I think my eyes are bleeding.

Review Originally Published May 21st, 2001

I knew I was in trouble with Galal’s Grave when I read this on the very first page: “Enmity between Elf and Dwarf was laid aside to sunder Evil else all was lost.”

Perhaps I was merely rushing to judgment – and there was, in fact, some perfectly good reason for the elves and dwarves to go around separating “Evil” into pieces (rather than doing more logical things, such as eliminating or destroying it). But if there was such a reason, it remains blissfully undisclosed within the pages of this module.

The mislaid cliché and questionable thesaurus-dipping of that passage, unfortunately, is only slightly indicative of a tone which infects the entire introduction of the adventure. The inexplicable “Evil” makes war with “Elves” and “Dwarves”, which are sometimes referred to as “Good” and, puzzlingly, as the “fey”. We learn that the Elves had a hero in Galal, and the dwarves had a hero in Balor – who were both killed when “Evil surprised the force of Good”. (Strangely this happened at a time when the “forces of Good” were both “poised to eradicate the remnants of Evil” and “in the midst of overwhelming odds”). Galal and Balor were buried in “unknown graves”.

PLOT

Warning: This review will contain spoilers for Galal’s Grave. Players who may find themselves playing in this adventure should not read beyond this point.

You know, I don’t really have any objections to alliteration, per se. For example, I don’t have anything against “Galal’s Grave” as a title. But I have to admit that I’m more than a little skeptical about the adventure starting in an inn named “Gulum’s Gullet”. I mean, honestly, people. We’re in the middle of a G shortage.

This is, of course, where the PCs enter the picture: They come to the Gullet through a number of possible hooks – ranging from the cliched (they’re on their way to a “city filled with adventure” when they stop at the inn) to the bizarre: “It is the 79th anniversary of Galal and Balor and strange lights have once again been sighted around Gulum’s Gullet, an inn within a nearby village. Last year was the 78th consecutive year the lights have appeared. Perhaps one of the graves is nearby?” Perhaps. But other questions abound: Why does the 79th anniversary suddenly have people making the connection? Why is Gullum’s Gullet named instead of the village as a whole? If it was “four score and seven years ago” (87 years ago) that the struggle with “Evil” took place (as we are told on page 2), why is it now only 79 years since it took place?

Anyway. Once you’ve got the PCs in the inn (which is frequented by everyone from peasants to merchants to mercenaries to nobles), they’ll hear a gleeman recite a poem about Galal and Balor. Afterwards the gleeman will tell them that “’tis no secret where Galal is buried” – despite the fact that, two pages earlier, we were told that nobody knew where he was buried. (Which is okay, because, quite frankly, it’s pretty silly for the secret to have been “lost in time” when it happened within the lifetime of your average elf and dwarf.)

If they follow the gleeman’s “exacting directions” they will come upon a path, which they can follow. The only trick is that – at one point – the path branches in two: One path (which has been marked by a boulder as the “path of life”) leads away from the grave. The other path (which has been marked the “path of death”) leads to the grave. This was done by dwarves who were asked to aid the elves in their “deception.” Yeah, those tricky elves – marking the path to a GRAVE as a path of DEATH.

Who am I to judge, though? It’s apparently worked for the past 79 and/or 87 years.

At this point there are several keyed descriptions. Unfortunately, it appears that they forgot to print the map for this part of the adventure and it’s practically impossible to render any sort of connected sense out of it. A few choice bits of illogic do appear, though: For example, an orc shaman who believes that a sentient tree holds a legendary blade demands that the tree hand it over. The tree refuses. The shaman responds by killing the tree and cursing it to act as a prison for the legendary blade. Oh, that crafty orc shaman. He got just what he wanted.

…

… wait a minute.

Anyway, things proceed pretty normally once the PCs are inside the prison tree. Maps for the interior of the tree are included (poorly done as they are), and the adventure reveals itself as a fairly boring and cliched dungeon – despite the interesting premise of locale.

To add insult to injury, it turns out at the end of the day that this is just a false crypt. The real grave of Galal is somewhere else entirely. Ha ha. Gotcha.

To which one is forced to reply:

Who cares?

OTHER WEAKNESSES

Galal’s Grave compounds its other problems with a mediocre lay-out and overall design. Adding to this sense of amateurism, unfortunately, is the artwork of Derek T. Stevens. At times Stevens betrays moments of high quality which are made even more noteworthy by the distinctively exotic character of his work (for example, the pieces on pages 11 and 15 of Galal’s Grave). At other times, however, Stevens betrays his neophyte status (most notably in pieces such as that found on page 8 of Galal’s Grave).

CONCLUSION

I would like to say Galal’s Grave is not without its strong points. I hate telling lies, though, so I can’t.

In the final analysis I’m afraid the conclusion is self-evident: The OGL and D20 trademark licenses have produced some products of truly exceptional quality. Galal’s Grave, on the other hand, represents the other end of the spectrum that we all knew would crop up sooner or later: A poor vision, compounded with amateur production values and layers of cliches deep enough to choke a horse.

