S2: White Plume Mountain - Revision history

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2023-06-22T15:45:34Z

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1d4chan>Zimriel: /* Novelization */

2021-08-03T02:21:14Z

Novelization

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:21, 3 August 2021
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	==Novelization==		==Novelization==
	[[Paul Kidd]] wrote a novel adaptation of the module in 1999, featuring the ~~recurring~~ characters of the Justicar, Cinders, Polt, and Escalla the fairie.		[[Paul Kidd]] wrote a [[Greyhawk Classics]] novel adaptation of the module in 1999, featuring the characters of the Justicar, Cinders, Polt, and Escalla the fairie. Which will be recurring in future Kidd-GC stories.

	Distinguishes itself from a lot of the other licensed novel adaptations through creativity (a party composed of a ranger, a flayed-but-living hellhound skin, a fairy wizard, and a bizarrely-indestructible teamster is at least a creative spin on the usual elf-human-halfling-dwarf fighter-rogue-mage-cleric du jour), good scene-setting writing, and the clever idea of making it a ''sequel'' to the original module, where the dungeon of Keraptis has fallen into disrepair and the villains are trying to renovate it. It also has a decent sense of humor (mocking some of the weirder or most obvious potential problems with the original module, and the main character escapes [[Mary Sue\| the usual label given to an edgy badass in black armor who chose his own name]] by dint of a writer who isn't so in love with him that he's unwilling to make him the butt of many jokes), and, while not perhaps ''tightly'' plotted, it at least manages to work all the subplots together such that none of the side adventures feel like diversions or wastes of time with nothing to do with the main quest.		Distinguishes itself from a lot of the other licensed novel adaptations through creativity (a party composed of a ranger, a flayed-but-living hellhound skin, a fairy wizard, and a bizarrely-indestructible teamster is at least a creative spin on the usual elf-human-halfling-dwarf fighter-rogue-mage-cleric du jour), good scene-setting writing, and the clever idea of making it a ''sequel'' to the original module, where the dungeon of Keraptis has fallen into disrepair and the villains are trying to renovate it. It also has a decent sense of humor (mocking some of the weirder or most obvious potential problems with the original module, and the main character escapes [[Mary Sue\| the usual label given to an edgy badass in black armor who chose his own name]] by dint of a writer who isn't so in love with him that he's unwilling to make him the butt of many jokes), and, while not perhaps ''tightly'' plotted, it at least manages to work all the subplots together such that none of the side adventures feel like diversions or wastes of time with nothing to do with the main quest.

1d4chan>SpectralTime at 02:07, 1 July 2021

2021-07-01T02:07:28Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:07, 1 July 2021
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	That said, the module is not without criticism, with Schick himself being one of the most vocal. By his own admission, the excuse plot of "mad wizard lures you into a wacky dungeon, what do?" was old hat ''even at the time'', he was hoping to get a job and basically just crammed together every cool idea he'd ever had from every other dungeon he'd ever made rather than tried to make them holistically fit together, the ending sucks, and one of the treasures just rips the black sword right off Elric's pasty white hand because YOLO. Schick still thinks of it a fun dungeon crawl with cool setpieces, but he doesn't think of it as truly great anymore.		That said, the module is not without criticism, with Schick himself being one of the most vocal. By his own admission, the excuse plot of "mad wizard lures you into a wacky dungeon, what do?" was old hat ''even at the time'', he was hoping to get a job and basically just crammed together every cool idea he'd ever had from every other dungeon he'd ever made rather than tried to make them holistically fit together, the ending sucks, and one of the treasures just rips the black sword right off Elric's pasty white hand because YOLO. Schick still thinks of it a fun dungeon crawl with cool setpieces, but he doesn't think of it as truly great anymore.

