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<blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2010173" data-attributes="member: 18387"><p><strong>By Brad Mix, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack</strong></p><p></p><p>*Warning this review contains spoilers!</p><p></p><p><strong>Sizing Up the Target</strong></p><p>This review is for Sanctuary a 110-page long adventure for 4-6 third to fourth level characters. Written by Keith Done and published by Auran d20 Adventures. This retails for a respectable $19.95 and comes with a CD-ROM. </p><p></p><p><strong>First Blood</strong></p><p>Back when D&D first started it was decided that adventure modules would be short and to the point. Very little information was given beyond what was necessary. Only the cover of the modules had color, maps were very basic with little detail, and the descriptions were left up to the DM. Then came the text box that allowed a more detailed description of the room, or area to be given. Take for example one of my all time favorite adventures, Castle Amber. For those of you that have played it, think back to the time travel, and unique monsters that you fought. Sure there were gaps in the story and the final encounter involved burning the tapestry to break the curse. You did this because it was engraved on the inside of the coffin telling you how to break the curse. Do you remember anything but the picture on the front cover? Did you realize that this module is only 26 pages long? It was great at the time because it was all we had. This mind set has been around for over 20 years. Thankfully that old mindset is starting to change. Adventures books are now filled with color portraits of the NPC’s, 3D rendered maps, and detailed background information. Think of how memorable you can make these new adventures for your party.</p><p></p><p>One of these new trailblazers is Sanctuary. See Critical Hits as to why this is so trend setting. </p><p></p><p>It is campaign neutral and can easily dropped into any setting. The adventure itself takes place in the little town of Cherrimoor. Bandits are invading the town and the party has answered a call for help. We all know that the bandits are only a plot device to get them to the village. The adventure is about finding a lost Paladin who has not been seen in a while. Villagers have some fears and concerns but otherwise don’t know much. There are a few timed encounters and some that happen when the party meets an NPC. This keeps the pace of the game moving so the PC’s don’t get to bored wandering the city. Of course the spooky castle on the mountain is a great place to start, but getting information in the city should be done first. With the rain and creepy background music most experienced players are going to say “Its time to kill the Vampire.” Of course that person will then cringe as you look at him and chuckle with glee. He then realizes that he only has a 4th level character and has no chance to kill a vampire. It is a little cliché but the fear that it inspires is great. The actual vampire is only a vampire spawn (CR 10) which has its powers toned down a lot from a true vampire. It uses the vampire variant template. </p><p></p><p><strong>Critical Hits</strong></p><p>Included is everything you need to get the party started in a little town of Cherrimoor. Including a CD that has 8 tracks of mood music and background sounds. These eight tracks total about 50 minutes. Also included on the CD are colored maps of some of the more important areas. A PDF recreation of the book for easy searching. You can keep your place in the module and browse the PDF for the next few encounters. A little movie like trailer for the book is also included. The adventure itself is only 40 pages long. The rest of the information includes: a poster that requests hired swords, several letters that can be found, 12 pages of colored 3D maps, 5 pages detailing the main villain and cohorts, 6 NPC’s are on character sheets for ease of use, and new magic items discovered throughout the adventure. Using all of the players’ senses will add to the realism and hopefully a well-remembered adventure. </p><p></p><p><strong>Critical Misses</strong></p><p>I had trouble getting any music to run on my PC. There was sound on the movie clips but nothing for the music tracks. When I put in my CD player it worked fine. It would have been nice to play the music on a laptop and still be able to show a map on the computer as well. Having to use both a CD player and computer can make it hard for the GM. </p><p></p><p>A couple of spelling errors occurred in the book but nothing major. The biggest error I found was on the vampire herself. The description on page 66 has her listed as a 3rd level Cleric/ 2nd level Fighter Vampire. Then on page 67 it has her listed as a 6th level Cleric/ 2nd level Rogue Vampire. The second description is correct as her feats and prepared spells indicate higher level Cleric and Rogue abilities. </p><p></p><p><strong>Coup de Grace</strong></p><p>Great stories and adventures is what roleplaying is all about. All the supplements in the world don’t mean anything unless you have an adventure or campaign to put it in. While self made adventures are perfect because it has everything you want in it, pre-made modules are great for GM’s who don’t always have the time to make an adventure, or for the part time players who get together once in a while and just want to adventure without all of the stuff involved with keeping a campaign alive. I hope more companies put their creative juices into adventures. Honestly if I see one more book about Elves and their boring, overanalyzed culture I am going to scream. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: green"><strong>To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to <em>The Critic's Corner</em> at <a href="http://www.d20zines.