Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Chaos Rising
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2010106" data-attributes="member: 1129"><p>Chaos Rising is perfect for those looking to add some deep dungeon crawling to their standard campaigns.</p><p></p><p>The adventure starts with the players being hired by a patron. The good thing about this generic set up is that it allows the GM to customize the event for their own campaign without too much rewriting of the internal material. Want to have the priest of Corean hire the party? Want the party to stumble across this information? No problem. It provides customization without hindrance.</p><p></p><p>The party is hired to find a potent item, a demon prince's amulet. The reasons, once again, can be customized. The bad news is that the amulet is in an ancient dwarf hold atop a chunk of rock known as the Devil's Finger. What's worse is that the players aren't the first to be looking for this item as an army is already encamped here searching for said item.</p><p></p><p>The party must be wise enough to avoid Raob and his men even as they gain access to the dwarf hold. Of course nothing is ever simple and the party will find themselves cast through time not once, but several times as they must battle the undead again and again, influencing the fate of the hold again and again.</p><p></p><p>The module doesn't hold your hand. It doesn't make you follow a specific path. Instead, it acts as a guide and allows you to customize. How will the dwarves react to the players as they move into the citadel? This of course depends on the actions the players take and what they do, but some things are set in stone, allowing other factions to move through time with them. Take for example the numerous NPCs that are provided for inclusion when appropriate. While there are several areas that the NPCs can be thrown in, they are not forced into the campaign. This allows more freedom for the Gm to craft the module to suit his own campaign instead of moving the campaign around the adventure.</p><p></p><p>One of the most original of these groups is the Brotherhood of Ooze. This merry lot is a strange group brought together by their love of all things slimy and their worship of the Faceless Lord. Not only is this group dripping with personality, but there’s a PrC, in the Appendix, the Brother of the Ooze, with several new spells to augment his powers with. Need to clear some breathing room around yourself? Use an Ooze Bolt to make them understand you’re power.</p><p></p><p>Another thing this module does well is not relying solely on power to win the day. There are several things that are just going to take brainpower to figure out. My party’s least favorite thing was moving the key, a massive device that they almost missed completely. In addition, several of the combat scenes are what you’d call neat. For example, a confrontation with the Faceless Lord takes place on a sea of slime in a demi-plane. How about a fight with iron golems on platform where the platform isn’t stable? Great scenes.</p><p></p><p>Is the module perfect? It does a good job of bringing together various elements and allows the GM a lot of options to customize the module for their own purposes but there are a few areas I think could have been improved upon.</p><p></p><p>For example, it makes reference to Necromancer Games Tome of Horrors, a monster compendium. It does this several times. Not a problem in and of itself, but it does so without indicating a page and doesn't always follow the same pattern. For example, most references are in bold, and others not. Minor complaint.</p><p></p><p>I'm also not a big fan of traps that require a lot of metathinking. Sure, there are some times when the players shouldn't be able to make a DC against a spot or listen roll, but there should be a lot of ways that the players gain information necessary to solve a problem. This doesn't happen often here. Instead the problem and solution is presented. Sometimes this results in very high body counts, even for a group of 12th level characters. There are also some issues with the final confrontation. I’ve never been a big fan of “Do this or Die.” And while the ending isn’t quite like that, it’s going in that direction.</p><p></p><p>The maps are crisp and clean, using both interior covers and the interior of the book as well. Art, while sparse, varies in style as Brian LeBlanc uses multiple styles to illustrate the module. Editing is fair with a minimal amount of errors and no gaming mechanics jumped out at me. For a 64 page module, price is about average.</p><p></p><p>Chaos Rising has some great things going for it. It’s easy to insert into almost any type of campaign while maintaining a high fantasy flavor that could be lost if your world wasn’t appropriate for it normally. It allows a lot of customization and crafting to be added by the GM to make it his own. If you’re looking for a meaty adventure for your 12th level characters, then with some preparation, Chaos Rising can provide nights of oozing entertainment.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="JoeGKushner, post: 2010106, member: 1129"] Chaos Rising is perfect for those looking to add some deep dungeon crawling to their standard campaigns. The adventure starts with the players being hired by a patron. The good thing about this generic set up is that it allows the GM to customize the event for their own campaign without too much rewriting of the internal material. Want to have the priest of Corean hire the party? Want the party to stumble across this information? No problem. It provides customization without hindrance. The party is hired to find a potent item, a demon prince's amulet. The reasons, once again, can be customized. The bad news is that the amulet is in an ancient dwarf hold atop a chunk of rock known as the Devil's Finger. What's worse is that the players aren't the first to be looking for this item as an army is already encamped here searching for said item. The party must be wise enough to avoid Raob and his men even as they gain access to the dwarf hold. Of course nothing is ever simple and the party will find themselves cast through time not once, but several times as they must battle the undead again and again, influencing the fate of the hold again and again. The module doesn't hold your hand. It doesn't make you follow a specific path. Instead, it acts as a guide and allows you to customize. How will the dwarves react to the players as they move into the citadel? This of course depends on the actions the players take and what they do, but some things are set in stone, allowing other factions to move through time with them. Take for example the numerous NPCs that are provided for inclusion when appropriate. While there are several areas that the NPCs can be thrown in, they are not forced into the campaign. This allows more freedom for the Gm to craft the module to suit his own campaign instead of moving the campaign around the adventure. One of the most original of these groups is the Brotherhood of Ooze. This merry lot is a strange group brought together by their love of all things slimy and their worship of the Faceless Lord. Not only is this group dripping with personality, but there’s a PrC, in the Appendix, the Brother of the Ooze, with several new spells to augment his powers with. Need to clear some breathing room around yourself? Use an Ooze Bolt to make them understand you’re power. Another thing this module does well is not relying solely on power to win the day. There are several things that are just going to take brainpower to figure out. My party’s least favorite thing was moving the key, a massive device that they almost missed completely. In addition, several of the combat scenes are what you’d call neat. For example, a confrontation with the Faceless Lord takes place on a sea of slime in a demi-plane. How about a fight with iron golems on platform where the platform isn’t stable? Great scenes. Is the module perfect? It does a good job of bringing together various elements and allows the GM a lot of options to customize the module for their own purposes but there are a few areas I think could have been improved upon. For example, it makes reference to Necromancer Games Tome of Horrors, a monster compendium. It does this several times. Not a problem in and of itself, but it does so without indicating a page and doesn't always follow the same pattern. For example, most references are in bold, and others not. Minor complaint. I'm also not a big fan of traps that require a lot of metathinking. Sure, there are some times when the players shouldn't be able to make a DC against a spot or listen roll, but there should be a lot of ways that the players gain information necessary to solve a problem. This doesn't happen often here. Instead the problem and solution is presented. Sometimes this results in very high body counts, even for a group of 12th level characters. There are also some issues with the final confrontation. I’ve never been a big fan of “Do this or Die.” And while the ending isn’t quite like that, it’s going in that direction. The maps are crisp and clean, using both interior covers and the interior of the book as well. Art, while sparse, varies in style as Brian LeBlanc uses multiple styles to illustrate the module. Editing is fair with a minimal amount of errors and no gaming mechanics jumped out at me. For a 64 page module, price is about average. Chaos Rising has some great things going for it. It’s easy to insert into almost any type of campaign while maintaining a high fantasy flavor that could be lost if your world wasn’t appropriate for it normally. It allows a lot of customization and crafting to be added by the GM to make it his own. If you’re looking for a meaty adventure for your 12th level characters, then with some preparation, Chaos Rising can provide nights of oozing entertainment. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Chaos Rising
Top