A great third-party Monster Manual for D20. Minions is a little pricy for its content, but the quality is high. Recommended.

Review Originally Published March 13th, 2002

CONTENT

Minions: The Fearsome Foes is a third-party monster manual from Bastion Press. It’s a softcover featuring full-color printing on glossy pages, and weighs in at 96 pages. It’s not entirely clear why the product is named Minions: There doesn’t seem to be any particular theme to the monsters found here. (In fact, the Puppetmaster is described as the “ultimate voice of evil in the multiverse” with the possible exception of “the deities themselves”… which would be the exact opposite of a minion in my book.)

GOOD STUFF

But whether the book is called Minions or Grandpa Fred’s Cookbook, it’s the content that matters, and that’s where Minions delivers: 92 monsters, including templates, are squeezed between the covers – and most of them are good. Very good. A few samples:

Amberjuron. An enigma of the forest. The amberjuron is indistinguishable from a snowy owl, save for the gleam of intelligence in its eye. Amberjurons live for a thousand years, and their insatiable curiousity and fascination leads them to acquire a wide range of rare knowledge and magic. They can serve as sources of information and rare items, but only if the PCs know how to approach them diplomatically.

Am-Ren. An am-ren is a demon which steals the names of its victims. Those who have their names stolen literally lose their identity.

Blessed Ring. A blessed ring is similar to the fairy rings of folklore: Simple rings of common toadstools found in the wilderness. With a twist: Those who lie within a blessed ring for five rounds will find themselves surrounded by an impenetrable dome. Those who are pure of heart may rest within the blessed ring for as long as they want, protected from threat by the powerful acidic attacks of the ring. Those who are evil, however, will be digested by the blessed ring.

Cacogen. Stealthy undead, crafted from the remains of lepers, hunchbacks, or other deformed humans. They are essentially undead assassins.

Ebant. A well-executed dark treant.

Hearth Horror. Why is the evil temple in the middle of the wilderness always being rebuilt? Possibly because the ruins have spawned a hearth horror: A powerful undead which compels its mortal servants into restoring its original form.

Mirror Fiend. A powerful golem which lives within (and can emerge from) a mirror. When it returns to its mirror it can regenerate from its wounds; but it can also be destroyed by destroying its mirror.

Quickener. A powerful CR 20 creature which absorbs every spell cast at it – enabling it to cast the same spells at its targets. Unpredictable, quick, and deadly, high-level characters will need to exercise their minds as well as their brawn if they expect to defeat a quickener.

Slather. A huge magical beast which disguises itself as the entrances to buildings, dungeons, etc. – swallowing any who pass through its “doors”.

Sync. I really like this race of humanoids. Syncs have featureless faces, but when they enter combat they slowly assume the features of their chosen target. As they do so they become more adept at adapting to their target’s tactics – they become faster, stronger, quicker. PCs who don’t destroy a sync quickly will rapidly find themselves completely outclassed. There is a quality of the doppleganger here, but the concept is very original and can serve to totally panic your PCs.

In general, Minions succeeds at giving you a wide range of high quality monsters. This isn’t just another rehash of concepts you’ve seen a thousand times before: There are some truly fresh, original ideas which will send you scrabbling to take notes for your next game session.

One particularly nice touch in Minions is the inclusion of a “Campaign” section with each monster entry. This entry gives you adventure seeds, campaign ideas, and other notes for incorporating the monster into your game in an effective, compelling fashion.

CRITIQUES

I think the first strike Minions has against it is the title: When I saw the book on the shelf of my local game store I assumed it was a generic NPC collection and passed it over with little more than a quick glance. This is compounded by the cover design, which seems to be place where Bastion Press has been consistently weak to date (although the forthcoming Oathbound looks like its going to completely reverse this trend).

