Reading – Dungeon Survival Guide

12 years ago Philip Reed

NOTE: I originally wrote this back in 2008. I am posting it here in the interest of collecting all of those older reviews and ramblings in one place. If this is your sorta thing then I hope you enjoy a look back at an older book.

Created as a filler title (in my opinion, this was designed as a title with no purpose other than to keep the Dungeons & Dragons* name on shelves between the announcement of 4th edition and the release of 4th edition), the Dungeon Survival Guide* is largely a throw-away book that many fans of the game have come to actively dislike. Even now, more than a year after its release, the book receives mostly cruel words when it is mentioned to hardcore Dungeons & Dragons players. I, on the other hand, find it an enjoyable read that is a combination of “trip down memory lane” and “teaching tool that can be used to educate those players who are new to the Dungeons & Dragons experience.” Yes, at first glance the Dungeon Survival Guide* is pure fluff, but when looked at as a fiction book, rather than a game book, I think many of its detractors will find that there is much to enjoy between the covers of this slim volume.

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Beautiful

One thing many do seem to agree on is that the Dungeon Survival Guide* is an attractive, well-illustrated book. This isn’t exactly surprising, since all of the artwork in the book – both B&W and color work – is material reprinted from the 30+ year library of Dungeons & Dragons products. (Though, to be accurate, I don’t think any of the artwork is older than 1978, so at the time of publication it would have been 29 years worth of artwork.)

Each and every spread in the book is constructed of a mixture of color works, screened out B&W works, and most spreads include boxed text, quotes, and large, attractive headers. The “Famous Dungeons” section, see below, also includes covers of products associated with the dungeons described.

It’s a great looking book.

What’s inside this book?

The Dungeon Survival Guide* is divided into seven different sections, one of which – titled “Famous Dungeons” – fills approximately two-thirds of the book’s 64-pages. Many of the first sections of the book are very short, and all of them are light on content. As I’ve already mentioned, this book is primarily filler. Fortunately, it is the large section that makes the book worth reading; the other six sections, while entertaining, aren’t very likely to draw you back for a second reading.

Still, since they are part of the book, it would be a poor review if I didn’t give you some idea of what the weaker sections of the book cover.

The Dungeon in Dungeons & Dragons. This two-page introductory section is mislabeled, since it is more about the adventurers than the dungeons. The italicized opening launches into a discussion of dungeons, but after three brief paragraphs the writing swings immediately into a discussion of adventurers, including descriptions of classes and races and a brief paragraph on the “iconic” Dungeons & Dragons characters. This is a mediocre section.

Dungeon Survival Gear. As mediocre as the previous section is, this section of the book is outright laughable. With less than a single page of text, art director Karin Powell and graphic artist Trish Yochum – who did an excellent job on this project – were forced to use enough tricks to expand this to a two-page section. The section opens:

“You need the right tools for the right job, and that is especially true when the job happens to be dungeon delving. Every adventurer requires some basic equipment to survive in a dungeon – armor, weapons, a light source, rope, a pack, food, and water at a minimum. The well-stocked adventuring party has a few more items on hand for any emergency.”

The text then goes into three short paragraphs on armor, weapons, and adventuring gear, none of which provides any information with depth. It would have been a simple matter to reduce the artwork on this spread and at least toss in a few specific item descriptions and illustrations – it’s not as if the Wizards team didn’t have access to short equipment descriptions and illustrations – but what is done is done. In my opinion, this is easily the worst section of the book and, coupled with the previous section and a few of the specific sections that follow, responsible for a lot of the hatred directed toward the book.

Dungeon Environments. This four-page section covers the basics of dungeons and, in my opinion, makes a better “The Dungeon in Dungeons & Dragons” section than what we were given (see above). While there’s nothing new here, this section is useful reading for someone new to Dungeons & Dragons since it covers basic dungeon types, dungeon walls, floors, doors, rooms, and other features of dungeons. Think of it as a primer to dungeon crawling, and consider how useful this section would be if you were sitting down to your first session.

This is by no means a perfect section, but after the last two this section of the book can’t help but stand out. Dungeon designers may also find this section worth reading, though anyone with experience – or access to a book like Dungeonscape* – won’t refer to this section of the book more than one or two times.

Dungeon Hazards. Another four-page section, two of which are less than three paragraphs and covered in artwork, this section of the book provides quick overviews of monsters, traps, natural hazards (such as cave-ins and floods), and brief paragraphs on starvation and getting lost. At times it feels like this book belongs to the Mirrorstone “Practical” line, but I believe that if a “Practical Guide to Dungeons” existed it would be superior to this work. A down section, which is upsetting after the previous section did so much to climb above the wreckage that the book was to that point.

