Maze of the Riddling Minotaur (Basic) (M2/MSOLO2)
An expert set solitaire adventure. For a long time you have heard legends about the Island of Vacros; when you were only a child¸ the stories about evil minotaurs were used to scare you into behaving. Now you are grown¸ and you no longer believe children's stories. But King Trueon of Cathos is worried: his daughter Princess Lydora has been kidnapped¸ and he has found clues that she has been taken to the ancient and evil island of Vacros. You have heard rumors that a large and dangerous mazework lies beneath the surface of the island - a mazework that is guarded by minotaurs. Of course many rumors are false¸ but then again... Product History M2: "Maze of the Riddling Minotaur" (1983)¸ by Jeff Grubb¸ is the second invisible-ink solo adventure for Basic D&D. It was published in July 1983. About the Module Code. TSR would later call this adventure "MSOLO2" because of the publication of the Master-level adventure M2: "Vengeance of Alphaks" (1986). However¸ the adventure was never actually printed with that designation. Sources: The Greek Myths. M2: "Maze of the Riddling Minotaur" (1983) is heavily based on Greek myths¸ as made obvious by the heavy use of Greek-sounding names. It's based on the story of Theseus and the minotaur: in it¸ Theseus (the SOLO player) is called upon by King Aegeus (King Trueon) to go to the island of Minos (Vacros) and slay the Minotaur (a monster). The silver owl the player is given to signal his failure both references a then-modern look at Greek myth¸ Clash of the Titans (1981)¸ and recalls the black sails that were to report Theseus' death in the original story. Origins (I): A New Designer. Jeff Grubb started playing Avalon Hill wargames in high school¸ but during his first year in college he wandered by a group of D&D players¸ and was told they needed a cleric. He soon began to GM his own campaign¸ set in the world of Toril; it would eventually influence both the Forgotten Realms and Krynn. Grubb was volunteered to write the AD&D Open for Gen Con. In the end¸ he coordinated the whole tournament! After that¸ he applied for a job of TSR¸ but didn't get any traction until he stopped by the TSR Personnel Office in person¸ at which point Allen Hammack said to hire him. He began work in July 1982. Grubb's first project for TSR was BH4: "Burned Bush Wells" (1983) for Boot Hill ¸ but it appears that it was beaten to press by his second project¸ M2: "Maze of the Riddling Minotaur" (1983). Though TSR was almost a decade old when Grubb was designing "Maze"¸ it was still a young company. Grubb recalls writing the adventure on a typewriter above the Dungeon Hobby Shop¸ because the Sheridian Springs Office wasn't ready yet and the company's computers were in high demand. Origins (II): Spilling More Invisible Ink. Basic D&D's second solo adventure repeated the use of invisible ink and a special pen¸ following on M1: "Blizzard Pass" (1983). However¸ the line's invisible-ink pens was quite problematic. That was partially a physical problem: the pens had to be velcroed to the outside of the modules. As a result¸ the modules wouldn't lie flat¸ and sometimes the pens would break the shrink wrap - often resulting in pens that were stolen or less. The ink itself didn't work that well either. It meant that the adventure could only be run once. Worse¸ you could run out of ink while playing the adventure¸ either from overuse or non-use. Various reports also suggest that over time inked passages might fade or that uninked passages might appear¸ making the modules even more troublesome as artifacts. However¸ black (ultraviolet) light may be used to reveal the hidden information¸ even without a pen. The hidden text is also available on multiple web sites today. The next Basic D&D Solo¸ XSOLO: "Lathan's Gold" (1984) would present all of its information