Acceptance of Fate

[Messageboard Golem]

An ancient, defiled sword, long ago bestowed to man by the gods of light, must be reconsecrated after spending generations within the confines of an evil temple. The divine once again turn their eyes towards the mortal realm when an evil goddess threatens to send her demon beast to the middle world. The gods know the currents of fate and the conflict this action will bring. Fate has decided there will again be a Gods War. Is now the time? Fate has also chosen the characters to be the nexus for this battle between light and darkness. Will they accept the lot given them, or forge a path of their own?

This challenging adventure is designed for a party of four to six characters of level 7 - 10. Acceptance of Fate is the climactic finale for "Unto this End" - a trilogy of adventures set in the dark fantasy D20 campaign setting of Diomin. Herein, GMs will find not only a thrilling adventure to challenge their players, but also the secrets of the mystical science of Mecheidolons, or Spirit Tech, a new fanatical assassin cult, new feats, new spells, a new demon and a new template for characters chosen by gods.

 

[buzzard]

To put things in perspective, Acceptance of Fate by Otherworld Productions, is not my kind of module. I accepted an offer for a free copy to do a review. I was quite happy to receive my copy in the mail and began reading it then. I have not been able to run my party through it since they are far too high level (15th for a 7-10 module). This review is based solely on a reading of the adventure.

As I said earlier, it's not my style of adventure. I tend to like old style modules where I cam given a set of lairs, probably a big bad guy, and what he intends to do. How the story plays out is to be completely the work of myself and the players.

Acceptance of Fate is not like this. It is a story in which the author, Chad Justice, seems to have already decided how he wanted it told. Well, maybe not completely, but in many parts this is definitely so. Just starting reading the adventure sets the tone of how it is to be run. The adventure is divided into Acts and Scenes. It is rather like a play outline, just without the dialog. The players are to offer that. The whole premise of the adventure is that the characters have a choice to make, offered to them by their gods. However, the adventure provides all the information for the result of one choice, not for any others except in a rather sketchy way. This adventure is simply too much of a railroad for my tastes. If your preferences run to that type of adventure, it would appear to be well made for it. There are many opportunities for role playing detailed within the constraints of the story, with much NPC interaction, and some mysteries. However the results are all meant to come out the same.

The world is pretty well fleshed out, and the NPCs are interesting enough. The maps are all reasonably good, for the sites which are provided, with a nice 3D perspective on those illustrations. The interior artwork is mostly good with a few spotty images here and there. The book appears to be a good bargain since it is $16 for 80 pages of work. Since most adventures are about 40 pages for $10, this does appear to be a deal. The module includes a few feats, skills, and spells. Not many of them are really notable, and in the feats I have seen better versions of some elsewhere. There is also a new racial? template added, but the rules of how to adjudicate it appear to be incorrect. I can't very well explain it too much with some spoilers. However the temple has a ECL of 3, and is to be applied to characters already in existence. Then they are advised that they are to use their new ECL for new experience determination, but to continue on with the old experience table from their unmodified old level. This doesn't seem quite right, but the addition of a temple to a running character is not exactly normal, so a rules call here is a tricky one.

All in all, it would appear to be a decent product, though my tastes certainly run in different directions. It seems well suited for a group with a primary focus on playing the role of their character within the constraints of a story, rather than making the story. I imagine if you liked the old Dragonlance adventures, this may well suit you.

Buzzard

 

[Desdichado]

First off, let me clear up two potential sources of bias in my review. Number one: I was given this book for free and asked to review it. I've made an effort not to let that influence my opinion of it, but I'd be remiss if I didn't even mention it. Second, although Acceptance of Fate is called "A Diomin Campaign Supplement," in reality it's a module. Or rather, an adventure, as there isn't really anything modular about it. And this causes a few potential problems. This is the third part of a trilogy, for instance, and I have not read the first nor the second part, so I come into this one cold. And secondly, I typically don't like modules nor do I have much use for them. Back in the day, they were too spartan -- "you enter a 10x10 room with an orc and a pie. The orc attacks you" type of thing. Following the Dragonlance modules, adventures became too scripted, trying to get players to go along with the author's idea of a good story: not necessarily what the players would want to do, and complaints of railroading are very common on later modules. In my opinion, all modules I've ever read suffer from one of the two of those problems to some degree, and Acceptance of Fate isn't different: it's the later style module, so it tends to script the players along what the author wants them to do.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The book has a beautiful (if a bit too dark to read the title easily) cover with 80-pages of black and white (with a lot of gray, actually.) In general, the book looks really nice. The pages are crammed to the point where they almost look cluttered, and most of the illustrations -- which are just about the right size and frequency -- look really good. The content is meaty too: it's not all fluff. This modules got new spells, new creatures, new magic items, a new template, new feats: and they are interesting and useful additions to the mechanics, for the most part. Many of the creatures are of a mechanical, construct variety, which are always kinda fun, and I don't think there are enough creatures of that type, so I found them useful.

