Some reviewers noted that this adventure was more of an adventure setting than a complete adventure, and the gamemaster would need to do a fair amount of work to develop it before it could be used. The low production values such a typewritten pages and amateur artwork were also noted.
In the September 1980 issue of The Space Gamer (Issue No. 31), Aaron Allston did not think it was worth the effort, saying, "All in all, this adventure seemed to be a campaign-sized set of ideas, not wholly developed, and not really worth the cost."[2]
In the February 1981 edition of Dragon (Issue 46), Tony Watson mentioned the rather amateurish production values: "The book [is] printed in typewriter-size print... As a general rule the artwork is acceptable, but varies greatly in quality and craftsmanship. Several maps are included, of varying clarity and usefulness... The printing, art, etc., varies greatly." Watson also commented on the incompleteness of its ideas, saying, "The Nine Doctrines of Darkness is less of an adventure than a detailed landscape peopled with interesting characters. It begins with a well written background and then spends most of the remaining space giving the history, abilities, and probable behavior of a wide variety of character types." Watson also noted that because it was a generic adventure, the gamemaster would have to spend a fair amount of work adapting it to whichever game system was being used to run the adventure. He concluded, "If you buy [this adventure], you will be buying ideas. Many of the ideas are very good and if you value such, either for use as a module or to include in your campaign, you should be pleased by the purchase."[1]