In short, you’re likely to overlook or underestimate Minions at first glance. Don’t. This is a great product, which suffers from only a couple of flaws:

First, some of the creatures in Minions have been given rather cheesy names. For example, the cavernivore. What? Does it eat caverns? The cavernivore is actually a solid creature (just in need of a name change), but there are a couple of others that just left me scratching my head: The chortler, for example, is a hyena-like creature that attacks with a deadly cloud of dandruff.

That’s right. Dandruff.

Minions also features a few too many humanoids for my tastes. This is just my personal taste, though: There’s only so many “they’re just like goblins, but they have the head of a dog!” that I can squeeze into a campaign world before I begin feeling a little ridiculous. And even with my strong tastes in this matter, this is still little more than a quibble for me.

I would have also liked to see stronger art in Minions. I like being able to hold up a book like this, point to a picture, and say: “This is what you see.” There are less than a half dozen pictures in Minions that I would actually do that with. I do appreciate that every monster (with the exception of one) has a picture associated with it. And the illustrations do not actively detract from the book – they simply don’t add much to it.

CONCLUSION

The only reservation I have in recommending Minions is the price: $24.95 is a hard pill for me to swallow for a 96 page soft cover, even in full color. If this book was priced at $20, I wouldn’t hesitate to push you out the door on the way to the game store. At it is, you should give it a good solid ponder to make sure you have a good use for it before you pick it up. Things would probably be slightly different if the artwork were of a higher quality (which would help justify the full-color).

Nonetheless:

Minions gets the job done. There are a lot of really clever, compelling ideas here: Monsters that make you sit up and want to use them in a game. Monsters that will add freshness and variety to your campaign. Monsters that will send shivers of terror down the spines of your players (and their characters).

Style: 4
Substance: 4

Author: Greg Dent (Lead Designer)
Publisher: Bastion Press, Inc.
Line: D20
Price: $24.95
ISBN: 0-9714392-1-4
Product Code: BAS1000
Pages: 96

I got quite a bit of use out of Minions for a couple of years after writing this review, but then I took a short break from D&D and it fell out of the rotation.

A good monster manual, in my opinion, is one that you end up using at least a couple dozen monsters from. A great monster manual, on the other hand, is one that inspires you to create whole adventures. By that metric, Minions veers closer to greatness than not. Unfortunately for most people reading this, it’s never received an update for D&D 5E. (Fortunately for me, I still run D&D 3E campaigns.)

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

In a word: Excellent. Easily one of the Top 10 D20 supplements released to date.

Review Originally Published October 13th, 2001

Let’s face it: When we look at the shelf in our game shop and see yet another D20 monster manual variant, our eyes begin to glaze over. “For the love of God,” we think, “How many cheesy fantasy monsters can these people crank out? Oh, look! It’s a geezlehopper. It just like an orc, except it’s neon pink! Ooooo! Wow!”

We’ve so thoroughly “been there, done that” that it makes the endless Energizer Bunny commercials look fresh and innovative. (Do you realize that there are children in sixth grade who have never seen the original Energizer Bunny commercials? One is forced to wonder what, exactly, they think of this inexplicable pink bunny – who, as far as they can tell, has always starred in some of the worst commercials imaginable. But I digress.)

That’s why I’m writing this review: To send up a bright signal beacon to the gaming world at large, while jumping up and down and screaming:

HEY! OVER HERE! THERE’S AN INCREDIBLY AMAZING, HIGH QUALITY CREATURE CATALOG OVER HERE!

It’s called Legions of Hell, and it’s published by Green Ronin (famed in the D20 market for their Freeport modules).

THE LEGIONS OF HELL

As the title should suggest, Legions of Hell delves deeply into the nine circles of the Pit, exploring the servants of Asmodeus, the King of Hell. The core of the book consists of roughly forty-five monster entries, detailing a wide-range of hellish creatures.