Style: 2
Substance: 1

Title: Galal’s Grave
Authors: Jamie Lloyd
Company: Fiend Games
Line: D20
Price: $6.00
ISBN: 1-931275-00-9
Production Code: TLG1501
Pages: 22

When discussing the OGL and similar open licenses, some people will point to adventures like Galal’s Grave and conclude that the OGL is a mistake. “Look at all the garbage!”

I have a different mindset: As Theodore Sturgeon said, 90% of everything is crap.

Look not at the worst that the OGL or science fiction or television has to offer. Instead, consider all of the priceless gems and wonders which we would otherwise not have.

As for the rest of it?

Well, that’s why we have reviews.

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

Privateer Press blasts its way into the D20 marketplace with a module of surpassing quality and a setting whose merest hints are inherently intriguing.

Review Originally Published May 21st, 2001

When The Longest Night, Book One of Privateer Press’ Witchfire Trilogy, showed up in my mailbox it immediately drew my attention:

First, it was 64 pages for $9.95 – which, if the material inside was of any quality at all, would make it a fairly great value in the D20 marketplace.

Second, the book’s artwork and layout were extremely slick. In fact, of all the first-time D20 publishers, I would have to say that Privateer Press has put together the best-looking inaugural product so far. (For those of you who don’t care what a product looks like, consider: If someone’s willing and capable of putting together a visually appealing product, it vastly increases the chances that they cared enough to make the actual meat of the product worth biting into.)

Finally, the first page I flipped open to was page 11 – which features a great picture of an “industrial steamjack” (which is also found in the background of the back cover). For lack of a better description, a steamjack is basically a steampunk mecha.

Admittedly, this last element made me more than a little skeptical of the book’s claim that the DM could “easily replace the names of gods, locations, and the like” in order to use the adventure in any campaign world. But it did leave me seriously intrigued about the Iron Kingdoms setting which Privateer Press is introducing here.

SETTING

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

The first dozen pages of The Longest Night present the merest inklings of the Iron Kingdoms setting, with most of the focus being set upon Corvis – the city in and around which the adventure takes place. A few highlights:

The Iron Kingdoms are most notably set apart from other fantasy settings by their possession of steam technology. The most impressive display of this technology is the steamjack: A robotic entity (which looks a lot like a heavy gear to me, but I’m biased) which is powered by steam and given a brain by magic, and on which the rapid growth of the Iron Kingdoms has been built.

The Kingdom of Cygnar, in which the city of Corvis is to be found, was founded roughly 400 years ago at the end of the Orgoth Empire. Little is known of the Empire, but its ruins and relics can still be found throughout the Iron Kingdoms. Cygnar was ruled by a tyrant as recently as a few decades ago. Fortunately, the tyrant (Raelthorne) was overthrown by Leto, his younger brother. Unfortunately, Raelthorne escaped – and many of his cronies have simply slipped through the cracks.

Corvis, itself, is a port city built upon the junction of two major rivers. It is also built in the middle of a swamp, which has given it a unique architecture: Instead of building out, the city has built up. The lowest levels of the city (the Undercity) have actually sunk beneath the swamp itself, creating a series of what are essentially urban dungeons in which a wide variety of creatures can be found. At the highest levels the rich and powerful can be found, and inbetween is everyone else.

The Longest Night gives us only the meresting inklings of what the complete Iron Kingdoms setting will hold, but what’s here is extremely intriguing: First, Staroscik has laid out a geography which makes it easy to justify dungeon complexes and ruins: Either they’re sunken catacombs beneath the city, or ruins of the Orgoth Empire, or the remnant of a resistance movement. Next, he gives you a number of different places from which to spice an adventure – villains who escaped with Raelthorne’s rule, ancient imperial relics, and so forth. Finally, he wraps all of this up into a great fantasy setting, which is given a very unique character through the light application of a few steampunk elements – not enough to overwhelm the traditional fantasy atmosphere, but more than enough to add a little excitement.

ADVENTURE

Ten years ago a coven of witches in Corvis was executed, with the town universally condemning them to death. The truth, however, was that the trial was the machination of a corrupt politician – Magistrate Borloch — who had first used the coven to gain power and then set them up in order to cover his own back. Actually, there is a deeper truth: Borloch himself had been manipulated by the mage Vahn Oberen. Oberen had set the entire chain of events in motion so that he could act as the witch’s executioner, chopping their heads off with the arcane Witchfire – a blade which would allow him to steal the sorcerous powers of the witches.

Unfortunately for Oberen, things didn’t go exactly according to plan: He did execute the witches, but was knocked unconscious by the powerful forces flowing into him. Borloch rushed the mage away before his identity could be discovered, and Father Dumas, the head of the local church who was seeing to the burial of the witches, unwittingly entombed the Witchfire with them.