That's the good, and it's good enough to get the module a 4 rating from me. But, of course, the module does have some flaws. Let me make a note of them, at least.

First of all, as I said, the module feels very scripted. The players will be required to tramp all over the world of Diomin doing all kinds of things. What if they don't really want to? What if they have totally different solutions to the problems presented here? Despite some attempts to address this by offering variable path descriptions and scenarios, the PCs are still required to "catch the vision" of the module, and if they don't: then too bad. Secondly, and perhaps this is intentional, the "module" certainly isn't very modular. Without having the first and second parts of the trilogy, or any more information on the campaign setting, you're in a little bit of trouble, as converting it to your own campaign setting, or using it without part I or II seems like it would both be very tough. The module starts en media res which makes sense if you just played part II, but it took me a while to figure out what the PCs were supposed to be doing or why, or who these "red shirt" supporting folks were. And some of those guys really did seem like red shirts: they didn't seem to serve much purpose at all except die instead of the PCs, or give them lots of encouragement. Perhaps their involvement makes more sense in the larger scale of the trilogy, but I can't say.

In summary, I think the module's flaws are relatively minor compared to it's strengths. I wouldn't be likely to ever run a module as a module anyway, so having interesting new rules is vitally important to me. Likewise, the module was good enough and interesting enough to make me more interested in the campaign setting, which is always a good sign.

NOTE: While reviewing my review, I noticed that ENWorld automatically assigned a price of $7.95 for this product. However, the price on the back cover is $15.95. Given the size and the content, that seems like a more reasonable price for the book. However, as I mentioned, I got the book for free, so I can't vouch for what it sells for.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

The "Campaign Supplement" Acceptance of Fate is an 80 page book for $15.95.
That seems a fair price for the page count.

The book is an adventure and a supplement for the world of Diomin, and is the third part of an adventure series.

I have not read or run the other parts, and am judging this book on its own merits.

There will be spoilers through-out.

As a supplement

Each Act of the adventure has a set of crunchy bits at its conclusion.

1)The first supplement area describes an assassin cult; including their goals, organization, and initiation. It is pretty well written and could easily be applied as a following to any campaign's evil god.

Instead of yet another prestige class, the book provides a multi-class path similar to those seen in the Hero Builder's Handbook and Dragon magazines. I liked this feature, and thought it was well thought out. It makes sense that a cult would have a more formal training progression for its members.

There are also a handful of feats the cult has developed:
Disabling Shot- a called shot system in a feat. While the idea is good, I think the requirements are too light. For example: to hit a hand, the target gets +3 to their ac and the attack must do 6 points of damage. One of the results is the inability to use that hand to wield a weapon. This seems very powerful to me, and the bonus to ac should be higher for this and other body parts specified.

Extended Point Blank Range- increases the range of point blank attacks by 10'.
Ranged Attack of Opportunity- Allows the character to make one AoO with a ranged weapon per round.
Charged Attack- Allows a character to expend a spell slot to temporarily enchant a weapon.

Besides my concerns for Disabling Shot, I think the feats are well done and fair.

2)The next act holds the rules for Mecheidolon: The Mystical Science of Spirit Tech

This is a subset of arcane magic that uses souls to empower magical items and constructs.

It includes new spells, the process to create and the consequences of this evil magic, and some sample devices/constructs that can be created using it.

This has to be my favorite of the three supplement areas in the book, and I think this magic could easily be expanded into its own book or at least into a large section in a book. The practitioners of Mecheidolon are easily on par with the evil nature of necromancy.

3) The final supplement is a new template for thos who have died while performing an important service for their god. To honor the person's sacrifice, the characters are returned to the material world as an agent of that god.

As one would expect of a holy agent, this template is very powerful. The Effective Character Level is +3, which seems a bit low to me.

Besides the addition to base speed- the template is highly customizable. It allows the player to gain bonuses to two ability of their choice and to choose from a list of powers- such as: fast healing, specific elemental immunity, spell resistance.