At one end of the scale, Legions of Hell contains the foot soldiers of hell: The Akop (an entire race tricked into servitude and transformed into shadows); the Bonedreg (constructs created by the Leviathan from the remains of his victims he is unable to digest); the Chamagon (gaunt, quick-footed infiltrators and magical saboteurs); the Darksphinx (corrupted gynosphinxes); the Distender (foul devils with the appearance of a bloated stomach, capable of attacking using the four classic humors); the Faceless (assassins who signal their success by wearing the face of their latest victim as their own); the Hellwardens (living scarecrows who act as guardians); the Spinders (monstrous-sized creatures who travel in swarm – a bane even to the devils of hell); the Soulsniffer (creatures capable of tracking escaped souls across the planes); and many others.

At the other end of the scale, Legions of Hell also presents a variety of unique creatures – primarily various Princes and Dukes of Hell. These include such notables as Balan, Master of the Infernal Hunt; Furcas, Duke of Rhetoric; Hadriel, Duchess of Domination; Iblis, Duke of Pride (a Fallen Solar); the Lich Fiend; Krotep, Pharoh of Axor and Nekhet, Prophet of Set (who believe themselves to be the son and daughter of Set); and others.

In addition to this core of material, Legions of Hell presents a number of prestige classes designed for the servants of Hell; templates for Fallen Celestials; information regarding the Angelic Choirs; and an overview of Hell itself.

STRENGTHS

Legions of Hell distinguishes itself in a number of ways:

1. There is a lot of material crammed into it. Not only does it present a plethora of material which can be put to immediate use, every page seems to have some new idea or adventure seed waiting for exploration.

2. Chris Pramas, the chief author of Legions of Hell, was also the author of Guide to Hell, the definitive AD&D reference for the infernal plane. (He is also known for the Origins Award-winning Death in Freeport.) He puts this experience to good use, exploring the complete spectrum of Hell – rather than just focusing on one or two features. Legions of Hell is made notable because it isn’t the same old stuff we’ve seen before – a lot of creativity and research has gone into making this product distinct and valuable.

3. The artwork is simply stunning. It includes work by Brom, Sam Wood, Raven Mimura, and Toren Atkinson (those of you who keep an eye on artist credits in this industry should recognize all of those names). There is, literally, not a single weak piece of art in the entire book.

WEAKNESSES

So, moving onto an actual weakness of Legions of Hell…

Oh, wait. That’s right. It doesn’t have any weaknesses.

CONCLUSION

Legions of Hell is just plain good. It’s subject matter is rich; the ideas it brings to the table are original and creative; the development of those ideas is solid and imminently useful; the lay-out and production values are exemplary.

There is, literally, nothing negative that I can say about this product. If you have even the slightest interest in having a demonic presence in your D20 campaign, this product is absolutely essential.

In short: You will never regret the money you spend on Legions of Hell. There can be no higher recommendation.

Style: 5
Substance: 5

Author: Chris Pramas (with Jim Bishop, Brian Kirby, and Erik Mona)
Publisher: Green Ronin Publishing
Line: D20
Price: $14.95
ISBN: 0-9701048-4-7
Product Code: GRR1005
Pages: 64

The Book of Fiends series was completed, then revised into a single hardback collection for D&D 3.5 and then again for D&D 5E. I’ve never stopped singing its praises. It greatly enhanced the Avernus Remix. I used it extensively for my In the Shadow of the Spire campaign, from whence its influence can be easily seen in the Chaos Lorebooks series. I’ve adapted its monsters to Mothership, Numenera, and other systems.

If you asked me what my favorite RPG bestiary of all time was, it would be a toss-up between The Book of Fiends and the AD&D 2nd Edition Monstrous Manual.

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

TM and © 2022 Monte Cook Games, LLC

I’ve been running adventures in Monte Cook’s Ptolus for over twenty years, including my long-running D&D 3E campaign In the Shadow of the Spire.