Fast forward ten years: Alexia Ciannor, Dumas’ nieceand the daughter of one of the coven members, was only a young girl when her mother was executed. Now, however, she is a powerful sorceress in her own right – and hungry for revenge.

The PCs get involved when Alexia starts stealing corpses, and Father Dumas asks them to find out who’s doing it. The PCs will eventually figure out that the corpses are the jurors from the trial of the coven ten years ago (Alexia is practicing her abilities to create the undead and getting some of her revenge at the same time). This will lead them to the crypt in which four of the witches were buried (the fifth, Alexia’s mother, and the Witchfire are entombed at the Church in Corvis – a warning against all others who would practice witchcraft). There they will learn that Alexia has raised them as well (she is attempting to bring the entire coven back to “life”). This will eventually take them to Alexia’s hideout in the Undercity, but she will escape – leading them to the abandoned Fort Rhyker, where Alexia has slowly been creating an army of undead. The adventure wraps up when Alexia marches her undead forces against the city of Corvis, using them as a distraction so that she can strike at her mother’s tomb – raising her from the dead and seizing the Witchfire. Oberen will attempt to seize the Witchfire at this time, as well, and the PCs will be decisive in determining which of the two sorcerors end up with the blade.

(The reason the adventure is called The Longest Night can be found in the timing of Alexia’s attack: She chooses to strike during the Longest Night Festival – so called because it takes place during an eclipse which blackens the sky for an entire day.)

WEAKNESSES

The biggest problem I found in the adventure was in the initial investigation sequence (during which the PCs are attempting to figure out the identity of the person stealing the corpses). Staroscik needs to strew around a lot more clues in this section if he seriously expects PCs to figure out what’s going on (without, of course, having the DM lead them by the nose from one clue to another). Here’s a rule of thumb that’s always served me well in designing mystery scenarios: Assume that the PCs will miss one clue in three, and you’ll probably have your bases covered. Staroscik, on the other hand, seems to assume that the PCs are going to track down every single bread crumb he plants. He’s wrong, and quite a few playing groups are going to find themselves wandering around without a clue (pun intended).

The only other problem with the adventure’s structure is to be found immediately after the PCs return from the tomb of the first four witches. Staroscik points out that the PCs will have probably figured out that Alexia is somehow involved in all of this (although his exact reasoning here is a little vague – again, more clues are necessary). He then proceeds to stonewall them from actually going after Alexia (the guard will ignore their accusations, Father Dumas will oppose them, etc.) – forcing them to simply follow her until she can lead them to her secret hide-out.

First off, stonewalling the PCs is just not cool. And, furthermore, there’s no need to do it here. If the PCs do go after Alexia, then they can still end up in her secret base by having her take them there. What’s really annoying is that Staroscik actually sets up all the pieces to make this work (including an escape plan for Alexia once they’ve reached her secret base beneath the city), but encourages DMs to stonewall their PCs anyway. Silly and clumsy.

My biggest gripe (as opposed to a serious problem) with The Longest Night is the lack of steamjack stats. This is a major oversight, not only because they seem to be pushed as one of the really unique elements of the setting, but also because Staroscik uses one in the course of the adventure. Although the oversight can be worked around, it shouldn’t have to be.

The only other problems are nothing more than nitpicks, really: The map of Corvis provided (which is done in a historical style – which is to say that it’s more a picture of the city with certain locations keyed) doesn’t seem to really match the description in the text (and a number of locations are left unkeyed). Some boxed text didn’t get boxed (but should obviously be read outloud to the PCs). The maps of Fort Rhyker are very confusing and need to be puzzled out to a degree because the relationships between staircases are not immediately apparent (each floor and section of the fort is printed on a completely separate page). At one point Staroscik claims that a protection form evil spell will prevent Alexia from entering an area – but Alexia’s write-up lists her as neutral, not evil. Minor typos. That type of thing.

STRENGTHS

All right, before I nitpick the product to death, let’s take a look at the strengths of The Longest Night (which are considerable):

First off, as I note above, the setting is extremely well-designed. And, surprisingly, the city of Corvis and its surroundings can be easily included into any generic fantasy world. Removing the steam technology (which is really the only potentially jarring element of the adventure) can be accomplished by simply ignoring it whenever it’s included. (On the other hand, you could include Corvis as a city in which this new technology is just now being pioneered.) Staroscik makes this an even more attractive proposition by loading the city, even in its brief coverage here, with elements and adventure seeds which go far beyond the scope of this single adventure.

Second, the adventure itself – like the setting – can easily be incorporated into campaign setting. Corvis provides a distinct backdrop for the adventure, but Staroscik is careful to keep the structure of the adventure separate from the backdrop – so replacing Corvis with any other city of your choosing is easily accomplished.

And, of course, the adventure is worth playing. Despite a handful of minor structural flaws (which are easily fixed – increasing the number of places a clue can be found and ignoring Staroscik’s advice to stonewall your PCs should take you all of about five minutes), The Longest Night has a great plot, set-up, and cast of characters. It is also an adventure which hits a lot of different notes: You’ve got an investigation, an urban dungeon, a wilderness dungeon, a fortress, and a siege by the undead.

