Castle Amber (Dungeons & Dragons)

Castle Amber

The cover of Castle Amber, with art by Erol Otus. The artwork depicts a giant destroying a castle tower.
Code	X2
TSR Product Code	9051
Rules required	D&D Expert Set
Character levels	3-6
Campaign setting	Mystara
Authors	Tom Moldvay
First published	1981
Linked modules
X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, X7, X8, X9, X10, X11, X12, X13, XL1, XSOLO, XS2

Castle Amber is a Dungeons & Dragons adventure module designed by Tom Moldvay. This was the second module designed for use with the Expert D&D set. The module is in part an adaptation of Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne stories, and set in the fictional medieval French province of that name.

The player characters explore the haunted mansion of the Amber family, and encounter new monsters such as the brain collector. The module is described as a medium to high-level scenario which takes place in a castle surrounded by a strange gray mist.

During their night's rest on their way to Glantri, the player characters are unexpectedly drawn into a large castle surrounded by an impenetrable, deadly mist. This is the result of a curse the wizard-noble Stephen Amber (Etienne d'Amberville) put on his treacherous relatives for murdering him.

The only way to escape Castle Amber (or Château d'Amberville) is to explore the castle, putting up with the demented and at times insane members of the d'Amberville family and the other, often hostile, denizens, and open a hidden portal to the wilderness of the world of Averoigne, where the party can find the means to reach the inter-dimensional tomb in which Stephen Amber rests, in order to break the curse and return home.

In this world, magic is frowned upon, and spellcasters may come to the attention of the Inquisition.

The module's credits give special thanks to Clark Ashton Smith and Casiana Literary Enterprises, Inc., "for use of the Averoigne stories as inspirational material." Castle Amber (Château d'Amberville) draws from the Averoigne stories of Clark Ashton Smith. The main non-player characters of the module, the Amber family (d'Amberville in French, as an option), are not actually in any of Smith's stories, and were created by the designer to provide a link to Averoigne. A selected bibliography is included at the rear of the module.