It gives me a feeling of great satisfaction to complete this addition
to the AD&D@ game system. After many months of design
and development, the project is finally nearing the end of the long
production process.
Yet, in a sense, the work is just beginning. Many pairs of eyes
have looked over these pages, but they represent only a fraction
of those who will eventually read and use the material within. How
you, the garners, react to this material is the true beginning of the
Dungeoneer’s Survival Guide.
Exploring dungeons, caves, and caverns has always been my
favorite part of the AD&D game. The number of subterranean
monsters and cultures presented in the monster manuals serve
as ample illustration of the importance of this environment to the
game as a whole. Yet many questions have lingered regarding
play in these regions of eternal darkness.
I welcomed the opportunity to answer some of these questions
in an official volume. Rules on topics such as swimming, climbing,
moving and fighting in narrow passages, and other categories
of the underground game are included here. The area of
nonweapon proficiencies, introduced in OA, is
expanded here for use with your campaigns.
But these areas represent only a part of the scope of this guide.
The nature of the vast realms below the surface of the world has
long been hinted at, but never really explained. Now the DM has
at his fingertips a description of the domains of the subterranean
cultures. The drow, duergar, derro, mind flayers, aboleth, and
many other creatures live in uneasy harmony, often fighting
among themselves, but united in their loathing of things from the
sunlit world. The types of communities these beings live in are
described for the DM’s benefit. In addition, a sample of a specific
underground world-the vast reaches of Deepearth-is presented
for the DM to expand upon or use as a guide for his own
campaign settings.
The ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS@ game system
continues to be the most popular role-playing game in the world.
As the RPG hobby evolves, it is only natural that the AD&D game
system should continue to grow with it. The roots of the game lie
deep within the earth, among the dungeons and realms where
most of us got our first taste of fantasy role-playing. It is these
roots that are attended to in this rule book.
Now, boldly brandishing a new collection of information and
guidance, characters can once again enter the regions of the
underearth, face the tremendous challenges there, and return
with treasures and experiences from the finest sort of adventure
gaming.
Read on, and have fun.
 

Douglas Niles
April 22, 1986
 
 

The weeks I have spent working on the Dungeoneer’s Survival
Guide have been hectic but enjoyable. I’m glad to have worked
on a rule book that is going to be such a valuable and longneeded
addition to the AD&D@ game systemf In fact, the DSG
contains so many new rules and DM techniques that you may
wonder how you ever went dungeoneering without it. And if
you’ve given up on dungeon-crawling and subterranean adventures
altogether, this is just the ticket to send you once again into
the most exciting and dangerous setting for role playing
excitement-the underearth.
Both danger and opportunity await in the endless realms
beneath the earth’s surface. This rule book not only explains the
details that make dungeons come alive, but covers the full gamut
of natural and artificial underground formations.
Within these pages, the nonweapon proficiencies introduced
in OA are greatly expanded to include underground
adventuring skills. In the system introduced here, the
chance of success of proficiencies depends upon the character’s
ability scores, restoring ability scores to their originally intended
preeminence.
Perhaps the most exciting feature of this book is its ability to
revitalize your underground campaign. There are many ways to
inject excitement and variety into subterranean adventuring; the
tips and guidelines on campaign and world design presented in
the DSG will help you do just that.
Advice on storytelling techniques will help the DM pique the players’
interest even further.
To sum it up, I think you’ll find this volume to be an invaluable
reference. The rules and game mechanics detailed here, as well
as the techniques of three-dimensional mapping, storytelling,
campaign creation, and DM-player interaction can add new life
and enthusiasm to every game. The DSG is the source book for adventuring in the tractless realms
of the Underdark. Don’t leave the sunlit world without it!

Mike Breault
May 12,1986