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The Blood Reign of Nishanpur
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<blockquote data-quote="Von Ether" data-source="post: 2008544" data-attributes="member: 15582"><p>Blood of Nishanpur</p><p></p><p>The Blood Reign of Nishanpur is the second installment Paradigm Concepts' Canceri Chronicles, a series of adventure that focus on the malevolent nation named Canceri. Even though this lich-lead nation is part of Paradigm's Arcanis world setting, the adventure tosses out more than enough ideas to have a DM create their own intriguing necropolis city-states. In fact, Paradigm throws out supplemental encounters in Blood Reign that one could use as concepts for a whole spin-off campaign, more on that later.</p><p></p><p>The adventure is $9.99 for 32 pages with black and white illustrations and utilizes the inside covers of the stapled softbound book for the OGL fine print. The adventure is designed to challenge four to six players with 5-7 Levels of experience each.</p><p></p><p>Appearance:</p><p></p><p>Exterior</p><p>The front cover is swathed in the dark purplish tones of a Brom cover that has some sort of fanged creature hanging off an ancient wall, which is covered with pictograms. The back page has a well-dressed fellow in Renaissance clothes who seems that he could give Tim Curry a run for his money in the "Aren't I just evil?" department. The man's shadow is twisted into looking like it has a tail and horns. The man is also missing pupils from both his eyes as well.</p><p></p><p>Interior</p><p>The inside art ranged from fair to better than average, though some pieces seem darker than necessary. Even though the module has nice grayscale margins that show a section of a map and Mr. Evil, the text seems to be packed and is separated with by boxes and borders to organize the setting of scenes, NPC/monster stats, and a new prestige class. It's a very professional looking product.</p><p></p><p>The Adventure:</p><p>(Some spoilers)</p><p>The module starts by explaining the unique organization Paradigm Concept's adventures. Encounters are classified as being either a "Soft" or "Hard" point (stop smirking). A Hard Point is part of the plot and timeline for the adventure. The company suggests that while minor details should be changed to customize Hard Points, the GM should run a party through all of these episodes. There is a typo where a couple of points have missed classification, but it's easy to guess these were meant as essential encounters.</p><p></p><p>The Soft Points are optional events. However quite a few of them are so entertaining that most DM will want to see their players sweat these incidents out.</p><p></p><p>The adventure then sums up the previous adventure "Spear of Lohgin," so DM can assess how to integrate Blood Reign into their own campaigns. An outline of the Hard Points is given as well as a Glossary of Terms so that one doesn't have to be familiar with the world of Arcanis to play. Then the module goes into the details of each optional and essential encounter.</p><p></p><p>Some examples of the optional events (Soft Points) that could happen to the PCs are:</p><p>A swordsman who's looking to improve his reputation through a minor duel</p><p>A poisoning</p><p>Two demons who use a baby as bait and then make the PC decide between their lives and the child</p><p>A strange undead creature who gives out a magical weapon to get revenge on a necromancer</p><p>A Pet Cemetery/Ravenloft type of encounter</p><p>A funeral for the burial of a dead noble and his still-living wife</p><p>A polite and concerned evil night and his demonic steed</p><p>An underground lake of blood</p><p>Releasing a demon</p><p></p><p>A potential campaign idea in Blood resides in the fact that there are a few Soft Points that play off the idea called the "Mark of Saraish," where the only police force in Nishanpur is the demons that defend those who can pay for a protection fee. These Soft Points not only show the brutality of people who abuse the power, but also hint at an the beginnings of a rebellion against those abusers and a vision that the necromantic country is destined to fall someday. It is suggested that while it would be a long time before the evil is banished, the PC can eventually provide some help to the would-be rebels.</p><p></p><p>The essential timeline for the adventure also known as the Hard Points:</p><p>(Spoilers)</p><p>If the party participated in "Spear" there is a party in their honor, if not then the group is invited to participate in the party in a prelude to offering them membership is a special order of heroes. The only low point in the party is a Duke's confidence in PC that there seems to be demonic activity close to the borders. Then as if from the Arthurian myth of the Green Knight, an unwelcome guest arrives and begins the introduction to the quest.</p><p></p><p>A rather well dressed man (Mr. Evil) asks for hospitality and then proceeds to discover and interrogate an invisible imp that was hiding at the feast. It seems that the imp's former owner is dead and let an important magical tomb "The Book of Ymandragore" be stolen before it could be delivered to Mr. Evil. The man discloses he's a demon prince and then offers a deal.</p><p></p><p>A nearby Hellgate is opening and he'll close it if the presiding Duke has someone fetch the book. Hey, guess who volunteers? In swearing an oath to find the book, the PC's get good news and bad news; the good news is that they are now under the protection of the Demon Prince, which may make minor demons take a second thought to attacking the PCs. The bad news is that failure means the Demon Prince will collect on their souls.</p><p></p><p>The Duke helps out by giving them a spy contact in the city of Kielmun, the first lead they have on the theft. Under cover, the PCs get to the city to find their secret agent contact has evidence the book is in Nishanpur. The characters then witness the closing of the Canceri border by national troops for "security reasons." </p><p></p><p>The party gets to the strange city of Nishanpur to discover that the town inhabits a dome that was carved out a mesa by the countless generations of the city's poor. The PCs also face another tough decision. If they accept the "Mark of Saraish" at the front gate, they can roam the city mostly unmolested, but at the cost of accepting demonic favors. Those that refuse the mark are asking to be bait for criminals and abusive nobles within the tomb-like town.