At the Edge of Dreams is a hefty adventure module (and more) from MonkeyGod Enterprises. The adventure is a mystery in which the heroes, as neutral outsiders, must discover the real culprits behind some heinous acts. If the PCs fail, war is in the making between mortals and their immortal, fey-like neighbors, the faean. Unfortunately, this promising scenario is brought only to a frightening half-life by the poor execution it endures.
Scott Fisher's cover is fantastic. It's so good, I'm sure it's a selling point for the book. The interior design is middling, with the type set in a readable fashion, but the pages weighed down with annoying borders and unattractive charts. Artwork inside the book ranges from bad to good, but nothing compares to the front cover. While the back cover image is gripping, the design falters here too, with typographical mistakes. The blurb on the back describing the module is inaccurate in its content as well.
The cartography is passable; that is to say, most of the maps are clear. The notable exceptions to this are the lack of an area map and the Shadowy Bog map. Without an area map, the locales presented in the adventure have no set relationship to each other in distance or space, other than vague hints in the text. This can be a virtue, however, for those DMs seeking to add this adventure to an existing world. The problem with the Shadowy Bog map is it isn't designed well to allow for the encounters that the author asserts are integral to the adventure, yet virtually assures other "optional" encounters.
As for content, the book's exposition is deficiently written, which surprises me, since Sovereign Press' line editor for
Sovereign Stone authored it, and did a fine job in a recent
Dragon article. Coyle also fails to use
D&D rules and style conventions in writing and statistic blocks, and makes no few mistakes. Many of the blunders that plague the text seem to come from the writer's lack of familiarity with 3E. One part of the module asserts that a wand of summoning (
summon monster II) can summon an ettercap (a 5HD creature, CR 4), and all of the monsters summoned with said wand have nested in part of an encounter area. Neither thing is possible with
summon monster II. This kind of thing is common in the book.
Knowledge of Second Edition
D&D seems to carry over into the text as well. When speaking of iron armor's resistance to faean magic, the book reads exactly as follows (including spacing): "As a rule of thumb, for every +1 the armor grants the wearers armor class naturally (not including magical bonus from enchantment) he receive 5% Spell Resistance to the magic of the faean(so a suit of iron chainmail with a +4 natural bonus would grant an SR of 20 against faean spells and spell-like abilities)." Not only does this statement fail to use standard 3E statistical formats for spell resistance, it also fails to refer to armor bonus (magical or otherwise) properly.
The story itself contains plot holes. A timeline states that a certain NPC disappears, and is denounced by another NPC. Later in the story, the "missing" NPC is there to help the PCs out of a sticky situation. How certain dramatis personae come by the knowledge they give the characters is also a mystery. Some characters fail to use their powers and skills to counter the abilities others use against them, while others seem to have meta-abilities that are beyond the rules. One of the spells, waiting watcher, is erroneously referred to as foe watch in the text of the module, where one of the NPCs is supposed to cast it. Unfortunately, that character doesn't have it prepared in his stat block, nor can he even cast waiting watcher at all, due to the spell's caster limitations. Thus, part of the story unhinges.
The author also forgets possibilities when dealing with certain scenes, such as the use of
speak with dead on the body of one of the victims in the story. (Such an occurrence might identify the culprit readily.) Later scenes assume friendship with a creature that may have attacked the characters in the beginning of the adventure. Another character seemingly has the ability to know when someone else senses the magical sensor he created by a scrying spell. Of course, some of the errors also benefit the PCs, like when the module explains that some normally animal-only spells affect magical beasts the heroes might need to befriend, yet the monster description of the same beast doesn't say this, nor why it's so.
Added value can supposedly be found in the appendices of the book, though many of these tidbits are shoddily rendered.
At the Edge of Dreams includes ten new monsters, four new spells, and several new magic items. Seven of the monsters don't appear in the story, unless the DM cares to add them to one of the more loosely defined scenes. One of the items is slated for destruction in the adventure, because it can do a very bad thing. However, a PC of remotely questionable morals, who found out the tremendous powers of this item, wouldn't destroy it at all. The problem with one of the spells was mentioned before.
Nearly every paragraph, and certainly every page, contains some sort of error. These bloopers run the gamut from poor use of language, to continuity, and to statistical or rule mistakes. It's all a real shame, and I'll tell you why: the idea behind this story is fabulous.
Many of the narrative (read-aloud) passages are great, and the characters have personality that's brought out through these scenes. One character always speaks in rhymes, though he does so subtly at times. The religious zeal of the village priest is more than evident. Encounters with the faean are grandly otherworldly. In these segments, it becomes clear that the author has a dramatic flair that probably makes his own gaming table a fun place. It's also clear that Coyle has some background in mythology.
The story is a grim fairy tale, in which the heroes could lose more than a few days time (literally and figuratively). The ideas gleaned from the module work, even if the execution doesn't. DMs have the task of working on some aspects of the story to make it all flow, which is a bad thing when you've bought a so-called "prepared" adventure. What I mean is, in addition to some of the holes mentioned above (if you care about the rules), this module can't be played right out of the box, and if the DM doesn't read it through and prepare, there'll be serious problems. However, the work may be worth it, since the ideas
are that good.
The module's good points include the treatment of the faean. Coyle has succeeded in creating a unique breed of fey creatures, based heavily in actual fairy tales. Perhaps a book dedicated to these creatures is in order, though preferably penned more expertly. Once again, the ideas are good, but the end result leaves a lot to be desired. With some tinkering, the faean can add a unique twist to a suitable campaign.
Finally, if the DM is up to the work it'll take to mold this adventure into a cohesive whole, the adventure is fun. The story is compelling. Thus, the crippled presentation need be something of which only the DM is aware. Special attention must be paid to getting the heroes involved, since the current hook is: the heroes just happen to wander into the area as the most important and interesting thing that's gone on in a hundred years is happening. This typical "fortunate" circumstance is as cliche as the well-known tavern introduction.
At the Edge of Dreams is a beautiful illusion wrapped around what appears to be a first or second draft. Experienced DMs can take this material and turn it into a grand bit of in-depth roleplaying. The inexperienced are guaranteed a hard time, as the module leads them astray with its slipshod writing. If you have an extra twenty bucks burning a hole in your pocket, and an itch to mold some great ideas to your own liking, buy this module. Those ideas are the only thing that saves
At the Edge of Dreams from a much lower rating.
This review was originally written for
Gaming Frontiers on 10/02/02.
