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<blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2010074" data-attributes="member: 9860"><p>Beware! This review contains major spoilers.</p><p>This is not a playtest review.</p><p></p><p>Sanctuary is an adventure deisgned for 4-6 characters of levels 4-5 from Auran d20.</p><p></p><p>Sanctuary is a 110-page mixed mono/colour softcover product costing $19.95. It also contains a CD with the adventure in .pdf format, 3D images of the adventure locations, and ambient music linked to the scenes. Space usage, font and margins are all pretty good (barring the slightly annoying intrusion of a couple of 1/2 page adverts into the main text). The interior mono sketches are good, with a couple of truly superb pieces (notably the alluring main protagonist). A central colour section shows some of the CD images in 2D, as well as some more very presentable colour art. This section however concentrates mainly on maps, which are good enough that it's hard to tell if they are photographs of scale models, or computer-rendered graphics. Unfortunately, the scale is presented on a bar to the side of these images rather than as a grid, but this is a minor issue. The writing stle is generally good, if a bit long-winded. Editing is average with regular errors, some of which could have been caught with a spellchecker.</p><p></p><p>The CD has a much-needed improvement compared to those released with Auran's Guardian and Shadowland adventures. Sanctuary uses Apple's Quicktime to show off its well-rendered 3D images (though often a bit dark for my liking), doing away with the rather strict requirement for certain graphics cards that the previous CDs had. The medium allows you to use your mouse to sweep around the 3D environment and zoom in on interesting facets (though it can get a bit pixelly when this is done). There are a few additional images for those of you who bought Guardian, to be used with Quicktime - its a shame not all the images from this and Shadowland were included for those whose PCs did not have the capacity to use the previous medium. The music is linked to passages within the book and makes for pleasant background music to increase atmosphere without being too intrusive - there are also some ambient sounds such as the rattle of harness and children playing to fit in with the scene. There is a link on the CD to a free adventure on the Auran website, Shades Of Gray, set in the city of Quorull, the starting point for Auran's first adventure, Guardian. The searchable (but not bookmarked) .pdf seems to be a direct copy of the print version, unlike Guardian, which contained additional information in the .pdf.</p><p></p><p>Though set in the same campaign world, Sanctuary is not linked to the Guardian/Shadowland plotline, and is a stand-alone adventure.</p><p></p><p>The adventure begins with some introductory remarks and a rather long players introduction, which should be read to the players (though it is not marked as boxed text). This aspect is remedied in the rest of the adventure, where text to be read to the players is clearly marked and notes to the DM are also clearly delineated. </p><p></p><p>Part 1: Cherrimoor</p><p>Information on events and locations in the village of Cherrimoor is given separately, with some guidelines for taking into account player actions. There is also information on the government, religion and history of the area.</p><p></p><p>Part 2: Tharlen Keep</p><p>If the players follow the main storyline in Part 1, they should end up at this keep, which is the central location of the adventure. Again, this section contains event and location information, but these are interspersed to provide a more cohesive journey through the keep. Again, there are snippets of advice for amending the adventure to suit unusual player plans and actions. Both in the previous section and this one, the weather is used as a major influence on both the atmosphere and the plot. There is plenty of advice throughout the section on the tactics of the keep's populace. The adventure works much better if the GM uses a spot of railroading at the beginning of this section, but the information given allows for other routes through the adventure. </p><p></p><p>The PCs must explore the keep, and may need to attempt to escape its confines if following the main plotline (which involves being captured and imprisoned by the inhabitants). Worse, they may discover that there is a timeframe during which they must do this, which can provide an extra frissante of danger - the main protagonist is actually a vampire who will awaken at sunset and, if fought, probably destroy them (CR 10 vampire variant - see below), especially if she combines with her minions, since the PCs should only be 3rd-4th level.</p><p></p><p>Well over half the book is appendix material, the adventure itself being only 40 pages.</p><p></p><p>Appendix 1 are random encounter tables.</p><p></p><p>Appendix 2 is a useful NPC summary sheet, giving a one sentence picture of the NPC, along with their reason why they may be encountered away from their home and important conversation points.</p><p></p><p>Appendix 3 gives a typical daily timetable for the inhabitants of Tharlen Keep.</p><p></p><p>Appendix 4 are a series of handouts - a notice used as the main plot hook, a players map of the region, a couple of letters which give clues, and a potted history of the House of Tharlen. </p><p></p><p>Appendix 5 gives 10 pages of colour maps plus a legend for those maps, and a couple of pages of stills from the 3D images on the CD.