Eye of Doom

In Eye of Doom, the player characters find their way to the small village of Cumbert (which is on top of an underground complex which houses a beholder hive), where they are quickly ambushed by members of the Unblinking Eye, which is a secret society of humans in the village who are dedicated to serving the interests of the beholders beneath them. In order to progress further through the scenario, the players have to infiltrate the Unblinking Eye.[1]

Paul Pettengale reviewed Eye of Doom for Arcane magazine, rating it a 3 out of 10 overall.[1] He began the review by stating: "A couple of months ago the Monstrous Arcana series for AD&D kicked off with the rather good I, Tyrant book, detailing everything you could ever want to know about Beholders. Unfortunately, Eye of Pain, the first in a three-part series of 32-page adventures involving a hive of beholders and their less than wholesome kin, was less than impressive [...] Regrettably, the second part in the series, Eye of Doom, is no better."[1] Pettengale describes the task of the characters infiltrating the Unblinking Eye as "a feat which would seem somewhat improbable given that members of the group know who they are (having recently ambushed them and all). This section of the adventure (which forms the bulk of it, it's that short) seems like a contrived attempt at getting the players involved in some roleplaying instead of hacking their way to glory. But, regrettably (again), it doesn't really come off."[1] He continued: "Another problem with it is the way in which the adventure ends. Of course, I'm not going to divulge what happens here - that would spoil it for everybody - suffice to say that unless you intend to run the final scenario in the series, you're going to be immensely disappointed with the conclusion. It leaves the whole plot hanging, which is bad enough, but what's worse is that it would be very difficult for the DM to fix it so that the players can do anything else before having to progress further into this plot. The party is left, in effect, in a position from where there is no conceivable way back until they've taken on that final horror - a horror which isn't encountered until the next installment is available."[1] Pettengale concluded the interview by saying, "So, another one to avoid. I'm afraid. I would show a little optimism and say let's hope the final part is better, but I'm not at all convinced that it will be, and besides, it will be pretty hard to play unless the party has ploughed its way through the previous two scenarios. And I wouldn't wish that on anybody. Unfortunately, this series, thus far, has been a waste of a great foe - the beholder is a unique monster in AD&D, and one that deserves far, far better than this."[1]