Harbinger House: Planescape Adventure

by Bill Slavicsek

Harbinger House is a PLANESCAPE adventure for four to six characters of 4th to 7th levels. From Sigil to the Outlands and back again, the heroes must piece together a puzzle that could shake the Cage to its foundations. A dark secret of the multiverse waits to be discovered in the lunatic asylum called Harbinger House, and only the player characters can shape its power - for good or ill.

Genres: Fantasy, Role Playing Games, Dungeons and Dragons

64 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1995

About the author

Bill Slavicsek's gaming life was forever changed when he discovered Dungeons & Dragons in 1976. He became a gaming professional in 1986 when he was hired by West End Games as an editor. He quickly added developer, designer, and creative manager to his resume, and his work helped shape the Paranoia, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, and Torg roleplaying games. He even found some time during that period to do freelance work for D&D 1st Edition. In 1993, Bill joined the staff of TSR, Inc. as a designer/editor. He worked on a bunch of 2nd Edition material, including products for Core D&D, Dark Sun, Ravenloft, and Planescape. In 1997, he was part of the TSR crowd that moved to Seattle to join Wizards of the Coast, and in that year he was promoted to R&D Director for D&D. In that position, Bill oversaw the creation of both the 3rd Edition and 4th Edition of the D&D Roleplaying Game. He was one of the driving forces behind the D&D Insider project, and he continues to oversee and lead the creative strategy and effort for Dungeons & Dragons.

Reviews

[Ανδρέας Μιχαηλίδης · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this adventure from, man, 30 years ago, it makes me think how low the hobby has fallen in terms of lore. This was a time when a rich, detailed cosmology connected many (if not all) of the AD&D settings and mythologies into a working whole, and that interconnectivity not merely allowed, but encouraged tales of wonder, mystery and exploration.

And nothing exemplified that better than Planescape.

In this adventure you have a murder mystery leading to a philosophical conflict with tangible, dimensional implications, and ending in a good old fashioned showdown against demonic forces. There are provisions for the characters making what would traditionally be considered "evil" choices, except the whole point of the setting is philosophy and choice, so evil us often a matter of perspective.

*SPOILERS*

And then you have the antagonist unapologetically using sex as a weapon, even though, this being Dungeons and Dragons, there is nothing in the way of graphic descriptions. Besides her being a succubus, faithful to the tradition of this mythological creature, at the same time, AD&D's demonic cosmology and social structure make her a nuanced character that seems extremely relevant to reality, even though the story takes place in one of the most wildly fantastical setting of the game.