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=index&catid=&topic=3" target="_blank">www.d20zines.com.</a></strong></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Messageboard Golem, post: 2010173, member: 18387"] [b]By Brad Mix, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack[/b] *Warning this review contains spoilers! [b]Sizing Up the Target[/b] This review is for Sanctuary a 110-page long adventure for 4-6 third to fourth level characters. Written by Keith Done and published by Auran d20 Adventures. This retails for a respectable $19.95 and comes with a CD-ROM. [b]First Blood[/b] Back when D&D first started it was decided that adventure modules would be short and to the point. Very little information was given beyond what was necessary. Only the cover of the modules had color, maps were very basic with little detail, and the descriptions were left up to the DM. Then came the text box that allowed a more detailed description of the room, or area to be given. Take for example one of my all time favorite adventures, Castle Amber. For those of you that have played it, think back to the time travel, and unique monsters that you fought. Sure there were gaps in the story and the final encounter involved burning the tapestry to break the curse. You did this because it was engraved on the inside of the coffin telling you how to break the curse. Do you remember anything but the picture on the front cover? Did you realize that this module is only 26 pages long? It was great at the time because it was all we had. This mind set has been around for over 20 years. Thankfully that old mindset is starting to change. Adventures books are now filled with color portraits of the NPC’s, 3D rendered maps, and detailed background information. Think of how memorable you can make these new adventures for your party. One of these new trailblazers is Sanctuary. See Critical Hits as to why this is so trend setting. It is campaign neutral and can easily dropped into any setting. The adventure itself takes place in the little town of Cherrimoor. Bandits are invading the town and the party has answered a call for help. We all know that the bandits are only a plot device to get them to the village. The adventure is about finding a lost Paladin who has not been seen in a while. Villagers have some fears and concerns but otherwise don’t know much. There are a few timed encounters and some that happen when the party meets an NPC. This keeps the pace of the game moving so the PC’s don’t get to bored wandering the city. Of course the spooky castle on the mountain is a great place to start, but getting information in the city should be done first. With the rain and creepy background music most experienced players are going to say “Its time to kill the Vampire.” Of course that person will then cringe as you look at him and chuckle with glee. He then realizes that he only has a 4th level character and has no chance to kill a vampire. It is a little cliché but the fear that it inspires is great. The actual vampire is only a vampire spawn (CR 10) which has its powers toned down a lot from a true vampire. It uses the vampire variant template. [b]Critical Hits[/b] Included is everything you need to get the party started in a little town of Cherrimoor. Including a CD that has 8 tracks of mood music and background sounds. These eight tracks total about 50 minutes. Also included on the CD are colored maps of some of the more important areas. A PDF recreation of the book for easy searching. You can keep your place in the module and browse the PDF for the next few encounters. A little movie like trailer for the book is also included. The adventure itself is only 40 pages long. The rest of the information includes: a poster that requests hired swords, several letters that can be found, 12 pages of colored 3D maps, 5 pages detailing the main villain and cohorts, 6 NPC’s are on character sheets for ease of use, and new magic items discovered throughout the adventure. Using all of the players’ senses will add to the realism and hopefully a well-remembered adventure. [b]Critical Misses[/b] I had trouble getting any music to run on my PC. There was sound on the movie clips but nothing for the music tracks. When I put in my CD player it worked fine. It would have been nice to play the music on a laptop and still be able to show a map on the computer as well. Having to use both a CD player and computer can make it hard for the GM. A couple of spelling errors occurred in the book but nothing major. The biggest error I found was on the vampire herself. The description on page 66 has her listed as a 3rd level Cleric/ 2nd level Fighter Vampire. Then on page 67 it has her listed as a 6th level Cleric/ 2nd level Rogue Vampire. The second description is correct as her feats and prepared spells indicate higher level Cleric and Rogue abilities. [b]Coup de Grace[/b] Great stories and adventures is what roleplaying is all about. All the supplements in the world don’t mean anything unless you have an adventure or campaign to put it in. While self made adventures are perfect because it has everything you want in it, pre-made modules are great for GM’s who don’t always have the time to make an adventure, or for the part time players who get together once in a while and just want to adventure without all of the stuff involved with keeping a campaign alive. I hope more companies put their creative juices into adventures. Honestly if I see one more book about Elves and their boring, overanalyzed culture I am going to scream. [color=green][b]To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to [i]The Critic's Corner[/i] at [url=http://www.d20zines.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=index&catid=&topic=3]www.d20zines.com.[/url][/b][/color] [/QUOTE]
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