Beware! This review contains major spoilers.
This is not a playtest review.
The Library Of Altinum is a 1.91 MB downloadable .pdf adventure for 4-6 PCs of levels 3-5.
Compared with some other .pdf's with a low page count, this doesn't fare too badly (its cheaper than 0one's The Andwan Legacy and Bastion's e-Minions for example) on a price per page basis. You're still only getting 29 pages for $4.49 though and it quickly begins to pale beside .pdf's with a larger page count (i.e. anything over 32 pages). In addition to this, the margins are very large and you get fairly limited text per page. The computer-generated art and maps are fairly good, though there is a strange overlay effect on the first (front) page which doesn't work well at all. The writing style is poor, whilst the editing is average. No use of bookmarks or suchlike is made within the .pdf format.
The adventure is set in the library of the title. The one hook has a local guild council buying the services of the PCs to investigate the library. The reason they ask for the investigation is that they recently attempted to install a magical globe that would do the work of the librarian, thus making the librarian redundant. The librarian stole and hid the globe, and nobody has been able to use the library since. An investigator previously hired by the guild council has already disappeared in the library.
The truth is that the librarian has been possessed by the spirit of the first ever librarian. The ex-librarian was a wizard with knowledge of dimensional travel. The possessing spirit has used the librarian's body to bring together three magical tomes in the library, which he uses to hide the magical globe in another dimension. The possession of the librarian has caused his body to become incorporeal, and he troubles the PCs throughout the adventure, attempting to stop their progress.
The PCs must investigate the monsters and traps in the library and follow a trail of clues that will lead them into another dimension to find the globe. They are then expected to return the globe to its rightful place, which will put to rest the incorporeal librarian and his possessing spirit.
The Appendix has a couple of new monsters - the otyugh-like Turgid Mauler, and the Vile Head, a construct used in conjunction with golems.
Conclusion:
On the positive side, the basic premise behind the adventure could have been quite interesting, had the execution been more professional.
However, there are several major problems with this adventure:
* The stat blocks are non-standard, missing information, and sometimes incorrect.
* There are illogical premises within the adventure - for example, four shadows have appeared in the library ("from the nearby hills") and killed the library's bookbinder - turning him into a - wight. No. It is obvious throughout that the author has an incomplete grasp of the d20 rules (or at least that he finds trouble putting his understanding down on 'paper').
* The adventure reads a lot like a computer RPG game. Go here, find the key, use the key to get in here so you can find the next key, etc. For example, when the PCs enter one of the dimensions, they are magically railroaded into finding a hut, wherein lies a golden key that is the "ONLY" key to the next clue the PCs should investigate. No more of the dimension is described and no advice given for if the PCs decide to do something else. This feel is enhanced by the fact that monsters are somewhat random and attack the PCs for little or no reason.
* Despite the fact that they are easy to change, the names used for NPCs are ridiculous and irritating. The investigator sent in by the guild council is called Snurg Foddle Faddle. The librarian is called Thadribble The Unctuous. It doesn't get any better.
* I found myself siding with the librarians against the magical globe. I think many other groups would too - but there's no discussion of how to handle this possibility.
There's more, but I can't be bothered to waste my time listing them. You get the idea. There's no real basis on which I can recommend this adventure to anyone.
