Review Originally Published May 21st, 2001

With The Tide of Years Penumbra has gone from being one of the premiere D20 companies to being THE company producing D20 supplements – and I include Wizards of the Coast in that assessment. In The Tide of Years Penumbra not only introduces a new set of production values which are better than anything else in the D20 adventure market today, they apply them to a package which offers more material, of higher quality, than almost anything else in the D20 adventure market.

In short: This is good. This is very, very good.

PLOT

In the mists of antiquity there was a mighty empire: Lagueen. Lagueen was built upon the power of the Temporal Crystal, a powerful artifact which allowed the Priests of Ras’tan to unlock the secrets of time. From the ancient past and the distant future, Lagueen was able to harvest the greatest inventions and cultural treasures.

But Lagueen was brought low when a traitorous acolyte attempted to steal the Temporal Crystal. Although thwarted in her effort by a young priest named Jonar, the thief did succeed in activating the Temporal Crystal – transporting herself, Jonar, and the Crystal into the distant future. Unfortunately, without the Crystal, the marvelous society which had been created in Lagueen quickly fell apart. As their structures slowly collapsed from disuse and lack of repair, a landslide was triggered, blocking the end of the river valley in which Lagueen lay. “The river bloated and the valley floor flooded, covering the remains of Lagueen in a shroud of murky waters.” When the thief and priest reappeared, they found themselves at the bottom of an immense lake and quickly drowned.

Enter the PCs, who are, of course, passing through the forest which has grown up around the lake in which Lagueen has sunk. They are approached by the ghost of Jonar, who wants to set things right. The reappearance of the crystal has also triggered a temporal disturbance, slowly reverting the forest to a primeval state. Jonar will lead them through the valley to recover one of the temporal shards which the empire of Lagueen used in coordination with the Temporal Crystal to power their arcane technology. He will also introduce them to a local nixie, who will be able to grant them the ability to breathe underwater.

From here, of course, the PCs must journey beneath the lake – journeying to the sunken city of Lagueen, and (most importantly) the Temple of Ras’Tan in which the Temporal Crystal now lies. The temporal shard will unlock the temple’s ancient doors, but even once they’re inside the PCs will still need to deal with the ancient temporal traps laid in Lagueen’s golden age and the subterranean monsters which have taken up residence within the temple.

Once they reach the crystal, the PCs can return it to its proper place – just moments after the thief took it from Lagueen. This, of course, changes history, which can have one of two effects on the campaign world: First, the PCs’ actions may simply create an alternate dimension in which Lagueen never fell. On the other hand, the PCs may actually change their own world (the effect of this can be minimized by keeping Lagueen as a hidden kingdom, which has deliberately decided to keep its contact with the outside world to a minimum; or you can fully embrace the cataclysmic change).

STRENGTHS

Despite the critical success of their first adventure (Three Days to Kill) and their subsequent D20 products (Thieves in the Forest and In the Belly of the Beast), Atlas Games has not been content to simply rest on their laurels and repeat their past successes. Each new Penumbra product has improved upon the last, and each has taken pains to explore new territory. And this willingness to explore, experiment, and improve has ended up paying big dividends for Atlas Games – and, more importantly, the gamers who have followed their product line.

And with The Tide of Years they’ve raised the stakes one more time: The graphical look of the adventure is better than just about anything else being put out for D20 (and that includes Wizards of the Coast). The amount of material has been doubled over their previous efforts, and the quality of that material remains as high and innovative as ever – not only presenting the adventure itself, but (in the course of that adventure) providing a number of generic resources: New monsters (compsognathus, icthyosaur, monstrous aquatic spider, and time elemental), a new god (Ras’tan, God of Time), a new clerical domain (time), new cleric spells (detect temporal disturbance, dispel temporal effect, scry the ages, hastening of age, and wellspring of youth), new traps (temporal skids and temporal lags), a new magic item (the temporal shard), and the “lost empire” of Lagueen (which, like Deeptown in Three Days to Kill, is generic enough to be slipped into almost any generic fantasy campaign – while, at the same time, being unique and distinctive enough to be a memorable element of that campaign).

WEAKNESSES

The interior artwork, while of high quality, sometimes seems to be skewed from the text. For example, an underwater pyramid is shown – but it’s not the pyramid described in the text, and the characters swimming around it are wearing strange breathing apparatus which is not part of the adventure.

I would have also liked to see Nephew play a bit more upon her time travel theme. A forest returned to the primeval state, time traps, artifacts, and elementals are certainly more than sufficient – but I felt there was still a lot of territory left unexplored.

CONCLUSION

To put it succinctly: The Tide of Years delivers. Michelle A. Brown Nephew should be rightfully proud of her inaugural gaming product, and we should count ourselves lucky to have a company like Atlas Games producing adventures like this one.

Style: 4
Substance: 5

Authors: Michelle A. Brown Nephew
Company: Atlas Games
Line: Penumbra
Price: $10.95
ISBN: 1-887801-98-7
Production Code: AG3203
Pages: 48

While it’s nice that Michelle included a minimally disruptive option for the temporal restoration of Lagueen, I really respect an adventure that’s willing to go big — world-alteringly big! — with its potential consequences. It reminds me of Death Frost Doom, which is tonally almost completely opposed to The Tide of Years, but equally memorable.