As an adventure

Summary:
The adventure follows the party as it escorts a power holy magic item that holds important significance to the plans of many- for both good and evil. As they travel, they will encounter, at a quick count, seven different powerful organizations/groups in the land- many having their own agenda concerning the party and the item they possess.

By prophecy, the characters will be asked by the gods to perform an amazing sacrifice- will the players trust the gods or attempt to handle the problem in their own fashion?

Rail-roading:
I believe all publish adventures should have some level of rail-roading. If they don't, then the book is just a supplement with a timeline. However, there is a degree to what is reasonable and what goes too far and will find the players rebelling out of common sense.

This adventure does a good job of finding a middle ground. There are times when the book openly expresses how it expects the dm to force the players to do something (such as run from a battle), but then gives some advice of how to do it.

Since my players know I hold little back in battles, it did not take much for them to want to run.

Good points of the adventure:
The idea of following the will of the gods or following the character's own will is an interesting idea, and I think this adventure handles it well. The conclusion gives some ideas of how the world will alter if they players choose to bend to the will of the gods, but there is unfortunately little consequence detailed if they choose to follow their own will.

Some of the encounters with npc's is interesting and the final battle is an impressive melee between two opposing factions and the players. It is possible this battle could be overwhelming to a dm, but it certainly will be exciting.

Bad Points of the adventure:
The first issue I had with the adventure were the creation of the npc's. Many of them had odd feat selections which made little sense for the combat tactics provided.

The second issue I had with the adventure was that many of the battles allowed for the adversaries of the pc's to have time to buff themselves with items or spells, but only one of the battles discussed it in the tactics. Even that battle did not appear to have the stat blocks adjusted for the buff's.

These two may seem like minor issues, but considering the mid-level nature of the adversaries- it required a lot of extra work on my part as I prepared to run the adventure.

How the adventure runs:
As a one-shot- It runs decently. There are some interesting scenes and ideas, but I think the adventure is less suited for this due to the lack of connection between players and characters. The sacrifice asked of the characters is something that most players might balk at when using long term characters, but when using a one-shot character- they may be less concerned with the consequences.

As part of an on-going campaign- This adventure could work with an ongoing campaign- the major ideas, factions, and unique races are all easily altered to meet the needs of the dm. However, just be aware that due to the template mentioned above, the characters could be considerably more powerful afterwards.

 

[drnuncheon]

This is perhaps the most difficult review that I have had to write - not because of the quality of the product, but because it was the last portion of an adventure trilogy set in a world that I am not familiar with. Please take that into account as you read this review - as well as the fact that it was a complimentary review copy, not an item that I chose to purchase. As with my reviews of Eden's products, there was no pressure of any kind to give a good review. This is not a playtest review.

Acceptance of Fate is an 80-page softcover adventure set in OtherWorld Creation's setting of Diomin. It is designed for character levels 7-10. I'm not a big person on art unless it really intrudes, so I won't focus on it much, except to say that the cover (a retouched photo?) lends a good dark fantasy feel, and the drawings of key NPCs are a nice touch.

The adventure begins with a background and summary - fairly standard these days for d20 modules, but definitely a good thing. Acceptance of Fate is the culmination of what seems to be a classic mythic struggle of Good vs. Evil. It's got all the elements - treachery, prophecy, warring deities, evil rituals...so how does it stack up? And most importantly - from my perspective at least - how useful is it for people not playing in Diomin?

Beyond this point are major spoilers. You are warned.

The adventure starts immediately after a raid to recover the holy sword Kammerath from a race of evil catmen called the Gadianti, as the characters and their allies retreat to a hidden bunker outsite the Gadianti city. The ubiquitous 'read aloud' sections and rules sections are both clearly delineated from the other material, which makes the adventure very easy to read, understand, and use.

The first part of the adventure indulges in some railroading, as an overwhelming attack force of the Gadianti raids the bunker, based on a tipoff from a traitor within. The characters are, not surprisingly, expected to flee. Some players and GMs might object to this, but it's at least reasonably excusable to provide the characters an impetus to get going - and since the rest of the adventure tries very hard not to railroad, that makes up for it in some small way. Fortunately, the guards have instructions to capture the PCs, not to kill them - so even if the heros stand and fight there is a way out.

The PCs are also given items that are their first introduction to a new kind of magic - Mecheidolon devices, the details of which are given later in the book. In fact, the 5 pages devoted to Mecheidolons, or Spirit Tech, are one of the sections that will prove most useful after the adventure is over and/or in non-Diomin games.

