JoeGKushner
First Post
Red Hand of Doom
An Adventure For Characters of Levels 6-12
Written by Richard Baker and James Jacobs
Published by Wizards of the Coast
www.wizards.com/dnd
ISBN 10: 0-7869-3938-9
128 full color pages + maps
$24.95
Red Hand of Doom isn’t quite a ‘mega’ adventure like say Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil was, but it’s far more than a dungeon crawl or introductory adventure than the first Adventure Path for 3.0.
One of the first things you notice when reading the Red Hand of Doom is how visually impressive it is. As a full color product, it’s easier to use in some aspects. For example, text to be read aloud is not boxed, but it is red. This makes it easier to read on the go so to speak.
The art is also top notch. Wayne England is joined by fan favorites like Des Hanley and Lucio Parillo among others. They bring a great visual style to the book and would make for some great handouts once copied.
Maps are done by Mike Schley and are easy to read. Some of them provide overviews of large areas that the players will be spending time in. Others are actual battle mats ready for miniature use for parts of the game. The battle mats were easy to pull out and for a clumsy person like me, that’s a great thing.
Monster stats are included in an appendix. One of the most impressive things WoTC has done is they’ve provided these stats in a downloadable format. I’ve been playing the Shackled City for months and having to flip to the back of the book, in multiple parts of the back of the book sometimes for larger fights, is a huge hassle. For those with internet access, there is no reason not to download the appendix and benefit from having the ability to print who and what you need for a specific encounter.
Another nice thing about the book is that it includes designer notes. These notes give the readers a peak into the brains of the writers and allow the reader to see where the authors were trying to go with a particular scene. This allows the reader to stick with the plot or if he doesn’t like the direction, to make changes ahead of time.
But what of the adventure itself? Sure, it looks good and reads good. It has some bonus toys for those who have internet access. But is the adventure any good?
It’s a design rarely seen in that it’s open enough to offer several types of game play and pits the characters in a situation much larger than themselves while still allowing the players to be important. Now mind you, it still has a lot of ‘D&Disms’ in that it’d odd how vital a group of potential strangers can become to the region and how much trust is put in them, but much like an old Western where the Man With No Name shows up, there are certain genre conventions hard to customize for starting an adventure.
The location is not set in any specific region but does overlay in the Forgotten Realms. The region, Elsir Vale, should be easy to put into any standard d20 campaign ranging from Kingdoms of Kalamar and Greyhawk, to the Forgotten Realms. Campaigns with a more unique outlook like Iron Kingdoms or Dragonmech will require some serious customization but those that don’t change a lot of genre conventions even though they’re different campaign models, like Eberron, should easily be able to slot in this region. Eberron, due to the former strength of the goblinoids, makes a potentially good setting.
The adventure is divided into five parts. Instead of merely dungeon crawling, a lot of the action is event-based. In terms of character hooks, there are several options including the simple, “the party is investigating a map they discovered in a previous adventure.” Requires a minimum amount of set up. A few other options are included such as the party being hired by Lord Jarmaath of Brindol or having a patron experience a vision and sending the players to intercede among others.
The adventure gets underway when the party battles raiders who are striking Drellin’s Ferry, a small town. The group learns that this raiding band is nothing compared to the vast horde that is preparing to march and that these enemies are lead by warpriests of Tiamat.
The party has a few options of slowing down the onslaught of the horde and get their first taste against the dragonic power that the horde commands as they face off against the green dragon, Ozyrrandion.
As the adventure progresses, they’ll have a chance to forge alliances with wild elves and discover more details on the enemy’s strength, including the backing of the black dragon Regiarax and technically, the first appearance of the dragonspawn, which at the original printing date of this adventure, are a solid addition of power and worked well into the campaign and serve as a good example of introducing new monsters.
One of the nice things about the book is that it provides options. For example, the players may have a few ways of dealing with the Ghostlord, a human druid lich. It’s a nice touch in that the players, despite having an overarching goal, can approach the Ghostlord from several different areas. Will they insure that he stays out of the battle or go for the straightforward, but very difficult, kill?
With the players actions up to this point, they’ll get to take a bigger part in the Battle of Brindol. This part of the adventure uses the characters previous successes and failures to determine how strong the enemy is against whatever allies the players have gathered and whatever allies they’ve deprived the enemy of.
Regardless of the fate of Brindol, the players have one last task to them. The true leadership of the horde has been preparing an invasion force that relies on allies of a more fiendish nature. It’s up to the players to attack the Fane of Tiamat and insure that the High Wyrmlord Azarr Kul is finished.
These tied together adventures make for something beyond normal dungeon crawling. There is no ‘better’ way of playing the game in my opinion mind you. I love the little dungeons scattered in the Shackled City, but seeing a different approach to adventurers from Wizards of the Coast, is a nice thing. Seeing a scenario where the players can have direct influence in the saving of a city, is a solid thing. Pitting the rules from Heroes of Battle in a simplified way for campaign arcs, is a good thing.
The Red Hand of Doom is a solid mini-campaign that will challenge players as they have to fight against time and intelligent enemies who are just as unique as the players themselves.
