AC11: The Book of Wondrous Inventions

AC11 "The Book of Wondrous Inventions" (1987) was the final supplement in the AC line of D&D game accessories.  Gnomes are referred to as "skilled mechanicians" (pg 28) in keeping with the emerging D&D perspective of gnomes as tinker-inventors.

The volume was released the same year as the first gazetteers, and includes references to GAZ1 "The Grand Duchy of Karameikos" (pg 89), GAZ2 "The Emirates of Ylaruam" (pg 61), and GAZ3 "The Principalities of Glantri" (pgs 86, 87, 92).

AC 11 "The Book of Wondrous Inventions" compiled by Bruce Heard.  Cover illustration depicting King Dorfin by Jim Holloway

Design Team:

On a recent Facebook post, Bruce Heard shared "I had a long list of general ideas which a number of freelancers grabbed and ran away with."*

*each contributor is listed alongside their entry or entries below, including some fairly well-known game designers.

The collection was edited by Deborah Christian

The cover and interior illustrations were by Jim Holloway

The Wondrous Inventions:

Entries are divided into appliances, constructs, dungeon devices, entertainment, home or business, practical services, structures, transportation, weapons & warfare.

Each entry contains a definition, history, description, construction, statistics, functioning, hazards, and staging possibilities for the invention.

A

Aldryk's Fire Quencher (Scott Haring; Austin, Texas)

The Animated Money Changing Machine (Bill Slavicsek; New York, NY)

Ardraken's Refreshment Simulacrum (Scott Haring; Austin, Texas)

B

The Barber's Aid (Deborah Christian; San Diego, CA)

Balthazar's Suite of Many Delights (Ray Winninger; South Holland, IL)

Beldane's Subterranean Borer (Ed Greenwood; Colborne, ONT)

Bladderwick's Human Catapult (Robin Jenkins; Lake Geneva, WI)

Blashphor’s Ever-Vigilant Baby Cradle & Nursery (Rick Swan; Des Moines, IA)

Borgora’s Inflatable Scare-Dragon (Bill Slavicsek; New York, NY)

Brandon’s Bard-in-a-Box (Deborah Christian; San Diego, CA)

The Clockwork Dragon of Mai-Faddah

C

Ch’Thon’s Astral Ball (Raymond Maddox; Slocomb, AL)

Castle in the Clouds (Sandy Petersen; Richmond, CA)

The Clockwork Dragon of Mai-Faddah (David E. Martin; Lake Geneva, WI)

D

Damos’s Ball of Bowling (Steve Gilbert and Robert Tuftee; New York, NY)

Darak’s Thaumaturgical Printing Press (Janet and Peter Vialls; Huntingdon, U.K.)

Death Engine (Scott Bennie; Abbottsford, B.C., Canada)

Disteron’s Dismal Disposal (Gary L. Thomas; Boise, ID)

The Train of the Dwarven Thane (Vince Garcia, with thanks to Dean Zook; Fresno, CA)

The Dreadnought (Stewart Wieck; Rocky Face, GA)

E

The Economy Super-Wash Laundromagic II (Graeme Morris; Cambridge, U.K.)

The Electric Cooker (Stephen Palmer; Egham, U.K)

Evem’s Mirror of Enviable Image (Greg Gorden; Chicago, 1L)

The Extra-Dimensional Safe (Helen Cook; Lake Geneva, WI)

Fleabottom’s Brick Mac

F

The Fiendish Exercise Machine of Bardolpho the Mad (Allen Varney; Austin, TX)

Fleabottom’s Brick Mac* (Robin Jenkins; Lake Geneva, WI)

*I used this contraption in a game, back in the day

G

Gnomish Submersible (Jeff Grubb; Home for the Mentally Woozy, New New Mistraven)

H

Honest Obie’s All-Night Armor Merchant (Scott D. Haring; Austin, Texas)

The Hot Air Balloon (Stephen Palmer; Egham, U.K.)

Hotspur’s Selecto-Staff (Stephen R. Bourne; Islington, Ontario, Canada)

House Vacuum (Helen Cook; Lake Geneva, WI)

J

Jaggar’s Transforming Gargantoid (Bruce A. Heard; Lake Geneva, WI)

K

Kruze’s Magnificent Missile (Ed Greenwood; Colborne, ONT)

L

The Levelmaker (Sandy Petersen; Richmond, CA)

M

Melrond’s Foolproof Dishwasher (Allen Varney; Austin, TX)

Moodarvian Rings of Emotion (David Ladyman; Austin, TX)

Morath’s Mobile Manor (John Nephew; Duluth, MN)

The Oddwaddle Centipede

O

The Oddwaddle Centipede (Robin Jenkins; Lake Geneva, WI)

Olaf Grunndi’s Stupendous Repository of Arcane Lore (Rik Rose; Cambridge. U.K.)

R

Rahn-Ko’s Ranger Fooler (John Terra; Randolph, MA)

The Rainmaking Machine (Thomas M. Kane; Farmington, ME)

Rumblebotty’s Flying Nightmare (Ray Winningcr; South Holland, IL)

S

Saonuihun’s Speeding Sphere Game (Michael DeWolfe; Victoria, B.C., Canada)

The Sultan’s Uncanny Ghost Ride (Janet and Peter Vialls; Huntingdon, U.K.)

U

Ungah’s Dungeon Cleaner (John Terra; Randolph, MA)

Volospin’s Dragonfly of Doom

V

Vanserie’s Wondrous Elemental Heater (Bruce A. Heard; Lake Geneva, WI)

Volospin’s Dragonfly of Doom (Bruce A. Heard; Lake Geneva, WI)

Appendices:

Dorfin's Little Shop of Horrors

The gnomes of Highforge (see GAZ1 — The Grand Duchy of Karameikos) are famous for their imagination and the number of devices the dwarves help them build.