	A sequel, ''Return to White Plume Mountain'', was released in 1999 for ''D&D'''s silver anniversary, which takes place twenty years after the original. Having been presumably slain in the original ''WPM'', Keraptis may have returned as his mocking face has appeared in the eponymous plume of smoke which exudes from the volcano which was once his lair. Does this herald the mad wizard's return, or is something even more nefarious afoot?		A sequel, ''Return to White Plume Mountain'', was released in 1999 for ''D&D'''s silver anniversary, which takes place twenty years after the original. Having been presumably slain in the original ''WPM'', Keraptis may have returned as his mocking face has appeared in the eponymous plume of smoke which exudes from the volcano which was once his lair. Does this herald the mad wizard's return, or is something even more nefarious afoot? No one knows, but it sure was complicated.

	A 5e remake of the original module was included in ''Tales from the Yawning Portal'', among many other classic modules, ported over more-or-less faithfully.		A 5e remake of the original module was included in ''Tales from the Yawning Portal'', among many other classic modules, ported over more-or-less faithfully.

1d4chan>SpectralTime: /* Novelization */

2021-04-21T21:48:47Z

Novelization

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:48, 21 April 2021
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	Also, an interesting [[erinyes]] sub-villain, after spending most of the novel being a fairly competent and intimidating threat, throws it all away in the sub-climax by, in order, using [[Blackrazor]] during her boss fight when it had been a plot point for most of the novel that she couldn't with a bizarre and flimsy excuse, doing the anime character thing where you run around someone in a circle while spawning doppelgangers (through magic rather than super-speed), and then literally shouting "I'll get you Justicar! And your little dog too!"		Also, an interesting [[erinyes]] sub-villain, after spending most of the novel being a fairly competent and intimidating threat, throws it all away in the sub-climax by, in order, using [[Blackrazor]] during her boss fight when it had been a plot point for most of the novel that she couldn't with a bizarre and flimsy excuse, doing the anime character thing where you run around someone in a circle while spawning doppelgangers (through magic rather than super-speed), and then literally shouting "I'll get you Justicar! And your little dog too!"

	Kidd's book is also, for better or worse, very much a creature of ''[[From the Ashes]]'' Greyhawk, where the cataclysmic war with Iuz has filled the countryside with desperate refugees and the frontier with dead villages and roving monsters and bandits. The worst excesses of that setting are not front and center: by 1999, Wizards had wrested command of the sinking TSR ship, and already had Erik Mona and [[Sean Reynolds]] working on the "Living Greyhawk" project to clean up [[Carl Sargent]]'s [[grimderp]]. As a result in Kidd's officially-licenced novel, the highest authorities are generally competent and reasonable. ~~Still~~.		Kidd's book is also, for better or worse, very much a creature of ''[[From the Ashes]]'' Greyhawk, where the cataclysmic war with Iuz has filled the countryside with desperate refugees and the frontier with dead villages and roving monsters and bandits. The worst excesses of that setting are not front and center: by 1999, Wizards had wrested command of the sinking TSR ship, and already had Erik Mona and [[Sean Reynolds]] working on the "Living Greyhawk" project to clean up [[Carl Sargent]]'s [[grimderp]]. As a result in Kidd's officially-licenced novel, the highest authorities are generally competent and reasonable. But, the authorities are, still, dealing with an underbelly of corruption and vice. The main character and all the major players were touched by the conflict and are either motivated by it or taking advantage of the chaos left in its wake.

	The authorities are, still, dealing with an underbelly of corruption and vice. The main character and all the major players were touched by the conflict and are either motivated by it or taking advantage of the chaos left in its wake. Perhaps this is best exemplified by the character of Polt, the loud-mouthed happy-go-lucky teamster who keeps on complaining that the Justicar is insufficiently "heroic" (read: acting like a classic ''D&D'' adventurer), has a weak will for both magic and liquor, and is very much a comic relief figure; yet he never gets killed off (indeed, his improbable survival through situations that ''should'' have offed him becomes a running gag right up until the end where he ~~offs~~ an evil wizard's disciple with a shove attack) and many of his ideas actually turn out to have some merit to them, like spiking dungeon doors open so they can't shut and seal the team inside, or bringing along the 10 foot pole everyone mocks until they desperately need it.		Perhaps this difference in tone is best exemplified by the character of Polt, the loud-mouthed happy-go-lucky teamster who keeps on complaining that the Justicar is insufficiently "heroic" (read: acting like a classic ''D&D'' adventurer), has a weak will for both magic and liquor, and is very much a comic relief figure; yet he never gets killed off (indeed, his improbable survival through situations that ''should'' have offed him becomes a running gag right up until the end where he kills an evil wizard's disciple with a shove attack) and many of his ideas actually turn out to have some merit to them, like spiking dungeon doors open so they can't shut and seal the team inside, or bringing along the 10 foot pole everyone mocks until they desperately need it.

