Now it's time to take a look at the final section of the book, this one entitled “Underworld & Wilderness Adventures,” to find more interesting pieces of history and a little bit of inspiration. What will come from the epic conclusion to the book? A few "new" adventure ideas or an original take on something we now consider to be "classic?" With essentially only a few pages of "new" material in this section, should we worry? There's no way to know until we unlock the door, check for traps, and turn to page 61.
Tricks and Traps
Our first (and really, only) section behind the door of page 61 is called "Tricks and Traps." Since you can have both of these in the previously-discussed Underworld & Wilderness Adventures, I’m not sure why this whole section of the book is called that. The other remaining sections don’t lend much else, either, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves. "Tricks and Traps" is the very first section, and probably what this entire part of the book should have be called. Perhaps the title "Underworld & Wilderness Adventures" itself was both a trick and a trap. Disappointingly, the whole section is really more a list than a true section's worth of Tricks and Traps. In today’s books, you tend to see full layouts of specific traps with triggers, effects, countermeasures, and other design features. We can still find some inspiration here, though, and a bit of history. This passage appears to be the very first incarnation of animated furniture, and likely the first Rug of Smothering. The entry is brief, but lists a number of things that might be found in what the book colloquially refers to as a “Living Room.” Now we have animated brooms, mimic chairs, and the aforementioned Rug of Smothering.
The last set of ‘Tricks’ in this section has to do with modifying or combining monsters. As we've discussed in a previous post, this can make for a fun and memorable encounter, but try to make sure you don’t end up unbalancing your games. Some of the suggestions here are humorous (Skeletons who can fire their fingers like arrows), some of the suggestions are terrifying (A Balrog riding a Red Dragon or a Frost Giant riding a White Dragon), and some of the suggestions in this section are, fortunately, both (A Cloud Giant riding a Tyrannosaurus Rex!). Your mileage may vary.
Corrections and Additions
The next few pages take us through a listing of monsters and their approximate "levels" before going into some delightful artwork. Specifically, you do get a nifty picture of the first Owl Bear, which appears to be mostly a bear with an owl head and…a giant talon instead of a tail? Or perhaps some scorpion was thrown in there as well, making it some sort of chimera. We’re then led into the Corrections and Additions page. I suppose they weren't doing "unearthed arcana" at this point - kudos to whoever came up with that name. This just reminds us that the rules can always be "wrong," and are, at best, just guidelines. Or, in other words, we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously, please. We're playing a game after all.That concludes our delve into Supplement 1:Greyhawk and the Dungeons & Dragons history that it shows. It's been a great journey with you, dear readers, finding inspiration in the ancestry of our games. Do your best to find the right limitations for your own traps and tricks, and for your items as well. Remember, as the "Corrections" section reminds us, the rules are just your guidelines for having fun. Most of all, enjoy both the renaissance of tabletop gaming we're all in and the history that brought us here. Until our next gaming history delve, enjoy making memories with the other people at your gaming tables.
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