</p><p></p><p>Appendix 6 provides more detailed information on the main NPCs in the adventure. </p><p></p><p>This section also includes a new variant vampire template, which gives more detailed rules surrounding the effects of the blood drain ability on victims (taking temporary Con damage if only a limited amount of blood is taken, followed by permanent Con damage if more is taken). The Create Spawn ability works slightly differently too, sometimes creating ghouls or ghasts (from energy drain attacks) and sometimes vampire spawn or even vampires (from blood drain attacks), and also includes rules for creating free-willed spawn. Damage Reduction is bypassed by wooden stakes. There is also a new set of rules surrounding a vampire's Sanctuary (hence the title) - a coffin or burial shroud, which is based on similar effects seen in movies - the vampire is linked to its Sanctuary and benefits from its inherent powers. Most of this is nicely done, although the rules on creating spawn are a bit loose with definitions of which creatures can be affected (using the term 'living creature' rather than 'humanoid or monstrous humanoid', theoretically allowing a drained rat to spawn a ghoul - this could link interestingly into Mongoose's Slayers Guide To Undead templates (e.g. a 'ghoul-rat' but the idea is not explored fully here). There are also some notes on how to change the 'vampire spawn' creature with regards to this variant template.</p><p></p><p>The NPCs are given a fair amount of detail in their sections, with information on roleplaying the character as well as background, description, and motivations. These are enhanced with several double-page full character sheets for the major NPCs. There are also stat block details for all the minor NPCs. Stats seem good.</p><p></p><p>Appendix 7 contains information on the magic items to be found within the adventure including an ingenious mage lock, which resists the effects of spells such as knock and the most clever attentions of rogues.</p><p></p><p>Appendix 8 contains information on the religions mentioned in the adventure, either for integration in a campaign or for easy swapping for relevant existing campaign deities.</p><p></p><p>Appendix 9 gives DMs background information, and discusses early vampires, the history of the main vampire protagonist, the background to the plot hook involving an ex-paladin and his search for the vampire of the story.</p><p></p><p>Appendix 10 gives a glossary of terms related to the setting and its history.</p><p></p><p>Conclusion:</p><p>This is an interesting adventure with a good mix of roleplaying, skill use, combat, and mystery-solving. Unlike Guardian and Shadowland, it does not suffer from quite such an over-abundance of background material (Auran have cleverly put this information at the end as well), making this theoretically an easier product to integrate into an existing campaign. </p><p></p><p>Another area that I feel has somewhat improved since the previous two adventures from Auran is the organisation of material. I recently ran both Guardian and Shadowland - trying to bring all the disparate information together from sections on event, location, NPC, and magic item, not to mention stats from Core Rulebook III, proved to be a nightmare in-game. Sanctuary does a little better in this regard, with event and location interspersed for Tharlen Keep, but this aspect will still require some decent pre-game prep by the GM, and will probably need access to a photocopier.</p><p></p><p>The adventure's main plotline has some aspects of railroading in it (a single plot hook and a requirement for the PCs to be captured once they enter the keep), but there is advice on running the adventure avoiding the capture element. The adventure could theoretically be deadly to the entire party if they make the wrong decisions, and may need toning down if the party fights without thinking.</p><p></p><p>However, overall, an atmospheric aventure with plenty of props to enhance the GM's presentation.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Simon Collins, post: 2010074, member: 9860"] Beware! This review contains major spoilers. This is not a playtest review. Sanctuary is an adventure deisgned for 4-6 characters of levels 4-5 from Auran d20. Sanctuary is a 110-page mixed mono/colour softcover product costing $19.95. It also contains a CD with the adventure in .pdf format, 3D images of the adventure locations, and ambient music linked to the scenes. Space usage, font and margins are all pretty good (barring the slightly annoying intrusion of a couple of 1/2 page adverts into the main text). The interior mono sketches are good, with a couple of truly superb pieces (notably the alluring main protagonist). A central colour section shows some of the CD images in 2D, as well as some more very presentable colour art. This section however concentrates mainly on maps, which are good enough that it's hard to tell if they are photographs of scale models, or computer-rendered graphics. Unfortunately, the scale is presented on a bar to the side of these images rather than as a grid, but this is a minor issue. The writing stle is generally good, if a bit long-winded. Editing is average with regular errors, some of which could have been caught with a spellchecker. The CD has a much-needed improvement compared to those released with Auran's Guardian and Shadowland adventures. Sanctuary uses Apple's Quicktime to show off its well-rendered 3D images (though often a bit dark for my liking), doing away with the rather strict requirement for certain graphics cards that the previous CDs had. The medium allows you to use your mouse to sweep around the 3D environment and zoom in on interesting facets (though it can get a bit pixelly when this is done). There are a few additional images for those of you who bought Guardian, to be used with Quicktime - its a shame not all the images from this and Shadowland were included for those whose PCs did not have the capacity to use the previous medium. The music is linked to passages within the book and makes for pleasant background music to increase atmosphere without being too intrusive - there are also some ambient sounds such as the rattle of harness and children playing to fit in with the scene. There is a link on the CD to a free adventure on the Auran website, Shades Of Gray, set in the city of Quorull, the starting point for Auran's first adventure, Guardian. The searchable (but not bookmarked) .pdf seems to be a direct copy of the print version, unlike Guardian, which contained additional information in the .pdf. Though set in the same campaign world, Sanctuary is not linked to the Guardian/Shadowland plotline, and is a stand-alone adventure. The adventure begins with some introductory remarks and a rather long players introduction, which should be read to the players (though it is not marked as boxed text). This aspect is remedied in the rest of the adventure, where text to be read to