The Longest Night is also distinguished by the simple care with which it has been crafted: For example, Staroscik is careful to provide insight and support into multiple solutions for any problem – including non-combat solutions – looking at not only the short-term, but also the long-term impacts they will have on a game. Perhaps the best example of this is to be found when the PCs enter the tomb of the four witches, in which a tribe of gobbers has taken up residence. This is the same tribe of gobbers which assaulted the caravan the PCs were guarding at the beginning of the adventure – and Staroscik draws a number of different ways in which they can be linked, taking a minor background element and suffusing it throughout the adventure as a whole.

CONCLUSION

The Longest Night is an excellent adventure for any campaign world, and the quality and care which has been shown here is more than sufficient to draw me back for the next two parts in the trilogy.

The strengths of this product have also left me looking forward to Privateer’s release of Corvis: A Guide to the City of Ghosts later this summer. The Iron Kingdoms setting is truly fascinating, and even if I don’t run a campaign there full time, I’ve got my fingers crossed that Privateer will keep walking a fine line which will allow me to incorporate Corvis into another campaign world with relative ease.

And, god help me, I’m even keeping one eye open for their release of the Monsternomicon. Their promise of “unique and useful D20 creatures”, in combination with the monsters shown in this book, have me pleasantly intrigued. (Besides, they actually managed to find a half-way decent name for a monster compendium – and I didn’t think that was possible any more).

In short, to return to the product I’m actually supposed to be reviewing, The Longest Night has left me seriously impressed. You should check it out.

Style: 5
Substance: 4

Title: The Witchfire Trilogy: Book One – The Longest Night
Authors: Matt Staroscik
Company: Privateer Press
Line: D20/Iron Kingdoms
Price: $9.95
ISBN: 0-9706970-0-7
Production Code: WF001
Pages: 64

For the record, although I never wrote a review of it, the Monternomicon is one of my favorite and most-used bestiaries. Privateer Press knocked it out of the park with that one. (I haven’t checked out the 5E version, but have little doubt it’s still worth checking out.)

Oddly, my strongest memories of The Longest Night — which I never found the opportunity to run — ended up being the awkward railroading and undercooked clues, with the result that for many, many years I’ve had a kind of “meh” opinion of the module. I suspect it was because I ended up thinking deeply about those elements of the adventure in a way that ended up fundamentally affecting my thinking on adventure design. (You can see the dawning of the Three Clue Rule peeking out up there. And Alexia was something I was thinking about when writing The Principles of RPG Villainy.)

Rereading my review, however, my focus has apparently done a disservice to the rest of the module in my memory. Maybe I should take the time to finally check out the rest of the trilogy.

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

The Horror Beneath spends a lot of time shooting itself in the foot.

Review Originally Published May 21st, 2001

This adventure, to put it bluntly, is a mess:

1. You’ve got a bunch of maps. Tragically, three of them are completely illegible. Actually, I don’t know if “illegible” is the right word, because they’re also completely unkeyed. Let’s just say that — between the fact that they are unkeyed and reproduced in a muddy and indistinct greyscale — it’s nearly impossible to figure out what information they’re supposed to be conveying. The fourth map is of a dungeon. This one is keyed with numbers. For reasons beyond the scope of imagination, however, these numbers are not referenced in a standard D&D format. Instead, Metcalf has decided to describe his dungeon in, basically, a stream of consciousness format – dropping the numbers into the middle of the text between a couple of parentheses whenever he feels its convenient. Simply incredible. It takes true skill to deliberately go out of your way like this to make a product as unusable as possible.

2. Metcalf seems to have persistent problems with the English language. My favorite examples are his nebulous sentence structures, which result in treats like this: “He is unarmed and has no weapon proficiencies. He doesn’t think he needs them.” Needs weapons or needs weapon proficiencies? “Steorra’s temple is the oldest and largest in Ravendale.” Oldest and largest… what? Building? Temple in general? Steorra’s temple in general? You’d assume the second, but this passage is made particularly hilarious by the sentence which appears two paragraphs later: “Temple of Saint Tollan: Ravendale’s newest temple, as well as the largest.”

3. What’s truly bizarre is that the adventure spends a bunch of time discussing Ravendale… which serves absolutely no purpose except as a place for the PCs to pick up an undefined adventure seed which is going to take them to another town: Scarborough.

4. When the PCs reach Scarborough they find the entire town deserted… except for one family, the Tendermores. They discover this when they find the Tendermore’s fourteen-year-old daughter drawing water — by herself — from the well. First off, this staggers my suspension of disbelief: Everyone in town has been dragged off by zombies except your family, and your daughter is wandering around by herself? The daughter will take them back to her house, where the PCs will meet her father Jonathon. To add insult to injury, however, Metcalf closes this description with: “…he believes that he and his “boys” can hold their own.” Who are his “boys”? I dunno. Are they literally his sons, or do the quotation marks imply something else? I dunno. Is the wife of the house still alive and around? I dunno. Are there any other daughters? I dunno.

