Caliban (Arduin dungeon)

Caliban: Arduin Dungeon Number One was published in 1979 and was the first standalone dungeon module written by David A. Hargrave, based upon his previously published gaming system known as Arduin. In the world of RPG consumers who use the Arduin system, "Caliban" is considered one of the most deadly and legendary of Hargrave's supplemental creations, second only to "Death Heart".

Basic description
Caliban contained maps with room descriptions and trap matrices, four full dungeon/tower levels with maps and room descriptions (one level is an intricate cavern system), eight pocket sized magic artifact cards and eight illustrated monster cards with statistics.

While designed for use with the Arduin gaming system, Caliban was usable with any d20 or other RPG system. The module was recommended for characters level 12 or higher (in the Arduin universe).

Packaging
"Caliban" was 25 pages long, with maps, descriptions and overviews. The package also contained a set of 16 unique creature and treasure cards, which could be detached and used in-game. The "Caliban" module also included 26 unique new traps in a matrix at the rear of the module.

Cover illustrations were by Greg Espinoza.

Story
The story concerns a huge mountainous tower created by an undead sorcerer (see cover illustration). The tower was created by the sorcerer melting countless hectares of basalt and shaping it with his power. No one knows who he was or why the mountain/tower was created, but over 20,000 years or more it was populated with various forms of evil and was known as "Caliban".

One day "Caliban" gained consciousness and sent its inhabiting forces into the world to destroy and conquer in a battle known as "War of the One". The attack was countered by Elves, with power so great that the plant tilted on its axis and life was destroyed on a planetary scale.

"Caliban" lost its consciousness and became a ghost of dungeons, wandering the world and appearing randomly and at random times.

Other Arduin modules
Listed in order of appearance:

The Howling Tower: Arduin Dungeon Number Two

The Citadel of Thunder: Arduin Dungeon Number Three

Death Heart: Arduin Dungeon Number Four

Miscellaneous
Caliban was originally published by Grimoire Games. It went out of print in 1986 and until 2002 was extremely rare, with copies fetching as much as US $65 on eBay. Since 2002, reprints of the module were made available from Emperor's Choice Games and Miniatures, but appear to have also been discontinued (as of August 2006).