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Classic ‘80s Dungeons & Dragons adventure Castle Amber is being revised for 5E

Over 30 years since its debut.

Escape a haunted manor occupied by tortured ghosts in Original Adventures Reincarnated #5: Castle Amber, a revised version of a first edition Dungeons & Dragons module updated for the latest fifth edition of the fantasy RPG.

First released in 1981, Castle Amber was an adventure for D&D 1E in which players found themselves incarcerated in an ancient ancestral home. Once owned by the Amber family - a powerful group of wizards who fled from the land of Averoigne - the crumbling castle became home to all manner of terrifying undead and gruesome creatures, including the spirits of the family members themselves.

After the untimely death of Stephen Amber, the remaining members of the family were placed under a curse that caused them to haunt the castle grounds, imprisoning any unfortunate adventurers who dare enter in.

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Throughout the adventure, players had to navigate the labyrinthine castle, battling monsters such as the brain collector - a primal aberration that plucks the brains from victims’ skulls - and searching for a way to lift the curse on Castle Amber. Players could ultimately escape the castle, or end up trapped in its depths forever.

The classic adventure for the tabletop roleplaying game was influenced by the works of Clark Ashton Smith, an American writer who acquired fame during the early 20th century by writing for Weird Tales magazine - alongside the likes of Conan creator Robert E. Howard and Cthulhu Mythos author HP Lovecraft. Tom Moldvay - the creator of the original Castle Amber module - was particularly inspired by the setting of Averoigne, a French medieval region populated by haunted ruins.

The revised version of Castle Amber has been altered to work with Dungeons & Dragons’ 5E rules and includes additional encounters not found in the original adventure. (Thanks, ICv2.) Also featured alongside the new version of the module is the classic first edition adventure, featuring commentary from various “contemporary game designers and writers”.

 
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Goodman Games is the publisher behind the new version of Castle Amber - alongside current Dungeons & Dragons publisher, Wizards of the Coast - and is releasing it as part of its Original Adventures Reincarnated series, which has previously included classic D&D modules such as The Isle of Dread - the very first wilderness adventure for First Edition - and The Lost City.

The revised 1E adventure follows the announcement of Curse of Strahd Revamped, a new edition of the beloved D&D adventure about the vampire Strahd von Zarovich who haunts Castle Ravenloft. Curse of Strahd Revamped will include additional enemies, an illustrated DM screen and a revised version of the Vistani human variant.

Original Adventures Reincarnated #5: Castle Amber is set to be released on October 30th at a retail price of $50 (£38).

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Alex Meehan avatar
Alex Meehan: After writing for Kotaku UK, Waypoint and Official Xbox Magazine, Alex became a member of the Dicebreaker editorial family. Having been producing news, features, previews and opinion pieces for Dicebreaker for the past three years, Alex has had plenty of opportunity to indulge in her love of meaty strategy board games and gothic RPGS. Besides writing, Alex appears in Dicebreaker’s D&D actual play series Storybreakers and haunts the occasional stream on the Dicebreaker YouTube channel.
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