An excellent module haunted by some unfortunate flaws.

Review Originally Published May 22nd, 2001

The Forge of Fury is the second in WotC’s Adventure Path series of modules for D&D – designed to take the beginning party all the way to 20th level, while still having each module function as an autonomous whole. (In other words, you don’t need to have played The Sunless Citadel – the first module in the series – in order to play The Forge of Fury. There is, literally, no direct connection between the two.)

Like The Sunless Citadel before it, The Forge of Fury demonstrates that WotC is more than capable of competing effectively within the open market they’ve chosen to create for the D&D game: High quality maps (possibly the best on the market today), an exacting attention to detail (even small things, like having the same adventurers pictured on the cover as were pictured on the cover of The Sunless Citadel), and exceptional production values all combine to make this an extremely attractive product.

Warning: From this point forward, this review will contain spoilers for The Forge of Fury. Players who may end up playing in this module are encouraged to stop reading now. Proceed at your own risk.

The Forge of Fury is a location-based module, set within the confines of Khundrukar – a dwarven citadel which fell before an orcish invasion two hundred years ago, and which has, since, become inhabited by the denizens of evil.

Like The Sunless Citadel before it, however, The Forge of Fury is not a “one note” dungeon by any stretch of the imagination. To the contrary, Khundrukar is possessed of a rich, detailed, dynamic history (involving dwarves, orcs, troglodytes, demons, duergar, magic, and a black dragon). Combined with a complex dungeon geography (involving a complicated, but logical, arrangement of five interconnected dungeon sections, ranging from natural caverns to dwarven passages) this provides a delightfully evocative, believable, and entertaining gaming environment.

There are four major sections to Khundrukar (along with a number of minor features, which I won’t take the time to explore in detail here): The orcs who have taken up residence in the Mountain Door (the first barrier the ancient dwarves set up to repel invaders); the troglodyte warren which inhabits the Glitterhame (a network of beautiful, natural caverns); the duergar who have invaded the Foundry in an attempt to discover the ancient secrets of the dwarven forge; and the dragon which has taken up residence in the Black Lake.

It is ironic, however, that a module which draws so many strengths from its attention to detail, should also have its primary flaw be a lack of attention to such details. The most noticeable weakness of this product is the plethora of errors which wander through its pages with wild abandon: Minor map details which don’t match the text, missing italics in a section of boxed text, incorrect and contradictory information regarding the carving of the orcish tunnel on pg. 18, and so forth.

A few other minor problems are also present: I consider the boxed text to be lackluster and, in places, sub-par – needing some definite improvement upon occasion in order to provide the polish necessary to make an otherwise excellent dungeon environment really shine. Similarly, the adventure hooks designed to bring the PCs into Khundrukar are simply lacking (a problem which The Sunless Citadel also possessed). An epic setting such as this needs something with a little more kick to it than “hunt down the orcs” or “I’ll pay you a bounty for magic swords”.

Far more worrisome are the “killer monsters” which lie in wait: A roper and a succubi have both been placed within Khundrukar. Both of these are far too powerful for the 3rd to 5th level characters who are supposed to be going through this adventure, and – although the succubi is given several escape hatches – the roper is a definite problem. Cautious DMs should also be aware that the black dragon, although a reasonable challenge for the PCs, can also be extremely deadly if they encounter it while in non-peak condition.

While these problems are annoying, however, they are only minor flaws which do not serve to noticeably mar in otherwise exceptional adventure. In short: The Forge of Fury, like The Sunless Citadel before it, is a module with an epic quality to it – which will fill many nights with gaming memories which will linger for years to come. Definitely check this one out.

Style: 4
Substance: 4

Grade: A-

Authors: Richard Baker
Company: Wizards of the Coast
Line: D&D
Price: $9.95
ISBN: 0-7869-1644-3
Production Code: TSR11644
Pages: 32

“A roper and a succubi have both been placed within Khundrukar. Both of these are far too powerful for the 3rd to 5th level characters who are supposed to be going through this adventure.”

Oh no. It’s me. I’m the problem. It’s me.

This complaint (that The Forge of Fury included monsters who were “too tough” according to the CR/EL guidelines in the DMG) had quickly become part of the meme-sphere back in 2001. As a reviewer, I either felt pressured to include this “everybody knows” criticism of the module or simply bought into the meme. The only problem? It wasn’t true. First, including these encounters was actually completely in keeping with the DMG encounter guidelines. Second, the entire concept of “every encounter must be carefully tailored for the characters’ precise level” was a toxic concept. (I’ve written about this at greater length in articles like Revisiting Encounter Design. And it’s still relevant to D&D and other RPG adventure design today.)

So, important lesson to take away from my younger self: If you’re going to be a reviewer, your job is not to simply parrot the “common wisdom.” (Nor to reject it as a reactionary.) It’s to develop your own point of view, reflect on that point of view, and present it to others in a way that’s useful and insightful.

The Forge of Fury is one of those modules that’s difficult for me to accurately assess: When I ran it, I did a big expansive remix, adding a bunch of extra levels plus additional factions with conflicts and agendas that were baked into my campaign world. It also played a vital role in the development of adversary rosters. Running the adventure was one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had at the RPG table. But, perforce, it can be difficult to separate my memories of experiencing the adventure from my memories of the book itself.

What I can say, is that I honestly don’t know if I would be the GM I am today if not for this module. And I highly recommend it. It was adapted to 5th Edition in Tales of the Yawning Portal.

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.