ASC Review: Dweller In The Mist

Dweller in the Mist (Alex Edwards, AKA Sandbox Sorcerer)

AD&D adventure for PCs of levels 6th+

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.

Nice concept, tight theme, nifty maps, fun illustrations.We've got a kind of Skull Island, pulpy/Hollow Earth kind of vibe going on here with pirates devolved Atlanteans, and giants. Cool.

Now let's talk problems.

This is a REALLY BIG "adventure site." All told it has about 22 encounter areas, but the thing is on an island...this isn't something you just drop onto you campaign map. This is an adventure destination/location, not a random hex for players to stumble into (unless you're running a wandering-freebooter-crew style of campaign). 

This adventure is TOO EASY. I mean, it depends on how many 6th+ level characters are in the group. Since the adventure doesn't say, I'll assume SEVEN PCs...this should be the average party size for an effective team. And for seven PCs of levels 6+? This should be a cakewalk.

A single giant ape (re-skinned hill giant) who is docile unless attacked, controlled by his pacifist L1 druid girlfriend. Atlantean cavemen who are used to the pirates and simply assume PCs are pirates (and, thus, are non-hostile). A mist dragon...the weakest 10HD dragon ever devised...that will "flee if pressed" and then "use his spells to affect an ambush." Cloudburst and a 3d4 damage breath weapon? Ooo...I'm so scared!

There's an ettin who works for the pirates (apparently for free as he has no treasure) that spends hours of time clearing rubble and restacking it whenever their ship needs to leave the cave. Meanwhile, a nearby octopus is an "old enemy" of the guy, that "lurks beneath the surface waiting to attack...should it become vulnerable." For example, if engaged in battle with the PCs. Seven 6th level PCs. They don't need the help.

Oo...FOUR wights. Wow. Except one uses a crossbow of speed, so it does d4+1 damage instead of level drain. And who cares anyway when a 6th level cleric can turn 1d12 wights on a d20 roll of 4+?

Friendly, talkative dryads (who already have a bunched of charmed dudes that will happily join the party if freed), treants (who are constrained in their movement in this adventure)...just not a lot of "danger" in this adventure. Sure there's a cave of carnivorous apes (who are "chaotic evil" for some reason...um, these are neutral animals), but they've been charmed by the dryads (how? charm person doesn't work on animals)...but they "only leave their cave to hunt;" that's not really a threat.

And yet the treasure in this thing...hoo boy!  I'd be looking for 180K for a 6th level adventure of this size, but instead you get NEARLY TWICE THAT amount at 340K+. Plus you get a pirate ship to carry it off with! A pirate ship crewed by 0-level pirates that those 6th level fighters will get six attacks per round against.

Nah.

This is "playable" and has a nice idea, but the execution is bad. As far as adventure goes, this is pretty weak-sauce, unless your players are the types to go in, guns blazing and piss everyone off...but even so, there's enough distance between each encounter that getting gang-banged is probably not going to happen. I think even a small group of PCs (three or four) should eat this thing alive if played with any degree of acumen.

I can't quite knock this down to **, but I'm going to add a double minus to its *** grade.

ASC Review: Emerald Caves

Emerald Caves (Patrick Dolan)

AD&D adventure for three to six PCs of levels 4th-6th

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.

*sigh*

Nice concept for an adventure site. Right size, right scale, nice themes.

Total death trap. And not in a good way.

There are 12 encounter areas in the Emerald Caves, half of which have monster encounters. Here's a list of all the critters that frequent the caves:

• Boring beetles
• Bombardier beetles
• Shriekers & violet fungi
• Carrion crawlers
• Giant slugs
• Shambling mounds
• Purple worms
• and a trapper

...the latter of which is the 12 HD variety.

Boring beetles (encounter in groups of 5-8) are HD 5 monsters that do 5d4 damage. Bombardier beetles (encountered as a group of six) are only HD 2+2 and 2d6 damage, but they can fire off an AoE cloud of 3d4 damage (no save) that has a 20% chance of stunning everyone in it for multiple rounds (12 shots total). The carrion crawlers are encountered in a pack of 4 giving them 32 paralyzing attacks; alternatively they might be encountered as d3 wanderers. The violet fungi do 2d4 rotting attacks, while the shriekers can call a HD 12, acid-spitting giant slug or a pair of HD 9 shambling mounds or d3 carrion crawlers. The trapper is HD 12 with the smothering attack, while messing with the final treasure will call a pair of purple worms to cut off the party's exit and finish them.

Treasure is excessive: more than 81K when I'd be expecting more around 32K for something this size. Of course, this should see a lot of party death, so survivors (if any) should be seeing big returns. A lot of jewelry, easily swiped and stashed.

I'm torn. This one is definitely playable as is; it's just the kind of thing that will end an entire party of "three to six" characters of 5th level...and they won't be happy about it. *** but a double-minus for excessive treasure and PC demise.

ASC Review: Interdimensional Tunnels of the Sluggobs

Interdimensional Tunnels of the Sluggobs (Chomy)

S&W (OD&D) adventure for PCs of levels 4th-5th

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.