The trick, of course, is being able to actually EARN the epic consequences. That can be a very fine line to walk.

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

Three Days to Kill, the inaugural product in Atlas Games’ Penumbra line of D20/D&D supplements, was one of the best low-level modules I’ve ever read. It was one of those gaming products that make you instantly eager to call up your gaming group, roll up some characters, and get down to some serious roleplaying.

Thieves in the Forest, the second product form Penumbra, is a little less cool – but, nonetheless, a solid product that’s worthy of your consideration.

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

The plot of Thieves is painfully simple: The PCs are in the town of Brandon’s Bridge, which is located in a forest. There are thieves in the forest. The PCs need to track down the thieves.

That’s it. There are no twists here. No intrigues to be unraveled. No tricks up this product’s sleeves: Its called Thieves in the Forest, and that’s exactly what you get.

In general there are two reasons I’ll pick up a module: First, I may pick it up because it looks like it has some creative, intriguing ideas – or at least enough spin on some common themes to give me a unique look at something I’m already familiar with. Thieves is not that type of module. Even the slowest among us, I think, can come up with a plot like “hunt down the bad guys in the woods and kill them.”

However, the second reason I’ll pick up a module is wholly utilitarian: I don’t have enough time to do the actual grunt work of writing up an adventure, and I want somebody to do it for me.

This is the level where Thieves in the Forest is operating: John Nephew may not deliver something as clever or exciting as John Tynes’ Three Days to Kill, but he does deliver a well-executed product. With a little over a half dozen consistent and interesting encounter areas (a couple of which have some nice little twists to them), Thieves is full of all the little crunchy bits which we busy GMs don’t have time to put into practice for ourselves.

Thieves in the Forest also helps further Penumbra’s growing reputation for taking that extra little step necessary to take something typical and make it noteworthy: A full-color poster map is included of the thieves’ lair (located in the abandoned temple of a sun god) – an extremely useful tool when it comes to actually running the final assault.

So, if you’re looking for a product which will stir your imagination and set you mind racing with undreamt of possibilities… Thieves in the Forest isn’t for you.

But if you’re looking for a simple, rock solid module to run on Friday night because you’ve been working overtime all week and haven’t had even one spare minute to prepare your adventure notes… then this is precisely what the doctor ordered. Check it out.

Writer: John Nephew
Publisher: Atlas Games (Penumbra)
Price: $8.95
Page Count: 26
ISBN: 1-887801-95-2
Product Code: AG3201

This review was not originally written for RPGNet. It was most likely submitted to Pyramid Magazine. I’m uncertain why it was rejected. It might have been because Steven Marsh, the editor, was being inundated with D20-related reviews and didn’t want them drowning out the rest of the review section (although I think that was mostly a concern that cropped up later). More likely, it’s because another freelancer had already successfully submitted a review of the book. (This was the most common reason for review submissions at Pyramid to get bumped.)

In any case, the rejection happened and so it was easy enough to repurpose the review for RPGNet. As a result, you may notice that the format and length differ a bit from my other RPGNet reviews in this period.

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

In the Belly of the Beast is not only an excellent product in its own right, it deserves to be the template by which other adventures will be written.

Review Originally Published May 21st, 2001

Not only is every Penumbra product from Atlas Games a tour de force of excellence, each betrays an immense talent which is capable of constantly providing a fresh perspective to every aspect of a high quality product. In the Belly of the Beast, sprung forth from the brow of Mike Mearls, offers no contradiction to this rapidly emerging reputation.

PLOT & CONCEPT

Warning: This review will contain spoilers for In the Belly of the Beast. Players who may find themselves playing in this adventure should not read beyond this point.

In the Belly of the Beast begins when the players are approached by Bruno Mezzia, son of Hallan Mezzia and heir of House Mezzia – a powerful and wealthy family in possession of a trading empire. He wants the PCs to help him take care of the Ring of Iron, a local guild of thieves and slavers which has been causing problems. What the PCs don’t know, though, is that Bruno is trying to establish his own position of power within the city’s underworld – and is planning to use the PCs to do it.

When the PCs and Bruno attempt to go after a stronghold of the Ring of Iron located in the city’s sewer system, however, things go wrong: Unknown to Bruno (or the PCs), a member of the Ring of Iron has come into possession of a rare and strange magical item belonging to a necromancer. In fact, the necromancer from whom they had stolen it had – in turn – stolen it from a tribe of orcs.

What none of them knew is that the magic item in question was a chrysalis – an egg from which the demon Vog Mor would be born into the world. While located in the sewer stronghold, the egg has hatched – trapping the Ring of Iron, the necromancer’s apprentice (who killed his master and now pretends to be the master), and a war party of orcs who came after the egg inside the belly of the slowly emerging Vog Mor.

Bruno and the PCs, of course, end up in exactly the same place.

So, to sum up:

The PCs, the head of a would-be crime family, a gang of slavers, a war party of orcs, and a would-be necromancer (who is slowly going insane) are all trapped in the belly of a demon who, in a few short hours, is going to wake up and take over the world.