	Saw a sequel in the novelization of ''[[Drow_Trilogy\|Descent Into the Depths]]''.		Saw a sequel in the novelization of ''[[Drow_Trilogy\|Descent Into the Depths]]''.

1d4chan>SpectralTime: /* Novelization */

2021-01-05T18:36:54Z

Novelization

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:36, 5 January 2021
Line 14:		Line 14:
	Distinguishes itself from a lot of the other licensed novel adaptations through creativity (a party composed of a ranger, a flayed-but-living hellhound skin, a fairy wizard, and a bizarrely-indestructible teamster is at least a creative spin on the usual elf-human-halfling-dwarf fighter-rogue-mage-cleric du jour), good scene-setting writing, and the clever idea of making it a ''sequel'' to the original module, where the dungeon of Keraptis has fallen into disrepair and the villains are trying to renovate it. It also has a decent sense of humor (mocking some of the weirder or most obvious potential problems with the original module, and the main character escapes [[Mary Sue\| the usual label given to an edgy badass in black armor who chose his own name]] by dint of a writer who isn't so in love with him that he's unwilling to make him the butt of many jokes), and, while not perhaps ''tightly'' plotted, it at least manages to work all the subplots together such that none of the side adventures feel like diversions or wastes of time with nothing to do with the main quest.		Distinguishes itself from a lot of the other licensed novel adaptations through creativity (a party composed of a ranger, a flayed-but-living hellhound skin, a fairy wizard, and a bizarrely-indestructible teamster is at least a creative spin on the usual elf-human-halfling-dwarf fighter-rogue-mage-cleric du jour), good scene-setting writing, and the clever idea of making it a ''sequel'' to the original module, where the dungeon of Keraptis has fallen into disrepair and the villains are trying to renovate it. It also has a decent sense of humor (mocking some of the weirder or most obvious potential problems with the original module, and the main character escapes [[Mary Sue\| the usual label given to an edgy badass in black armor who chose his own name]] by dint of a writer who isn't so in love with him that he's unwilling to make him the butt of many jokes), and, while not perhaps ''tightly'' plotted, it at least manages to work all the subplots together such that none of the side adventures feel like diversions or wastes of time with nothing to do with the main quest.

	It also expands on the motivations of Keraptis, not only inventing an unusual and distinctive appearance for the wizard (white on one side and black on the other, like that one ''Star Trek'' alien in the episode about ~~race~~), but giving him a motivation for his silly dungeon where the challenges are meant to only get the strongest, most clever adventurers to the end, so they can be absorbed into him and become part of him through a magical process the main villain is keen on poaching for himself. It also establishes Keraptis is long dead at the start of the story, further making it infuriating that the module proper cheats the players out of a proper boss fight.		It also expands on the motivations of Keraptis, not only inventing an unusual and distinctive appearance for the wizard (white on one side and black on the other, like that one ''Star Trek'' alien in the episode about racism), but giving him a motivation for his silly dungeon where the challenges are meant to only get the strongest, most clever adventurers to the end, so they can be absorbed into him and become part of him through a magical process the main villain is keen on poaching for himself. It also establishes Keraptis is long dead at the start of the story, further making it infuriating that the module proper cheats the players out of a proper boss fight.

	Downsides include Escalla, who is about 50/50 on endearing and annoying, a potential ten-little-Indians subplot that is totally squandered on a group that's almost entirely there to die, like Security teams in ''Star Trek'', and taking ''more than half the novel'' to even start travelling to the titular dungeon.		Downsides include Escalla, who is about 50/50 on endearing and annoying, a potential ten-little-Indians subplot that is totally squandered on a group that's almost entirely there to die, like Security teams in ''Star Trek'', and taking ''more than half the novel'' to even start travelling to the titular dungeon.

