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Chaos Rising
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<blockquote data-quote="Teneb" data-source="post: 2010483" data-attributes="member: 3572"><p>Chaos Rising is an adventure from Necromancer Games for 4-6 players of 12th level or greater. This adventure was given to me for the purpose of reviewing; this is not a playtest review. SPOILERS ARE LIKELY.</p><p></p><p>The basic premise of the story is that the PCs must secure an amulet which houses the soul of the Faceless Lord, a powerful demon lord who focuses on oozes (Jubilex from the Tome of Horrors for those interested). The amulet is hidden in an obsidian prison which is further hidden beneath the facade of a dwarven fortress. In order to access the prison, the PCs must travel to different time periods within the fortress and obtain a key. Having done that, they must enter the obsidian vault on the night of the blood moon, the only night the prison can be entered. There, they must gain control of the amulet. The twist is that the demon lord is himself the guardian of the amulet, having been trapped in this prison by a dwarven god. He wants the amulet to leave the prison so he too can leave. It presents an interesting roleplaying opportunity for the PCs.</p><p></p><p><strong>Buy this now!</strong></p><p>The adventure is fairly solid. The beginning is actually quite easy, gaining access to the fortress. My first thought was that it was <em>too</em> easy, but the author has explained that some encounters <em>should</em> be easier, giving the PCs a chance to "show off". Upon thinking about this rationale, I come to find I agree with it. Let the PCs slaughter the wimpy army set to guard the fortress. Things are going to get a lot harder.........</p><p></p><p>The art is well done; there's a piece for many of the major encounters in the adventure, helping the DM to visualize what's going on. Editing is solid with few glaring typos. Statblocks really aren't my forte, but nothing jumped out at me as being hideously off.</p><p></p><p>One of the coolest things about this adventure is the fact that there are several other groups striving for the amulet. One is a drow party (don't roll your eyes) that will certainly be a challenge for most parties as they use clever tactics rather than brute force to win the day. By far and away the absolute best thing in the module is the Brotherhood of Ooze. This group is devoted to the Faceless Lord and appears to be bumbling an incompetent. A prestige class and new spells are presented in the back of the book. The Brotherhood is intended as comic relief, but they can really pack a punch. The PCs might laugh when one of the Brotherhood throws a wad of phlegm at them, but will surely cease when that phlegm turns one of them irrevocably into a small green slime. The BoO is worth the price of admission by themselves as far as I'm concerned.</p><p></p><p><strong>Leave it on the Shelf!</strong></p><p>My biggest gripe? Its convoluted. Really really convoluted. Don't expect to skim this thing the night of your game and run it on the fly. DMs will likely need to read and re-read the adventure just to begin grasping how the plot unfolds. The time travel idea works fine, but there's a definite side-stepping of the whole "what if I kill my grandfather in the past" conundrum (which I think is fine but might bug some people).</p><p></p><p>The final battle wherein the PCs release the amulet, they must assemble four pieces of a riddle. First of all, in obtaining the pieces, there's a very high likelyhood of insta-kill of PCs. Now, this <em>is</em> a Necromancer Games product, so a DM should realize what they're getting their party into. Personally, I don't care for insta-kill, but that's neither here nor there. Secondly, to obtain the pieces of the riddle, the PCs must visit four demiplanes, which I feel adds unneccesary complications to an already somewhat confusing plot. On the other hand, the demiplanes are given a one paragraph description and the DM is encouraged to create the rest. The descriptions are quite interesting and a DM willing to put in the work can add several additional gaming sessions to this adventure quite easily.</p><p></p><p><strong>Regis, my final answer</strong></p><p>There are some very clever encounters present in Chaos Rising, as well as some good roleplaying opportunities and even a moral quandry or two. Overall its a very well crafted piece of work. If you can accept the need to really wrap your head around what's going in order to effectively run the adventure, its well worth it. </p><p></p><p>Did I mention the Brotherhood of Ooze was exceptionally cool?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Teneb, post: 2010483, member: 3572"] Chaos Rising is an adventure from Necromancer Games for 4-6 players of 12th level or greater. This adventure was given to me for the purpose of reviewing; this is not a playtest review. SPOILERS ARE LIKELY. The basic premise of the story is that the PCs must secure an amulet which houses the soul of the Faceless Lord, a powerful demon lord who focuses on oozes (Jubilex from the Tome of Horrors for those interested). The amulet is hidden in an obsidian prison which is further hidden beneath the facade of a dwarven fortress. In order to access the prison, the PCs must travel to different time periods within the fortress and obtain a key. Having done that, they must enter the obsidian vault on the night of the blood moon, the only night the prison can be entered. There, they must gain control of the amulet. The twist is that the demon lord is himself the guardian of the amulet, having been trapped in this prison by a dwarven god. He wants the amulet to leave the prison so he too can leave. It presents an interesting roleplaying opportunity for the PCs. [b]Buy this now![/b] The adventure is fairly solid. The beginning is actually quite easy, gaining access to the fortress. My first thought was that it was [i]too[/i] easy, but the author has explained that some encounters [i]should[/i] be easier, giving the PCs a chance to "show off". Upon thinking about this rationale, I come to find I agree with it. Let the PCs slaughter the wimpy army set to guard the fortress. Things are going to get a lot harder......... The art is well done; there's a piece for many of the major encounters in the adventure, helping the DM to visualize what's going on. Editing is solid with few glaring typos. Statblocks really aren't my forte, but nothing jumped out at me as being hideously off. One of the coolest things about this adventure is the fact that there are several other groups striving for the amulet. One is a drow party (don't roll your eyes) that will certainly be a challenge for most parties as they use clever tactics rather than brute force to win the day. By far and away the absolute best thing in the module is the Brotherhood of Ooze. This group is devoted to the Faceless Lord and appears to be bumbling an incompetent. A prestige class and new spells are presented in the back of the book. The Brotherhood is intended as comic relief, but they can really pack a punch. The PCs might laugh when one of the Brotherhood throws a wad of phlegm at them, but will surely cease when that phlegm turns one of them irrevocably into a small green slime. The BoO is worth the price of admission by themselves as far as I'm concerned. [b]Leave it on the Shelf![/b] My biggest gripe? Its convoluted. Really really convoluted. Don't expect to skim this thing the night of your game and run it on the fly. DMs will likely need to read and re-read the adventure just to begin grasping how the plot unfolds. The time travel idea works fine, but there's a definite side-stepping of the whole "what if I kill my grandfather in the past" conundrum (which I think is fine but might bug some people). The final battle wherein the PCs release the amulet, they must assemble four pieces of a riddle. First of all, in obtaining the pieces, there's a very high likelyhood of insta-kill of PCs. Now, this [i]is[/i] a Necromancer Games product, so a DM should realize what they're getting their party into. Personally, I don't care for insta-kill, but that's neither here nor there. Secondly, to obtain the pieces of the riddle, the PCs must visit four demiplanes, which I feel adds unneccesary complications to an already somewhat confusing plot. On the other hand, the demiplanes are given a one paragraph description and the DM is encouraged to create the rest. The descriptions are quite interesting and a DM willing to put in the work can add several additional gaming sessions to this adventure quite easily. [b]Regis, my final answer[/b] There are some very clever encounters present in Chaos Rising, as well as some good roleplaying opportunities and even a moral quandry or two. Overall its a very well crafted piece of work. If you can accept the need to really wrap your head around what's going in order to effectively run the adventure, its well worth it. Did I mention the Brotherhood of Ooze was exceptionally cool? [/QUOTE]
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