The Ptolus sourcebook — originally published D&D 3E, but since released in edition for D&D 5E and Cypher — is one of the best RPG setting sourcebooks ever published. It describes a rich and marvelous city perched upon the coast and filled with the wonder: The impossible, terrifying heights of the Spire tower above it; beneath it endless, overlapping warrens, dungeons, and caverns worm their way through the earth. The book itself is nearly 700 pages long, and every single one is packed to the gills with practical, gameable material. And while I typically find such huge tomes to be overwhelming and difficult to use, Ptolus is incredibly well-organized, with bountiful cross-references and a sidebar reference system that makes it easy to navigate the book and find the information you need, whether during prep or at the table.

Over the years I’ve remixed a variety of published Ptolus adventures and created new ones. Some are entirely idiosyncratic to my group. Others I’ve shared below, with plans for more.

REMIXES

Ptolus Remix: Banewarrens
Ptolus Remix: The Mrathrach Agenda
Ptolus Remix: The Quaan
Ptolus Remix: The Vladaam Affair

ADVENTURES

The False Tomb
Complex of Zombies (3E)
Laboratory of the Beast (3E)
Lost Laboratories of the Arn (3E)

CAMPAIGN JOURNAL

In the Shadow of the Spire

RESOURCES

Chaos Lorebooks
Dreaming Arts (3E)
Kaostech (3E)

REVIEWS

Review: Ptolus – City of Adventure

COLLECTED EDITIONS

Patrons of the Alexandrian can download collected PDF editions for most of the material above, and I’ll be adding PDF collections for the older material soon!

Rappan Athuk promises “the grand-daddy of all dungeon crawls”! It delivers.

Third Edition Rules, First Edition Feel.

That’s Necromancer Game’s tagline. In their introduction to Rappan Athuk they expand on what this means: “Why is the dungeon there? No one knows. Why do the monsters usually fight rather than talk? We aren’t really sure. Why are there 16 trolls in a cave with a jug of alchemy? No one cares. What do all the monsters eat? We don’t know that either. And we don’t have to know these things. This isn’t an ecology experiment; it’s a dungeon.”

So what’s the point?

To have fun, of course.

To a certain extent, though, I don’t feel that Rappan Athuk quite lives up to this ideal. Sure, they’ve adhered to the classic, first edition format: Here you have your tables of rumors about the dungeon (some true, some false); random encounters; a plethora of monsters, traps, and treasure. But Rappan Athuk isn’t quite as random or meaningless as their introduction would lead us to believe: There is a logic to why things are the way they are.

Does Rappan Athuk strain credulity? Perhaps. Is it really as illogical as TSR’s “classic” modules? I don’t think so. It seems more akin to Ruins of Undermountain than Palace of the Silver Princess.

Not that I’m criticizing this, by any stretch of the imagination. I am, to the contrary, more than happy to see that Rappan Athuk will not be featuring, for example, levels of bloodthirsty Lewis Carroll characters incomprehensibly assaulting adventurers (as Castle Greyhawk did).

In fact, for me, Rappan Athuk is an exciting product – a product that makes me itch to retrieve my game manuals, dice bag, and character sheets and start rolling up stats. The pure, high-octane fun of an epic-level dungeon crawl carried out with style really shouldn’t be underestimated.

Sure, there are folks who consider themselves too “mature” for this sort of thing. Those people are boring. Ignore ‘em and strap yourself in: It’s time for a ride…

CONCEPT

Warning: This review will contain spoilers for Rappan Athuk. Players who may end up playing in this module should stop reading now.

One thing to note right up front is that this particular module is the first in a trilogy of modules, covering only 6 of Rappan Athuk’s 37 levels.

That’s right: Thirty-seven levels!

Damn, that’s cool.

But I digress.

Rappan Athuk, the Dungeon of Graves, was founded by the Temple of Orcus, following their defeat in an ancient conflict between good and evil. The priests of Orcus’ foul temple escaped the final conflict, and fled to a vast complex of underground caverns. Over time, the priests adapted these caverns to their purposes, continuing with their foul rituals, and hidden from the light. Eventually their spreading influence could no longer be concealed, however, and parties of adventurers came to the dungeon seeking to end the evil for ever. They failed.

