Thursday, April 29, 2010

Dungeons & Superfriends

The Challenge of the Superfriends episode "Monolith of Evil" contains this awesome little dungeon adventure, starring members of the Legion of Doom!

The Hall of Doom tunnels to the center of the Earth in search of the source of evil energy that resurrected Solomon Grundy as a super-powered swamp zombie guy.


I could totally stat up this party in Encounter Critical without breaking a sweat.  A planetary ape mad scientist, a frankenstein warrior and two human criminals.

I've got about a dozen screencaps of background shots like this, but I'm going to assume not every Gameblog reader likes lava as much as I do.  So I'll post just this one.

The party marches along a narrow pathway between dangerous bursting lava bubbles and lava falls.

They eventually pass behind an even an even bigger lavafall.


Holy crap!  Four-armed dragon!  The party flees into a nearby tunnel.  Riddler wants to wuss out and turn back but Solomon Grundy turns and snarls "No! We go on!"


They emerge into a second large cavern.


The super-awesome MacGuffin is almost in hand...


"Don't worry! I, the most useless member of the Legion of Doom, will go get the treasure!"


Crap on a stick!  A giant lava monster!  The rest of the party doesn't think twice about abandoning Leaves-Clues-For-The-Heroes-Man to his fiery fate.


Not wanting to fight Surtur's nephew, the Legion of Doom trick the Superfriends into doing their dirty work for them.

A monkey, a dead guy, and a girl in cat pajamas can escape this dragon, but a flying dude cannot.  What does that say about Hawkman's basic competence?


Remember that lava monster?  Good thing Superman memorized cone of cold that day.

If I was the DM here, I'd probably rule that the lava in the lake will eventually re-heat the monster.  Maybe d6 turns later.

Following some Legion of Doom trickery and some kryptonite, our heroes are nearly eaten by this awesome giant crab with tentacles.  Don't worry Superman, Hawkman will save you!

Then they stumble into this weird black crystal cave with a petrification trap. Don't worry, the Flash shows up and molecules their molecules. That always makes things better.

This lava dungeon adventure isn't even the whole episode.  I'm leaving out the part where Braniac and Lex Luthor kidnap the U.N. building, the blotting out of the sun, the water creature that gets turned into an ice monster, the Justice League computer calling Robin an idiot AND a giant yellow robot!

18 comments:

  1. Using Superfriends as EC material; brilliant!

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  2. When Grant Morrison explained the source of Grundy's powers it involved evil pilgrims beneath Manhattan, a magician who shot bullets from his eyes, and extra-dimensional evil Fae empire fought by the Newsboy Army.

    In summation, Solomon Grundy is awesome, and I would totally buy Grant Morrison's Superfriends.

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  3. "...I'm going to assume not every Gameblog reader likes lava as much as I do."

    And you would be wrong sir! The riff raff demand more lava pictures!

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  4. Jeff, have you ever played Dwarf Fortress? If you love lava lakes, this is the game for you.

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  5. The most inspired bit of geekitude I've ever read on a blog. Thank you, sir, for awesomeifying my day.

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  6. Superman. What a munchkin.

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  7. If I'm Lex Luthor and I'm in my Evil Lair of Evil thinking about the team I want to have go after the evil McGuffin of evil...I am NOT sending the Riddler after it!

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  8. Anonymous9:47 AM

    Tunnels & Trolls + White Plume Mountain = Superfriends.

    Thanks for this, Jeff! What fun!

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  9. Anonymous9:48 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  10. I always thought the Hall of Doom looked like Darth Vader's helmet.

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  11. "If I'm Lex Luthor and I'm in my Evil Lair of Evil thinking about the team I want to have go after the evil McGuffin of evil...I am NOT sending the Riddler after it!" - Yes, but you're not the world's greatest criminal mind, are you. Trust me - he had a plan.

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  12. Yeah, Lex Luthor is a plans on top of plans kind of guy. Note that it's not just the Riddler - this is absolutely the B Team. While Superman, Hawkman, Black Lightning and The Flash are screwing around here, Luthor's probably robbing every bank in Metropolis with the useful supervillains.

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  13. I've just added "Crap on a stick" to my GM lexicon. Thank you, sir.

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  14. If I was Luthor, one of my plans would be, "Let's send the Riddler into a lethal environment he's totally incapable of dealing with, mentally, physically, or philosophically, and fry him like a jalapeno popper."

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  15. Dave, I too was totally thinking White Plume Mountain when I saw the giant crab.

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  16. IMHO Challenge of the Superfriends in among the greatest Saturday Morning cartoons EVER! There is more insane zaniness to steal than the entire runs of most cartoons.

    Oh, and I also vote for more lava, y'all.

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  17. "Crap on a Stick" - great JG/T&T module! ;^]

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