One of my favourite games is Dungeoneer by Thomas Denmark and published by Atlas Games. Dungeoneer is sold as card decks, but it's also a board game, with cards serving as board tiles and character abilities. I own every Dungeoneer deck released, and I'm reviewing them each. In this post, I'm looking at the setting of the Tomb of the Lich Lord set.
There is evidence from the Haste card in Vault of the Fiends that the planet of Dungeoneer is named Tarnys.
As is often the case in Dungeoneer sets, the story of Tomb of the Lich Lord begins on the back of the box:
The Lich Lord has returned! And he has released the dead from their wormy graves. Now these undead hordes are stalking the land. The call has gone out for great heroes to stop this evil plague…are you brave enough to enter the Tomb of the Lich Lord?
The set is a dungeon game, set underground so it can be combined with outdoor sets (like Realm of the Ice Witch, Dragons of the Forsaken Desert, Haunted Woods of Malthorin, and Den of the Wererats.) As a prequel to the Call of the Lich Lord set, the tomb in this set is presumably either an early version of the same location or else a different tomb entirely. It seems that the map cards of Call of the Lich Lord reference the locations of this dungeon, but they're not exactly the same. There's no War Room, but there are:
It seems this game's location is less a fortress gearing up for war, but maybe a crypt underneath an ancient castle or estate. Maybe it's the Lich Lord's original resting place, and when he's resurrected for Call of the Lich Lord he changes residence to a temple of Nakari. Or maybe it's the same location, but when he awakes for Call of the Lich Lord he finds his crypt upgraded by Nakari.
There's a sense of combined forces in Call of the Lich Lord but in this set there are only 2 mentions of Nakari (Create Darkness and Blessings of Nakari), and both cards cost Glory rather than Peril. There are no demons in this set, no priestesses of Nakari, no Naga, no fallen knights. This tomb is populated mostly by rank-and-file undead. There are a few vermin and a wandering bug-a-bear, but those seem like creatures that might end up living in a long-forgotten tomb by habit rather than by conspiracy.
In other words, this is a routine dungeon crawl. You're out to deal with a Lich Lord and whatever undead he has on hand. It certainly is a job for heroes, but nothing that would require, say, an epic hero. And anyway, once a Lich is destroyed, there's probably very little chance of him coming back.
…right?
There are several mentions of cultures and regions throughout this set.
Mentioned on the Repel Undead card, Agonon's Hollow is some location on Tarnys that's had to deal with at least some undead.
In Vault of the Fiends, the Bannus Soldier card states that "Bannus Soldiers love money and battle." We don't know anything about Bannus or its soldiers beyond that.
In this set, the Bannus Mercenary card says "Bannus mercenaries are loyal only to money." That's basically just the definition of a mercenary, but compounded with the flavour text of Bannus Soldier it suggests that the militaristic culture of Bannus is one driven by individual gain. If you're a warlord (or king, or whatever) in Bannus, then you don't raise an army through regional pride or social security. You raise an army by promising your fighters the spoils of war.
Along with Agonon's Hollow, the Betulah River is mentioned on the Repel Undead card. Agonon's Hollow is some location on Tarnys that's had to deal with at least some undead. The phrasing indicates that these are 2 extremes: "From Agonon's Hollow to Betulah River reeks the stench of death." It's likely that the Betulah River is far enough from Agonon's Hollow that it's concerning when everything in between reeks of death.
Tanin Shadefoot is a player character classified as a "Darkling." The surname sounds like a hobbit name, the term "darkling" sounds like a variant of "halfling," so I assume that a darkling is the Dungeoneer universe's version of a short human.
The Ring of Arcana card says that its titular ring was "Forged in the fires of Dolmaranthuz." In Vault of the Fiends, the Iron Helmet card says "Knights of Dolmarathuz wear helmets like this one." Dolmaranthuz is probably a kingdom, and it's possibly the homeland of the evil wizard Ramalith.
Siboth and Raka are player characters classified in this set as a "Necromancer." There's no differentiation between their lineage (human, elf, dwarf, and so on) and their class (for example, fighter, wizard, or rogue.) It's my theory that in the world of Tarnys, Necromancer is considered a unique lineage with a strongly implied class. If you're born of human parents, but show talent for dealing in undeath, then you are not considered human, but a Necromancer ("Necro" for short), and you're expected to do Necromancer things.
Another possibility is that Necromancers themselves ascend beyond mere humanity, by choice or as a side-effect of their study of the art. Maybe Necromancy is so consuming that it's pointless to try to classify a Necromancer by lineage and profession. It doesn't matter what a Necromancer is, because a Necromancer just is.
The dwarves of Nim Ozhul are also mentioned in the Call of the Lich Lord cards Titanium Breastplate and Titanium Shield, and in Realm of the Ice Witch on the Fire Bomb card.
We know little of Nim Ozhul. There's firm evidence in this set, and others, that dwarves currently exist on Tarnys, so Nim Ozhul could easily be an active dwarven kingdom. It could just as easily be an ancient dwarven forge of legend.
Whatever the status of Nim Ozhul, it is definitely a dwarven society with skill at crafting effective weaponry.
In this set, the Axe of Weeping Wounds bears this flavour text:
The axe of weeping wounds was forged in the depths of Nim Ozhul with the tears of dwarven maidens.
As all great flavour text does, this suggests an almost incomprehensible number of possible histories, and there's no way for us to know what's true. Were the tears of dwarven maidens used to temper the steel? Or did dwarven maidens fashion the weapon while enduring such physical adversity that they were weeping as they worked? Or did some horrible event occur that caused the dwarven maidens to weep, and in response they created this powerful axe? Were the tears incorporated into the axe? (Mechanically, there's no magic in the axe, but that doesn't mean that magic wasn't involved in its making.)
We'll never know, but the Axe of Weeping Wounds is probably the most evocative of all Nim Ozhul artefacts.
Probably a big seaside city with the usual crime that comes with a prosperous population. The Disarm Traps card says: "I trained with the master thieves of Ravenport. This feeble trap is no match for my superiour skills."
Tomb of the Lich Lord leans heavily on classic dungeon tropes, in the best possible way. You're ostensibly in the dungeon to defeat the Lich Lord, but there's no quest to confront the Lich Lord directly. If you happen upon him, you can fight him as a monster of Peril, but in a sense he's just another monster. The dungeon itself feels like a routine well-protected, but not to the extent that it's invincible. This is a dungeon begging to be decommissioned, an unhallowed crypt that could have been great but just never quite got the buy-in from the powers required.
There are traps, like Poison Needles, Poison Cloud, Fumbler, and Budge. There are monsters and demons and vermin. There's a slight suggestion of Nakari's presence, and the usual residual eldritch and arcane magics. The quest cards feel opportunistic and cursory, like things you don't have to go especially out of your way to do because you're already in the dungeon anyway. This is the perfect early hero training dungeon. It gets you up to speed as a brave adventurer.
The trouble is, no matter what you do, you apparently don't get it right because the Lich Lord returns in Call of the Lich Lord. To be fair, it's not entirely your fault. Divine intervention is required for the Lich Lord to return.
It's a fun set, and in my next post I examine the characters of Tomb of the Lich Lord
Header and card image copyright by Thomas Denmark and Atlas Games, and used exclusively as reference.