After the escape is a long journey to a city known as Haran, where the characters' allies have a contact that lets them into an underground network of tunnels, and they are accosted by a mystic who delivers a prophecy over them - the prophecy that relates to the rest of the adventure, and contains several vital clues as to what "should" happen.

The prophey leads to an attack by assassins who are trying to prevent the events in the prophecy - but in a nice twist, they are on the side of the PCs: they too want to save the world, and they believe that the PCs death now will prevent the Gadianti from summoning a creature called the Beast of Akish and ending creation. I guess you can't blame them for wanting to stop this.

It was difficult to tell with my lack of familiarity with the world, but it seems as if the prophecy would be quite difficult to decipher without extensive knowledge of Diomin. Fortunately, various DCs are given for deciphering at least parts of it via the character's skills.

Included in this section are two and a half pages on the organization the assassins belong to, which could easily be used as background for your own fanatic assassin cult. It includes, rather than a prestige class, a 'multiclass path' - like the ones in the Dragon 'Class Combos' articles. There are also four new feats: Disabling Strike (lets you perform a 'called shot' to a part of the body, with varying effects), Extended Point Blank Range (lets you use various abilities such as Sneak Attack out to 40ft instead of 30), Ranged Attack of Opportunity (lets you threaten within 30' with a ranged weapon), and Charged Attack (lets you expend a spell slot to boost weapon damage). GMs will undoubtedly have their own opinions on whether they want to change the basic structure of the rules and combat as these feats have done.

Act II plunges the characters into a murder mystery, where a spirit is used to kill an ambassador and the characters learn more about the Mecheidolon devices - and their creators. They must also earn the right to reconsecrate the sword Kammerath, and one of them is offered the position of the Bearer of Kammerath, which allows them to gain several bonuses from the blade.

The section begins with a few pages on the city of Darkon, including points of interest, people of note, law, and rumors. It then moves on to the murder (or attempted murder) and the investigation - which some groups would possibly ignore as it seems to be a sidetrack from their current quest. The adventure does a good job of outlining the clues, where they can be found, and what they might lead to, making it fairly clear for the GM to run - if not necessarily for the players. It also discusses several options that the players might try when dealing with the cell of conspirators behind the assassination, from head-on assault to kidnapping them.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to locate the motive for the attack. This is the biggest problem with the adventure that I've found - there seems to be no reason for the underground researchers to try to kill the Tirasim ambassador. Maybe there's some critical piece of Diomin knowledge that I am missing.

The other major flaw that I find here - as well as in the earlier scene at the bunker - is that the isometric maps have no grid or scale on them. This makes it rather difficult to run 3e combat, which is designed for fairly heavy use of movement and maps. You can make guesses from the room descriptions, but really, you shouldn't have to - and the map doesn't always seem to match the dimensions in the text.

There is about a page on the Confederation of Enlightened Souls - the organization which made the assassination attempts - and then the aforementioned 5-page section on Spirit Tech/Mecheidolon devices (which is all OGC). Mecheidolon devices are a frankly fairly creepy type of necromantic magic which binds the souls of the deceased and uses them to power magical items or constructs. Drawbacks include the possibility that the items will disturb your sleep or try to take over your body. This section contains 5 new spells, a new feat (Craft Mecheidolon Device), soem example devices, and a pair of new constructs - the Hunter and the Sentry.

Following this is the reconsecration of the sword - and if a character is worthy, they are given the burden/honor of being the Bearer of Kammerath. Then it's Act III, and off to the city of Arioch, where they learn that the Gadianti plan to sacrifice a great number of captives - and summon the Beast of Akish. In theory, the characters should take Kammerath to the Gadianti city, try to rescue the sacrifices and disrupt the ceremony. On the way, they are attacked by Gadianti who will try to capture them and take them as sacrifices for the very ceremony the PCs are trying to stop.

The ending piece contains quite a lot of advice for the GM on dealing with the different plans that PCs might have - from travelling there with the intent to fulfill the prophecy to leaving the holy sword behind - or not going altogether! I was very pleased to see this left as open as it was, although to be sure, the option where the PCs are sacrificed is given the most attention.

Wait - sacrificed? Yup, that's the prophecy. If your players have the chutzpah to go through with it, though, all is not lost, because as the Beast of Akish is summoned, the heros are returned to life as servants of the gods - gaining a template called The Glorified - and get to open up a can of divine whup-butt on the Gadianti and their summoned nasty.