</p><p></p><p>However the PC's lead from Kielmun directs them to people who have an agenda. It seems that there are several factions of necromancers that are vying for the throne of head lich in Canceri, who was recently "assassinated." However the information their sources divulge is accurate and the PCs have to go mucking around an evil temple trying to avoid demons, evil clerics and a ritual. Evidence of the assassination (the new prestige class in the adventure provides a method of killing a lich) is found and the PCs have the chance to expose the guilty party in an arena filled with wicked and powerful people. The murder will escape through a magic mirror to summon a Blood Elemental out of the sea of blood that sits underneath the metropolis. In yet another twist, the ritual is drawing power from some sort of crimson crystal that is imprisoning some unknown creature, so even if the elemental is defeated something else is let loose upon the world.</p><p></p><p>The PCs get to glimpse what they release, an immolated figure that lives within a column of fire. The city is thrown into chaos by the passage of the creature as the Demon Prince returns to collect his due. Despite any mistrust or misgivings by the characters, the Prince is a good as his word and closes the gate but only after he baffles the PCs by ripping out and destroying only a single page from the book. He leaves the rest of the book behind.</p><p></p><p>Conclusion:</p><p>Good Stuff:</p><p>The adventure seems to have a good mix of politics and some serious combat. The adventure seems to have a trend of placing PC in circumstances of having to pick the lesser of two evils while traveling within Canceri. In order to survive, the party may meet with the frustration of witnessing injustices that they can't stop. But that makes the actions they do accomplish seem more rewarding. The Paradigm team also seems to be fairly imaginative and is able to introduce minor encounters that a party could spend a whole adventure on. The overall flavor is dark and tough, and may require some patience from players who have to choose which battles to fight and which ones to avoid. The prestige Ordainer Class presents the fascinating idea of a magic user who can absorb the spell levels and magical charges of other characters and use it to power metamagic feats, perform self-healing, and create a magic storm. There is also a new necromantic spell that shrivels up the appendages of a target creature.</p><p></p><p>Bad Stuff:</p><p>The adventure could have spelled out some ways to adapt the story to a generic fantasy setting. The task is not difficult, but newbie DMs may be intimidated by the task. There were also some typos, but overall a good presentation. The Ordainer class is presented in an abbreviated format with only one line each to explain the new class feats, but this is not as much a handicap as it sounds. One of the perquisites for the class includes an evil alignment and it seems that Paradigm Concepts intends this class to be for NPCs only.</p><p></p><p>Overall:</p><p>This one is a keeper for the stealable ideas alone on a necromantic nation alone. I imagine most Arcanis fans already own this little gem.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Von Ether, post: 2008544, member: 15582"] Blood of Nishanpur The Blood Reign of Nishanpur is the second installment Paradigm Concepts' Canceri Chronicles, a series of adventure that focus on the malevolent nation named Canceri. Even though this lich-lead nation is part of Paradigm's Arcanis world setting, the adventure tosses out more than enough ideas to have a DM create their own intriguing necropolis city-states. In fact, Paradigm throws out supplemental encounters in Blood Reign that one could use as concepts for a whole spin-off campaign, more on that later. The adventure is $9.99 for 32 pages with black and white illustrations and utilizes the inside covers of the stapled softbound book for the OGL fine print. The adventure is designed to challenge four to six players with 5-7 Levels of experience each. Appearance: Exterior The front cover is swathed in the dark purplish tones of a Brom cover that has some sort of fanged creature hanging off an ancient wall, which is covered with pictograms. The back page has a well-dressed fellow in Renaissance clothes who seems that he could give Tim Curry a run for his money in the "Aren't I just evil?" department. The man's shadow is twisted into looking like it has a tail and horns. The man is also missing pupils from both his eyes as well. Interior The inside art ranged from fair to better than average, though some pieces seem darker than necessary. Even though the module has nice grayscale margins that show a section of a map and Mr. Evil, the text seems to be packed and is separated with by boxes and borders to organize the setting of scenes, NPC/monster stats, and a new prestige class. It's a very professional looking product. The Adventure: (Some spoilers) The module starts by explaining the unique organization Paradigm Concept's adventures. Encounters are classified as being either a "Soft" or "Hard" point (stop smirking). A Hard Point is part of the plot and timeline for the adventure. The company suggests that while minor details should be changed to customize Hard Points, the GM should run a party through all of these episodes. There is a typo where a couple of points have missed classification, but it's easy to guess these were meant as essential encounters. The Soft Points are optional events. However quite a few of them are so entertaining that most DM will want to see their players sweat these incidents out. The adventure then sums up the previous adventure "Spear of Lohgin," so DM can assess how to integrate Blood Reign into their own campaigns. An outline of the Hard Points is given as well as a Glossary of Terms so that one doesn't have to be familiar with the world of Arcanis to play. Then the module goes into the details of each optional and essential encounter. Some examples of the optional events (Soft Points) that could happen to the PCs are: A swordsman who's looking to improve his