ASC Review: Pyramid of Peril

Patracleo's Peregrinating Pyramid of Peril (Matthew Lake)

Seven Voyages of Zylarthen adventure for three to six PCs of levels 5th-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.

Once again, Matthew Lake takes the final submission spot. Last year's entry was the best of the bunch and a decisive winner of the contest. This year? Well...

I'll make this brief, because I've already spent way too much time on this one. The idea here isn't bad: an undead AEgyptian princess zips around the world in her flying pyramid, picking up dummies to run a gauntlet/obstacle course for her immortal amusement. Okay, actually writing that out it looks worse than the concept actually is (I mean, D&D's premise isn't the greatest...). 

The problem with this one (well, my MAIN problem) is that A) it's written for Seven Voyages of Zylarthen, which requires some 'transduction' for me to grok, and B) the re-skinned monsters which need to be translated to 7VZ just so that I can translate them again to D&D terms. Which is a pain in the ass.

When I'm picking up a pre-written adventure for use at my table, I don't want UNDERSTANDING the module to be a "pain in the ass."

I will not quibble overmuch about 7VZ as an entry, because while NO, its system is NOT compatible with TSR-era D&D (its combat system functions differently), that doesn't matter terribly when looking at the adventure itself. All I see is "bugbear 12 HPs" or "gold ankh 500gp" or "save vs. spells or dance madly for 2-12 turns." These things all translate as "standard" D&D, and if you are playing this using OD&D, you don't need to know the funky 7VZ rules, nor does it matter that 7VZ doesn't use clerics or whatever.

No, the two biggest issues here are just monsters and treasures. 

All the damn re-skins. "Scarabites" as goblins. "Stag-Scarabites" as hobgoblins. "Bear-bugs" as bugbears. "Scarabite flyers" as...winged goblins, I guess? Infrared scarabs (invisible goblins). I mean, I get it, you've got a bug theme going on here. I'm trying to play D&D, and I keep seeing paragraphs full of unfamiliar mouthful of words and I have to remember if Rhino-Scarabs are the ones that get ridden (they are) or are those the Stag-Scarabs (no, they're the riders). Scarab-scarab-scarab...sheesh.

But that just makes the thing a headache to parse. The other issue is the treasure.

7VZ uses a "silver standard," which NO is NOT the same as an TSR-era edition of D&D but whatever, I can do math. So players have to SPEND money to earn x.p. (*sigh*) and they get 1 x.p. for every 1 silver piece spent. So, easy right? Just add up the s.p. value and treat it like g.p. for seeing if the treasure totals are good for this adventure, right?

Except that the author isn't CONSISTENT with his nomenclature. He gives some items' values in gold piece, some values in silver pieces, and then there are coppers thrown in the mix just to piss me off (because in Zylarthen, five CPs = 1 SP, meaning that UNLIKE normal D&D, 100K in copper is worth a phat score of 20K experience points, rather than just something to weigh down bodies in the river...). As a reviewer I have to assume that the author did not just typo his way through this thing and meant every scrap of loot to be worth its exact value which, besides being a pain in the ass, GROSSLY OVERVALUES the treasure yield of this adventure...should be 43K in silver and instead you've got 110K.

Of course, if you were just using it as an OD&D adventure than it's grossly UNDERvalued at a paltry 11K in gold pieces. Bleah.

Matthew, you did a great job last year, and you're a creative guy, but this one needs work. For me, it's not even playable...but I don't play Seven Voyages, even if it IS the "new hotness" amongst classic adventure gamers. However, some people do and...as with the ACKS submissions...I'll defer to other reviewers and simply mark this as *** assuming its appropriately functional (if over-treasured) for 7VZers.

The end.

ASC Review: Foggy Night to Forget

A Foggy Night to Forget (Jamie Henson)

BECMI/RC adventure for "all levels and groups from 1-99"

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.

Welp we're down to the final two submissions; last year's ASC saw a couple real bangers at the end...can we hope for the same quality this time around? That the author thinks Basic edition PCs can get up to 99th level, does NOT bode well...

"A Foggy Night to Forget is as easy or hard as the DM decides..."

Mm. Okay, pal. On with the show!

Welcome to D&D meets Brigadoon! Albeit with less dancing.

Not going to lie...for all the issues with this one, I don't absolutely hate it. Maybe I have a soft spot for BECMI efforts; maybe I'm just addled after too many adventure reviews. But this one is...what? Touching? Charming? We have the quaint yet cursed hamlet that shows up on a foggy evening, drawing the PCs into its drama. Seems it's generally forced to reside inside a pocket dimension due to the irritation its inhabitants have caused Gloux, an Immortal of the Sphere of Thought (I don't know why, but part of me enjoys Mentzer's odd D&D cosmology...it's just so idiosyncratic from other forms of D&D), and they won't get released for realz until a murder mystery is solved. The author advises the adventure can be used as

"...a way to remove/kill PCs (of almost any power level -- a campaign-fix)..."

which is just so straight-up asshole, you have to be a tad impressed. It's like Trump telling people, yeah, we're just going to run Venezuela's oil from now on. Except, you know, more amusing and less mind-numbingly awful.