I was pretty stunned when I read that, because it takes a lot of chutzpah for a game company to pull a stunt like that too. Still, it makes for a heck of a climax to a long campaign. The stats for the new template and the Beast of Akish are provided, as well as a discussion of the tactics of the various groups involved in the battle.

So, in the end, how did it turn out? Well, it's darn epic, that is certain. That is both its greatest strength and its weakness - the epic nature of the quest and the strong ties to the Diomin world make it harder to fit into other campaigns, but if used in that setting it would make an incredible capstone for a campaign - and your hardest task would be following it up.

The adventure has got a fair amount of reusable stuff - at least 10 pages that's useful for folks not using Diomin, and a few more with details on cities and locations in that world, and that's not counting NPCs. I'd say that it's got more reusable content than the average adventure, which is also a plus. The Spirit Tech might well make it into my games when I want a darker edge.

The rating of 4 above is for those groups playing in the world of Diomin - without using its world, the adventure will be a fair amount of work to adapt, and I'd have to give it a 3.

 

[Angelsboi]

I was given this book to review for Free. It did not influence me.

The cover looks REALLY good and would look even better if it wasnt so dark. The artwork would be PHENOMANAL. I flipped past that and I read the dedication and thought 'How sweet. Unless Chad or Jeremy is a girl, they are gay. We need that.' Especially since im writing a book. So it boosted my hopes there.


Treachery, deceit, an ancient prophecy of a Dark God coming, world in peril, heros band forth to stop the day. Thats the plot in this epic adventure that spans three adventures. The adventure follows the party as it escorts a power holy magic sword that holds important significance to the plans of many- for both good and evil. As they travel, they will encounter seven different powerful organizations in the land; many having their own agenda concerning the party and the item they possess.

They need to stop the Beast of Akasish from coming forth to end all creation. Bummer.

The Downsides

First off, i dont know much about the Diomin setting. So that didnt help right there. I was confused by all the races as they werent explained. He did say that race A could be substituted for Players Handbook Race A and so forth but through out the adventure, they were refered to as their Diomin Race names. Very confusing.

He did explain what happened in the first 2 adventures but still, not enough information for me. And what i read from the adventure summary? It is a story in which the author seems to have already decided how he wanted it told. Maybe not completely, but in many parts. Just reading the adventure sets the tone of how it is to be run. The adventure is divided into Acts and Scenes. It is rather like a play outline, just without the dialog.

When he talks about adapting for use in your game, there isnt much info and the DM has a LOT of work cut out for him.

The Upsides

Let me say that for an 80 page book at 15.95, its VERY well put together and its filled with all sorts of yummy goodness!

Theres a new, cool PrC called the Ebony Teeth. While it may look overpowered, it may be a little underpowered. With the Deities and Demigods book released, their is a template called the Chosen that may VERY well come in handy if you want your players to reach divine proportions. Several neat monsters, some cool spells, some nice maps and awesome character art.

The mecheidolon idea is REALLY cool. COuld be fleshed out some more but if there was a suppliment on it, id buy it!!

There is tons of notes and detail. GREAT for those who know Diomin or have played or read the first two adventures. My advice is to STAY away from this product if you dont know Diomin but deffinately get this AND the first 2 adventures if you know it. I rated it average because i got lost and confused. The prophecy is hard (unless you know Diomin), the races, the groups and cults. Lots of stuff is being missed out on because i didnt know about the campaign setting.

3 *** if you dont know about it, 4 **** if you do!

 

[RogueJK]

I received Acceptance of Fate in a free promotional giveaway. Because of that, I wanted to like it. I really did. Unfortunately, I couldn’t bring myself to give this a very good review. Since Acceptance of Fate is the final installment of a trilogy of adventures set in the Diomin campaign world, the fact that I haven’t played the first two adventures, and that I’m complete unfamiliar with the world of Diomin, probably didn’t help. There were a few things that I liked, though, which kept it from getting a lower score.

I haven’t had a chance to actually play the module, so this review is based completely on reading through it.


Good-
The module contains some new material, such as extra feats, spells, a new monster, and a new template. Some of the better ideas presented here, such as Spirit Tech, could be adapted to your own campaign with a little work.

The price, $15.95 for an 80 page book, is rather good for most books of its type.


Bad-
Spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes can be found throughout the book. That alone detracted greatly from the content, at least for me. If you are going to attempt to publish a professional product, you ought to at least find a professional editor.