Dungeon Treasure. If there was ever any doubt as to the audience Wizards of the Coast was targeting when they planned this book that doubt is fully erased with the line that gives conversion value of coins in the Dungeons & Dragons world. (When you don’t define “cp,” you’ve pretty much decided that you’re writing a book for existing fans of the game.) Providing short paragraphs on a variety of types of treasure – money, gems, art, weapons, armor, potions, etc. – this chapter, like the last, will give you that sinking feeling that you’ve wasted your money on this book. Please, though, bear with me since we’re closer to the section of the book that makes me go against the herd and say that this is a fun book.

Treasures of Legend. In this two-page section the authors provide short descriptions for seven unique treasures from the history of Dungeons & Dragons. Book of Exalted Deeds, Deck of Many Things, Sphere of Annihilation; there isn’t a single treasure item here that experienced Dungeons & Dragons players don’t already know. If you’re in a rush, feel free to skip this section of the book.

Famous Dungeons. And here it is, the section of the book that draws me back – at least once a month – to the Dungeon Survival Guide*. After a very short introductory section, and an overview of the Underdark, we reach the meat of this section of the book and, in fact, the meat of the book itself: the descriptions of specific dungeons that exist in the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons.

Nineteen dungeon complexes, from Castle Greyhack to White Plume Mountain, each covering a two-page spread, are presented, each one with italicized introductory text, a section covering “Secrets,” one on survival tips, one section of advice, and an “About the Adventure” paragraph (see below for an example “About the Adventure” entry.

The nineteen dungeons described, and the related adventures (where possible, links for classic adventures point to descriptions at The Acaeum fan site), are:

Some of the descriptions also include a “Memories” section, such as this entry for The Caves of Chaos:

“’The Caves of Chaos was my first real adventure,’ recalls Regdar the Human Fighter. ‘Six of us went into those caves. Four of us came out. It was brutal. It was exciting. And I learned a lot about teamwork and what it means to be an adventurer during that quest.’”

A fitting entry for a dungeon that was the first for so many Dungeons & Dragons players, and a good quote from the book that helps illustrate why I think this is a fun book that’s worth owning. It’s not about the value of the content as a game tool but, rather, the book’s value as a guide to that hazy path commonly known as “Memory Lane.”

One way in which this section of the book acts as a nostalgia trigger is its “About the Adventure” entries, such as this short paragraph for The Caves of Chaos:

“The Caves of Chaos figure prominently in The Keep on the Borderlands (module ‘B2’), a Dungeons & Dragons adventure written by Gary Gygax and published in 1980 by TSR, Inc. This module was also part of the D&D Basic Set, better known to 1st-Edition D&D fans as ‘the red box.’”

Every dungeon description includes an “About the Adventure” section, as well as an image of the cover of the adventure in question, for those of you interested in the history of the game line.

Why do I enjoy this book?

Simply because of that one, dangerous word: nostalgia. Even the adventures I’ve never played – like The Ghost Tower of Inverness, which one of my friends owned when I was 15 but I never had a chance to play in, and The Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde, which came late enough in 3.5s run that I had lost interest in packaged adventures – are entertaining reads that trigger memories. Memories of sitting on the floor in a friend’s bedroom as we explored the Caves of Chaos, memories of staring longingly at a copy of the Tomb of Horrors on my first visit to a dedicated game store (Collector’s Corner in Grand Forks, ND, a store that was so close to my high school that I would sometimes run to the store between classes), even more recent memories of visits to game stores – reading the “Famous Dungeons” section of the Dungeon Survival Guide* triggers all of these memories and more.

The Dungeon Survival Guide* is no doubt a weak product, a book with no game value and little value beyond its overview of Dungeons & Dragons adventures, but it is such a strong tool that unlocks happy memories that I’m willing to overlook its flaws. If you have not yet grabbed a copy of the book, consider doing so now before it becomes difficult to locate. I truly feel that as the years pass this will become one of those books that Dungeons & Dragons fans enjoy and a book they thrust upon newcomers to the game.

If you already own a copy of the book, please take it down from the shelf and flip to a dungeon from your childhood. Clear your thoughts of today’s stresses and read, allowing your subconscious mind to explore that dungeon as you did in your youth. I think you’ll find yourself remembering dice rolls, conversations, and friends you haven’t seen in years.

The trick to using the book as a nostalgia trigger, I’ve discovered, is to read one dungeon and then return the book to the shelf. A little goes a long way, as the saying goes.

With an open mind, I think you’ll find the fun that I find whenever I open the book.

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