1d4chan>Zimriel: /* Novelization */

2020-12-04T23:16:19Z

Novelization

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:16, 4 December 2020
Line 20:		Line 20:
	Also, an interesting [[erinyes]] sub-villain, after spending most of the novel being a fairly competent and intimidating threat, throws it all away in the sub-climax by, in order, using [[Blackrazor]] during her boss fight when it had been a plot point for most of the novel that she couldn't with a bizarre and flimsy excuse, doing the anime character thing where you run around someone in a circle while spawning doppelgangers (through magic rather than super-speed), and then literally shouting "I'll get you Justicar! And your little dog too!"		Also, an interesting [[erinyes]] sub-villain, after spending most of the novel being a fairly competent and intimidating threat, throws it all away in the sub-climax by, in order, using [[Blackrazor]] during her boss fight when it had been a plot point for most of the novel that she couldn't with a bizarre and flimsy excuse, doing the anime character thing where you run around someone in a circle while spawning doppelgangers (through magic rather than super-speed), and then literally shouting "I'll get you Justicar! And your little dog too!"

	It is also, for better or worse, very much a ~~novel~~ of ''[[From the Ashes]]'' Greyhawk, where the cataclysmic war with Iuz has filled the countryside with desperate refugees and the frontier with dead villages and roving monsters and bandits. The worst excesses of that setting are not front and center (the highest authorities are generally competent and reasonable, ~~even if they have to deal~~ with an underbelly of corruption and vice~~), but the~~ main character and all the major players were touched by the conflict and are either motivated by it or taking advantage of the chaos left in its wake. Perhaps this is best exemplified by the character of Polt, the loud-mouthed happy-go-lucky teamster who keeps on complaining that the Justicar is insufficiently "heroic" (read: acting like a classic ''D&D'' adventurer), has a weak will for both magic and liquor, and is very much a comic relief figure; yet he never gets killed off (indeed, his improbable survival through situations that ''should'' have offed him becomes a running gag right up until the end where he offs an evil wizard's disciple with a shove attack) and many of his ideas actually turn out to have some merit to them, like spiking dungeon doors open so they can't shut and seal the team inside, or bringing along the 10 foot pole everyone mocks until they desperately need it.		Kidd's book is also, for better or worse, very much a creature of ''[[From the Ashes]]'' Greyhawk, where the cataclysmic war with Iuz has filled the countryside with desperate refugees and the frontier with dead villages and roving monsters and bandits. The worst excesses of that setting are not front and center: by 1999, Wizards had wrested command of the sinking TSR ship, and already had Erik Mona and [[Sean Reynolds]] working on the "Living Greyhawk" project to clean up [[Carl Sargent]]'s [[grimderp]]. As a result in Kidd's officially-licenced novel, the highest authorities are generally competent and reasonable. Still.

			The authorities are, still, dealing with an underbelly of corruption and vice. The main character and all the major players were touched by the conflict and are either motivated by it or taking advantage of the chaos left in its wake. Perhaps this is best exemplified by the character of Polt, the loud-mouthed happy-go-lucky teamster who keeps on complaining that the Justicar is insufficiently "heroic" (read: acting like a classic ''D&D'' adventurer), has a weak will for both magic and liquor, and is very much a comic relief figure; yet he never gets killed off (indeed, his improbable survival through situations that ''should'' have offed him becomes a running gag right up until the end where he offs an evil wizard's disciple with a shove attack) and many of his ideas actually turn out to have some merit to them, like spiking dungeon doors open so they can't shut and seal the team inside, or bringing along the 10 foot pole everyone mocks until they desperately need it.

	Saw a sequel in the novelization of ''[[Drow_Trilogy\|Descent Into the Depths]]''.		Saw a sequel in the novelization of ''[[Drow_Trilogy\|Descent Into the Depths]]''.

