The second installment of ロードス島戦記 “Record of Lodoss War” appeared in the October 1986 issue of Comptiq magazine. Like in the first installment, the artwork is by Yutaka Izubuchi, who some say is responsible for the extra long ears one sees on elves in Japanese illustrations.
The party of six travel through a forest to a cave in the side of a cliff where they enter their first dungeon. The dialogue, you may recall, is intended to teach how to play D&D and topics which get treated during the course of the adventure are light sources, marching order, the use of minis, listening at doors, and map-making. Woodchuck the thief irresponsibly leaves the rest of the party without taking his own torch and encounters giant ants in the dark which he narrowly escapes. Later Etoh the cleric fails to turn some skeletons, so Parn and Ghim are forced to fight them. Beyond the skeletons they discover a room with a desk and a portrait of a beautiful woman. The desk contains a letter signed by Karla. If the replay follows the same story as the anime the party will be seeing more of both the beautiful woman and Karla.
Having explored the complex completely, the players are puzzled why they haven’t found the treasure-guarding crystal warrior they were told about in the previous installment. Deedlit the elf and party mapmaker analyzes her map and predicts the location of a secret door behind which they find a room with a statue made of quartz crystal. The statue speaks and poses a riddle: “I hide blue and black. What am I?” Deedlit solves the riddle and the statue allows them to pass unharmed to the treasure room, where they find a magic sword, a healing potion, and enough gold pieces to level up.
B5 perfect bound magazine 210 pp.
Japanese Tabletop RPG 