ASC Review: Scarborough Shire

Scarborough Shire (Nick Roman)

"AD&D" for PCs of 5th-7th level

*sigh* 

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.

While this submission doesn't say which system it's written for, it was suggested...and later confirmed by the author...that it was designed for AD&D.  As such, I examined the adventure through that particular lens. 

Unfortunately, if this is written for AD&D, then the author doesn't know AD&D very well at all.

Sorry, but halflings can't be assassins in AD&D, so an adventure about a halfling assassin guild is a no-go. What's more, halflings can't get up to 7th level in fighting ability. Oh, yeah...and there's no such thing as a multi-class character that has 7th level in fighter and 4th level in thief. Sorry, that doesn't exist in ANY version of 1st edition AD&D ever...multi-class characters divide x.p. equally between classes, and thief will ALWAYS outpace fighter.

You know what else? Hobgoblins in AD&D have 1+1 hit dice, not 3+3. And their leaders never have 6 hit dice (although hobgoblin chiefs might fight as a 4 hit dice monster). And ogres have 4+1 hit dice not 5+5. 

While we're at it, gnomes can't reach 8th level illusionist either, unless you're using the UA rules and the character has some exceptionally high ability scores. However, judging by the rest of this adventure, I'm guessing the author was just 'winging it,' rather than making a calculated effort.

There are devils in AD&D...lots of devils. I can figure out these are the stats for a bone devil...but why not just say so? Also: this is not how an iron flask functions.

The author appears to be trying to be 'cute' with their adventure. I'm not into cute. I want functional adventures that work within the parameters of whichever game system I'm choosing to use. 

Total treasure is (maybe) half what it needs to be: under 50K in monetary treasure, most of which is in literal TONS of trade goods; fun D&D. Wands with no charges listed...sloppy. Also: there's no such thing as a "mace of crushing."

If I were EOTB, I'd knock off a star for the assassin hiding in the latrine. As it is, this thing gets one star (out of five).

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