''Evil Ruins'' is an adventure for

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

s published by

Mayfair Games Mayfair Games was an American publisher of board game, board, card game, card, and roleplaying games that also licensed German-style board game, Euro-style board games to publish them in English. The company licensed worldwide English-language pub ...

in 1984.

Plot summary

''Evil Ruins'' is a scenario for character levels 2-5 based on Saxon legend and set in an actual historical castle. ''Evil Ruins'' is an adventure in which the

player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional Character (arts), character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters tha ...

s travel to the Castle of Tintagel to uncover the unknown circumstances around the death of Ethelwaine, heir to the

Tintagel Tintagel () or Trevena (, meaning ''Village on a Mountain'') is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and village situated on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village and nearby Tintagel Castle ...

throne. Along the way they encounter squirrels who try to rob them, intelligent spiders, and a sordid

non-player character A non-player character (NPC) is a character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster (or referee) rather than by a ...

who can help them find the hidden castle. Once they arrive, the characters find that the castle was destroyed by evil forces leaving a four-level underground ruin for the party to search for clues to solve the mystery. If the characters are able to clear the ruins of hazards, the Castle of Tintagel can be rebuilt into a religious retreat.

Publication history

''Evil Ruins'' was written by Stephen T. Bourne and Martin F. King and was published by

in 1984 as a 32-page book. The adventure module was part of the ''

Role Aids ''Role Aids'' is a line of role-playing game supplements published by Mayfair Games starting in 1982 intended for use with ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons''. Publication history As a veteran role-playing gamer, Bill Fawcett (writer), Bill Fawcett de ...

'' line and was suitable for ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

'' or similar systems.

Reception

Rick Swan reviewed the adventure in ''

The Space Gamer ''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the la ...

'' No. 72. He commented "In the introduction to ''Evil Ruins'', the designers state that the module is intended as an 'intellectual challenge,' but don't take that claim too seriously. For the most part, ''Evil Ruins'' is a straightforward search-the-dungeon adventure with a mystery grafted on to give the players some motivation." Swan added that "Care has been taken to insured that each succeeding level is more forboding than the one before; bedrooms and storage chambers soon give way to bat caves and torture chambers, effectively increasing the tension as the adventure progresses." He continued: "The main problem with ''Evil Ruins'' is that it's all too familiar. Inside the castle, there are no real surprises for experienced players, what with the usual monsters (zombies, orcs, ghouls) guarding the usual treasures (gold, weapons, magic items). Worse, the game comes to an awkward halt if the players don't stumble upon the correct artifact or NPC with the crucial clue that leads to the next encounter. Independent-minded players may be frustrated by the amount of nudging needed from the GM to keep them on the right path." Swan concluded his review by saying, "Still, ''Evil Ruins'' is a competent production and, in the ''RoleAids'' tradition, perfectly suited for ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fans. Nothing special, but entertaining in a modest way." Chris Hunter reviewed ''Evil Ruins'' for '' Imagine'' magazine, and stated that "Something which should make a good game with a little work is ''Evil Ruins'' published by Mayfair Games."

References

{{reflist Fantasy role-playing game adventures Role Aids Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1984