Clik here to view.
“like Nostria and Andergast” has been a saying among DSA-fans for decades now. It’s the equivalent to “fighting like cats and dogs”.
I think the rivalry between the two backwards nations of Nostria and Andergast is one of those well-treasured parts of game lore that just feel oh so right. It can stand in for so many things. I think it does echo a lot of local rivalries. The difference between Northern Germans and Southern Germans for example, or Germans and Austrians. Or just one German state to another.
The names also are great: Nostria is latin for “ours” and Andergast translates as “other guest” (or maybe “other spirit”). That just evokes a sort of real worldness. You wouldn’t be surprised to learn those were actual names somewhere.
But that, of course, is the future. The whole rivalry first was mentioned in lore materials in 1985, in the first proper world sourcebook for Das Schwarze Auge, and cemented by lots of references afterwards.
Which makes this adventure a bit of a headache for anyone trying to adapt it while staying close to the lore:
“King Casimir of Nostria is in dire straits. His brother Wendolyn, lord of Andergast Castle, has disappeared and with him the parchment that legitimized Casimir’s kingship.
Before a ceremony on which much, very much depends for the king and his kingdom, he must find the scroll. For this he needs you, you fearless heroes, and he is glad that you are ready to leave for Andergast.
You still have no idea what dangers await you in the forest of no return and what sinister powers are up to mischief in Andergast Castle. But fame and fortune await you if you keep your guard up. However, if you let yourself be carried away by recklessness, a horrible end awaits you…”
So, yeah. The first mention of both Nostria and Andergast is in the second adventure module of the game, and it just won’t fit established lore at all.
But anyway, that’s, as I said, the future. So what about the adventure itself?
There’s not much point in trying to determine any improvement over the previous one really, both were written by the same person concurrently. They were part of that very first push to have something to present on the SPIEL games fair 1984. Something that rivaled the translation of Dungeons and Dragons by the same authors at that.
What we have here is a small romp through a wilderness and a dungeon area. The mentioned Andergast castle is a ruin by now, and it lies beyond the Forest of no Return. An evil wizard has laid ruin to the castle and enchanted the forest to deter trespassers.
How he did that being a level 5 wizard, and why nobody from the area has bothered to check on the feudal lord for months now are different questions that are not being touched upon. This is fantasy after all. Lets just assume there are reasons beyond our comprehension.
The titular Forest with no Return is barely in the scenario by the way. There’s a map that makes this nothing but a smaller dungeon level, with possible encounters like charcoal burners, robbers, and a hermit. There’s a single actual monster/environmental danger in there (enchanted willows).
This shows a different sentiment that would come to define Das Schwarze Auge later on. People have been making a lot of hay about how the world is low fantasy, but it’s not really. It’s much more eager to show parts of the world that are not swordfodder for the murderhobos though. This is just a small element in this particular scenario. But I think it does set a trend.
The castle is a ruin by now. How exactly this is the case is not quite explained. I guess magic. Somehow the wizard managed to take over the castle, ruin it completely (including corroding various metal parts), and now is living in the rubble basically.
I mean, it makes total sense. He’s obviously dabbling in dark magic. He totally seems the person who would take the easy way and rather live like a slob in some dank swamp castle than put some proper work in.
You know, evil wizard in his lair in the swamp ruins sounds much more impressive until you think about what person would willingly live like that. Fantasy worlds also give chances for incredibly stupid life decisions.
Just saying.
Anyway…
There is a werewolf hiding behind a curtain. The text gives the impression he was startled by the heroes and only after hiding realized
“wait, I’m a werewolf now”.
There’s a wine cellar where all the good wine is so good the characters might drink too much of it and then stumble around like fratboys on a Friday night.
There’s a hint where to find the main MacGuffin that the local alchemist wrote down just before getting caught by the bad guys. Wrote it down in verse, because of course he did.
There’s giant cockroaches, a gargoyle, a doppelganger (it had completely forgotten they were a thing in DSA), giant amoebas (DSA’s equivalent of slime), zombies and skeletons. There’s also a tentacled Krakenmoloch hiding in a well. This one might be the height of innovation in terms of monsters here, I don’t think there’s a direct DnD equivalent. All of them are given stats in the appendix, even things like owls.
Owls.
Ok, this might sound like it’s a bad scenario. It isn’t. It was not even really superfluous. This was after all one of the scenarios that were supposed to teach people who were not already playing RPGs how to play them. So you have to have all those things in there.
Keep on the Borderlands had lots of rule explanations. This one also tries to make sure you know what you are doing. There’s a list of “allowed spells”. Sure, you might have more spells, but these are the only ones that are “allowed”. There’s also just three equipment packs that are allowed. But that’s also helpful for a complete beginner GM: you don’t have to deal with anything more. This is a framework you can use for the adventure and you don’t have to deal with someone springing a surprise on you.
And I think this actually does a better job of actually presenting a more reasonable adventure environment than Wirtshaus did before. Wirtshaus was very much on the rails: you get caught by the guards, you escape into the tunnels, you have to learn to interrogate the environment narratively just to be able to explore further (get some light for example). Choices matter, and depending on what exit you chose you got a higher or lower difficulty and more or less experience.
I reread Wirtshaus zum Schwarzen Keiler lately and I think I understand what he tried to do with a lot of the choices there, especially for first time players. I don’t say it’s a great adventure, but I see where he came from. I do admire that Fuchs tried to give a proper newbie experience despite only having a month to write two different scenarios.
Wald ohne Wiederkehr is I think the better adventure of the two. It has a wilderness area, it has a much larger amount of choices to make. You have to plan your approach and properly explore the castle and dungeon. It has some glaring issues in the logic of the situation. And it’s not necessarily the epitome of dungeon design, but I think this could give a nice one or two sessions of play for beginner players.
Oh, and I think I will try to play this with my kids once they are old enough for it. It might work out.
Wald ohne Wiederkehr was published in German, of course, but it was also one of those that were published in French, Italian, and Dutch. Curiously the French and Italian versions keep the name snappy, while the Dutch goes with the title Het Woud, waaruit geen Terugkeer mogelijk is (The forest from whence no return is possible). I mean, it does mean the same. I just think brevity might have been better there.
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
