Review - U2 Danger at Dunwater

 U2 DANGER AT DUNWATER

by Dave J Browne & Don Turnbull (1982)

It's difficult for me to objective here.  Picture the scene, 2 12 year old schoolboys browsing shops in the local town centre, a pleasant Summer's day in 1984 (it may have been Spring, all I remember was that it was sunny).  Both boys have recently discovered D&D - one has the Basic and Expert sets, the other has the AD&D Players Handbook.  They spot a D&D adventure in the window of a shop, the colour of the cover slightly affected by exposure to direct sunlight.  On a whim one darts into the shop and spends his money it.  They rush excitedly to the nearest of their homes, quickly copy the pregenerated characters to character sheets, and without preparing, attempt to play the shiny new adventure.  One of them in charge of 5 or 6 PCs made to AD&D rules, the other DMing using what he remembers of the Basic rules as his books are back at his home.

I was that 'DM'.  We had no idea about the modifications to combat mechanics in AD&D, or even the premise of the module - we just played it as a dungeon crawl for a few hours until the fresh new PCs got overwhelmed and I had to go home for my dinner.

Thus U2 - Danger at Dunwater was the 1st AD&D module I ever owned - and the 3rd D&D module after X1 and X4, the 1st of which I'd got with my Expert set in late 1983.  It would be another few months before I acquired the AD&D rulebooks. And a few more years before I got modules U1 and U3 and thus understood the plot of the series.  But it didn't matter.  We had fun.

                         Ignore what other reviewers say, that's a Locathath, not a Sahuagin

So with the nostalgia out of the way, let's try to get serious.  Danger at Dunwater is the 2nd adventure in the Underwater series, written by the British TSR team, but published by the main arm of TSR in the USA.  It boasts lovely cover art of a Locathath surfacing on a Giant Eel, an image which enticed me into buying it, and still one of my favourite cover pieces.

The storyline revolves around the continuing Saltmarsh saga.  Having completed U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh the party *should* have discovered that a local tribe of Lizard Men appear to be preparing for war, and the Saltmarsh Town Elders are understandably nervious - this is where the party come in.  Go to the Lizard Men's lair, discover what they are up to, and if necessary deal with it.  With the benefit of years of experience, and now having read the earlier module, this is now where I have to fight my nostalgic urges....

Does this guy really look like he wants to fight you?

It's well written, there's some great artwork, maps are clear and easy to use (even if the main lair has a bit of a 'generic dungeon' feel to it - natural caves would have worked better).  But there is an immense flaw.  If the party have played U1 and succeeded, then the players will be pretty smart.  The last section of U1 is nigh on impossible for a gung ho group of bloodthirsty killers!  And a smart group are likely to realise that force is not the solution to U2, communication is - as the Lizard Men are not interested in attacking Saltmarsh!  Once that penny drops and the party start negotiating with the tribe to help them against the *real* enemy, then it's time to put U2 away and move on to the finale of the series - U3 The Final Enemy.  This means that, for the purpose of running the U series, more than 50% of what is in U2 will remain unused.

Bullywugs weren't in my Basic/Expert books!

This does not mean the module is poor though.  It contains a number of interesting swamp encounters, and is a well constructed lesson on how to portray a tribe of intelligent creatures, their politicking, their society, and their organisation.  Thus U2 has significant worth as a sourcebook for a DM.  Also, of course, if the DM wants an instant lair to house a tribe of much more warlike Lizardmen, then here it is! 

It's typical of the UK writers to come up with something logical, grounded, and different, and for that they should be lauded.  It's just that, sadly, this one doesn't work so well in the context of the module series.  Of course, being part 2 of a series is a difficult spot to be in, as part 2 is commonly just the vehicle used to get from the exciting opening to the climactic finish, but U2 firmly grasps that tag and suffers for it.

Those 12 year old boys though, they didn't realise those issuess.  They simply enjoyed a fun afternoon of wanton reptile-slaughter.

Presentation: 9/10 – exciting cover, clever maps, solid interior art and clear writing.

Brawn:  1 or 10/10 – there's a lot of big fights there, but they will probably never happen.

Brains:  5/10 - erm, hard to rate this one, I suppose the players need to come to the realisation that they are supposed to parley, but that's about it.

Overall: 6/10 - great as a resource, lacking as an adventure.