01

Tournament Series A1-4
Aerie of the Slavelords

(1980)

Slave Pits of the Undercity

by David Cook

Layout and Editor:

Brian Pitzer

Editing:

Kevin Hendryx, Harold Johnson, Frank Mentzer, Paul Reiche III, Evan Robinson

Art:	Jeff Dee, David S. LaForce, Jim Roslof, Bill Willingham

Development:

Kevin Hendryx, Paul Reiche III, Evan Robinson

Able Assistance:

Allen Hammack, Harold Johnson, Lawrence Schick

Playtest:

Brian Blume, Helen Cook, Jeff Dee, Gary Gygax, Frank Mentzer, Tom Moldvay, Erol Otus, Bob Waldbauer, Jim Ward

Tournament Coordinator:

Bob Blake

Secret of the Slavers Stockade

by Harold Johnson with Tom Moldvay

Development:

David Cook, Harold Johnson, Tom Moldvay, Evan Robinson, Lawrence Schick, Edward G. Sollers

Editor:

Edward G. Sollers

Editing:

David Cook, Harold Johnson, Jon Pickens, Stephen D. Sullivan

Art:	Jeff Dee, Erol Otus, Jim Roslof, Bill Willingham

Playtesters:

Jim Barber, Neil Christianson, Tom Christianson, Jeff Dee, Kevin Hendryx, Mike Price, Don Snow, Bob Waldbauer, Skip Williams

Typesetting:

Roxanne M. Percey

Pasteup:

Robert J. Duller

Assault on the Aerie of the Slavelords

by Allen Hammack

Development:

Allen Hammack, Kevin Hendryx, Paul Reiche III, Evan Robinson

Able Assistance:

Dave Cook, Harold Johnson, Lawrence Schick

Editing:

Allen Hammack, Jon Pickens

Art:	Jeff Dee, David S. LaForce, Erol Otus, Jim Roslof, Bill Willingham

Playtesting:

Mike Carr, Helen Cook, Jeff Dee, David S. LaForce, Jo LaForce, Erol Otus, Bob Waldbauer

Tournament Coordinator:

Bob Blake

In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords

by Lawrence Schick

Development:

Kevin Hendryx

Editing:

Harold Johnson, Steve Sullivan

Art:	Erol Otus, Jim Roslof, Steve Sullivan, David C. Sutherland III, Jean Wells, Bill Willingham

Typesetting:

Roxanne M. Percey

Keyline:

Joyce A. Kress

Able Assistance:

Dave Cook, Allen Hammack, Evan Robinson

Tournament Coordinator:

Bob Blake

	:

It is rare that an entire series can stand the test of time for so long, and yet Aerie of the Slave Lords has lasted since very near the beginning of AD&D, been reprinted and anthologized with new material. PCs are hired to bring a stop to a band of marauding slavers, but the true strength and scope of the slaving operation is something no one truly understands until the party is far too involved to back out...A very exciting series of modules to play!

Realm Rating: 4.5/5

:

I finished Aerie of the Slave Lords and Swamplight yesterday. :-) I thought they were both great, in their own ways.

I especially enjoyed Slave Lords, because although I never played the pen-and-paper module, I read the Adventurers (a series of fanfics based on a Real Life AD&D campaign), parts of which chronicled an adventure using those modules. So a lot of the game was pleasantly familiar. :-)

(Ed. Note: Following this letter was a list of bugs found in the original design, all of which, I believe have been corrected in the patch file available above.)

Hi

I just finished playing "Assult on the Slave Lords".....GREAT JOB! Only one problem with the mod, the introduction didn't happen when I played the game, it just started with me in the keep and went from there, I really didn't know what I was supposed to be doing until i looked in edit mod.

Other that that it was GREAT! Good combat, art, hacks, ect. I can't wait to play more. QUESTION: is there an order I need to go in?

Thanks for a great mod

(Ed. Note: The introduction bug has also been fixed with the patch. J

After many, many hours of playing, I finally finished Ray Dyer's Aerie of the Slave Lords. If you haven't played the game, you may not want to read any further, as there may be some spoilers.

Many of my earlier comments on the Realm games apply here too. The artwork in some places was pretty poor, though the game does feature many icons, walls, and backdrops of good quality. I liked the art of the sewer tunnels and Suderham at the game's end.

As in the previous games, the combats in Aerie were difficult, especially for my slightly underexperienced party; I recommend playing Ray's games with characters at the high end of the suggested level range.

Ray designed the dungeons very well, though the second Keep is huge! The game has those levels of view that Ray describes well in several places, like the caved-in roof of the first keep and a bottomless pit. The party can also meet an interesting colony of myconids during their underground travels and is given the chance to befriend them.

Overall, I liked the game more than any other Realm game so far, partly because of it's length (Ray squeezes four modules into one design!). I also liked the change of scenery in the second half, from the sewers to Suderham to the fungus caves. I give Aerie of the Slave Lords a rating of 7.5. Good job Ray, and keep up the good work.

Ringo

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All of the preceding modules and game worlds are trademarked property of TSR Inc, which is now the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. I take no credit for the stories or ideas presented here, I merely converted them to a playable format for SSI's Unlimited Adventures game.