All through their lives, they accumulate heaps of unused items. Added to this is a number of magical items they trade for or mysteriously find in their dungeons. Once their initial interest is gone, gnomes quickly forget their past inventions and get busy on others. Just recently, King Dorfin, the gnomish monarch, passed an edict allowing open sale of all unused inventions, as a way to clean up his ever-so-cluttered passageways. Thus was born Dorfin’s Little Shop of Horrors.

AC11 "The Book of Wondrous Inventions" (pg 89)

Creating Spells and Magical Items

This section was drawn from a similar section in GAZ3 "The Principalities of Glantri" (pg 64-7) and includes information on experience value for making inventions.

CM4: Earthshaker!

CM4 "Earthshaker!" (1985) by David "Zeb" Cook is a D&D adventure for character levels 18-20, set in the region of Norwold.

CM4 "Earthshaker!" (1985) by David "Zeb" Cook.  Illustration by Clyde Caldwell.

The PCs must determine how to deactivate a giant, steam-powered robot before it can wreak havoc in the Kingdom of Norwold.

Evoking Japanese mecha (aired in the U.S. as "Voyage Into Space", etc.), the module is an early example of steampunk (predating the term).

About the Author:

David "Zeb" Cook was hired by TSR in 1980.  He wrote I1 "Dwellers of the Forbidden City", A1 "Slave Pits of the Undercity" and co-edited the Expert Rulebook (1981) with Steve Marsh, also co-writing X1 "The Isle of Dread" with Tom Moldvay..

Further contributions to the D&D Game World included X4 "Master of the Desert Nomads" (1983), X5 "Temple of Death" (1983), M1 "Blizzard Pass" (1983), B6 "The Veiled Society" (1984), and AC2 "The Treasure of the Hideous One" (1984)

The Duchy of Vyolstagrad:

The Duchy of Vyolstagrad, located "somewhere near the Wyrmsteeth Range"

Earthshaker:

Earthshaker stands 1,280' tall (the Empire State Building is 1,250'), or 17' 6" in 25mm scale.

Earthshaker "was built at least 3,000 years ago,* probably by a race of evil gods similar in skill to dwarves or gnomes."

*this coincides with the Blackmoor era, although DA1 "Adventures in Blackmoor" was not published until the following year

The gnomes of Earthshaker.  Illustration by Ben Otero.

Earthshaker is home to a clan of 327 gnomes, who operate the machinery that powers the giant automaton.*

*AC11 "The Book of Wondrous Inventions" (1987) and PC2 "Top Ballista" (1989) consolidated this image of gnomes

"Tinker" gnomes also appeared in the second volume "Dragons of Winter Night" of the original Dragonlance trilogy (1985).

Clock of Timelessness:

The module describes a clan relic for gnomes:

The clan's relic, the Clock of Timelessness, is a 5-foot clock with a skeleton movement (the inner works can be seen clearly).  Unlike Earthshaker, the relic is ornately decorated; gears are filigreed, armatures sculpted, and jewels arc lavishly set in the clock's face.  The relic has all the standard powers of a relic as described in the Companion Rules.

In addition, the relic can be used to fashion the rare equation of time.  The equation allows time travel to any specific point in time.  First the keeper selects the date (down to the second) the equation will derive.  Then the keeper and his aides must study and record the movements of the clock in perfect detail for one year.  With this data, they must perform thousands of complex, magical, mathematical formulae in their heads.  Nothing of this can bc written on paper and the slightest error will cause the end result to bc imperfect.  Performing these calculations takes 20 years.

When the final formula has been completed, the keeper and the clanmaster can correctly set the clock.  When the clock is set, one person or object is instantly transported through time to the chosen date.  The transported object remains there for 24 hours and then must either transport again (by use of another equation of time) or fade into nonexistence.  Anything that fades disappears utterly and totally from the Multiverse as if it had never existed (although any possessions or previous deeds of a character do not change).

from CM4 "Earthshaker!" (1984)

New Magical Item:

Spade of Digging (pg. 21) from AC4 "The Book of Marvelous Magic" (1984)

Prerolled Characters:

The pre-rolled characters "are not entirely serious characters (as this is not an entirely serious adventure).  Each has some feature or characteristic that makes him noticeably less than perfect."

Alphonso Rodiphino (F18)

Fierlas Diaz (T19)

Bartolome de Tramalcos (C18)

McVay the Mighty (MU18)

apprentice "Boy" (MU1)

Tagus Firebreath (D12; attack rank J)

Hiera Lead-Spear (E10; attack rank B)

Trivia:

The entry for Jaggar's Transforming Gargantoid in AC11 "The Book of Wondrous Inventions" includes the following reference to CM4:

Far away to the south, beyond Specularum and the Sea of Dread, lies a mysterious continent. Legends say that only gnomes and their huge frightening machines populate this part of the world, called by some the Land of Earthshakers (see module CM4, Earthshaker).

It was there that Jaggar, a Glantrian Wizard-Prince, spent part of his life in exploration of the land. During his many adventures among the gnomes, he discovered Alphatian outposts that were quite hostile to the gnomes and their machines. As an answer to the horrendous gnomish creations, the Alphatians introduced the Gargantoids, their own version of the Earthshakers.

At the end of a huge battle against gnomish steam powered earthshakers and Alphatian magical gargantoids, the gnomes were defeated and Jaggar nearly captured. As a desperate measure, the prince managed to enter a gargantoid, and dehim to take over the magical machine and escape with it. He reappeared months later in Glantri and concealed the infernal machine in a secret cave coated with lead, high in the mountains.

AC11 "The Book of Wondrous Inventions" (1987)