reference.

That’s pretty much how I imagine it went.  You cannot convince me otherwise.

The book then goes into a treatise about old school (or perhaps proto-old school) dungeoneering, with advice for GMs and players.  This, I think, makes up 80% of the value of this book.  It easily stands on par (and perhaps beyond) any of the original rulesets, or guides such as A Quick Primer to Old School Gaming when it comes to old school GMing advice.  Most of the advice will be familiar to those well-steeped in the old school tradition, but there could still be some nuggets of insight for the experienced and/or jaded.  I will definitely be referring to this work as I continue my own OSR Lessons series.

The second part of the book is the Lost Dungeons themselves.  It is a ten-level dungeon with anywhere from 10-40 rooms per level.  This may seem minuscule at times for a “mega” dungeon, but some are essentially lairs with several monsters, plus the book has advice for keeping the dungeon a “living” location by restocking these rooms periodically in the campaign.  The maps are very similar in style to the Blackmoor dungeon maps in The First Fantasy Campaign, especially in their liberal use of diagonal passageways, which makes sense, given the inspirational source.

Image from sample available at Kickstarter

Unfortunately, here is where the reader needs to temper their expectations.  There are no great, Ur-D&D revelations to be found here.  Make no mistake, Tonisborg it is a good, solid, and functional dungeon in the old school style (obviously) – avant-garde for its time, but pretty common stuff by now.  Still, here are some highlights that stood out to me:

• The presence of an outside order of knights (the Order Draconae) that controls most of the first level and lower access past the second.  These could end up being “frienemies” of player character groups.
• A level that is pretty much all secret doors.
• New monsters such as the baledraug, which seems like a variant of the classic fire demon; this one being highly magic-resistant, and the yith’yl, a monster made of pure energy that can knock characters out with its radiance.
• Quite a few rooms with giant hogs (then again, I have a thing for pork and delicious, delicious bacon.)
• A hydra lair with the remains of a former (actual) player character; anecdote about her tragic end included.
• A level festooned with devil statues that cry blood.
• Three artifact crowns (The Crowns of Ancient Legend) in the final level, each tied to one of the three original character classes.

The entries are terse, with a short description of the contents, monster stats, and treasure.  Good for easy reference, but the individual GM will have to enhance them with their own notes or descriptions in play to make the dungeon come to life.

The book ends with an old school ruleset in the style of the Original rules that one can use to play Tonisborg with.  It is apparently a variant of the game, Champions of ZED.

While I’m not familiar with this product, I did find the rules in Tonisborg to be a pretty decent simulacrum of the Original rules, including the classic races (human, elf, dwarf, halfling,) and three original classes (fighter, cleric, magic-user.)  Thief of course, is not included, and the treatise in the first section includes an entry about doing thief-like things without a thief class (as it was done originally; a topic I will also cover later in the OSR Lessons series.)  Veterans to the game will easily recognize classic spells, monsters, and magic items.  However, I found a few interesting curve balls that make these rules unique:

• Multiple, more lenient ability score generation methods,
• Constitution increases/decreases recovery time as well as hit points.
• The races have a few additional or unique abilities, such as the elf getting +1 with elven weapons specifically, and the halfling having a +3 (!) with bows and slings.
• The key level titles (which I discussed in my series) are given a prominent role, with new abilities every category or so.  Heroic fighters, for example, get fear immunity and grant +1 to the morale of their followers due to their reputation.  Superheroic fighters penalize opponent’s morale due to their reputation and can sense the presence of invisible creatures(!)
• Only 10% of a treasure’s gold value grants a character XP.  Furthermore, the character must spend that gold in class-related activities to earn it.
• Level drain isn’t just for monsters.  Characters that suffer terrible defeats or setbacks, such as a fighter’s army being routed, or a cleric having their temple destroyed, can lose 1-4 levels.  While this is thematic (“I’ve lost my mojo!”) it seems quite punishing.
• Morale state is expanded to multiple stages, from “flushed” to “routed,” with different effects for each.
  
• A point-based method for stocking dungeon monsters is presented, which appears to be based off of Dave Arneson’s method in The First Fantasy Campaign.  A GM has a certain number of points to spend based on the dungeon level.  The points correlate to average hit points per hit die (3.5 on a d6.)

 

So what do I think?  I feel the book was definitely worth the $60 I spent and it has earned a place among my library of RPG classics.  It has good, quality old school content packed into its 156 pages.  That said, its value to me is more as a historical document and guide rather than adventure module or ruleset.  It is unlikely I would ever run the Tonisborg dungeon or use the game rules therein, but would steal liberally from them in true, old school fashion, which is most certainly meant as a compliment.  However, I do think some folks might find it somewhat disappointing if they have really high expectations of it.

The verdict: 3.5 out of 5 Murder Hobos

The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg is available for purchase at the publisher’s website.