An Adventure For Characters of Levels 6-12
Written by Richard Baker and James Jacobs
Published by Wizards of the Coast
www.wizards.com/dnd
ISBN 10: 0-7869-3938-9
128 full color pages + maps
$24.95
Red Hand of Doom isn’t quite a ‘mega’ adventure like say Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil was, but it’s far more than a dungeon crawl or introductory adventure than the first Adventure Path for 3.0.
One of the first things you notice when reading the Red Hand of Doom is how visually impressive it is. As a full color product, it’s easier to use in some aspects. For example, text to be read aloud is not boxed, but it is red. This makes it easier to read on the go so to speak.
The art is also top notch. Wayne England is joined by fan favorites like Des Hanley and Lucio Parillo among others. They bring a great visual style to the book and would make for some great handouts once copied.
Maps are done by Mike Schley and are easy to read. Some of them provide overviews of large areas that the players will be spending time in. Others are actual battle mats ready for miniature use for parts of the game. The battle mats were easy to pull out and for a clumsy person like me, that’s a great thing.
Monster stats are included in an appendix. One of the most impressive things WoTC has done is they’ve provided these stats in a downloadable format. I’ve been playing the Shackled City for months and having to flip to the back of the book, in multiple parts of the back of the book sometimes for larger fights, is a huge hassle. For those with internet access, there is no reason not to download the appendix and benefit from having the ability to print who and what you need for a specific encounter.
Another nice thing about the book is that it includes designer notes. These notes give the readers a peak into the brains of the writers and allow the reader to see where the authors were trying to go with a particular scene. This allows the reader to stick with the plot or if he doesn’t like the direction, to make changes ahead of time.
But what of the adventure itself? Sure, it looks good and reads good. It has some bonus toys for those who have internet access. But is the adventure any good?
It’s a design rarely seen in that it’s open enough to offer several types of game play and pits the characters in a situation much larger than themselves while still allowing the players to be important. Now mind you, it still has a lot of ‘D&Disms’ in that it’d odd how vital a group of potential strangers can become to the region and how much trust is put in them, but much like an old Western where the Man With No Name shows up, there are certain genre conventions hard to customize for starting an adventure.
The location is not set in any specific region but does overlay in the Forgotten Realms. The region, Elsir Vale, should be easy to put into any standard d20 campaign ranging from Kingdoms of Kalamar and Greyhawk, to the Forgotten Realms. Campaigns with a more unique outlook like Iron Kingdoms or Dragonmech will require some serious customization but those that don’t change a lot of genre conventions even though they’re different campaign models, like Eberron, should easily be able to slot in this region. Eberron, due to the former strength of the goblinoids, makes a potentially good setting.
The adventure is divided into five parts. Instead of merely dungeon crawling, a lot of the action is event-based. In terms of character hooks, there are several options including the simple, “the party is investigating a map they discovered in a previous adventure.” Requires a minimum amount of set up. A few other options are included such as the party being hired by Lord Jarmaath of Brindol or having a patron experience a vision and sending the players to intercede among others.
The adventure gets underway when the party battles raiders who are striking Drellin’s Ferry, a small town. The group learns that this raiding band is nothing compared to the vast horde that is preparing to march and that these enemies are lead by warpriests of Tiamat.
The party has a few options of slowing down the onslaught of the horde and get their first taste against the dragonic power that the horde commands as they face off against the green dragon, Ozyrrandion.
As the adventure progresses, they’ll have a chance to forge alliances with wild elves and discover more details on the enemy’s strength, including the backing of the black dragon Regiarax and technically, the first appearance of the dragonspawn, which at the original printing date of this adventure, are a solid addition of power and worked well into the campaign and serve as a good example of introducing new monsters.
One of the nice things about the book is that it provides options. For example, the players may have a few ways of dealing with the Ghostlord, a human druid lich. It’s a nice touch in that the players, despite having an overarching goal, can approach the Ghostlord from several different areas. Will they insure that he stays out of the battle or go for the straightforward, but very difficult, kill?
With the players actions up to this point, they’ll get to take a bigger part in the Battle of Brindol. This part of the adventure uses the characters previous successes and failures to determine how strong the enemy is against whatever allies the players have gathered and whatever allies they’ve deprived the enemy of.
Regardless of the fate of Brindol, the players have one last task to them. The true leadership of the horde has been preparing an invasion force that relies on allies of a more fiendish nature. It’s up to the players to attack the Fane of Tiamat and insure that the High Wyrmlord Azarr Kul is finished.
These tied together adventures make for something beyond normal dungeon crawling. There is no ‘better’ way of playing the game in my opinion mind you. I love the little dungeons scattered in the Shackled City, but seeing a different approach to adventurers from Wizards of the Coast, is a nice thing. Seeing a scenario where the players can have direct influence in the saving of a city, is a solid thing. Pitting the rules from Heroes of Battle in a simplified way for campaign arcs, is a good thing.
The Red Hand of Doom is a solid mini-campaign that will challenge players as they have to fight against time and intelligent enemies who are just as unique as the players themselves.