1d4chan>Zimriel: /* Novelization */

2020-12-04T22:16:25Z

Novelization

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:16, 4 December 2020
Line 10:		Line 10:

	==Novelization==		==Novelization==
			[[Paul Kidd]] wrote a novel adaptation of the module in 1999, featuring the recurring characters of the Justicar, Cinders, Polt, and Escalla the fairie.
	Paul Kidd wrote a novel adaptation of the module in 1999, featuring the recurring characters of the Justicar, Cinders, Polt, and Escalla the fairie.

	Distinguishes itself from a lot of the other licensed novel adaptations through creativity (a party composed of a ranger, a flayed-but-living hellhound skin, a fairy wizard, and a bizarrely-indestructible teamster is at least a creative spin on the usual elf-human-halfling-dwarf fighter-rogue-mage-cleric du jour), good scene-setting writing, and the clever idea of making it a ''sequel'' to the original module, where the dungeon of Keraptis has fallen into disrepair and the villains are trying to renovate it. It also has a decent sense of humor (mocking some of the weirder or most obvious potential problems with the original module, and the main character escapes [[Mary Sue\| the usual label given to an edgy badass in black armor who chose his own name]] by dint of a writer who isn't so in love with him that he's unwilling to make him the butt of many jokes), and, while not perhaps ''tightly'' plotted, it at least manages to work all the subplots together such that none of the side adventures feel like diversions or wastes of time with nothing to do with the main quest.		Distinguishes itself from a lot of the other licensed novel adaptations through creativity (a party composed of a ranger, a flayed-but-living hellhound skin, a fairy wizard, and a bizarrely-indestructible teamster is at least a creative spin on the usual elf-human-halfling-dwarf fighter-rogue-mage-cleric du jour), good scene-setting writing, and the clever idea of making it a ''sequel'' to the original module, where the dungeon of Keraptis has fallen into disrepair and the villains are trying to renovate it. It also has a decent sense of humor (mocking some of the weirder or most obvious potential problems with the original module, and the main character escapes [[Mary Sue\| the usual label given to an edgy badass in black armor who chose his own name]] by dint of a writer who isn't so in love with him that he's unwilling to make him the butt of many jokes), and, while not perhaps ''tightly'' plotted, it at least manages to work all the subplots together such that none of the side adventures feel like diversions or wastes of time with nothing to do with the main quest.

1d4chan>Zimriel: /* Novelization */

2020-12-04T22:16:04Z

Novelization

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:16, 4 December 2020
Line 23:		Line 23:
	It is also, for better or worse, very much a novel of ''[[From the Ashes]]'' Greyhawk, where the cataclysmic war with Iuz has filled the countryside with desperate refugees and the frontier with dead villages and roving monsters and bandits. The worst excesses of that setting are not front and center (the highest authorities are generally competent and reasonable, even if they have to deal with an underbelly of corruption and vice), but the main character and all the major players were touched by the conflict and are either motivated by it or taking advantage of the chaos left in its wake. Perhaps this is best exemplified by the character of Polt, the loud-mouthed happy-go-lucky teamster who keeps on complaining that the Justicar is insufficiently "heroic" (read: acting like a classic ''D&D'' adventurer), has a weak will for both magic and liquor, and is very much a comic relief figure; yet he never gets killed off (indeed, his improbable survival through situations that ''should'' have offed him becomes a running gag right up until the end where he offs an evil wizard's disciple with a shove attack) and many of his ideas actually turn out to have some merit to them, like spiking dungeon doors open so they can't shut and seal the team inside, or bringing along the 10 foot pole everyone mocks until they desperately need it.		It is also, for better or worse, very much a novel of ''[[From the Ashes]]'' Greyhawk, where the cataclysmic war with Iuz has filled the countryside with desperate refugees and the frontier with dead villages and roving monsters and bandits. The worst excesses of that setting are not front and center (the highest authorities are generally competent and reasonable, even if they have to deal with an underbelly of corruption and vice), but the main character and all the major players were touched by the conflict and are either motivated by it or taking advantage of the chaos left in its wake. Perhaps this is best exemplified by the character of Polt, the loud-mouthed happy-go-lucky teamster who keeps on complaining that the Justicar is insufficiently "heroic" (read: acting like a classic ''D&D'' adventurer), has a weak will for both magic and liquor, and is very much a comic relief figure; yet he never gets killed off (indeed, his improbable survival through situations that ''should'' have offed him becomes a running gag right up until the end where he offs an evil wizard's disciple with a shove attack) and many of his ideas actually turn out to have some merit to them, like spiking dungeon doors open so they can't shut and seal the team inside, or bringing along the 10 foot pole everyone mocks until they desperately need it.

