The Monastery of the Fallen Star (armitage)
S&W (OD&D) adventure for four to five PCs of levels 2nd & 3rd
I am reviewing these in the order they were submitted. For my review criteria, please check out this post. All reviews will (probably) contain *SPOILERS*; you have been warned! Because these are short (two page) adventures, it is my intention to keep the reviews brief.
All right...finally.
Here we go: an honest-to-goodness adventure site in the form of a local, abandoned monastery that is now the HQ of some gnollish bandits. 12 keyed locations (really just 10 with some 'added color') with multiple entrances and lots of "stuff" going on.
Treasure is good for its level range: 4,600 (expected is 3,600-5K), and not unreasonable; magic items are of the expendable type typical for low-level adventures. Danger is good: six encounters plus a trap. Gnolls are no joke, but there are few enough that they shouldn't be an issue. Some nice whimsy here with the shadow librarian and "Pickles" the owlbear (great use of her cave/second entrance).
The obsidian egg could be tightened. How does one "chip away" adamantite? How many suits of magic armor can one make? If this was AD&D, I'd point out that this is not how you get enchanted gear, but it would make a good source of "special material" for a wizard working such an enchantment. But all that's a minor gripe.
This is solid D&D. Easy ****.
I have a somewhat bizarrely specific enthusiasm for D&D adventures set in monasteries (especially if they are Tibetan-coded monasteries up in the mountains). I once adapted the "evil abbey" portion of X4 Master of the Desert Nomads for my long-running B/X campaign (discarding the rest of the adventure), and it was very memorable. There's just something about the atmosphere of an abandoned and isolated monastery that elevates the setting.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear this author has contributed another solid example in this little subgenre. :-)
I don't run too many monastery-themed adventures myself, but I'm with you in finding them areas of fantastic potential. Probably I've just watched too many movies over the years.
Delete; )