Editorial note - I read these entries hastily, so if I've assumed something incorrectly about them, feel free to flame me. As always, these are my opinion, and should be taken with a grain of salt. If you don't like my comments, so be it. People want opinions, so I'm happy to oblige. I'll try to get through the rest of them when I get a chance. For now, here are comments on the first five entries.
Hunt of the Black Hound
I like this one. The thought of working with a group of gnolls is an interesting twist that is not often seen. Clever DMs can build subsequent adventures off of this one, thought not easily. DMs could devise future meetings with Gurner to further nature's cause, or may have to call on Gurner for information that he might have about the area. The encounter is fairly limited, but is generic
enough that it could be ran in just about any world. What I would have liked to have seen here is some follow-up plots involving the gnolls, and maybe a map to the Yeth Hound. Possibly some information on where the Yeth Hound came from
would have been nice as well.
Kommaq's Box
This is an odd little encounter. Kommaq is a dwarven smith/transmutor that has a smithy outside of town, and has a penchant for magical stuff. I can buy that well enough, but if he's a transmutor himself, why is he having such difficulties opening up this magical box that he's acquired? Surely he has access to the knock spell himself, which the text says will open the box. Some DMs may be a little apprehensive about putting a smith that sells magic items in their world. That aside, the concept is fairly harmless. As an encounter, this is fairly weak, IMHO. Chances are, no low-level wizard is going to pull out this ultra-
magical box in front of a party of strangers and say "can you open this for me, and by the way, don't kill me and take all my stuff." No, more like he's not going to say anything about it. Even if he did, and the PCs accept and open the box, then what? There's nothing more to this encounter. So, Kommaq just says, "thanks, here's your dagger, now get out of my home!" Where's the fun in that? What would have been interesting here is if the box did something, like transports the entire party (including Kommaq) to some strange place, and then they'd have to figure out how to get back home.
Wanderers of the Forest
Ok, this one has some problems. Despite the numerous spelling and grammar errors here, of which I am willing to overlook, there are numerous incorrect things from a game perspective. For starters, why is this hamlet of people so closely tied to hippogriffs? That's never explained. And why is this hamlet, who are so in touch with nature and tranquility out to kill only rare animals? Where's Greenpeace when you need them? Deer have fur, too, why do they only have to kill griffons? That doesn't make any sense. Not to mention the fact that a 5th level Ranger walking through a dense forest should be able to hide from a griffon. It all just doesn't add up.
In Rage and Still Waters
This encounter is just wrong; very, very wrong. I can think of a couple of outcomes of this if I were to actually run it. The party is walking through the forest and they come across Kezra, the wizard wolverine. The PCs see the wolverine with this cloak, decide they want the cloak, and just attack the creature outright. Even if they don't attack the creature, they are bound to look into the pool and see their reflection. All the fighters, and pretty much anyone with a low will save is gonna fail. And then what - they are out of the game, since the curse is permanent until dispelled with spells that a party of this level doesn't have any hopes of having access to. So, the effect of the encounter is that half the party is effectively removed from game play. Since the ones that make their save won't be able to convince those that failed to follow them back to town to get cured. Wow.
Man Against Beast
This is a perfect example of how a game can happen just by walking around in a desolate field! There seems to be a lot of this "The PCs just happen on", or "when you enter the clearing you see...". Maybe I'm just jaded by this kind of encounter. At any rate, the concept of the moon mirror is actually quite unique, and fairly interesting. I'm not entirely clear on what happens if the lycanthropic image is produced and slays the original, and I'm not clear on what might happen if someone without lycanthropy looks into the mirror. And furthermore, why is such a powerful, potent thing out in the middle of a field and not closely guarded in a holy place of a moon god/goddess? This encounter probably works best by inflicting someone with lycanthropy and then having them seek out the moon mirror to remove their afflication. And then a quest could be designed around seeking it out, and getting to (of course in some ancient runes, guarded by Medusae, perhaps).
