A thoroughly enjoyable adventure, The Scouring of Gate Pass is well worth any DM's time, either as a stand alone or as the kick off to the War of the Burning Sky Adventure Path/Campaign.
What you get:I got the adventure via download off of RPGnow.com. While I expected to find the zip file was a single pdf, what I found was a pleasant surprise. Along with being in the adventure pdf itself, maps were also in a separate pdf, including Player and DM versions. The adventure book itself is delivered in both full color and black and white pdfs, allowing for easy printing. Finally the combat stats were broken out into a separate rtf file for easy reference and printing. Obviously a good bit of thought was put into the presentation and ease of use for the DM. It makes for an impressive first impression and a growing hope that the quality of the adventure is above average.
Layout:
The sixty-one page adventure PDF features six chapters (an Introduction and five Acts), plus two Appendixes. The Table of Contents even shows the EL level of each encounter, which I imagine would be very helpful for those DMs who tend to use adventures for inspiration for their own game. This is part of the War of the Burning Sky adventure path (which I’d guess you could figure out by now), but suggestions are made on tailoring it to your specific campaign if needed.
Story:
The overall plot deals with an impending invasion of Gate Pass, a town built in a narrow mountain gorge. Rather than have the party face the entire army (difficult for a 1st level group), the Scouring of Gate Pass asks the party to instead escort a cleric while she delivers a message and military intelligence to allies. A few motivations are suggested, and while many are taken from the free Campaign Guide the set up is well enough done that it should not be difficult to get nearly any character interested in not being in the soon-to-be-overrun city.
When speaking to NPCs, the authors did a great job of presenting answers to multiple questions and appropriate Knowledge sidebars to glean information. This level of detail to the unusual solutions the players may come up with continues throughout the document, with many options, timing cues, and variables suggested for allowing your party to find their own way without breaking the overall plot.
The adventure is really rather roleplaying centric, but with enough combat and small encounters scattered about that the rollplayers should still have plenty to do. NPCs are complex, situations defy simple solutions, and the combat encounters all seem to have an unusual flair that keeps them from being boring.
The only criticism I can muster is that the final battle seems detached from the main plot that carried the party through the first three acts. If you are running the whole campaign, this won't be an issue since you can easily just roll into the next book, but if this is a standalone adventure or one you fit into your existing campaign, then I'd suggest ending the adventure with the battle in Act 4, The Gauntlet. It is an impressive, complex battle that will certainly end any adventure on a high note.
Art:
The art is well done overall with the specific pieces ranging from uninspiring to excellent (see the cover). The cartography is mostly of the same style that you will see in most modern releases and is professional quality.
Extras:
This is where ENWorld seemed to really try and make this adventure over the top for value. Not only do you get all of the goodies I mentioned in the zip file, but on the campaign website (click the picture link above), you can download for free the Player's Guide, the DM's Campaign Guide, and one-inch scale battlemaps. I guess all they are missing is having someone come to your house to bake cookies for the group.
Overall:
This was my first experience with EN Publishing and I have to say I am highly impressed. The adventure starts with an interesting idea, uses quality art and cartography, interesting and complex NPCs, and well designed encounters to make for a product of exceptional value. I recommend this highly.
What you get:I got the adventure via download off of RPGnow.com. While I expected to find the zip file was a single pdf, what I found was a pleasant surprise. Along with being in the adventure pdf itself, maps were also in a separate pdf, including Player and DM versions. The adventure book itself is delivered in both full color and black and white pdfs, allowing for easy printing. Finally the combat stats were broken out into a separate rtf file for easy reference and printing. Obviously a good bit of thought was put into the presentation and ease of use for the DM. It makes for an impressive first impression and a growing hope that the quality of the adventure is above average.
Layout:
The sixty-one page adventure PDF features six chapters (an Introduction and five Acts), plus two Appendixes. The Table of Contents even shows the EL level of each encounter, which I imagine would be very helpful for those DMs who tend to use adventures for inspiration for their own game. This is part of the War of the Burning Sky adventure path (which I’d guess you could figure out by now), but suggestions are made on tailoring it to your specific campaign if needed.
Story:
The overall plot deals with an impending invasion of Gate Pass, a town built in a narrow mountain gorge. Rather than have the party face the entire army (difficult for a 1st level group), the Scouring of Gate Pass asks the party to instead escort a cleric while she delivers a message and military intelligence to allies. A few motivations are suggested, and while many are taken from the free Campaign Guide the set up is well enough done that it should not be difficult to get nearly any character interested in not being in the soon-to-be-overrun city.
When speaking to NPCs, the authors did a great job of presenting answers to multiple questions and appropriate Knowledge sidebars to glean information. This level of detail to the unusual solutions the players may come up with continues throughout the document, with many options, timing cues, and variables suggested for allowing your party to find their own way without breaking the overall plot.
The adventure is really rather roleplaying centric, but with enough combat and small encounters scattered about that the rollplayers should still have plenty to do. NPCs are complex, situations defy simple solutions, and the combat encounters all seem to have an unusual flair that keeps them from being boring.
The only criticism I can muster is that the final battle seems detached from the main plot that carried the party through the first three acts. If you are running the whole campaign, this won't be an issue since you can easily just roll into the next book, but if this is a standalone adventure or one you fit into your existing campaign, then I'd suggest ending the adventure with the battle in Act 4, The Gauntlet. It is an impressive, complex battle that will certainly end any adventure on a high note.
Art:
The art is well done overall with the specific pieces ranging from uninspiring to excellent (see the cover). The cartography is mostly of the same style that you will see in most modern releases and is professional quality.
Extras:
This is where ENWorld seemed to really try and make this adventure over the top for value. Not only do you get all of the goodies I mentioned in the zip file, but on the campaign website (click the picture link above), you can download for free the Player's Guide, the DM's Campaign Guide, and one-inch scale battlemaps. I guess all they are missing is having someone come to your house to bake cookies for the group.
Overall:
This was my first experience with EN Publishing and I have to say I am highly impressed. The adventure starts with an interesting idea, uses quality art and cartography, interesting and complex NPCs, and well designed encounters to make for a product of exceptional value. I recommend this highly.
