ASC Review: The Two Spires

The Two Spires (Louis-Joseph Benoit)

OD&D for three to six PCs of 3rd-4th level

I found this one a bit tricky to parse, and I'm wondering if this is an ESL issue...certainly the author and play-testers all appear to have French names...? Regardless, it took me a couple read-throughs to "get" this one.

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.

More OD&D, and more gonzo, but if you're going to do gonzo then OD&D is (perhaps) the right system, given just how rudimentary it is. This one doesn't irritate because it feels like it's built on some fairly developed (or, at least, thoughtful) world building. This is post-apocalyptic (hence the gonzo), but there's a lot of background which explains not just WHY things are, but...most importantly for the players...HOW the elements interact with each other. Players need to have something to react to (that's the game): and this adventure gives the DM the tools for this.

There are "Copper Men," who are a race of telepathic humans (but still humans) with a xenophobic religion and "hand-crossbows" (rudimentary zip-guns) that husband/ride "reptoctohorses" (eight-legged reptilian steeds). Despite the weirdness, they're still just a human faction, and the group encountered in this adventure site is a bunch of pariahs, because they've REJECTED their religion and tried to make friends with other humans and demi-humans.  They are attempting to amass gold to recruit the local orc tribe, a group called the Praise-Song Orcs who are neutral in alignment and hire themselves out as mercenaries. With this extra muscle, they hope to overthrow their zealot religious relatives.

This is all GREAT stuff: yeah, it's weird and (slightly) subverting D&D tropes, but it's still UNDERSTANDABLE. Orcs? Got it. Religious conflict? Yep. Gold for trade, barter, hiring, etc.? Makes perfect sense.  The orcs are their own kind of religious zealot, but it's simply one of balance (explaining their neutral alignment)...very easy-peasy.

These two groups, along with a handful of interesting NPCs (a sage/chieftess of the Coppers, her undead spectral husband, an alchemist/witch and her giant fox companion), have made camp in and around two imposing metal spires rising out of the desert that mark the site of an ancient battleground. A small underground cave complex/crypt completes the area...a perfectly reasonable situation for a band of wasteland marauders...er, "adventurers" to stumble into.

While there are plenty of bargains to be struck, people to interact with, and orcs to kill (should the PCs be "that kind" of party), the real "adventure" is underground in an incredibly tiny "micro-dungeon." While some 15K in treasure is available for the finding, the dangers are either incredibly weak sauce (mummies with 14 hit points? Wraiths with 8 hit points?) or incredibly rough (a seemingly unlimited pit of zombies and skeletons that may or may not be hostile). This is made more confusing by the spectre who has multiple motivations depending on what die roll shows up as a random encounter...? Huh?

This is a nicely themed post-apoc scenario that shows a lot of world building depth and makes me both interested in the setting AND the OD&D system. However, the thing needs a bit of editing and a LOT of tuning of the actual "adventure" section (unless PCs are supposed to get into a bunch of backstabbing mayhem with the orcs and Coppers...in which case, some order of battle stuff is needed). I'd like to give it more, but two stars (maybe 2.5) out of five is all I can reasonably give this one. However, this one shows some really good potential.

**+