5. As if Metcalf’s lock-lipped descriptions are not bizarre enough, we then get the sequence of events that night when the zombies come: “The Tendermores are not very effective archers, the zombies should have no trouble advancing to the front of the house.” So, in other words, they’ve had no problems holding them off this long – but as soon as the PCs show up, the Tendermores are doomed? Apparently so, because no matter what the PCs do, they will “see two of the Tendermore women taken by the zombies.”

6. Actually, they’re not zombies. They’re grub hosts – which are just like zombies, except they can’t be turned. They are also the way that the Brood Queen (who’s hiding out in that dungeon, which is supposed to be part of an abandoned dwarven citadel, but doesn’t look it) creates her young (the Brood Warriors).

Basically, The Horror Beneath had a semi-decent idea (Aliens in a fantasy setting), but then simply fumbled the ball in executing it. Actually, let me rephrase that: They didn’t fumble the ball. They deliberately tossed it on the floor, tripped over it, broke their leg, stumbled over their target audience, and plunged off a cliff.

It would have been better if the maps had been legible. It would have been better if the presentation had been smoother. Heck, it would have been better if the plot had been comprehensible.

In short: Don’t buy The Horror Beneath.

Style: 2
Substance: 1

Title: The Horror Beneath
Authors: Eric Metcalf
Company: Nightshift Games
Line: D20
Price: $8.95
ISBN: 192933228-9
Production Code: CFE4001
Pages: 32

Style 2? I was apparently feeling generous that day.

I feel bad for Eric Metcalf. He was one of the very first adopters of the OGL and D20 System Trademark License, making the superhero RPG The Foundation and The Horror Beneath two of the earliest third-party 3rd Edition supplements, before the market became glutted with competitors. Unfortunately, this just meant that the entire hobby’s eyes fell upon what were extremely neophyte efforts. Sort of like grabbing someone who just took their first singing lessons and thrusting them onto a Broadway stage. Yeah, the result is terrible. But you can still empathize.

Re-reading this review, it was also interesting seeing my early reaction to someone forgetting how to key a dungeon. Notably, back in 2001, I don’t recall anyone trying to justify this.

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

Ultimately, Deep Horizon lacks the space it needs to tell the story it wants to tell.

Review Originally Published June 27th, 2002

Designed for 13th-level characters, Deep Horizon is WotC’s sixth Adventure Path module. Skip Williams, the author, takes us into the Underdark with this one, revealing a developing struggle between beholders, salamanders, and the long-forgotten civilization of the desmodus (a race of bat-like humanoids).

CONTENT

Warning: This review will contain spoilers for Deep Horizon. Players who may find themselves playing in this adventure should not read beyond this point.

One consistent weakness in the Adventure Path modules have been the character hooks, and this remains true with Deep Horizons: They’re tepid at best. You’ll be best off, in my opinion, using them as a way of foreshadowing the adventure.

Of course, part of the reason the hooks for these modules are weak is that, in general, WotC’s authors are not attempting to convey a plot. The Sunless Citadel, for example, is not a module about the PCs attempting to accomplish X, Y, and Z. The Sunless Citadel simply exists – and there are any number of reasons why the PCs might go there.

Similarly, Deep Horizon doesn’t convey a plot – it conveys an environment. A situation. How the PCs enter that situation, and what they do once they’re there, is entirely up to them.

Here’s the background: 300 years ago the desmodus were at war with the drow… and they were losing. In order to save themselves, the desmodus used powerful magic to reroute a magma flow – using it to seal off their city (and, simultaneously, destroy the nearest drow city). Although the desmodus survived, sealed off from the rest of the world (with the exception of small colony of salamanders, who traded with the desmodus for metal ore), every passing year of isolation brought them closer to the brink of extinction.

Three months ago, however, an earthquake reopened the desmodus’ corner of the Underdark. This has created a crisis in desmodu society, and their old ways of life have broken down: The entire race now stands on the edge of a knife, trying to find its way into the new future which has opened up before it.

Deep Horizon details three environments: The first is Chael-Rekshaar, the drow city destroyed when the desmodu redirected the magma flow 300 years ago. Today, it is inhabited by a trio of beholders (supported by a variety of slave laborers). These beholders are excavating the city with their disintegrate eye, searching for whatever treasure they can find.

The second is the Desmodu Enclave, the final refuge of what was – until just a few months ago – a slowly dying race.

The third is the Salamander Citadel, built upon the underground volcano formed by the backed up magma flow created by the desmodu 300 years ago.

Deep Horizon also details a power struggle: As their society has fragmented and redirected itself, the desmodus’ shipments of ore to the salamanders have slowed. This has angered the salamanders, who have allied themselves with the beholders – hoping to wipe out the desmodu once and for all. While the PCs are here, an assassination is attempted against the leader of the desmodu.

