Dungeonland

Greyhawk Source

Dungeonland
Type:	Adventure
Code/Abbreviation:	EX1
Edition:	AD&D first edition
Author(s):	Gary Gygax
Series:	EX1 EX2
First Published:	1983
Class:	Canon

This article is about the adventure. For the demiplane region of the same name, see Land Beyond the Magic Mirror.

The nature of the adventure is such that it is easy to add into almost any campaign.

Dungeonland was actually adapted from one of Gygax's own campaigns and was accessed via Castle Greyhawk. This adventure was distinctive primarily because the adventure was a close adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, with the various characters from the book translated into AD&D terms.

The adventure is intended to be a "fun" adventure, in which events are supposed to move along in Carrollesque fashion, and the players do better to go with the flow. Nevertheless, there are plenty of deadly situations, and players must stay on their toes.

The adventure is paired with The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror, which is based on Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. In a (perhaps intentional) mixup, the scene on the cover is from the other adventure, and vice versa.

Dungeonland (EX1) is a 1983 adventure for first edition, written by Gary Gygax. It is an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, with the various characters from the book translated into AD&D terms.

The EX adventure code stands for extension, as the adventure is designed to be inserted as an independent addition to another, ongoing scenario. In Gygax's own campaign, an early version of Dungeonland was an extension of Castle Greyhawk. In this adventure, the player characters (PCs) are plummeted into what White Dwarf reviewer Jim Bambra referred to as "a strange partial plane".

Plot summary

The adventure begins with PCs falling down an earthen tunnel. It is suggested that the portal to Dungeonland be a barrel within the dungeon of Castle Greyhawk, but the Dungeon Master (DM) may work in any premise to get them to this stage.

Upon landing, the player characters (PCs) find themselves in a surreal, oddly-shaped hallway which contains The Pool of Tears and the entrance to a diminutive garden. Once they have explored these areas, they cross a fungi forest and arrive at The Wilds of Dungeonland, which is essentially a wooded area containing several connected clearings.

Over the course of the adventure, the PCs run into variations of Lewis Carroll's Wonderland creatures and characters, presented in a Dungeons and Dragons style. For instance, instead of the Mock Turtle, a Mock Dragon Turtle is present. The March Hare is a lycanthrope, and so on.

The story loosely follows the Alice in Wonderland novel, with all of the characters converted into hostile monsters with treasure. The PCs may leave Dungeonland when they choose, by returning to the Great Hall and wishing themselves back up the tunnel. The PCs may also explore The Land of the Magic Mirror, which adjoins Dungeonland to the West, if they are able to find the way.

Publication history

Dungeonland was inspired by Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and "includes a very dangerous Mad Hatter and March Hare, a deadly game of croquet with the Queen, and a Mock (Dragon) Turtle". Like its source material, the adventure is intended to be played in a "light-hearted and zany spirit", though, unlike Carroll's Alice, the player characters repeatedly face potentially lethal combat with monsters. The Cheshire Cat, for example, is a magical smilodon eager to eat adventurers.

Dungeonland was written by Gary Gygax, with illustrations by Tim Truman, and was published by TSR in 1983 as a 32-page booklet with an outer folder. Dungeonland and The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror were designed to allow the DM to place them as an extension of any existing dungeon intended for 9th–12th level characters. In the afterword, Gygax mentions that Dungeonland was an early part of the Greyhawk dungeon, and that his players visited it multiple times. Dr. Joyce Brothers is mentioned as having played in a version of the scenario run at a convention.^{[citation needed]}

The adventure is paired with The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror, which is based on Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass. The scene on the cover of each adventure is from an event in the other adventure.

Reception

Doug Cowie reviewed Dungeonland favorably for Imagine magazine. He noted that the adventure is designed to be inserted into any existing dungeon or dungeon level. Cowie praised the "excellent underlying theme" and the "whimsical", but on occasion "very black humour". He also felt that this was a "good example of how adventure design is developing", namely "interesting and technically sound, whilst displaying more and more conceptual originality". Cowie thought that the designer had done a "splendid job".

The adventure was positively reviewed in issue No. 48 of White Dwarf magazine by Jim Bambra, who scored it 9 out of 10 overall. He reviewed the adventure along with The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror, and enjoyed the "rich vein of humour" that runs through the two adventures, both of which "offer players an exciting and humorous time". He felt that while the adventures could be played individually, they work best when played together as they frequently interconnect, and player characters adventuring in one adventure could suddenly find themselves in the other. Bambra felt that although the adventures were humorous in tone, some encounters could turn extremely dangerous, and that making them for high level characters makes them inaccessible for lower level characters. However, he concluded by saying that if players do have higher level characters available then "by all means play them, you will not regret it."

In his 1991 book Heroic Worlds, Lawrence Schick said that the scenario was "inspired by Alice and Wonderland, but with the whimsy replaced by opportunities for slaughter".

Reviews

• Different Worlds #35 (1984)
• Fantasy Gamer #6 (1984)

External links

• Article and download at Wizards of the Coast via Internet Archive

References

Bibliography

• Bambra, Jim. "Open Box: Dungeon Modules." White Dwarf #48. Nottingham, UK: Games Workshop, 1983.
• Gygax, Gary. Dungeonland. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1983. TSR9072

Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index

The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (EGI) is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, continued by numerous other fans. The EGI article has a list of sources, product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.

Topic	Type	Description	Product	Page/Card/Image
EX1 Dungeonland	Adventure	Located in: Greyhawk (Castle Greyhawk),	Dragon magazine #230	15
EX1 Dungeonland	Adventure	Located in: Greyhawk (Castle Greyhawk),	EX1 Dungeonland	All
EX1 Dungeonland	Adventure	Located in: Greyhawk (Castle Greyhawk),	EX2 The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror	2, 4, 13, 23, 25, 26
EX1 Dungeonland	Adventure	Located in: Greyhawk (Castle Greyhawk),	From the Ashes: Atlas of the Flanaess	72
EX1 Dungeonland	Adventure	Located in: Greyhawk (Castle Greyhawk),	Living Greyhawk, Living Onnwal Gazetteer, D&D 3.5e	5
EX1 Dungeonland	Adventure	Located in: Greyhawk (Castle Greyhawk),	The Adventure Begins	77
EX1 Dungeonland	Adventure	Located in: Greyhawk (Castle Greyhawk),	World of Greyhawk boxed set (1983)	30
GC1 Dungeonland	Adventure		Reference	SEE EX1 Dungeonland

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