Once upon a time, there was an idea—an idea formulated by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974 and published in a little paperback book called Underworld Adventures. The idea was simple: it is a lot of fun to go into a dungeon and kill evil monsters. Why is the dungeon there? No one knows. Why do the monsters usually fight rather than talk? We aren’t really sure. Why are there 16 trolls in a cave with a jug of alchemy? No one cares. What do all the monsters eat? We don’t know that either (although “adventurer” probably tops the list). And we don’t have to know these things. This isn’t an ecology experiment, it’s a dungeon—the quintessential setting for pure swords and sorcery adventuring.

This adventure pays homage to that original idea. True, there are opportunities for role playing, but most of this module is dedicated to “roll playing.” Hopefully, while exploring the halls of Rappan Athuk, you will recall the thrill of discovery, the terror in your heart when you fought your first skeleton, the joy of rolling your first natural 20 and the despair you felt when that 1 came up for your poison save.

This module, Rappan Athuk—The Dungeon of Graves, is nothing more and nothing less than a good, old–fashioned, First Edition dungeon crawl updated for the Swords & Wizardry Complete Roleplaying Game. Very difficult, it should strike fear into the hearts of the most stalwart adventurers. It offers an abundance of traps, tricks and monsters.

We hope that you find this module as fun and exciting as those hundreds of players who have ventured into (and not as often out of) the endless caverns and mazes of Rappan Athuk—The Dungeon of Graves.

Rappan Athuk is a difficult dungeon. Even the upper dungeon levels should not be attempted by a party of less than six characters of 4th level. Only truly veteran players should attempt this dungeon with lower level characters. Parties delving deeper than the 1st or 2nd levels of the dungeon should be of 5th level or higher. Entering the dungeon through “The Well” (which leads to level 3A) is dangerous, best avoided by parties of less than 7th level. . .

Don't go down the well...

Saint Regis a cleric of the order of Tyr, has been given a task of burning 4 sacred candles on the desecrated altars in Rappan Athuk. Completion of the this task will shut the dimension door that is being opened by the priest of Orcus. This is the only means of stopping the surge of undead that is overtaking the known world.

A group of adventurers have joined St. Regis on his quest: Wolfgar an amazing fighter from the lands of desert heat, McDuffin a young yet mighty dwarf always looking to finish a fight, Thornboldt never trusted, yet always needed, and Razmith the mysterious and wise. They all have their reasons (or ulterior motives) for being on this quest.