Also at work here is the destabilizing effect lying behind the recent earthquake: The ancient magic the desmodu used to seal themselves away is finally having consequences. If the situation isn’t completely remedied, the earthquakes will get worse. Unfortunately, undoing the magic and allowing the magma to return to its natural flow patterns will significantly cool the current habitat of the salamanders – something which is sure to raise their already heated ire.

STRENGTHS

If you want a summary of why you should pick up Deep Horizons, you don’t have to look any farther than the summary of its content: Skip Williams delivers an active, compelling scenario and invites you to bring along your PCs.

Of course, WotC consistently puts together a well-produced package, and this module is no exception: The cover, by Brom, is eye-catching. The maps are well done. The interior art delivers without detracting. The rules are impeccably handled. All the i’s are dotted and all the t’s are crossed.

WEAKNESSES

Unfortunately, Deep Horizon does have one significant problem: It just plain, flat-out lacks the space it needs to tell the story it wants to tell.

For example, the concept of the ruined drow city of Chael-Rekshaar is really cool. But, in actual execution, it’s rendered into nothing more than a single, ruined temple. (The rest of the city is left beneath the lava flow.)

Similarly, the assassination attempt which forms the module’s only substantive arc of plotted action is essentially squeezed into half a page. Its presentation is simply rushed, leaving you more with the sense of an outline than a module.

Which isn’t to say that Deep Horizon doesn’t work: It does. Everything on the page functions. It just doesn’t live up to its potential, and the primary problem here simply seems to be a lack of space. (Deep Horizon wouldn’t be the first Adventure Path module hurt due to its limited page count, either: The Speaker in Dreams was significantly gutted before its release. Ironically, WotC opted to increase the page count of its Adventure Path modules immediately after Deep Horizon — both Lord of the Iron Fortress and Bastion of Broken Souls feature 48 pages).

A less systemic problem the potential DM should keep an eye on is the introduction of the desmodu: I’ve had several DMs tell me that their PCs were initially hostile toward the desmodu, due to the fact that they fall victim to a desmodu raiding party on their way down into the Underdark. (When faced with an unknown race of humanoids in D&D, I’ve found that players tend to assume the worst of anything that attacks them first.) Since the rest of the module assumes that the PCs will be, at the very least, neutral towards the desmodu, this has the potential to cause some problems.

Deep Horizon also has an annoying flaw: The PCs need to travel through the ruined drow city of Chael-Rekshaar in order to reach the Desmodu Enclave. No problem. But the map of the Desmodu Enclave also shows two passages leading off deeper into the Underdark. Problem: If the magma flow sealed off the desmodu, why are there still passages leading into the Underdark? Plus, the descriptive text implies that Chael-Rekshaar was just the nearest drow city involved in the war with the desmodu: But there’s nothing between Chael-Rekshaar and the surface. And the only way to get deeper into the Underdark from Chael-Rekshaar, according to the map, is through the desmodu enclave. So, unless the drow had a habit of living on the surface three hundred years ago, the whole premise doesn’t seem to make any sense.

(This is easily fixed, however: Move the passages leading deeper into the Underdark to Chael-Rekshaar. These passages would have been sealed by the magma – and were recently reopened, along with the passage to the surface, by the earthquake.)

CONCLUSION

Deep Horizon is a good module: The PCs are dropped into a complex power struggle, and are given the opportunity to save an entire race. This module can represent a launching point for the higher levels of your campaign – as your PCs begin to have a larger and broader impact on the development of the campaign world as a whole.

But Deep Horizon isn’t a great module, and that’s unfortunate: Because the potential was definitely there. And with another twelve pages or so it probably could have been delivered on.

That shouldn’t dissuade you from picking this one up, though – particularly if you’ve followed the Adventure Path series to this point. If you’re willing to take the time to expand the material found here – or even just keep on your toes when it comes to improvising — Deep Horizon presents a highly enjoyable gaming experience.

Style: 4
Substance: 3

Author: Skip Williams
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Line: D&D
Price: $9.95
ISBN: 0-7869-1855-1
Product Code: WTC11855
Pages: 32
Year Published: 2002

In my retrospective on my review of The Sunless Citadel, I talked about how Justin the Younger was still belaboring under the Plot is Adventure/Adventure is Plot paradigm. You can see the vestiges of this here, as I use it (incorrectly) as an explanation for why the scenario hooks for the Adventure Path modules were so poorly done. (The reality, of course, is that there’s nothing about prepping situations that requires threadbare scenario hooks. Quite the opposite.)

