CM2: Death's Ride

CM2: Death's Ride is Garry Spiegle's 1984 followup for the Companion rules. In it the mage Ulslime (LOL) has sicced the Army Of Darkness upon Two Lakes Vale, and generally trashed it. Your job is to un-trash it.

Where CM1 was a series-of-events, Death's Ride is a sandbox: you explore the Vale until you uncover the mystery - the Dread Stone of MacGuffin. Well it all has to end somewhere.

The adventure takes place After, but there's a map for Before as well in case you wanted to come here during its heyday before it all went to braaains.

The designers set this one in Norwold on the assumption you're playing it alongside CM1: Test of the Warlords. CM2 makes clear that Spiegle himself never read CM1. Spiegle thinks Ericall works for Thyatis, and CM2's baddie is an Alphatian. That's the limit of the module's connection to the Known World. So feel free to place it anywhere there's a mountainous frontier.

There's a "climactic" battle here against the deadites which, as designed, isn't climactic - and in fact optional. (D'oh!) This battle is also War Machine, which Spiegle himself realised would wrap it all up in like fifteen minutes - so he's got some setpieces for the party to hit the ghoulies where it hurts, to lighten their siege. This is a prime opportunity for BATTLESYSTEM; we'll note our man also wrote AC3: The Kidnapping of Princess Arelina, which showcased tiles for more-tactical dungeon (okay, castle) fighting. CM2's showing-up of the War Machine's limits may even have been what prompted TSR to get working on the 'SYSTEM.