(One nice touch to the design of Rappan Athuk is that it is a “legendary dungeon” which takes into account the fact that, as a “legendary dungeon”, it will attract adventurers on a fairly regular basis. The upper levels of the dungeon, presented in this module, show the signs of recurrent adventuring parties – who can only delve so deep before retreating or being destroyed.)

Rappan Athuk: The Upper Levels presents Levels 1, 2, 3, 3A, and 4A of the dungeon (as well as Ground Level).

Ground Level: On the surface, Rappan Athuk is primarily accessed from a graveyard. The main order of the day here is traps, which are all designed with the intention of keeping adventurers out of the dungeons and away from the Temple of Orcus hidden deep beneath the earth. A number of access points to the dungeon below exist, including the Rat Tunnels, the Mausoleum… and the Well.

But those who have been to Rappan Athuk in the past have one very important piece of advice: Don’t go down the Well!

Another nice feature of Rappan Athuk is that it is not a linear dungeon: One does not simply go from one level down to the next. Rather, the levels link together in a complex myriad of possible approaches. Entering the dungeon itself can take you to a variety of locations: The rat tunnels can lead to Level 1 or Level 2. The Mausoleum leads to Level 1. The Well leads to Level 3A. From Level 1 one can go to Ground Level, Level 2, or Level 9. Level 2 has exits to Ground Level, Level 1, Level 3, and Level 4. And so forth.

Level 1: Level 1 is a natural cave system, primarily inhabited by wererats. However, the level as a whole is named after the “Dung Monster” – a mutated mimic which disguises itself as a toilet in order to lure in its victims. (Don’t laugh – it works in every single playtest I’ve run.)

Level 2: Level 2 is a finished level, featuring the home of Marthek the Madman and Ambro the Ogre. In a sealed portion of the level which adventurers have never successfully penetrated, one can also find the Tomb of Saracek – an undead, skeletal warrior with a history connected to the dungeon as a whole.

Here, again, you can see the nice contrast between “adventurers have plundered here” and “adventurers have not successfully plundered here” in the dungeon design. You can also begin to see, at this point, the subtle way in which Webb and Peterson have made Rappan Athuk believable, if not necessarily realistic: The wererats have a reason for living where they live. Marthek and Ambro have reasons for living where they live. The presence of the Tomb here makes sense.

Another strength which can be seen here, again, is the dynamic complexity of Rappan Athuk. PCs who come to Level 2 for the first time will most likely not be able to gain access to the Tomb of Saracek until they have delved deeper into the dungeon. Rappan Athuk defies a “loot it room by room” mentality – again helping to subtly reinforce its believability.

Level 3: Level 3 is a return to the natural caves which drew the Temple of Orcus to the location in the first place. This level is inhabited by purple worms, who hunt viciously. The entire level is known as a bane to adventurers – as witnessed by graffiti warnings over the level’s entrance. This level also features an oracle of the Temple, dating back to the earliest days of the Temple’s presence in the caverns – and remaining a sight of unholy pilgrimage for the priests who live below.

Level 3A: Level 3A is primarily accessed via the infamous Well. It is the lair of Zelkor, an extremely powerful, undead wizard. The lair is, essentially, a death-trap for all but the most powerful of adventurers. Cocky adventurers who ignore the plentiful warnings (not to mention the scratch marks of those unsuccessfully attempting to escape the lair via the Well after making the mistake of entry) will learn their lesson the hard way.

One thing I like about Necromancer’s modules is the fact that they refuse to pull their punches. Your players will learn fear in Rappan Athuk, and they will learn to respect the dungeon. This makes for a highly effective game session – and adds to the mystique.