In reprinting these old RPGnet reviews, we’ve skipped ahead a bit with this one in order to release all the Adventure Path reviews together. This was actually one of the very last reviews I ever wrote for the site, appearing on the same day as a review of Atlas Games’ Backdrops. Two years later I would write a review of A Song of Ice and Fire, but these two RPG reviews were the true end of an era. (I never finished reviewing the Adventure Path series.) There were a number of reasons for this, the most prominent of which was that in 2002-03 I was spending a lot more time doing professional freelance work. I also lost my primary gaming group during this time as multiple members moved out of town. Shortly thereafter, I was knocked out of the industry in late 2003 by the post-D&D 3.5 collapse, during which most of the companies I had contracts with simply ceased to exist.

It was a rough time. And, at the time, it felt like I’d left RPGs for a long time. Looking back, though, I can see that in 2005 I both started the Alexandrian and took the first steps to getting a new regular gaming group. So it was just a couple years. And then, a couple years after that, I wrote the viral articles that transformed the site, launched my long-running Ptolus campaign, and started publishing RPG books again. Since then, my road has taken many unexpected turns, but I don’t feel as if the journey has ever been interrupted.

Hopefully the road ahead of us will be long and prosperous!

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

Bruce Cordell gives us a solid adventure, but ultimately fails to excite us.

Review Originally Published March 15th, 2002

Wizard’s Adventure Path modules are designed to take a group of starting adventurers from 1st level all the way to 20th. (You can read my reviews of The Sunless Citadel, The Forge of Fury, The Speaker in Dreams, and The Standing Stone here on RPGNet the Alexandrian.)

The first two modules in this series — The Sunless Citadel and The Forge of Fury — are, in my opinion, destined to become classics. These modules succeeded on three levels: First, they were executed with near-flawless precision. Second, they embodied two ineffable archetypes of D&D (a dungeon and a dwarven citadel). Finally, while playing with archetypal structures they also avoided the cliché by offering a few unique twists, lots of specific color, and well-designed encounters and scenarios.

The next two adventures in the series, unfortunately, tapered off somewhat: The Speaker in Dreams is well-executed, but simply lacks a certain degree of flair. Where The Sunless Citadel and The Forge of Fury have the potential to generate stories that will be swapped around your gaming table for years to come, The Speaker in Dreams provides only a light weekend’s entertainment. The fourth module, The Standing Stone, proceeded to drop the ball entirely – bordering on the unplayable without serious fix-up work by the DM.

Which brings us to the fifth Adventure Path module, Heart of Nightfang Spire, designed for 10th-level PCs.

PLOT

Warning: This review will contain spoilers for Heart of Nightfang Spire and The Sunless Citadel. Players who may find themselves playing in this adventure should not read beyond this point.

Heart of Nightfang Spire is something of a sequel to The Sunless Citadel, although there’s absolutely no requirement that the party has played through the previous module. (And I mean that: This isn’t one of those “you don’t need the previous module; but this one is going to suck if you don’t have it”. Heart of Nightfang Spire really does stand by itself.) At the end of The Sunless Citadel, the players cut down the evil Gulthias Tree, which had grown from the stake stabbed through the heart of a vampire.

Unfortunately, the vampire – Gulthias – wasn’t actually dead when the PCs did this, just impaled. As a result, shortly after the PCs left, Gulthias rose once more, returning to this old power base, Nightfang Spire.

(Play the ominous music here.)

Basically it breaks down like this: Gulthias is the leader of a cult of undead, all of whom worship the dragon Ashardalon. Although Ashardalon was killed centuries ago (in fact, the titular heart of Nightfang Spire is Ashardalon’s heart, transformed into a powerful evil artifact), Gulthias believes that if he performs enough atrocities in Ashardalon’s name, the dragon will return. Gulthias is probably insane.

The PCs head off to Nightfang Spire. Once there, they have to fight through undead, girallons, and a couple of demonic servitors in order to collect the four parts of the dragon key which give them access to the Spire’s core, where they face off against Gulthias and (presumably) destroy the evil heart.

(Roll credits.)

WEAKNESSES

Overall, Heart of Nightfang Spire represents an improvement over both The Standing Stone and The Speaker in Dreams. Unfortunately, it also fails to get back up to the high quality of The Sunless Citadel and The Forge of Fury.

Ultimately, here, the flaw is not one of execution: With only a couple of exceptions, Heart of Nightfang Spire is flawless. The problem lies in Cordell’s failure to actively excite you with his adventure: Nightfang Spire is simply not all that interesting as a location; Gulthias’ cult simply isn’t that interesting an antagonist.

I mean, let’s take a closer look at the cult: As far as I can tell, their master plan boils down to nothing more than “being really nasty”. There’s nothing wrong with that, but are you really going to turn to one of your gamer buddies in later years and say, “Hey, you remember that time we beat those guys who were being really nasty?”

Similarly, there’s nothing wrong about Nightfang Spire, but there’s also nothing special about it: It’s a tower with some catacombs underneath it.

And the problem here isn’t that you won’t be swapping stories about Nightfang Spire five years from: It’s that Nightfang Spire is boring. Because there’s nothing unique about the setting, and because there’s really nothing memorable about the villains, Heart of Nightfang Spire plays like the worst of all possible dungeon crawls: Kick open the door. Kill the monsters. Gather the treasure. Rinse. Lather. Repeat.

