The sequel to Death in Freeport, Terror in Freeport brings the same strengths and weaknesses to the table.
Review Originally Published February 12th, 2001
Terror in Freeport picks up exactly where Death in Freeport left off (my review of the latter is available here) – which is only logical, since it’s a sequel.
In terms of its strengths and weaknesses, Terror is very similar to its predecessor: It’s picked up a few new flaws (weaker boxed text, repetition of material), but it’s also picked up a few new strengths (more adventure material, better lay-out).
PLOT
Warning: This review will contain spoilers for Terror in Freeport. Players who may end up playing in this module are encouraged to stop reading now. Proceed at your own risk.
A couple of months have passed since the events of Death in Freeport and the PCs are approached, once more, by Brother Egis: He’s sure that the serpent people are still active in Freeport, and has come to believe that someone is working behind the scenes to undo everything that the PCs have accomplished. The plot which begins to unravel from this simple seed is so delightfully convoluted that the author, Robert J. Toth, has included sidebars entitled “The Real Story” throughout the adventure to make it easier for the DM to keep track of everything that’s going on.
Things open with another round of investigation, starting with a secret residence that Milos (the main villain from Death in Freeport) kept under an assumed name. Investigating the rented room will not reveal anything (although if the PCs make some lucky search rolls they will uncover a set of documents which will be very important in setting up Madness in Freeport, see below). Shortly after they start investigating, however, they will attacked and – if they follow one of the would-be assassins successfully – he will lead them right back to the bricked up temple building from Death in Freeport.
The temple is supposedly being cleaned out by Councilor Verlaine, but if the PCs successfully investigate they’ll discover that the Temple is still inhabited by serpent people – who are transferring the contents of the Temple into the basement of Verlaine’s mansion! A series of subsequent investigations and diversions will make it appear that Verlaine is in league with the Brotherhood, but – in fact – he’s being set up by his boss, Sea Lord Drac – the ruler of Freeport.
The Brotherhood then attacks Egis’ Temple, some more craziness ensues, and the PCs triumph. Along the way they finally get to talk with Thuron, the head of the Temple – but at the end of the adventure it’s suddenly revealed that Thuron is one of the serpent people, too! Fortunately, he’s one of the good serpent people. (Made ya look!)
Finally, the big whammy is laid on the PCs (setting the stage for Madness in Freeport): K’Stallo reveals that the diagram the PCs discovered way back at the beginning of the adventure are the plans for the Lighthouse which is being constructed in the harbor – a Lighthouse which is being carefully prepared for a demonic ritual which will see the Unspeakable God of the Yellow Sign reborn into the world once more!
LOW POINTS
Terror in Freeport possesses the same primary flaw as Death in Freeport: The links which hold the adventure together are far too weak. A missed die roll here, a failure to read the author’s mind there, and the adventure is hopelessly derailed without even a glimmering clue regarding how to get it back on track.
To this, a few other weaknesses are also added: The boxed text is generally much weaker than in Death in Freeport, and on at least two occasions it makes decisions for the PCs (something which I simply can’t stand). The pregen PCs from Death in Freeport are reprinted here and, although they’ve been advanced to third level, I consider this an even greater waste of my space and time. Finally, during a sewer sequence, the map of the sewer fails to match the description in the text.
HIGH POINTS
The biggest advantage Terror in Freeport has is that it is a sequel to Death in Freeport. The same sense of lurking horror and hidden mystery lurks within these pages, and even as some of the mysteries left lingering in the shadows of Death are brought into the light, even more sinister mysteries are shown to lie behind them. Terror raises the stakes elegantly and naturally – drawing the PCs into higher circles of power, and showing that the corruption and horror they had so briefly brushed against before becomes even more terrifying as the full scope of its truth becomes revealed.
Other positives: Adventure seeds for getting players involved in Terror in Freeport are included (in case they didn’t run through Death in Freeport) – even though I can’t seriously imagine running a group through Terror that hasn’t been through Death. In general, Terror is a far meatier adventure than Death, although this is largely due two factors: First, Terror draws upon the background in Death (so that it has a larger number of actual pages in which to describes its adventure). Second, Terror is for higher level characters – so the PCs can handle a bit more breadth and depth than they could before.
CONCLUSION
If you liked Death in Freeport, you’ll like Terror in Freeport. If you didn’t like Death in Freeport, you probably won’t like Terror in Freeport. And if you haven’t read Death in Freeport, then you’re probably best advised to check that out first.
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Style: 3
Substance: 4
Authors: Chris Pramas
Company: Green Ronin Publishing
Line: D20
Price: $7.99
ISBN: 0-9701048-2-0
Production Code: GRR1003
Pages: 32
It’s been a long time since I cracked the cover on Terror in Freeport, but I have only the fondest memories of running this module. (Unlike Death in Freeport, I’ve only run Terror in Freeport once, but that has nothing to do with the quality of the module itself and shouldn’t be held against it.)
Taking a peek at my prep notes, it seems that I made virtually no adjustments to the module. It looks like I modified the hook to incorporate a patron who’d been established in my campaign; fleshed out the the tracking section with a Gather Information table; added a cool trap from the Traps & Treachery supplement published by Fantasy Flight Games; and modified Thuron’s story to align it to the cosmology of my own campaign world. Everything else is just stat blocks and handouts.
My point is that sometimes you can have fond memories of an adventure as you experienced it at the table that have little or nothing to do with the adventure as it was published, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. Terror earns my nostalgic accolades.
Perhaps my strongest recommendation is that I hope to some day return to these modules and run them again.
Next Freeport Review: Madness in Freeport
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