Reviews
ISSUE 1
"This is almost the platonic ideal of the Artisan Zine. It could only be the product of an intelligent, well-resourced, careful individual with good taste who took a long time and much research, invention and playtesting to produce it. It's particular, from its dungeon treasures all the way to the paper chosen and folded by hand to make it. Even the form and the way the paper is arranged is an elegant arrangement of information and aesthetics that could only be made easily by one mind who both comprehended and *physically created* the whole thing as one."
"This forty page 'zine' contains a thirty page dungeon and the supporting monsters, spells, etc. Lush, rich prose, the ruins of a decadent empire, and heavy opium clouds bring the OD&D HARD. Digest format is as digest format does. It's good...The descriptions are lush and rich with great imagery...Which is exactly what I'm looking for. I want to be excited. Ben jabbed an idea into my head and I can fill in the rest effortlessly because of his ability to communicate the seed to me, the DM."
"The city of Zyan feels like something out of Clark Ashton Smith, Lord Dunsany, William Hope Hodgson, or even H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands. There's a lush--even cruel--decadence to the place, described in a surreal, almost psychedelic way. Laurence's writing is remarkably effective in establishing a mood and I often found myself luxuriating in the prose. That's a rare thing in game writing, particularly when it comes to detailing what is, when all is said and done, a dungeon...It's a truly wonderful book and I cannot recommend Through Ultan's Door Enough."
James Maliszewski, Grognardia
"It feels really fresh. The ecology of the dungeon, the different kinds of creatures you encounter, the way it straddles this tone between light adventure fantasy and dark wicked fantasy, I think is really great… this whole dungeon feels like a really great monster manual come to life."
—Jason Cordova, Fear of a Black Dragon
"This book is gorgeous...It really does look like something that could have come from beyond the veil of sleep as advertised...On ease of use, the book bends over backward to help you use it as easily as possible...As for creativity, this is a dazzingly original book. The idea of exploring a dreamscape is not new but the nature of this particular setting is incredibly creative."
Michael Kennedy, Sheep and Sorcery
"This is a thing of quality. It is also a thing I will use...What I like are things that are beautiful but not naive, honest instead of being caricatures, aware of the darkness, but also aware that not everything is secretly dark. Through Ultan's Door concerns itself with Zyan, the cursed city of the dreamlands, the flying pearl of Wishery and it is a place I very much like."
"This is a lethal little creation that runs into the warped reaches of the authors mind...This isn't the dreamlands of HP Lovecraft, although it could be; instead this is an acid-trip combination of William Hope Hodgson's influence mixed with a hash fueled round of Lord Dunsany trapped in the madness of Edgar Allen Poe's dream cycle. The artwork is top notch..."
Eric Fabiaschi, Swords and Stitchery
"Go buy this zine. Really. Just go buy a copy. Reading it is a far better use of your time than reading the reviews that talk about it. Buy it, read it, use it, or collect it; whatever you decide to do with it, this is great stuff."
ISSUE 2
""Rich language, great traps, encounters, roleplaying possibilities. Problems with no immediately visible solutions but what the party devises. GREAT adventure."
Bryce Lynch, Ten Foot Pole
"This mini-dungeon rewards careful exploration, inventive problem solving, and shrewd negotiation; its traps and challenges are inventive and require out-of-the-box thinking to best; and it is heavy on well-integrated, interesting secrets...It's good D&D in an exotic setting in the way that Empire of the Petal Throne is good D&D in an exotic setting."
"Like all the things I've seen from Ben Laurence so far, there is an incredible sense of taste to the design of all of this. There's beautiful layout, and he works with a couple of different artists to create this very coherent style: this very decadent, baroque, almost body-horror feel to all of the art. It works together beautifully..It's some of the best art I've ever seen in a zine for Dungeons & Dragons, that's for sure."
ISSUE 3
Winner of a Questing Beast Award as 1 of the 8 best RPG books of 2021. It was the #1 book in the category of artwork and aesthetics! Winner of The Awards as one of the 20 best RPG products in 2021.
"A point throughout the experience with Through Ultans Door is the fabulous craftwork and the sheer amount of stuff packed in. Laying out all the zines and their extras gives a good sense of the explosion of art-work and content that comes with them. I think this series of zines is the highest production quality of zines I have come across - a real tactile treat along with the content and artwork...As before the content is great - strange, lurid, evocative stuff that may not be to everyones taste but is distinctive and original which is always welcome in my eyes. Where the first zines were broadly about coming to the Dreamlands, with this set we get a block more context to help situate all these places and it begins to feel like we have at least a sketched-out sense of the whole of Zyan."
Xaoseed, Seed of Worlds
ALL THE ISSUES
Here is a comprehensive video review of Through Ultan's Door 1-3 and Beneath the Moss Courts in its eniterty as a campaign:
Owen Edwards, "RPG Review: Through Ultan's Door 1-3 and Beneath the Moss Courts"
"Laurence is a masterful writer, beautiful and to me appears inspired by writers like Harrison, Vance and other midcentury by-the-word authors in his verbose, purple style. He’s up there with Siew as some of the most lyrical authors out there writing in modules right now..."
Idle Catulary, Playful Void
ACTUAL PLAY
Knights of the Shed did a lovely run through of The Ruins of the Inquisitor's Theater from Through Ultan's Door 1 in two parts, which you can listen to here and here.