TSR, $2.00, ISBN 0-88038-021-7
Fantasy, 1983

Did you adore your character Jaimie in Pillars of Pentegarn? Good, because you are playing him again in Revenge of the Rainbow Dragons, and Owl and Fox are back to annoy everyone too.

You’re now older, and have become a better druid too. Oh don’t worry, druids can cast nice spells too, so you can pretend you’re a wizard and it won’t make a difference. This time around, Pentegarn is summoned to Rainbow Castle to meet the three wizards Malus, Pothos, and Rubus, over what seems like some property dispute, and of course you three tag after that old coot. Sure enough, the three wizards have no intentions of playing fair, and you have to pick one of their offered challenges to overcome in order to save the day. What will it be? Go to Limbo, the Tower, or the Game Room?

With three options, two of them having routes that funnel you to Limbo (which, alas, is not the plane as much as it is… something else less interesting), that means this campaign is basically three mini-stories squashed together and masquerading as gamebook. Oh, you can die, become a giant (which is a bad ending, for some reason), et cetera, but it’s actually easier to get to the happier endings. There are also some puzzles to solve, but these are all little distractions to make you believe that you’re not reading a novel.

On the bright side, while the Tower route is pretty dull, there are some interesting encounters and twists here and there. The three wizards being straight out Looney Tunes-types provide some unexpected comic relief – which is more than one can say of the whiny, obnoxious animal companions of yours this time around – and yes, the illustrations aren’t too bad. The rainbow dragons actually having rainbow breaths as a weapon is pure cringe fuel, but their appearances here are quite majestic for the scope of the campaign. Rainbows aside, they are quite interesting, really.

At any rate, keep your expectations low, and this one may pleasantly surprise you.