Some of the new material, especially the ranged attack feats and the new template, seemed somewhat overpowered. They might prove otherwise during actual play, though.

Since I don’t own any of the other Diomin products, it was hard to make sense out of some of the information in this module. The different locations, races, and people in Diomin have odd names, which makes keeping them straight a chore. This is forgivable, though, since they were probably expecting most people who bought this to be familiar with Diomin.

The art in this book was rather average overall. It ranged from slightly good to extremely poor, with some of the shoddier pieces reminding me of a badly drawn comic book. The sole exception is the front cover, which is beautifully done.

Worst of all, however, the module is very linear and felt heavily scripted. The players will probably feel as though they are being railroaded into choosing a certain path. This is something that should be avoided in an adventure. It tends to suck out some of the fun when the players are forced into taking certain actions. This is purely IMHO, though.


Overall, a somewhat poor product. The upside is that there are some good ideas inside, which a DM might be able to salvage from this adventure to use in their own campaign. Because of that, I give it a 3/5. It’s not a 2/5, since I’m sure you could do worse, but it’s close.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

I received my free copy of Acceptance of Fate approximately 3 months ago. Matters prevented me from reviewing it at the time, but when I finally got a chance to read through it. Now, review fresh in my mind, I wish to say two things:

1. I wish to publically apologize to Hyrum Savage for taking so long.
2. This is a strong, epic-themed product, and well worth the time of the "Epic Story" DM.

The third installment of a massive adventure that takes characters to approximately 9th - 10th level, Acceptance of Fate is a tale of the salvation (or damnation) of the land by the PCs' actions, and very reminiscent of the Grayhawk Campaign Setting. It is hard to explain, but the various races and factions of the campaign world (including the goddess of madmen and prophets who bears a passing description resemblance to Istus) all remind me of various factions and groups as described in the TSR-Gygax-era Greyhawk campaign setting.

The interesting hallmark (and one for only a few campaign settings) is the presence of only humans - although unfamiliar with Diomin until now, no demihumans were apparent throughout the module (though the various human groups had almost demi-human traits to them, such as the peace-abiding and nature-loving Gnolaum people). While fascinating, it never occurred to me that it had become TOO much of a cliche to have non-humans in every fantasy setting, until I read this. There definitely is room in the market for a human-based D&D campaign setting, especially since it is what we have to draw the most experience from.

The module itself contains many wonderful elements, vivid locations such as the Evil city of the worshippers of Akish, or the waypoint where the PC's discover more of their purpose, and the climax of the adveture, which is an event that will definitely be memorable to your Players. (I won't spoil it, but I will say I enjoyed that part the most because it happens often in novels and stories, but almost NEVER in an RPG, in my experience.)

One element I enjoyed was the Map perspectives - I have always loved forced thrid-person perspective in a building or site map, because it gives me more of a feel for what a location looks like 3-dimensionally.

Finally, thematically, this module reminded me of Star Wars - it was simple, direct, and make many character-defining moments. I enjoy a more clear-cut conflict. If I want moral ambiguity, I will introduce it on my own.

There was one negative elements here, I must say, and it does mar the module somewhat: The module is VERY scripted. Admittedly, in an adventure of this scale, scripting makes it easier for a GM to handle, the fact is that the amount of railroading in this adventure is such than most of my players would resent it in an instant. Perhaps the adveture needed to be scripted more along the lines of Vecna Lives! from TSR. In that one, there were definite consequences for not succeeding - in fact, play in the world from that point was a VERY different matter, because the PC's refused to help, or (worse) failed. I loved the climax, but most PC's aren't going to "buy" it - by a long shot.

My solution for such was to open the module up; to make a time-table of events, introduce the players to the artifact and then drop a prophecy in their laps concerning it, and see what they would do. Had they dawdled, then the forces of evil would come to them. I rather enjoy a module that has the price of failure spelled out, as well as the rewards of victory.

The module contains some great moments and elements in it, but they do need to be "opened up" a bit so that the PC's can make their own decisions more.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

This is the third and final part in a series of adventures set in the Diomin Campaign setting. This book is more than just a module as it contains a lot of campaign setting information that could be reused in other adventures. The page count is 80 pages with good use of illustration, and a easy to read content using a two column layout with the now traditional boxed text to read to players and other boxed sections with game mechanic information like stat blocks and trap details.

