I have greatly enjoyed reading through my copy of the book. The world of Dwimmermount is called Telluria, and the lore and history of the setting are tied inextricably with the history for the megadungeon. There are many oddities to the dungeon that appealed to me, and every level is designed consistently with the history …
I really like Dwimmermount. It’s really big, and it’s full of pulp science-fantasy flavor.
Dwimmermount’s sensibilities are very classic Dungeons and Dragons, and it aims to evoke a swords and sorcery world rather than the watered down Tolkien pastiche known as vanilla fantasy.
To sum it up, Dwimmermount is a well-written, information-dense, traditional megadungeon with hints of science fantasy, designed to facilitate a game based around exploration and discovery. The tools and information presented inside this huge tome are aimed at helping achieve this goal; and with success, I must say.
The Player’s Companion extends the core rules by adding a series of new classes, the dwarven machinist and spelunker, the elven ranger, and some human classes – mystic (monk), shaman (druid), and priestess. I’ll come out and say it though, the thing that got me fired up with the book-love was the extensive list of …
If you run anything even marginally compatible with B/X, or based on the original through 2nd editions of the paternal game, you can take advantage of this book (Player’s Companon). There’s dozens of little $1 Labyrinth Lord classes or extended spellbooks spread around RPGNow – this is all of them, and more.
This book is a great addition to the ACKS system, as well as any OSR game, for much of the material in here could be easily ported to another game of choice. If you are running ACKS, this book will help tailor make the system to your world. If you are on the fence about …
The campaign chapter also contains a bunch of amusing rules for magical research – not only can you create your own spells, but you can also cross-breed monsters and turn yourself into a lich! Perhaps the best part, though, is the conceit that wizards can build dungeons somewhere (probably not directly under their tower), wait …
…not a lot of people are talking about the combination of the fighter damage bonus with the cleave rule. That’s a huge deal that makes fighters more the premier class of the game- especially when you take in all the things done to dial back the mages.
If ACKS were published 20 years ago, it’s likely I wouldn’t have finished college.