reputation through a minor duel A poisoning Two demons who use a baby as bait and then make the PC decide between their lives and the child A strange undead creature who gives out a magical weapon to get revenge on a necromancer A Pet Cemetery/Ravenloft type of encounter A funeral for the burial of a dead noble and his still-living wife A polite and concerned evil night and his demonic steed An underground lake of blood Releasing a demon A potential campaign idea in Blood resides in the fact that there are a few Soft Points that play off the idea called the "Mark of Saraish," where the only police force in Nishanpur is the demons that defend those who can pay for a protection fee. These Soft Points not only show the brutality of people who abuse the power, but also hint at an the beginnings of a rebellion against those abusers and a vision that the necromantic country is destined to fall someday. It is suggested that while it would be a long time before the evil is banished, the PC can eventually provide some help to the would-be rebels. The essential timeline for the adventure also known as the Hard Points: (Spoilers) If the party participated in "Spear" there is a party in their honor, if not then the group is invited to participate in the party in a prelude to offering them membership is a special order of heroes. The only low point in the party is a Duke's confidence in PC that there seems to be demonic activity close to the borders. Then as if from the Arthurian myth of the Green Knight, an unwelcome guest arrives and begins the introduction to the quest. A rather well dressed man (Mr. Evil) asks for hospitality and then proceeds to discover and interrogate an invisible imp that was hiding at the feast. It seems that the imp's former owner is dead and let an important magical tomb "The Book of Ymandragore" be stolen before it could be delivered to Mr. Evil. The man discloses he's a demon prince and then offers a deal. A nearby Hellgate is opening and he'll close it if the presiding Duke has someone fetch the book. Hey, guess who volunteers? In swearing an oath to find the book, the PC's get good news and bad news; the good news is that they are now under the protection of the Demon Prince, which may make minor demons take a second thought to attacking the PCs. The bad news is that failure means the Demon Prince will collect on their souls. The Duke helps out by giving them a spy contact in the city of Kielmun, the first lead they have on the theft. Under cover, the PCs get to the city to find their secret agent contact has evidence the book is in Nishanpur. The characters then witness the closing of the Canceri border by national troops for "security reasons." The party gets to the strange city of Nishanpur to discover that the town inhabits a dome that was carved out a mesa by the countless generations of the city's poor. The PCs also face another tough decision. If they accept the "Mark of Saraish" at the front gate, they can roam the city mostly unmolested, but at the cost of accepting demonic favors. Those that refuse the mark are asking to be bait for criminals and abusive nobles within the tomb-like town. However the PC's lead from Kielmun directs them to people who have an agenda. It seems that there are several factions of necromancers that are vying for the throne of head lich in Canceri, who was recently "assassinated." However the information their sources divulge is accurate and the PCs have to go mucking around an evil temple trying to avoid demons, evil clerics and a ritual. Evidence of the assassination (the new prestige class in the adventure provides a method of killing a lich) is found and the PCs have the chance to expose the guilty party in an arena filled with wicked and powerful people. The murder will escape through a magic mirror to summon a Blood Elemental out of the sea of blood that sits underneath the metropolis. In yet another twist, the ritual is drawing power from some sort of crimson crystal that is imprisoning some unknown creature, so even if the elemental is defeated something else is let loose upon the world. The PCs get to glimpse what they release, an immolated figure that lives within a column of fire. The city is thrown into chaos by the passage of the creature as the Demon Prince returns to collect his due. Despite any mistrust or misgivings by the characters, the Prince is a good as his word and closes the gate but only after he baffles the PCs by ripping out and destroying only a single page from the book. He leaves the rest of the book behind. Conclusion: Good Stuff: The adventure seems to have a good mix of politics and some serious combat. The adventure seems to have a trend of placing PC in circumstances of having to pick the lesser of two evils while traveling within Canceri. In order to survive, the party may meet with the frustration of witnessing injustices that they can't stop. But that makes the actions they do accomplish seem more rewarding. The Paradigm team also seems to be fairly imaginative and is able to introduce minor encounters that a party could spend a whole adventure on. The overall flavor is dark and tough, and may require some patience from players who have to choose which battles to fight and which ones to avoid. The prestige Ordainer Class presents the fascinating idea of a magic user who can absorb the spell levels and magical charges of other characters and use it to power metamagic feats, perform self-healing, and create a magic storm. There is also a new necromantic spell that shrivels up the appendages of a target creature. Bad Stuff: The adventure could have spelled out some ways to adapt the story to a generic fantasy setting. The task is not difficult, but newbie DMs may be intimidated by the task. There were also some typos, but overall a good presentation. The Ordainer class is presented in an abbreviated format with only one line each to explain the new class feats, but this is not as much a handicap as it sounds. One of the perquisites for the class includes an evil alignment and it seems that Paradigm Concepts intends this class to be for NPCs only. Overall: This one is a keeper for the stealable ideas alone on a necromantic nation alone. I imagine most Arcanis fans already own this little gem. [/QUOTE]
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