ASC Review: Wailing Tower

Wailing Tower (ShockTohp)

ACKS for PCs of 4th-6th level

Okay...an Adventurer Conqueror King System scenario. ACKS is, from what I can tell, mostly a spiffed up version of BECMI. It has its devotees. For an adventure of this level range, it's mostly in the "A" part of ACKS, and can be judged much the same as a B/X (or, rather, BE) adventure.

For my review criteria, you may check out this post. All reviews will (probably) contain *SPOILERS*; you have been warned! Because these are short (three page) adventures, it is my intention to keep the reviews short.

This one is almost good (I don't write that to be facetious). I'm not a fan of ACKS, but this one nearly hooked me. Great premise/concept: an aging and mostly abandoned monument (museum/tomb) on the edge of town is inviting someone to steal the goods on display. The kicker is that the "goods" are guarded by a piece of fantastical dwarven engineering: a crystal observation dome surrounded by a reservoir of water in creaky "clocktower" that sports spouting fountains and is driven by an ancient water wheel. 

Time pressures abound: another group (a thief NPC and his bandits) have a plan go dig into the chamber not knowing this will activate the 30 odd living statues that guard the exterior. A rust monster is nibbling at the main gear wheel's spindle, and will destroy it if not stopped. Also, there are some giant hawks nesting in the tower that will return shortly and provide additional complication.

Getting through the crystal dome without accidentally flooding the tomb and destroying most of the treasure is the main "puzzle" of the adventure, with the author providing several possible solutions. There is also a banshee haunting the place (new monster for the system, full stats provided in text, slightly different from the 1E version, but not bad) who is a puzzle herself...although violence works as a method of "resolving" her.

This is a GREAT "adventure site:" it is small (only a dozen or so encounter areas) but complex enough to engage and occupy the players...the perfect kind of opportunity a bunch of rapscallion treasure seekers might stumble onto. THIS is a great example of what I believe the ASC is all about.

Now for the execution: it is, unfortunately, a little weak in the nuts-n-bolts. The puzzle for opening the crystal dome is pretty complex...the kind of thing one might have to figure out in a video game after wandering around for a loooong time, trying various combinations. Not very fun D&D, IMO. And I find it unlikely a group of 4th-6th level PCs would be hoarding a scroll with the 6th level spell lower water (one of the alternative solution presented by the author); two scrolls with dimension door is only slightly more probable. Depending on the group, this could be a decidedly frustrating endeavor, likely to end in a flooded loot vault.

And let's talk about that loot. ACKS, much like the Basic systems on which it's built, is a system that awards x.p. for gold. For a party of 5th level characters (say five PCs), I'd be expecting a treasure take of around 30,000. The wailing tower offers only 8,400 total, and that's IF the party can manage the treasure without flooding the compartment. Break the crystal dome, and that amount is dropping to a maximum of 5,700, with 3,300 of that only be recoverable finding some way to drain the water. Harsh! And fixing the banshee issue (a second "puzzle") offers no tangible reward, either.

The monsters, other than the banshee, are all pretty light-weight...unless (I suppose) the PCs are caught outside when the living statues get activated. My estimation of a SMALL adventuring party (five PCs) is based on the fact that the encounters here are so small in number: ONE rust monster, TWO giant hawks, ONE banshee, SIX bandits (and their T6 leader). This is pretty small fry. The main challenge of the adventure is the puzzle vault.

This one's getting three stars (out of five). It's creative, it's engaging, and it's tightly themed. But the overall danger level is low, the treasure count is abysmal, and the puzzle thing can be frustrating for some (many?) groups, given the format (a tabletop RPG). It's not quite "solid" D&D, but it's a pretty good effort.

***