Level 4A: Level 4A is known as the Basilisk Caverns, which should be pretty much self-explanatory. There are also some lost goblins in this level.

The lost goblins point to another nice strength of Rappan Athuk: The goblins journeyed up from Level 12A via Level 7A and became trapped by the basilisks. This is just one example of the foreshadowing of later dungeon levels which occurs throughout The Upper Levels. I have seen some reviewers criticize Rappan Athuk as a series of disconnected dungeon levels – but I simply can’t agree with this assessment (and am unsure how such a conclusion could ever be reached).

WEAK POINTS

Rappan Athuk has a lot going for it. Of course, it’s not without its share of flaws as well. A few things that caught my attention:

1. Several of the monster stats presented in the book are incorrect to one extent or another.

2. Necromancer Games should invest in a copy of a good mapping program. The maps I have seen in their products to date do not impress me. In products whose professional qualities shine throughout, the maps present themselves as oddly amateurish. Unfortunately, since the first place most people look in a dungeon module is the maps, I have the feeling that Necromancer is shooting itself in the foot by making the first impression of its products a potentially negative one.

3. The highly interconnected nature of the Rappan Athuk’s various sections really demands that the entire trilogy be released before you play it. It’s no good, for example, “starting to play now and not reaching the lower levels until they’re released” when, in point of fact, you can take a left turn one Level 1 and end up way down on Level 9. Although notes are included for playing the Upper Levels in isolation, they essentially consist of “the lower levels are completely, absolutely, and utterly inaccessible behind magical doors”. I don’t find this a satisfactory solution.

CONCLUSION

No one in the movie Casablanca says, “Play it again, Sam.” The words “Beam me up, Scotty” never appeared on an episode of the original Star Trek television series.

There are a lot of things in life which are seen in our memory only through rose-colored lenses. They exist in a state of “Platonic perfection”, and when we go back to view them again we realize that they do not – in fact – embody the archetypes which we have crafted for ourselves.

In my opinion, the “classic D&D modules” of the early days of the industry exist in this state: As a collective community, we remember them through rose-colored lenses. Perhaps we simply edit out the bad parts for ourselves. Or perhaps our DMs fixed up those modules before running us through them. Or perhaps we’re guilty of drawing a little bit from The Tomb of Horrors, a touch from Queen of the Demonweb Pits, and a smidgeon from The Keep of the Borderlands and making up a memory which is greater than any of its parts.

Where am I going with all this?

In my opinion, Rappan Athuk succeeds at capturing the spirit of the classic dungeon crawl in a way which the classic dungeon crawl, in point of fact, never captured on its own. Rappan Athuk is the epic dungeon which could only be found in nostalgia before now.

Although I’ll reserve final judgment until the fully trilogy is released, I will say this of The Upper Levels:

Rappan Athuk looks like a classic. Buy it today.

Style: 4
Substance: 4

Author: Bill Webb and Clark Peterson
Publisher: Necromancer Games
Price: $9.99
ISBN: 1-58846-156-4
Product Code: WW8360
Pages: 48

I’ve lost count of how many different editions of Rappan Athuk have been released. In addition to the original trilogy, Rappan Athuk Reloaded was a boxed set that expanded the Dungeon of Graves even further. Frog God Games has produced versions for Pathfinder, 5E, and Swords & Wizardry. I think there was also an abortive attempt to adapt it for Dungeon Crawl Classics?

Rappan Athuk is probably my favorite published megadungeon. I’ve run the first level many times, but — despite a couple of attempts — never managed to run a truly successful campaign of the whole thing. Some of the very earliest material here on the Alexandrian was actually new material that I created for one of these abortive campaigns:

The Lost Goblins

Level 5a: The Caverns of Mist
Level 7B: The Ethereal Palace

Level 6 Mazes: 6-2A, 6-2B, 6-2C, 6-2D
Level 7 Mazes: 7A-A, 7A-B, 7A-C, 7A-D, 7A-E, 7A-F

One of these days I’ll probably revisit those campaign notes and restructure them into an open table. Flipping through them, I see that I also did a massive remix of Level 7, considerably expanding the mind flayers there. I wonder if anyone would be interested in seeing that?