	Saw a sequel in the novelization of ''[[Descent Into the Depths]]''.		Saw a sequel in the novelization of ''[[Drow_Trilogy\|Descent Into the Depths]]''.

	[[Category:Modules]]		[[Category:Modules]]
	[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]		[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]
	[[Category:Greyhawk]]		[[Category:Greyhawk]]

1d4chan>SpectralTime: /* Novelization */

2020-12-04T18:11:58Z

Novelization

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:11, 4 December 2020
Line 15:		Line 15:
	Distinguishes itself from a lot of the other licensed novel adaptations through creativity (a party composed of a ranger, a flayed-but-living hellhound skin, a fairy wizard, and a bizarrely-indestructible teamster is at least a creative spin on the usual elf-human-halfling-dwarf fighter-rogue-mage-cleric du jour), good scene-setting writing, and the clever idea of making it a ''sequel'' to the original module, where the dungeon of Keraptis has fallen into disrepair and the villains are trying to renovate it. It also has a decent sense of humor (mocking some of the weirder or most obvious potential problems with the original module, and the main character escapes [[Mary Sue\| the usual label given to an edgy badass in black armor who chose his own name]] by dint of a writer who isn't so in love with him that he's unwilling to make him the butt of many jokes), and, while not perhaps ''tightly'' plotted, it at least manages to work all the subplots together such that none of the side adventures feel like diversions or wastes of time with nothing to do with the main quest.		Distinguishes itself from a lot of the other licensed novel adaptations through creativity (a party composed of a ranger, a flayed-but-living hellhound skin, a fairy wizard, and a bizarrely-indestructible teamster is at least a creative spin on the usual elf-human-halfling-dwarf fighter-rogue-mage-cleric du jour), good scene-setting writing, and the clever idea of making it a ''sequel'' to the original module, where the dungeon of Keraptis has fallen into disrepair and the villains are trying to renovate it. It also has a decent sense of humor (mocking some of the weirder or most obvious potential problems with the original module, and the main character escapes [[Mary Sue\| the usual label given to an edgy badass in black armor who chose his own name]] by dint of a writer who isn't so in love with him that he's unwilling to make him the butt of many jokes), and, while not perhaps ''tightly'' plotted, it at least manages to work all the subplots together such that none of the side adventures feel like diversions or wastes of time with nothing to do with the main quest.

	It also expands on the motivations of Keraptis, not only inventing an unusual and distinctive appearance for the wizard (white on one side and black on the other, like that one ''Star Trek'' alien in the episode about race), but giving him a motivation for his silly dungeon where the challenges are meant to only get the strongest, most clever adventurers to the end, ~~where~~ they can be absorbed into him and become part of him through a magical process the main villain is keen on poaching for himself.		It also expands on the motivations of Keraptis, not only inventing an unusual and distinctive appearance for the wizard (white on one side and black on the other, like that one ''Star Trek'' alien in the episode about race), but giving him a motivation for his silly dungeon where the challenges are meant to only get the strongest, most clever adventurers to the end, so they can be absorbed into him and become part of him through a magical process the main villain is keen on poaching for himself. It also establishes Keraptis is long dead at the start of the story, further making it infuriating that the module proper cheats the players out of a proper boss fight.

	Downsides include Escalla, who is about 50/50 on endearing and annoying, a potential ten-little-Indians subplot that is totally squandered on a group that's almost entirely there to die, like Security teams in ''Star Trek'', and taking ''more than half the novel'' to even start travelling to the titular dungeon.		Downsides include Escalla, who is about 50/50 on endearing and annoying, a potential ten-little-Indians subplot that is totally squandered on a group that's almost entirely there to die, like Security teams in ''Star Trek'', and taking ''more than half the novel'' to even start travelling to the titular dungeon.