As I said earlier a lot of the information provided is not totally necessary to run the adventure but helps flesh out the setting and could provide ideas for future adventures, for this reason I think they decided to call it "A Diomin Campaign Supplement".

I was kindly given this book on the condition that I write a review of it. Unfortunately I don't feel I can be as kind in my review. I really want to like this supplement, and parts of it I do, but reading through it I wonder why anyone would buy it, unless they had already bought the other two supplements.

If you looking for an adventure to run for your group then I cannot recommend this book. Firstly because it is tightly hooked in with the plot of the earlier adventures, the party should already have a cursed legendary sword central to the plot. Secondly, as the Title "Acceptance of Fate" might hint at, the party needs to be happy with being railroaded (at least a little) if you are going to complete the adventure in a fashion anything like that detailed in the book. Finally some of the features of this adventure just don't suit a standard D&D game, for example the introduction of spirit tech a new magic item system covered in the book, or the chance to become "chosen" of the gods.

If you wanted a supplement with a lot of new ideas then this has a few, an Assassins Cult with a nice class progression path listed, new feats, new spells and a new demon. Of course there is the Spirit Tech or Mecheidon as they call it a new mix of science and necromancy. Then there is the "new template for characters chosen by the gods", although I'm not sure how many DM’s will want to give their players the equivalent of a +3 level boost in one go. This is all interesting stuff and could be used in other adventures and even other campaigns, but if you were buying the book for that then you are also paying for an adventure you will probably never use.

That's not to say the adventure is bad, but its just so tied in with the campaign world and the event that have gone before, that I can't see it being of use to anyone that hasn't played it through from the start. Without the earlier supplements and the PC's being tied closely into the Diomin campaign their motivation in this one is pretty thin.

Overall there are a number of interesting ideas wrapped round an average adventure with a lot of campaign setting baggage attached. Having got this supplement for free and read the adventure and other ideas available in it nothing has made me want to rush out and buy the first two books in the series.

I had a hard time deciding what rating to give this supplement, since it does contain some interesting ideas, its well laid out and has good illustrations. I didn't personally like the adventure or think it would suit most peoples games.

In the end I gave it a 2 as I really don't think it is of use to most DM's. I thought the adventure was too liner and the on its own didn't stand up well at all. The new feats and spells and other items weren't enough to justify the price to buy it just for them.

For DM's already using the Diomin campaign setting and having run the first two supplements it will probably be worth a 4, as you will get much more milage out of the product, but if you've got the first two you have probably bought this already.

 

[kenjib]

Otherworld Creations was kind enough to send me a complimentary copy of Acceptance of Fate in exchange for this review. I was encouraged to provide a completely honest opinion on the product. This adventure is the third in a trilogy and set in the world of Diomin. I have not seen the first two adventures nor do I have any exposure to Diomin. As a result, my perspective in this review will be that of someone trying to use this adventure standalone (which the adventure claims is easy to do). There will be some spoilers in this review.

Acceptance of fate is 80 pages long and $15.95 US. Four pages are mostly blank and used as separators for the introduction and each of the three acts into which the adventure is divided. The artwork is of mixed quality. The cover is a nice piece technically, but I must admit that I am not fond of it stylistically. The interior artwork is of two different styles that do not flow together very well. One of them in particular was a bit rough and could use a bit of improvement, but I liked the other, more smooth, style.

The maps have three dimensional representations that I found rather effective in portraying the spaces they represented. In particular a map of a prison tower in the third act really gave a great feel for how the different levels and areas of the building fit together. Unfortunately, none of the maps had scale nor a grid provided, which I find to be a significant drawback that would make it much more difficult to use miniatures in play. There were also two major cities used as backdrops for significant portions of the adventure, and no maps were provided for these cities. (There is a third city as well, but it is not as central to the adventure so lack of a map is not a real concern.)

There were some problems in the editing of the book. Standard typos are easy to ignore and not really worth mentioning. I typically only worry about editorial errors when they lead to possible confusion. There were some more severe layout errors though. What came to my attention most were several places where the shaded description text was misplaced. This was a bit confusing to follow but I was able to figure out where everything was supposed to go. In another place a portion of the text was missing and repeated in the wrong place. These more glaring errors were ones that I feel should have been caught in the proofing process.

The content is a mixed bag. Some of the ideas and encounters were very interesting. There are new rules, including rules mechanics for mecheidolon - magical devices fueled by captured souls. I thought this was an interesting idea with good potential for expansion. There was also a template for the "Glorified" - a character who transcends to become a special agent for a deity. This concept could also be useful for a variety of different campaign situations.