The problem I have with S&W (which is to say OD&D) is that because the thing is so "under-baked" it is wide open to tinkering and weirdness, making it difficult to judge as its own entity. While I'm certain that its proponents would call this a "feature" of the system (yay! we're just having fun!) this CAN cause issues for players in that you never know what to expect (i.e. "system mastery" is fairly difficult).

And for the judge of an adventure contest it's...not fun. Because then you end up going by "feel" a lot, which is a pretty subjective way to measure things and not especially fair. Fairness in contests matter.

Chomy is used to creating "real" adventures, and for my money, this one is too big for an "adventure site," but at 24 encounter areas it just fits into Ben Gibson's parameters of "8-24 keyed locations." Chomy's clever like that. Yes, he creates his "sluggob" monster (a mutant slug-goblin creature with acid spit), but he puts the stat block in the text...same with his version of a "half-ogre"...and I can't ding him for that, as it's still "par" for an OD&D monster write-up. I assume the annis comes from some S&W supplement as it's a slightly different (i.e. "S&W adjusted") from its appearance in the MM2; hard to know for certain.

Wild and wooly D&D, this is.

Treasure is...fine. For an seven person party of 4th level PCs in an adventure this size, I'd expect something close to 45K, and Chomy comes in at just over 41K and change. Magic items are all, mercifully, normal. 

Good theme, good concept, tight design. Despite the inter-dimensional weirdness, this IS "just an adventure site," albeit a large one with lots of things going on. It is also solid D&D (****). It may not be my cup of tea, but Chomy knows what he's doing.  Kudos for the wide variety of (sensible) encounters that can be handled in a variety of ways, and for the clear and well-labeled map.

ASC Review: Yorker Hills & Twin Falls

Yorker Hills (Squeen)

Twin Falls (Squeen)

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.

Two entries received from the same author, although no author's name appears on either submission (I checked with Gibson who told me they were both penned by Squeen).

Likewise, neither lists a system of use. Or a level range. In fact, both seem to simply be excerpts from some campaign manual.

I'm disqualifying both for multiple rules transgressions (including too few encounter areas). Sorry...maybe next time just focus on doing ONE site correctly?

ASC Review: Chapel of Yog-Sothoth

The Chapel of Yog-Sothoth (Warped Plots)

AD&D adventure for three to four PCs of levels 4th-5th

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.

Oh, good! An AD&D adventure! These I know!

The author shows some good knowledge of Yog-Sothoth here...yes, he is a Chaotic Evil entity. Yes, he has powers as a 15th level magic-user. Yes his sphere of interest/control is gates and openings. Yes, man and beast may well worship him.

But his worship area is "deep caverns"...not forest chapels. See DDG, p.137.

Unfortunately, this entry has worse problems going for it. This isn't really an "adventure site;" it is a location that has...well, not much going on. There's a single carrion crawler that can get "summoned" (is that really a challenge for a party of 4th-5th level characters?). There's an abandoned temple compound that, I suppose provides "challenges" (players that poke around might find 2d4 poisonous vermin...large spiders and giant centipedes).

But there's really nothing here to incentivize the PCs to explore it, or reward them, unless they really need to travel somewhere fast (i.e. via teleportation)...in which case you get the carrion crawler summoning situation. 

And, no, just saying the party can go down the well and find "treasure type B" (and "maybe more carrion crawlers") doesn't make this an adventure.

Sorry, I'm giving this one zero stars. This is a house without furniture.

ASC Review: The Hypogean Oracle

The Hypogean Oracle (Michael and Brooke Strauss)

ACKSII adventure (no level range given)

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.

Oh sweet Jesus...another one?

"Story web threads?" What?

Look, I kind of love that so many people are getting into ACKS...it shows that there are gamers who are getting tired of playing "Basic" D&D systems like OSE.  Why they don't transition to AD&D instead is simply beyond my ken of understanding...or, at least, it's beyond my ken without me taking the time to think and ponder on the subject.

And that doesn't interest me.

Again, I'll give this *** (with a "-" for not putting a level range) and take your word for it that this adventure is "playable." Alternatively, it can be DISQUALIFIED for having less than eight keyed areas (per the contest rules).

ASC Review: Chipped Saucer

Chipped Saucer (Daniel Hicks)

ACKSII adventure for four to six PCs of levels 4th-6th

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.

Yet another ACKSII adventure. 

Man, I'll be honest. If this contest allowed peremptory challenges like a court trial, I would use all mine on ACKS submissions.

"Deciphering throw?" I mean, what the hell is that? "Necrotic damage?" Are you f'ing kidding me?

This has an okay "crashed UFO" theme with "acid hounds" and "nano-apparitions" and a bunch of tech goodies substituting for magic items. In other words, it doesn't resemble anything I'd ever run at my D&D table. 

I'll give it *** because I can't be bothered to learn ACKSII and I'll take your word for it that this is all good and right for the system.