A couple of other minor flaws I want to mention here:

First, the text of the module does not match the interior illustration which does not match the map which does not match the cover. In short, there are about a half dozen versions of the Spire in this product.

Second, the Adventure Path series as a whole suffers from very weak adventure hooks (as I’ve commented in my previous reviews). Heart of Nightfang Spire is no exception. (And this helps contribute to the lack of any sense of purpose in the module.)

Finally, Cordell doesn’t use his villains to their full effectiveness. For example, Gulthias has inscribed a magical rune in various locations throughout the Spire – allowing him to scry on those locations and teleport his vampiric spawn through the runes to those locations. But, despite a few lackluster notes about potential courses of action Gulthias might take, these gazeways (as they are called) are never truly used to their full potential. I want to see vampiric hit squads teleported in behind the PCs; hit-and-run tactics that the PCs can’t figure out; and so forth. Once Gulthias knows the PCs are there I want to see him mobilize the entire tower, not sit sulking in his lair waiting for the PCs to systematically wipe him out.

STRENGTHS

I’ve explained to you everything that’s wrong with Heart of Nightfang Spire. Now let me show you that I’ve been a little unfair:

First, there is some unique flair to Nightfang Spire. Specifically, the adventure is designed so that the PCs have to fly through the top of the tower and then work their way down. Unfortunately, this is complicated somewhat by area 1 – which is some sort of ground level entrance to the tower. Although the description of area 1 suggests that there is still a door providing access to the tower here, this door remains completely unreferenced on the maps. I can only conclude that, in point of fact, this entrance does not exist (possibly it was bricked up at some point in the past?).

Second, there are some encounters here which are notably well done. For example, the 7th-level monk mummy and the vampiric gibbering mouther. Both of these technically violate the rules, but it doesn’t really matter: They’re cool concepts. Also, the module opens with a mid-air fight as the PCs try to gain access to the Spire – an encounter which is probably the highlight of the adventure (which is unfortunate, because it’s also the first encounter of the adventure – it’s all down hill from here).

Third, Cordell does present an environment where creatures respond to disturbances near them. In fact, on a room-by-room level, the Spire is far more detailed in terms of dynamic monster reactions than most modules. The problem is that the Spire, by its very nature, should be even more dynamic.

Finally, let me repeat myself by saying that Heart of Nightfang Spire is a solid adventure. The execution of the actual elements is almost impeccably solid: It’s only the elements themselves which lack a certain luster to my eyes.

CONCLUSION

Ultimately, as I step back and look at Heart of Nightfang Spire, I am struck by a single word:

Bland.

That being said, there’s enough raw material here that you should be able to spice things up easily enough: First, give the cult some meat. They need a real, tangible, meaningful, threatening goal. Wiping out a pocket of random evil is about as exciting as watching paint dry, but having tale to tell about stopping the Cult of Gulthias from [insert dramatic plot here]? That has something going for it. (This may be as simple as having the return of Ashardalon as a serious, tangible threat – rather than something so utterly ridiculous that people giggle about it behind Gulthias’ back.)

Second, really work on giving the tower a credible defense. Gulthias not only becomes a more memorable villain if he’s manipulating his minions (and using his own powerful abilities) to constantly harass the PCs, but the entire adventure will become far more exciting because – in one stroke – you will have successfully demolished the “kick open door, kill monsters, gather treasure” mentality which is here right now. (Two things to watch for here: First, the girallons are already very potent opponents. If you allow Gulthias to gang them up against the PCs, the PCs will most likely be dead. By the same token, the PCs should really need to retreat and regroup if Gulthias manages to get his defenses credibly focused. Second, once Gulthias knows the PCs are going for the dragon key he isn’t going to just sit there and let them gather the pieces together so that they can come and destroy him.)

So, in the final analysis, Heart of Nightfang Spire is probably a good value for your money. But I would recommend against running it straight out of the box: The result will likely disappoint.

Style: 4
Substance: 4

Authors: Bruce Cordell
Company: Wizards of the Coast
Line: D&D
Price: $9.95
ISBN: 0-7869-1847-0
Production Code: WTC11847
Pages: 32

When I ran The Sunless Citadel, I revamped the entire mythology behind the Gulthias Tree. In doing so, I’d inadvertently cut myself off from using Heart of Nightfang Spire, which is, obviously, completely dependent on the original mythology of the staked vampire. (The concept of the PCs accidentally freeing a staked vampire is very clever, though.) As a result, I’ve never actually run Heart of Nightfang Spire.

I think my closing paragraphs, however, were groping towards a desire to remix these Adventure Path modules in a way that would perhaps bind them just a little closer together: The opportunity to learn more lore about Ashardalon throughout the series, for example. Or for Gulthias’ resurgent cult to have more connections to and lore about the wider drama.

I should probably resist the temptation to go deeper down this rabbit hole…

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