the players is clearly marked and notes to the DM are also clearly delineated. Part 1: Cherrimoor Information on events and locations in the village of Cherrimoor is given separately, with some guidelines for taking into account player actions. There is also information on the government, religion and history of the area. Part 2: Tharlen Keep If the players follow the main storyline in Part 1, they should end up at this keep, which is the central location of the adventure. Again, this section contains event and location information, but these are interspersed to provide a more cohesive journey through the keep. Again, there are snippets of advice for amending the adventure to suit unusual player plans and actions. Both in the previous section and this one, the weather is used as a major influence on both the atmosphere and the plot. There is plenty of advice throughout the section on the tactics of the keep's populace. The adventure works much better if the GM uses a spot of railroading at the beginning of this section, but the information given allows for other routes through the adventure. The PCs must explore the keep, and may need to attempt to escape its confines if following the main plotline (which involves being captured and imprisoned by the inhabitants). Worse, they may discover that there is a timeframe during which they must do this, which can provide an extra frissante of danger - the main protagonist is actually a vampire who will awaken at sunset and, if fought, probably destroy them (CR 10 vampire variant - see below), especially if she combines with her minions, since the PCs should only be 3rd-4th level. Well over half the book is appendix material, the adventure itself being only 40 pages. Appendix 1 are random encounter tables. Appendix 2 is a useful NPC summary sheet, giving a one sentence picture of the NPC, along with their reason why they may be encountered away from their home and important conversation points. Appendix 3 gives a typical daily timetable for the inhabitants of Tharlen Keep. Appendix 4 are a series of handouts - a notice used as the main plot hook, a players map of the region, a couple of letters which give clues, and a potted history of the House of Tharlen. Appendix 5 gives 10 pages of colour maps plus a legend for those maps, and a couple of pages of stills from the 3D images on the CD. Appendix 6 provides more detailed information on the main NPCs in the adventure. This section also includes a new variant vampire template, which gives more detailed rules surrounding the effects of the blood drain ability on victims (taking temporary Con damage if only a limited amount of blood is taken, followed by permanent Con damage if more is taken). The Create Spawn ability works slightly differently too, sometimes creating ghouls or ghasts (from energy drain attacks) and sometimes vampire spawn or even vampires (from blood drain attacks), and also includes rules for creating free-willed spawn. Damage Reduction is bypassed by wooden stakes. There is also a new set of rules surrounding a vampire's Sanctuary (hence the title) - a coffin or burial shroud, which is based on similar effects seen in movies - the vampire is linked to its Sanctuary and benefits from its inherent powers. Most of this is nicely done, although the rules on creating spawn are a bit loose with definitions of which creatures can be affected (using the term 'living creature' rather than 'humanoid or monstrous humanoid', theoretically allowing a drained rat to spawn a ghoul - this could link interestingly into Mongoose's Slayers Guide To Undead templates (e.g. a 'ghoul-rat' but the idea is not explored fully here). There are also some notes on how to change the 'vampire spawn' creature with regards to this variant template. The NPCs are given a fair amount of detail in their sections, with information on roleplaying the character as well as background, description, and motivations. These are enhanced with several double-page full character sheets for the major NPCs. There are also stat block details for all the minor NPCs. Stats seem good. Appendix 7 contains information on the magic items to be found within the adventure including an ingenious mage lock, which resists the effects of spells such as knock and the most clever attentions of rogues. Appendix 8 contains information on the religions mentioned in the adventure, either for integration in a campaign or for easy swapping for relevant existing campaign deities. Appendix 9 gives DMs background information, and discusses early vampires, the history of the main vampire protagonist, the background to the plot hook involving an ex-paladin and his search for the vampire of the story. Appendix 10 gives a glossary of terms related to the setting and its history. Conclusion: This is an interesting adventure with a good mix of roleplaying, skill use, combat, and mystery-solving. Unlike Guardian and Shadowland, it does not suffer from quite such an over-abundance of background material (Auran have cleverly put this information at the end as well), making this theoretically an easier product to integrate into an existing campaign. Another area that I feel has somewhat improved since the previous two adventures from Auran is the organisation of material. I recently ran both Guardian and Shadowland - trying to bring all the disparate information together from sections on event, location, NPC, and magic item, not to mention stats from Core Rulebook III, proved to be a nightmare in-game. Sanctuary does a little better in this regard, with event and location interspersed for Tharlen Keep, but this aspect will still require some decent pre-game prep by the GM, and will probably need access to a photocopier. The adventure's main plotline has some aspects of railroading in it (a single plot hook and a requirement for the PCs to be captured once they enter the keep), but there is advice on running the adventure avoiding the capture element. The adventure could theoretically be deadly to the entire party if they make the wrong decisions, and may need toning down if the party fights without thinking. However, overall, an atmospheric aventure with plenty of props to enhance the GM's presentation. [/QUOTE]
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