I received a copy of this module from Matt Finch, its author and the creator of Swords & Wizardry. Swords & Wizardry is a retro-clone OGL game meant to emulate the original Dungeons & Dragons booklets with some of the supplemental material. I really like Matt and Swords & Wizardry, so I wanted to give a shout out to this excellent product. This is not going to be an in-depth review, because I generally don’t do those, so I’ve included links to other reviews at the end for those of you wanting more information.
Spire of Iron and Crystal is a tournament module written to be played at Gencon 2009. It is 118 pages, includes pre-generated characters, a player map, and other Swords & Wizardry resources to make it easy for new DMs and players to use. Pete Mullen returns to provide more excellent cover art for this project. Devoted fans of modern dungeonpunk or the Elmore/Parkinson days may not like this style, but I truly enjoy a more alien and sometimes comedic style of fantasy art to accompany my gaming. I especially like the nerdy fellow with the cutoff tanktop and the ill-fitting helmet.
Like many people, I’ve been trying to articulate old school feel to people who’ve never played the game. Reading this module was instructive in that regard. The Spire of Iron and Crystal is a fantastic location, the kind of place that fires the imagination and makes you want to explore it and figure out its secrets. Simply put, it’s the kind of location that every adventure module should aspire to.
Another aspect of the module that evoked an old school feel for me was the presence of what amounts to aliens, beings from another place building strange machines and performing weird experiments that result in unimaginable disaster. I think the best modules are those that provide an interesting story for the DM, but one that’s not integral to the story. A well-crafted story gives the DM choices, makes an adventure interesting to read, and inspires a better game. Spire of Iron and Crystal fits the bill here.
I’m definitely going to be taking Spire of Iron and Crystal to Gencon with me as the only D&D(-like) game I plan to run, and if I can find a slot where it’s being run then I’ll probably jump in as a player as well!
You can purchase the module and other Swords & Wizardry goodies at Mythmere’s Lulu Storefront.
Other Spire of Iron and Crystal reviews:
