DA3: City of the Gods

DA3 "City of the Gods" (1987) by Dave Arneson and David Ritchie is a 48 page D&D adventure for character levels 10-14.

Module DA3 "City of the Gods" (1987) by Dave L. Arneson and David J. Ritchie.  Cover illustration by Doug Chaffee.

Creative Team:

Dave Arneson was the co-creator of D&D.  He returned a decade after leaving TSR to work on the DA series, based on his original Blackmoor campaign.

Arneson's co-author, David Ritchie, worked on several projects at TSR from 1982-83 (see this thread from Dragonsfoot in 2008).  He coauthored DA1-3 with Arneson, although garnered sole credit for DA4 "The Duchy of Ten" (1987).

Ritchie's wife, Deborah C. Ritchie, worked at TSR around the same time, serving as editor for B3 "Palace of the Silver Princess" (1981) and X3 "Curse of Xanathon" (1982).  She is credited as editor for the entire DA series, DA1-4.

Interior illustrations are by Jim Holloway (except for a full-page illustration by Jeff Easley on pg 46 from XSOLO "Lathan's Gold" (1984)

Special thanks to Mike Mornard and Mike Bakula.

Design Origins:

Surely it was a sight. All golds and silvers, with towers and buildings of the oddest shapes and hues and sizes. Many towers seemed proportioned the same; but this in no way indicated mundanity, for surely the towers gleamed in morning's sunlight. Metal towers, and hundreds of them!

from "Robilar Remembers" (Oerth Journal #6)

The City of the Gods has its origins in the earliest days of the D&D game, dating from Arneson's original Blackmoor campaign.

Module DA3 was largely written by Ritchie, according to Arneson, here.  The idea of turning the city into a crashed space ship may have been Ritchie's.

The Adventure:

The PCs are commissioned to explore the City of the Gods, somewhere deep within the Valley of the Ancients, in order to initiate contact with its inhabitants, while investigating the nature of its connection to the Order of the Frog.

Robot.  Illustration by Jim Holloway.

New Monsters:

Camarilla,* Cyborg, Gakarak,** Garl,*** Geonid,**** Grazer, Herex,** Hide Hunter (Human), Hook Beast (Hook Horror, Hulker),***** Robot (Dbot, Sbot, Ebot, Ubot), Quarg,****** Roper,***** Sand Folk*******

*a tougher version of the Xytar from AC9 "Creature Catalog"
**from AC9
***from CM6 "Where Chaos Reigns"; AC9
****from X5 "Temple of Death"; AC9
*****from XL-1 "Quest for the Heartstone"; AC9
******a tougher version of the Ice Wolf from B10 "Night's Dark Terror"; AC9
*******a tougher version of the Sis'thik (Desert Scourge) from AC9

Rogues, Regents, and Rascals:

A five-page section describes several notable NPCs (some previously described in DA1 "Adventures in Blackmoor")

Prerolled Characters:

The prerolled characters included in DA1 and DA2 are given more extensive bios:

Alphidia Alkot (M10), Axel Kars (F10), Bob Silverheels (H8, from the Five Shires), Gelon Melandil (E10, exiled from Alfheim), Gillam Khandum (D10, from the mountains of northern Glantri), Ismelian Sotadis (E10, from Alfheim), Jareel Takis (C11), Kokra the Touch (T11, from Ylaruam, a near relative of the Emir Hinbul II), Newton Depoe (M11), Purda Blue (F11), Sean Boldfinger (T10), Thern Mor (C10, rumored to be from Thyatis)