Cool.

SOMETHING NEW IN MODULES

“This adventure is roleplaying-intensive.”

How many times have you seen a module claim that? 15? 50? 500 times? How many times have you read those modules and then found out the author was telling you a bald-faced lie?

Every single time, right?

The problem with writing a “roleplaying-intensive” module is that, by its very nature, character interactions cannot be as neatly summed up as “when you open the door you see 5 orcs in a 10’ x 10’ room playing poker”. Monsters meant for slaying, traps meant for escaping, dungeons meant to explore. These can be quantified, described, and mapped with precision. Negotiations with King Strophius to release the Mycenaen prince he holds for ransom? That’s a bit more difficult to put down on paper – and ultimately relies upon the particular DM and PCs who are handling the negotiations.

So “roleplaying-intensive” adventures are an interesting conundrum: You can make ‘em. You can run ‘em. You just can’t buy ‘em.

Or so I thought.

There are times when I love being proved wrong.

In the Belly of the Beast is a roleplaying-intensive adventure, and it really, really, really works. No, really: It does. Would I lie to you?

So how does Mearls do it?

First, he gives you five different factions of power in the demon’s belly: The PCs (which he, of course, leaves undefined), Bruno Mezzia and his thugs, the Ring of Iron slavers, the Blood Hatchet orc war party, and the “necromancer” and his servant. Each group is detailed, and each member of the group is detailed – giving the DM a full grasp on his cast of characters.

Next, he gives everyone a common goal: Escape the demon belly.

Then, he gives everyone a common enemy: The servants of the demon who are trying to get past the impromptu barricade and kill everyone.

And then, to round out the foundation of the scenario, he gives everyone a reason for distrusting everyone else – and a reason to ally with one another against the others.

Into this potently developed dynamic, Mearls then adds an exhaustively detailed series of events (and potential events) which allow the mutable plot of the adventure to form. Mearls carefully designs this episodic plot so that it can adapt to whatever actions the PCs may take, giving the DM a strong helping hand without forcing them to tie their players into strait jackets. At the same time, he doesn’t allow the episodic nature of his narrative structure to dominate the actual playing experience – tying his events to each other in a variety of ways, so that the underlying dynamic of the scenario will create a holistic and memorable gaming experience no matter who plays it… or how.

CONCLUSION

So, at the end of the day, In the Belly of the Beast lays claim to being something a little different, something a little new, and something which should definitely find its way into your gaming library. In fact, if your players aren’t able to look back fondly and say, “Hey, remember that time we were stuck in the belly of Vog Mor?” then you’ve definitely made a big mistake in not grabbing this module up and running it.

Now, a real quick note on a weakness I think the product has: It is marketed as containing a “tear-out section”. This section contains the stat sheets for the major NPCs, a combat chart, a hand-out, and the adventure’s map. I, honestly, cannot imagine anyone actually bothering to tear this section out of the module – and the net result is that information which could have been presented in a truly useful manner, now disrupts the lay-out of an otherwise excellently presented adventure. While I applaud Penumbra for experimentation on the one hand, on the other I wish that they would focus on producing the high quality product they’ve proven they’re ably capable of producing and leave the gimmicks for when they are truly deserved and needed.

That’s my assessment as a reviewer, GM, and player. Now, if you’ll indulge me for a moment, I’d like to pass my judgment on this product as a freelancer who has written or contributed to roughly half a dozen D20 products:

In the Belly of the Beast establishes a paradigm for developing roleplaying-intensive modules. Mearls is, of course, building upon design tools which have been developed before, but, to my eyes, he has done so by creating the ground floor of something that deserves a very close look. I, personally, am already working on a module which will play around with and develop these concepts – and, once I’m done with that, I’m probably going to take a look at combining it with an old idea of my own and seeing how they can be combined to enhance a dungeon environment. I encourage other freelancers (and GMs) to look at Mearls’ work in this light as well – not only to duplicate what he has done, but also to open your minds to doing things using new tools and methods.

Okay, I’m off my soapbox. You can stop reading and go out to buy your own copy now.

…

No, seriously. I’m done.

…

C’mon. Get out of here.

…

Look, I’m going to call the cops if you don’t leave!

…

Okay, that’s it. You’re in trouble now, big guy! You just wait and see!

Style: 4
Substance: 5

Author: Mike Mearls
Publisher: Atlas Games
Line: Penumbra
Price: $8.95
ISBN: 1-887801-96-0
Product Code: AG3202
Pages: 32

This adventure had a HUGE impact on me as a GM. I’ve previously discussed its influence on the Universal NPC Roleplaying Template, and you can trace its impact all the way into So You Want to Be a Game Master. I think it would be fair to say it’s directly or indirectly impacted almost every single roleplaying scene I’ve run in the past quarter century.

I also remember it being incredibly effective in actual play. The faction setup, the flexible diplomatic relations, the event sequence, and the looming threat of Vog Mor all combined beautifully. (Although, if I recall correctly, I souped things up with some material from The Book of Fiends.)

So, yeah, this one is a certifiable classic. Really deserves to be on more Best Adventures of All-Time lists.

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