So the plot is convoluted and much of it is useless, but it boils down to THOU MUST FINDETH THE FOUR MACGUFFIN STONES. Anyway, our brave heroes must now find the cure for the stasis thing. He leaves a map with vague clues as to the location for each stone on each of the elemental planes after he dies, for “Others come now for Cloudwalker and me.” Then he is LITERALLY CARRIED INTO HEAVEN BY A GOD AND AN ESCORT OF TWENTY HOT BABES ON PEGASI. He returns on his Pegasus mount, mortally wounded and burnt to a crisp. ![]() Then comes the only awesome part Sir Gawaine, King’s Champion, has already passed through the Gate of Neveryon in search of the Nanorien Stones. Now they have a cure but the magical stasis can only be broken by the use of a rare macguffin known as a Nanorien stone. With a cure not forthcoming, the people of the kingdom instead put their royal family into a sort of magical stasis while they tried to figure out a way to deal with the curse. The attack failed but their leader cursed the royal family with a hideous wasting sickness before perishing. 10 years ago a band of evil mercenaries attacked the royal family for unspecified reasons. The adventure begins with a page of largely useless backstory in the shape of a short story. The writing is sparse and provides only the barest essentials to a point where it doesn’t inspire the type of dream-like wonder and awe a plane-travelling adventure should inspire. Yes, it’s that kind of an adventure! It’s not terrible and you can tell it tries but the plot is contrived and a big part of the adventure is just boring straightforward. ![]() Quest for the Nanorien Stones by Jim Gallagher & Steve Morrison is a 28-page adventure for characters of level 7-10 involving trips to 4 different elemental planes of Fire, Water, Air and Earth to find four magical macguffin stones. Today we look at a relatively obscure product for the Role Aids line of 3rd party AD&D 1e adventures called The Quest for the Nanorien Stones to remind us that while much was grand in ye olden days, not all that glittered was made of gold. With that sentiment comes a certain veneration for the modules of yesteryear: Caverns of Thracia, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, Steading of the Hill Giant Chief and so on. ![]() The bulk of the movement is centered around the idea that there were qualities in the olden games that the modern, slicker, sexier and more codified versions have failed to capture. In the OSR we have a tendency to look to the past for guidance. Jim Gallagher & Steve Morrison (Mayfair Games)
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