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

An excellent overland adventure, organized to make the GM’s task simple and the player’s experience memorable.

Original Review Posted May 21st, 2001

Before WotC’s OGL and D20 trademark license came along and allowed them to release products like A Lion in the Ropes and The Malady of Kings, Troll Lord Games was producing generic fantasy adventures. As with many products of their kind, the production values on these generic modules were weak. But in the case of Troll Lord, the modules were cheap enough to match those production values ($5), and the content itself was highly memorable (if sometimes in need of some fix-up work). These modules are now being updated to D20 (check out their website), and are – I think – worthy of your attention.

PLOT

Warning: This review will contain spoilers for The Mortality of Green. Players who may find themselves playing in this adventure should not read beyond this point.

One of these modules was (and is) The Mortality of Green by Stephen Chenault. Set within the Darkenfold Forest, The Mortality of Green focuses upon the Druidic Council’s efforts to recover the forest from the evil which has long possessed it. Although the task will be long and arduous, the Council is attempting to offer the denizens of Darkenfold hope by having Cornelius the White carry a sapling of the Great Tree to the woodsmen of Rangers Knot, who will plant it in a secret grove whose ground shall be sanctified. In turn, the grove (and sapling) will begin to heal the Darkenfold.

Unfortunately, deep within the forest lives a sentient tree named Gristlebones. Gristlebones is twisted, old, and corrupt. He sends one of his allies – Quagmire the Troll – to intercept Cornelius and steal the sapling. Which Quagmire does.

Enter the PCs, who stumble across the dying Cornelius – who attempts to extract an oath to recover the sapling and fulfill his failed mission. The PCs’ attempt to fulfill this oath will lead them throughout the Darkenfold as they seek to catch Quagmire before he can deliver the sapling to Gristlebones, who will corrupt its powerful magic for his own purposes.

STRENGTHS

When I was first being exposed to the adventures being produced by Troll Lord Games, I was immediately struck by the extremely memorable environments in which they were being set. All of them take place within the After Winter Dark campaign setting (which I have reviewed elsewhere on RPGNet). Despite this, however, their unique – and compelling – elements are still presented in a fashion which allows them to be inserted seamlessly into any sufficiently generic campaign world.

The Mortality of the Green, of course, is no exception to this. Stephen Chenault is very careful to present the Darkenfold in such a way that it is not simply rendered into the meaningless background noise of the stereotypical “evil forest”. The Darkenfold is given a specific character, history, and geography – playing upon familiar fantasy themes, but establishing itself as something memorable unto itself.

With his setting established, Chenault then proceeds to develop upon it an excellent overland adventure. As a general rule, I find that overland adventures generally have problems. Unlike a standard dungeon, the players are not tightly confined to a set of stone rooms – and, as a result, it’s all too easy for the PCs to simply start missing things. On the other hand, unlike scene-act structure, the overland adventure has a certain assumption of self-direction. The Mortality of the Green is also a chase adventure – in which the PCs are expected to track someone down. This provided yet another opportunity for the adventure to fall flat, because its all too easy to fall into the trap of designing such an adventure so that the entire thing will derail in the DM’s hands if a single tracking die roll (for example) is missed.

Fortunately, Chenault avoids the pitfalls – and the result renders the DM’s task simple, and the player’s experience memorable: The necessary possibilities are covered, the adventure responds with changing dynamics to the actions of the PCs, and the entirety is kept simple enough to be easily played.

Style: 3
Substance: 4

Author: Stephen Chenault
Publisher: Troll Lord Games
Line: D20
Price: $5.00
ISBN: 0-9702397-1-8
Product Code: TLG1101
Pages: 22

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