A Lion in the Ropes is a 2001 role-playing game adventure published by Troll Lord Games. Plot summary. "A Lion in the Ropes" is an adventure in which the player characters must solve a mass murder mystery. Publication history. Shannon Appelcline noted that "In 2001 Troll Lord Games was back with a focus on gaming's newest trend, d20. Much like the rest of the industry, they began publishing d20 adventures, the first of which was "A Lion in the Ropes" (2001), a d20 mystery by Stephen Chenault."