Day 8 – A Module Featuring Undead:  Angmar, Land of the Witch King by Heike Kubasch


Angmar, Land of the Witch King (ICE, 1982;
image from Wayne’s Books)


Why I Love Angmar, Land of the Witch King

I’m not really sure that I need to explain why Angmar would top my list of modules featuring undead—the Lord of the Nazgûl should just make that self-evident, shouldn’t it?:



Well, just in case you need some more convincing, here are my thoughts:

  • As with all MERP 1e products, the maps produced by Pete Fenlon are phenomenal, and the Angmar maps are no exception:  the wilderness maps convey the style of Tolkien’s Hobbit and LOTR regional maps very well, while adding detail and color make them more usable in-game, and the dungeon maps offer an economy of design that is functional as well as aesthetically pleasing to the eye:


    Carn Dûm, overview and level 2 dungeon maps
    Castle Morkai illustration
    Castle Morkai, plan view


  • NAZGÛL!


Three Runners Up

 

  • Ivid the Undying by Carl Sargent (unpublished by TSR but excerpted in Dragon Magazine and published online for free, along with a wonderful map by Kent Matthewson):  I’m not too fond of the animus undead that rule and overran the Great Kingdom in Sargent’s sourcebook, but they are a primary feature of the adventure….
  • Cairn of the Skeleton King by Rob Kuntz (Black Blade Publishing, 2015):  an under-rated module with some excellent site-based adventure locations, where undead feature more-prominently than in its sequel, Tower of Blood co-written with Lance Hawvermale (but which also introduces some new undead/shadow monsters, the uderlings)
  • S1 Tomb of Horrors by Gary Gygax (TSR, 1978):  the classic demi-lich’s lair (and his four-armed skeleton servitors, too!)

 

My other posts in Kellri’s 18 Day Module Challenge:

  1. Day 7: X2 Castle Amber by Tom Moldvay
  2. Day 6: DMG Monastery Dungeon by Gary Gygax
  3. Day 5: S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks by Gary Gygax
  4. Day 4: “Deep Shit” by Jeff Barber
  5. Day 3: A Fabled City of Brass by Anthony Huso
  6. Day 2: Masks of Nyarlathotep by Larry DiTillio
  7. Day 1: Empire of the Ghouls by Wolfgang Baur
  8. Day 0: These are a Few of My Favorite Things…