Sorry, sorry...digressions. A cursed, magic hamlet (a la Brigadoon) is about the perfect size for an adventure site, with its 11ish encounter areas. There's stuff going on (the curse, duh), people to interact with, factions to discover, mysteries to be plumbed. Heck, there's even a list of treasure to be found at each keyed location (on the off-chance to PCs just decide to bushwhack the townsfolk). There's whimsy here...from the god-spawned automaton that hangs out by the village well for no explained reason, to the pack of gator-men that are more hungry than hostile.

But "charming" as all that is, it's not really D&D play. This scenario basically assumes PCs are going  to be sucked into this railroad of a mystery-crawl, and then forced to dance till the DM says you're done...if ever (see the asshole bit above...). That's not real player agency...that't the illusion of agency. We (DMs) want PLAYERS to be EMPOWERED to be PROACTIVE when it comes to tackling adventures. This adventure tries to force players to care...which is about the worst thing to try to force on players. Especially in a ham-fisted way that relies on magical barriers of egress. 

Treasure is too little for "any number" of PCs of 36th level, let alone 99th (not a thing in this edition, by the way). Sure, there's a 800,000 g.p. "tristal" but clearly the author hasn't paid close enough attention to their Mentzer Companion Book 2 (or their Rules Cyclopedia) or they'd know that a tristal "may have any value from 1,000 to 100,000 gp." Probably just added an extra zero by mistake. The author's other stuff is good...although, they should have noted that "gator men" are found in AC9: Creature Catalogue (that took me a minute to figure out; a reference would have been handy).

Look, it's interesting, and it's got some fun stuff (like the vampire druid raising his army of level-sucking spiders). But its too dependent on its story for function...and that's a big no-no. This is ** with a "+" for potential. The disappearing village is a great idea for an adventure site, but don't make "solving" its curse the objective of play...instead, make it something fun that can be "unlocked" in the course of doing 'normal adventuring stuff' (i.e. kicking ass and taking loot). Design the thing for specific level and number of players. Don't tell DMs to adjust to their whim...DMs already do that (when we want to).

ASC Review: Ilthog the Twisted

Ilthog the Twisted (Joseph Griesel)

"1E adjacent" adventure for "four plus" PCs of levels "7+"

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.

Appears this was written for use with the Hyperborea RPG which I don't know and don't care to know. I'll review this as a AD&D (until it breaks down) and judge whether or not it's "compatible" and playable.

Let's see...four or more PCs of levels 7+. So, then, this thing would be appropriate for eight or 10 or 12 adventurers using 10th or 14th or 20th level characters? Exciting!

Oh, I see...it's a nine room "lich lair."

[*read*read*read*]

Okay, this isn't terrible. The flameskull trap is pretty good (author credits this to Justin Todd). Damage could be upped on the pulverizing trap, but still okay (that's credited to Anthony Huso). The Type IV demon, "matter reconstitution chamber," "becoming nook," and false tomb are all pretty good.

Author credits Huso with bone golems, but these look directly cribbed from the Cook/Marsh Expert set (except in B/X bone golems are tougher: HD 8 and AC 2...use those instead, man).

The PROBLEM is the lich itself. Unless the Hyperborea RPG is radically different from AD&D (i.e. disqualifying it from the competition), a lich is a minimum level 18 spell caster. Firetrap in the alchemy lab? Needs to be upped. Lich's hit dice and spell abilities? Too paltry.

And treasure is WAY too low...about 40K total which wouldn't even be close if this place only expected four 7th level characters (90K). And, no, you don't get to say an intelligent sword of wounding is worth 30K. They're worth 22K...intelligence in a magic item is a mixed blessing (at best) and doesn't boost the price.  And what kind of suckers would invade a lich's sanctum just for a sword of wounding? Maybe a vorpal blade or holy avenger.

This one only gets ** but it gets a "+" for actually having a pretty swell little sanctum/adventure site with tight themes. A bit of clean-up (including designing FOR a specific group and level range) would go a long way toward making this a solid high-mid level adventure site. Yeah, there's potential with this one. Good use of larva, too, by the way.

ASC Review: Wraith's Pass

Wraith's Pass (Olle Skogren)

ACKSII adventure

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 final ACKS adventure on the docket, thank the Lord. This one does not list how many adventurers or what levels it's been written for, simply writing:

How to Use This Module?

