Z4: The Calid Cryo-Caves (Jeff Simpson)
Seven Voyages of Zylarthen for PCs of 3rd-5th level
I changed my mind...I'm just going to review all of the adventures in the order they were submitted regardless of the system for which they're written. This one's up next.
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.
Oh, man. A little Seven Voyages of Zylarthen entry. Oakes Spalding's fantasy heartbreaker has gained some adherents in the decade since I last looked at it; I know several sessions of the system was run at the last Cauldron convention, and this one is by none other than Buddyscott Entertainment Group (i.e. Ye Old Jeff Simpson), prolific publisher of self-illustrated FREE adventures. I'm familiar with some of Jeff's past work, which tends to be clever and whimsical. This one though...?
I'm just confused.
We get an 11 encounter cave complex, crudely drawn (no scale given). Some notes regarding various hot and cold temperatures (but are these in Celsius? I thought Jeff was Canadian...). No hooks. A bunch of really random-ass monsters and treasure that don't seem to go together for any particular reason.
[***EDIT: Jeff has pointed out that the adventure does say, "...temperatures in this dungeon, given in farenheit [sic]..." which I missed. And then, when I later searched the document for Fahrenheit it didn't come up, of course, due to the spelling...***]
[***EDIT: Jeff also notes that the adventure DOES make note of its five foot scale. And he's right: the note is buried in a paragraph detailing some of the various cave effects; it looks like this:
Certain passages are given with two percentage values; the first is the chance of getting stuck, the second the chance of getting un-stuck. If stuck, the character will take 1-6 damage each turn. If an ally pushes and/or pulls the stuck character, an additional 5% is added to the un-sticking chance (maximum 10%). Skeletons here not affected by clerical spells as they are creatures of stone, not bone. The grid-map uses a 5-foot scale and will be provided at the end of this booklet. New items will be described at the back of this booklet and any creatures with a * following their AC can only be hit by magical weapons.
Emphasis added by me. This does not improve usability issues; the adventure would be better served by noting this separately...perhaps on the map?...or make it more searchable by writing 5' (since all other distances in the adventure use the "'" designation when given in the text: 20', 5', etc.***]
I'm not grokking this one. Perhaps I'm not clever enough; perhaps I'm not into the wahoo gonzo that is 7VoZ. Living fossils. "Grizzly-boars." Fisher-spider and cryo-magmic golems. A magic "sword of tempering" that is +3 against plant creatures and makes icy stepping stones when thrust into water. Why is there a small coffer of 1,000 silver pieces in a hot spring? Why is there a "druidic scroll of rejuvenation" tucked behind some rocks with another 1,000 silver and an opal-set platinum ring worth 6,000 silver? Why are we on a silver standard? Because collecting thousands and thousands of silver pieces somehow makes more sense than thousands and thousands of gold pieces?
Sorry, Jeff. I don't get it. I've liked some of your other offerings, but I don't like this one. I'm not even sure it meets the contest criteria of TSR-edition D&D or "very close retroclone." One star out of five.
*
ADDENDUM: Jeff made a request for quality feedback, and perhaps my review wasn't specific enough. Here are (most of) my issues: treasure amounts (assuming a silver standard for x.p.) are too low...by about half. Usability is a bit of an issue (though a minor knock). New monsters, new magic, new mechanics (getting stuck, penalties for temperature) all add to the DM's plate, and questions the designer's ability to simply work with the system (if 7VoZ is this much removed from OD&D, it should probably be excluded as an acceptable system for the contest). Map has no scale, nor even cardinal points (I guess...just pick something?). Unspoken mechanics for new monsters (how long for paralysis? How does the fisher-spider's web function?). Subversion of tropes (are "living fossils" undead? A golem is a construct, how does that become an "elemental beast?"). What is it that leads parties to this particular cave within the Mountains of Kush? Is this just a random thing to plop down and screw with players? Nothing found in the entrance would entice people to go spelunking in this hot/cold death trap.
Sorry but, for me, this one rates under ** ("needs work").
No comments:
Post a Comment