Beware! This review contains major spoilers.
This is not a playtest review.
The Ascension of the Magdalene is a crossover adventure for both Atlas Games' Unknown Armies and their d20 Penumbra line. In terms of d20, it is suitable for PCs of levels 6-9.
At $13.95 for 64 pages, this is fairly average for the type of product. Space usage is not great in the book and this is exacerbated by the extra stats required for the two game systems.
The internal art is generally poor, sparse and large. The front cover is more interesting, showing a clockwork griffon and unicorn in front of a painting of the Magdalene of the title. The maps are dark, small and unscaled, and also lack compass direction. The quality of writing in the adventure and the editing are both generally good.
The adventure is set in 1610 AD in Prague but has significant fantasy elements. There is also advice given on converting it to work in any standard fantasy campaign, including alternative fantasy names for all the historical people and places given in the adventure.
The adventure begins with some adventure background. Six months ago the painter, Caravaggio, mysteriously disappeared soon after completing a commission for the papal Secretary of State. The painting was recovered from Caravaggio's workshop, but two other paintings also went missing, one of which is known as The Magdalene. This painting somehow found its way into the hands of Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor, who has his palace in Prague. The insane emperor has secreted the painting in his Wunderkammer, his peronal museum of oddities and rare objects.
The crux of the adventure is the PCs are expected to retrieve the painting from the emperor's treasury via a secret passage. A number of possible patrons are discussed, including the occultist Edward Kelley, the Knights of Malta, the Order of Hero of Alexandria (an organisation of mechanomancers), the Rosicrucians and Prague's King of Thieves, Zuckerbastl. There is also information given on Rudolf II, and Rabbi Loew, the leader of the Jewish community in Prague, who has the ear of the emperor and seeks to aid him whenever possible. Above all these, there are a group of beings called the Invisible Clergy, avatars of mass conscious archetypes, who have a mysterious role to play in the adventure.
The adventure itself is fairly straightforward - the party must enter the Wunderkammer via the sewers facing skill checks, traps, guards, and a monster. They then enter the Wunderkammer, which contains various wondrous items that can help or hinder the PCs. These are made more dangerous by the existence of the Magdalene painting, which exudes a curious magical effect. There are also traps and creatures to face within the complex.
If the PCs manage to make it out of the Wunderkammer and back out to the surface with the mystical painting, the adventure goes into some detail about the possible consequences of the PCs actions, especially the actions of the patrons who may receive the painting into their hands. Four possible future adventures related to characters or situations within the adventure are briefly expounded.
Appendix One covers rules for renaissance arms and armour, including wheellock pistols and muskets.
Appendix Two covers d20 rules for Archetypes, discussing the magical power gained from following the tenets of archetypal behaviour. An Avatar is someone who attempts to follow certain archetypal behavioural patterns - for example, a merchant avatar would concern himself with the selling of goods and cutting deals as much as possible in his life. There are avatar skills (e.g. the Merchant avatar skill) which measure how close the avatar has become to the archetype. The avatar gains certain magical powers as he progresses in avatar skill ranks but he must wear certain symbols and heed special taboos as well. If the Avatar follows these tenets well enough, he will eventually become so close to the Archetype, he will become the Archetype itself, ascending to a semi-divine existence. Various sample archetypes are given.
Appendix Three gives a couple more archetypes, new to the Unknown Armies game - the Rake and the Magus.
Appendix Four introduces the art of Mechanomancy, the science of creating clockwork objects and infusing them with the memories of their creator to give them a semblance of life. Some example clockwork creatures are given.
Conclusion:
I am a big fan of pseudo-historical adventures and I really enjoyed the background information given in the adventure. The NPCs were brought to life effectively, the political and religious ramifications of the situation were clear and important, and the consequences of stealing the painting were made clear. The clockwork creatures and the effect of the mystical painting were interesting and fun. I felt the adventure would sit very well in Privateer Press' Iron Kingdoms setting.
However, I found the adventure hook to be weak and the adventure itself rather simplistic in plot. The adventure was overwhelmed by the background material (taking up only 19 pages of the 64). Also, some of the ELs seem to be a bit out, and seem better suited for PCs on the low end of the stated suitability (6th-9th). Finally, some of the items in the Wunderkammer seem to be very powerful (for instance, a deck of tarot cards that could give the PCs the ability to 'contact other plane' once a day at 6th level). GMs will need to do some tweaking, both in terms of the historical setting and rules game balance.
