Quagmire!

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Quagmire!
250px
Code X6
Authors Merle M. Rasmussen
First published 1984
Linked modules
X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, X7, X8, X9, X10, X11, X12, X13, XL1, XSOLO, XS2

Quagmire! is a 1984 adventure module for the Expert Rules of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

Plot summary

In the beginning of this adventure, the player characters set off in search of the city of Quagmire.[1] The characters must travel through a monster-infested swamp to get to the city, which is being slowly swallowed into the sea.[2] Quagmire is a whelk-shaped "spiral city", built by a dead race in the Serpent Peninsula.[1] The module includes a description of the city.[2]

Publication history

X6 Quagmire! was written by Merle M. Rasmussen, with cover art by Steve Peregrine, and was published by TSR in 1984 as a 32-page booklet with an outer folder.[2] The module featured interior art by Jeffrey Butler.[3] The scenario was written for the Expert Rules.[1]

Reception

Graham Staplehurst reviewed Quagmire! for White Dwarf, and gave it 8/10 overall, calling it "a useful acquisition for any D&D player, particularly as a first excursion into a fully fledged wilderness."[1] Staplehurst praised the module, stating that it "promotes a whole 'experience', a total environment and ecosystem, with background colour and depth which more localised scenarios and modules lack. The designers have done a good job in describing large areas of wild lands, giving inspiration and yet not pedantic detail to DMs with players itching to see a bit of their characters' world and feel it come to life."[1] He called the eponymous city a "superb piece of original design", although he noted that DMs running the scenario "will want to dress up the city a little to add to the scenario as it is a little sparsely populated".[1] Staplehurst concluded the review stating, "The weather, the fatigue of travel, disease, the question of provisions, etc, all play a major part in the characters' concerns, and this increases enjoyment of the game no end. A very good scenario."[1]

In his 1991 book Heroic Worlds, Lawrence Schick provides an alliterative summary of the scenario: "Sea slowly swallows seashell-shaped swamp city".[2]

Games historian Jon Peterson used Quagmire! as the subject of a detailed study of TSR's internal operations during the height of the Dungeons & Dragons fad in the 1980s, showing how staff designers moved projects from concept briefs to story boards and drafts up to publication.[4]

Additional reading

  • Review: Space Gamer V1, #72 (1985)

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. Rasmussen, Merle M. Quagmire! (TSR, 1984)
  4. Quagmire! The Making of a 1980's D&D Module by historian Jon Peterson


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