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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2008736" data-attributes="member: 18387">Eden Studios provided a free copy of this book to me in exchange for a fair and honest review with no strings attached. I felt no pressure to give it a favorable rating.For the most part, I have avoided the whole d20 thing, sticking with materials produced by WotC. This gave me a chance to examine a d20 product without the risk of having to pay for it first. I must say that, although it was far from perfect, the product did cause me to rethink my position on avoiding d20 materials.This book is not really an adventure. It is a collection of background materials and "vignettes" (related to an evil godess named Akrasia) that can be easily dropped into an existing campaign. I found this idea intriguing.What I liked about the book:1. The interior pencil art was good. Actually, it was much better than the artwork in WotC's class books.2. The background material on Akrasia was interesting. She represents a very subtle evil (the way I believe evil is most often in the real world). Although she is chaotic evil, she is not out to violently kill everyone. Instead, she focuses on distracting people until they give up doing the important and noble things in their lives. I found this material very original, although I felt that this would be difficult to roleplay. The lure and temptation of another drink or a round of cards is hard to communicate to players who only want more combat and XPs. I also wondered if Akrasia has had something to do with me not finishing my dissertation yet.3. The focus on storytelling rather than combat. There are some encounters in this book, but they are few and far between. The focus is on role playing and political situations. To me, this is a welcome change from WotC's "hack and slash" dungeon mentality, but not every group will appreciate this amount of storytelling.4. Major NPCs all have a "roleplaying" paragraph which instructs the DM how to roleplay that particular character. I think WotC could learn from this.5. "Plot intersections" show potential ways to tie the vignettes together. These were nice and allow the DM to weave a "tangled web" of plots.6. The cool "Distractor" NPC prestige class.What I disliked about the book:1. The cover art was okay, but left a little bit to be desired. Akrasia's face looks a bit out of proportion.2. Some of the plot hooks seemed implausible and difficult to work into a campaign. For example: The players own a plot of land in this town so they want to prevent it from flooding.3. The editing and proofreading needed some improvement. I noticed about a dozen errors. Despite this, it was better than Sword and Fist (which isn't saying much).4. Some of the vignettes seemed a bit boring and not very "adventurous." Some were just NPC descriptions.5. The book introduces the "Merithians," a long-lost, Roman-like culture. I would prefer that things are left more generic so that the vignettes can be placed into any campaign--without also having to add the Romans to it.Overall, I liked this product. Although I have to admit that I don't yet know how much I will actually use it in my own campaign. A party that gravitates towards political intrigue rather than combat would probably absolutely love this material. Unfortunately, that doesn't exactly describe my group. The "related vignettes" idea is original.Bottom line: If you have a party of hard-core "role" players, you should probably consider this book. Hack and slashers need not apply.</blockquote>

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