The adventure itself is rather epic, placing the players into a pivotal role in a conflict between gods, and (hopefully) saving the world from destruction. There is more than one way to accomplish this task, which gives the players more options in deciding their own course to take for the adventure. Unfortunately there are other parts of the story that rely heavily on railroading the characters. Several different factions are involved in the struggle, each with their own interests. A few of them are not given much detail in the adventure though, so without the Diomin campaign setting a good amount of adaptation is required.

Act I entails a flight from pursuers and an enigmatic prophecy. I felt this was easily the weakest part of the adventure. For the most part this is due to heavy railroading in setting up the flight. The first encounter in the adventure is one which the PCs must flee from. If they can not be made to flee, there are no hooks to keep the adventure moving. The advice given recommends that the DM fudge the dice to make the enemies seem very dangerous in order to scare the players if they do not "cooperate" by fleeing. In addition, there is one NPC whom it is pre-determined will die during this first encounter. In fact, stats are not even given for this NPC (although they are given for every other NPC involved in this encounter) since it has already been decided that he will die from "a thrown axe in the back of the head." Finally, after receiving the gibberings of a mad prophet toward the end of the act, when the prophet walks away, it has been pre-determined that the players will not be able to track the prophet or follow him in any way, although no explanation as to why this is so is given. I can only assume that the DM is once again required to fudge the dice.

Act II gets better. It involves the PC's in the investigation of a murder (or attempted murder if they succeed in preventing it) mystery. Plenty of leads are given for the players to track down the culprit. There are also some tips on ways the DM can introduce new information to the players if they get stuck or progress is too slow. In addition, it is also okay if the PC's simply fail to discover the assassins. The main plot does not rely on the characters' success in this portion of the adventure -- it is more of a side quest.

Act III is the strongest part of the adventure. An objective is given along with the important locations related to this objective. There are several different ways to achieve this objective though, and I found this to be well done and flexible enough for the characters to have the freedom to make their own decisions and follow their own initiative. Interestingly, if the PC's make the ultimate sacrifice and place their trust in fate at the expense of their own well-being, they will receive the greatest rewards. One of the paths the players might find themselves taking is the daring raid of a truly grisly prison called "The Bleeding Dungeon" which I thought was very interesting as well as easily reusable for other adventures. The potential final battle also has some very interesting imagery but it is here, unfortunately, that a slight problem shows up. There are two factions that join in the battle to assist the PC's. Unfortunately, while the DM will know who these people are and why they ally with the PC's, there was not really any means for the PC's to know anything about one of the two groups involved, so their showing up at the last minute will not make much sense to the party without some additional work by the DM. This could have been easily rectified by creating some additional quick encounters and rumors in this chapter to define this new faction for the characters.

One other thing to note about this adventure is that it is designed for characters of level 7-10 but it does not always adequately account for the abilities that characters of this level might have. Long travel distances are worked into the timing and flow of the adventure, but it is quite possible that characters of this level range will have access to teleportation spells. The adventure also fails to take ressurection into account. One of the plot points is a dead prince who passes on his destiny to one of the players, but there is no reason given why one of the high priests of the world would not have performed a true ressurection for such an important person (upon whom the safety of the entire world hinges, it seems).

The adventure presents a wide range of challenges to the party - combat, intrigue, diplomacy, rescue, and mystery. It also provides some new rules material that can be useful even outside of this adventure. The scope of the adventure is truly epic and provides some really memorable moments, but requires a fair amount of patching to really run smoothly. With the possibility of the players becoming glorified agents of their deities, the potential impact of this adventure on a campaign is dramatic - and the adventure explicitly says so much.

The adventure would be difficult to port into other settings as a great amount of the story is closely tied to Diomin-specific groups, locations, and races. The book does provide several paragraphs with tips on porting the material to a more generic D&D setting, which is quite useful, but still requires certain pre-requisites in terms of how certain factions relate to one another. The adventure would also introduce many new elements into the world as a necessity for the storyline - most notably the new rules for mecheidolon and the potential glorification of the characters. In addition, the adventure also has a fair amount of continuation from the previous installments of the trilogy so the DM would have to set up certain things with the PCs before starting this adventure if he has not gone through the first two adventures. Most importantly, the characters must ally with the Gnolaum (a Diomin specific race - elves would work well in their place) and steal a magical relic from the race presented as the primary enemy in the adventure.