This is a mighty but lightly occupied border fortress of an evil realm. A conventional army will have a very hard time taking it in a siege, but commando action by heroes is possible. In a full scale war the fortress could be garrisoned by 1920 troops, a full brigade. It is also possible to run this as an independent mountain realm, add more forces that raid the surrounding lands and it becomes a sort of super-bandit fortress.

So....Do As Thou Wilt Is the Whole of the Law, I guess?

This has nine encounter areas spread over three maps that I find ugly, off-putting, and nearly indecipherable. I mean, I assume they are "decipherable," but I'm not taking the time to do so.

Not really sure this is an "adventure" site, but there's stuff to kill, and since I'm unqualified to judge a system where the "sorcerer-wraith" lists proficiencies of "Battle Magic," "Black Lore of Zahar," "Engineering," and "Military Strategy 2," I'll let other reviewers judge whether this is any good.

Assume it's "playable" ACKS. Three(ish) stars.

ASC Review: Bones of the Mountain

Bones of the Mountain (Jakob McFarland)

S&W adventure for PCs of 5th level

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.

This one's okay. Starts out with a banger of a premise...feels very mythic/folklore. Seven wights ride down from the Black Mountain every full moon on the back of their giant wolves, carrying off women from the valley below; a mad Sherpa claims he can lead you to their dark fortress for 100 gold coins.

Site is biggish (18 encounter areas) but it is still a "small" fortress. Draugr are just "wights" in my book (literally in my book...if you read my Five Ancient Kingdoms, you'll find I've replaced the "wight" entry with "draug." Well, druj really...had to go all Zorastrian, after all...but draug is what the Northmen call them. Oh, yeah...here, too), but in THIS adventure they are:

Frozen undead soldiers. They shall be statted as zombies with 3HD.

What exactly does this mean to be "statted as zombies?" They don't share the same AC or HD as zombies. Does the author mean they can be turned as zombies? Do they always attack last like zombies?

The mythic/folklore feeling persists throughout the adventure and helps make any weirdness (the friendly werewolves, the illusion-generating spider) seem like part of some dark fairytale rather than gonzo bullshit. No, the real problem lies with the treasure count. The scenario doesn't say how many PCs it assumes, but seven seems about the right number and that would mean some 67K in treasure for a site this size. Instead, we get less than 20% of that as potential take...far, far too little.

McFarland's adventure is still playable D&D, and has got some nice theming going for it. But the treasure is way off and despite some pretty beefy encounters (the worgs, wights, and draugr are nasty), it could probably stand to contain one or two more threats/hazards. Three stars (***) with definite potential.

Champs...Again

A typical orky game. Dropped passes. Strong running. A lot of stomping of the opposing team's quarterback. If you roll with the greenskins in Blood Bowl, that's the game you're going to see.

But what a beatdown!

It's tough that Zach Charbonnet tore his ACL, as he's our third down / red zone back. For all Kenneth Walker's talent (and he IS talented...extremely), he doesn't have the same nose for the endzone. If Charbs is on the field yesterday, that 19-0 lead going into the 4th quarter is probably more like 27-0. 

But I'll take it. Heck, I would have taken a 6-0 victory. Just like I'd take a 1-0 victory in Blood Bowl. Because a win is a win is a win. And a trophy is a nice memento to commemorate a really good season. Which is what the Seattle Seahawks had this year...a really great season.

Way to go, boyz. Well deserved. This time I'll be at the parade.

Waaagh!

ASC Review: Secret of Glassmaking

The Secret of Glassmaking (Billinger Bence)

S&W adventure for three to six PCs of 4th level

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.

A simple little piece with a glassmaking theme. Tacoma-native Dale Chilhuly has had a pretty profound impact on my locale, so I know a bit about the glassmaking biz (I've been down to his workshop and galleries), and can appreciate the concept...there IS something magical about the art. Though this one feels a bit more Venice than T-Town.

Took me a minute to figure out the map...thought I was looking at an archipelago before figuring out AHA, this is the whole (flooded) island, and what I'm looking at are the parts that haven't been submerged. Makes sense...and makes for a novel method of exploration. Presumably via canoe or raft. Dig it.

14 encounter areas...great. About eight of areas have some sort of danger present (good ratio of monsters to traps), all pretty much level appropriate.

Treasure is too light...should be closer to 17K and it's barely more than 7K. There are some rather nice magic items, but magic items don't award x.p. in S&W. 

This one is nicely done. It's clean, clear, playable D&D...perfect for an evening's entertainment. It gets three stars (***) with a "+" and could easily be upped to the "solid" (4-star) level by fixing the treasure...I'd suggest putting more in the warehouse (with the glass golem), adding a forgotten chest to the empty shipwreck, and throwing a bone in the secret room (seeing as how the players have to go to the trouble to FIND the secret room...maybe left over gambling loot?). But overall this is a pretty good concept.