This review will be a little smaller than the others I’ve written for the various Darwin’s world products, mainly due to the fact that it’s an adventure, and that it’s only 52 pages long (that’s the adventure itself, not the stat blocks.)
Unlike the faction books, I can’t really cover an adventure chapter to chapter, since there aren’t any. So, I’ll just give my overall thoughts on it.
First of all, Against the Wastelords is the first in a trilogy of adventures, each one getting successively longer and more deadly as the series progresses.
As you would expect, the opening adventure in this trilogy is just that, the opening. It can be used as a stand alone adventure with no difficulties what so ever, but if it’s used as part of the trilogy, it WILL lead to something that will shake the very foundation of the Twisted Earth.
Before I get into the meat of the adventure, I have a few things to say about it. I was rather surprised that this wasn’t your typical ‘dungeon crawl’ adventure. A few people might be put back by this, but not myself.
I prefer adventures that cover a great deal of territory, and leave things more open for not only the players but also the GM to explore and fill in on their own. It could PC’s heading off and taking a different direction entirely, forcing the GM to improvise, or even the GM expanding upon the set encounters and adding more flesh to the bones of said module.
I guess in one part of the module you do have a classic Dungeon Crawl, and that’s when the PC’s are forced to take on a tribe of Sandmen. But when it comes right down to it, this particular encounter is a very small portion of the overall adventure.
To be totally honest, I found it kind of dull. Having read so many post holocaust novels over the decades, and contributing to the genre on my own, it was very cliché. The adventure had a number of elements that have been used extensively, such as gladiatorial combat, getting in good with the primitives, the big bad raiders – things we’ve all seen before, many times.
There is no such thing as an original concept any longer. It’s just a variant or a re-creation of something that has been done in the past. The sad thing is, it can’t be helped. I’m guilty of it as well.
What makes it interesting is the manner in which the ideas are presented. That can make or break it.
There was very little in this adventure that really caught my interest. But that’s my own fault, not really that of the authors Dominic Covey and Chris Covey. It’s a matter of personal taste. I found it lacking, but I’m sure others will totally disagree with my assessment.
Ok, down to the adventure itself.
The PC’s are hired or somehow brought into an alliance of three towns, which find themselves under siege by a powerful raider gang known as the Wastelords.
Initially, the PC’s are sent to bring the remaining villages into the alliance, but due to the actions of a single scav, and a group of mutants, they’re going to be forced to fight the Wastelords, whether they like it or not.
As the adventure progresses, the PC’s will be asked to perform several different tasks by these various groups in order to get them involved.
They could very well be forced into a gladiatorial challenge in the small village of Ebb, and from there they will learn why the Wastelords are ripping through the villages like a tornado. They’re searching for a part of a great weapon, and are sure that the people of Ebb have this device. They laid waste to another village, raising it totally when the elders claimed they didn’t have it.
The PC’s will discover that the village was destroyed, just after they found the device, which the raiders were hunting for.
From there, they are sent to the village of Spilunk. Here they will only gain the trust of the inhabitants and learn the nature of the device they have discovered by clearing out a pass, from which on one has ever returned.
This is the actual dungeon crawl part of the adventure, where the PC’s will be forced to take on an entire tribe of Sandmen.
After taking care of business, the PC’s will then be sent to another village called Dry Fort. Here they will be asked to head deep into a dry forest to a scrap mine, where they will get metal that the villagers need in order to strengthen the fortifications around their village.
This scrap mine is the pivotal part of the adventure. It’s a crashed B52, and has rested in this forest for almost three hundred years. To complicate matters, a small tribe of Terminals have set up a village near this wreak. This could go either way, the PC’s could handle things diplomatically and could very well gain an ally against the Wastelords, or it could lead to the slaughter of a small group of unfortunate mutants.
If the PC’s are successful in mining the scrap metal, they will the be asked to join in on a round up, not only to help the villagers gain much needed mounts, but to gain the respect of the people as well.
Unless the characters missed the clues, they’ll then head out to inspect the cruise missile. This is the device the Wastelords have been hunting for came from, and when they discover the weapon, they’ll be forced to take on a small contingent of the raiders.
Shortly after the defeat, they’ll encounter a small group of mutant monks that live in a monastery fairly close by. Depending on the actions of the PC’s, they might be forced to wipe out these relatively peaceful mutants in order to gain the weapon’s warhead. However, clever PC’s might be able to figure out a way to bypass the battle and steal it with little to no loss of life. Another good opportunity for role-playing.
With the weapon finally secured, the PC’s will find themselves in a series of pitched battles against the Wastelords. If the module is being played as a stand-alone adventure, then the Wastelords will, if things go well, fall before the PC’s and the alliance.
If its being played as part of the series, then the PC’s will, after the final battle, find themselves forced into helping the Wastelords, being killed outright, or even taken as slaves to be used in the Corium mines of Lil Vegas.
So, overall, as I stated before, I found that the adventure was a little dull for my liking, but still, it provides the GM with several opportunities for role-playing, instead of the typical hack and slash that is prevalent in many of the adventures that have been published over the years.
With a good GM, and a good group of players, this adventure could very well be enjoyable even for someone as jaded as myself.
Pick it up and judge it on your own.
3.5 out of 5
