''Swords of Deceit'' is a 1986

adventure module An adventure is a playable scenario in a tabletop role-playing game. These can be constructed by gamemasters for their players, and are also released by game publishers as pre-made adventure modules. Different types of designs exist, including l ...

for the '' Advanced Dungeons & Dragons''

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, 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 these roles within ...

, for the

Lankhmar Lankhmar is a fictional city in the ''Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser'' stories by Fritz Leiber. It is situated on the world of Nehwon, just west of the Great Salt Marsh and east of the River Hlal, and serves as the home of Leiber's two antiheroes. ...

setting.

Plot summary

The module contains three magazine-sized scenarios for the Lankhmar setting, the first of which is called "The Curse of Valinor". In this scenario, the

player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional 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 that are not control ...

s become involved in intrigue among Lankhmar's nobles. The second scenario, "Return of the Rats", is a continuation of '' Swords of Lankhmar'', in which

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are two sword-and-sorcery heroes appearing in stories written by American author Fritz Leiber. They are the protagonists of what are probably Leiber's best-known stories. One of his motives in writing them was to have ...

go missing and the PCs are recruited to find them. The player characters are shrunk and sent into the Rat Kingdom of the Undercity to find Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. The third scenario, "One Night in Lankhmar", begins in a gambling den. The scenario pits the player characters against gamblers, assassins, and illusions. This 10th to 15th level adventure is designed for the '' LANKHMAR City of Adventure'' setting and the ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' game. It cannot be played without the ''Lankhmar City of Adventure'' book or the ''AD&D'' rules published by TSR, Inc.

Publication history

''Swords of Deceit'' was designed by Stephen Bourne, Michael Dobson, Steve Mecca, and

Ken Rolston Ken Rolston is an American computer game and role-playing game (pen and paper), role-playing game designer best known for his work with West End Games and on the computer game series ''The Elder Scrolls''. In February 2007, he elected to join th ...

, with cover art by

Keith Parkinson Keith A. Parkinson (October 22, 1958 – October 26, 2005) was an American fantasy artist and illustrator known for book covers and artwork for games such as ''EverQuest'', ''Guardians'', ''Magic: The Gathering'', and '' Vanguard: Saga of Heroes ...

, and was published by TSR in 1986 as a 40-page booklet with a color map and an outer folder. According to the module cover, it is intended for 4-5

s of levels 10-15. ''CA2'' is the second module produced for use with the '' Lankhmar - City of Adventure'' campaign pack. This module contains the 40-page scenario booklet, five pre-generated characters, and a copy of the full-color city map (including the main sewers).

Reception

Graeme Davis Graeme or Graham Davi(e)s may refer to: *Graeme Davis (game designer) (born 1958), role-playing games author, and novelist *Graeme Davis (mediaevalist) (born 1965), academic medievalist *Graeme Davies (1937–2022), New Zealand engineer and academi ...

reviewed ''Swords of Deceit'' for ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes fro ...

'' #82. Davis felt that the suggested levels for PCs were too high, and should have been more like 7-10; he suspected that this was done "so that Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser could be used", and had "a sneaking suspicion that American produced modules are written with a few levels of slack in them, so that it's possible to take the Rambo approach". Of the scenarios, Davis called "The Curse of Valinor" a "strong tale about skeletons in the closet coming home to roost, with a mini-dungeon which is slightly hackneyed and a bit too helpful", pointing out that the monster's tomb contains a book which explains the whole story. He found "Return of the Rats" excellent with good role-playing opportunities and nice NPC characterization, although he found the sewer system in the scenario disappointing and illogical. Davis' favorite was "One Night in Lankhmar", stating that "No matter where your players have been or what they've done, they will never, ever forget this one. They'll probably never work out what's going on, either The whole thing is beautifully set up to leave them with the uneasy feeling that they've just clipped the edge of something really big." Davis declared ''Swords of Deceit'' to be very good, "for an experienced DM with a group who are used to demanding and thoughtful adventures with the accent on role-playing".

References and Footnotes

{{D&D topics Dungeons & Dragons modules Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1986

Plot summary

Publication history

Reception

See also

References and Footnotes