Lovecraftian Thing A Day No.70: Dwellers of the Forbidden City

Another one from the dungeon vaults: TSR's Dwellers of the Forbidden City scenario for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, published in 1981. Actually less of your standard dungeon crawl and more of a sandbox setting, Dwellers of the Forbidden City was another rare instance where TSR largely abandoned the tired Tolkienesque tropes that had, even at this early time in the hobby, become such an intrinsic part of fantasy roleplaying. Instead we get a Lovecraftian/Howardian set up involving ancient tentacled horrors lurking deep beneath the earth, frog-like humanoids, and demon-worshipping serpent people  - all inhabiting the crumbling jungle ruins of a prehuman city (which, if you look closely at the maps, is replete with Cthulhoid statuary). Nice.