Ghostwind
First Post
Beware! This review contains major spoilers.
Bandits is a downloadable .pdf adventure for 4-6 4th-level characters. It costs $5.99 and can be downloaded via www.bastionpress.com
Presentation: Bandits is a 48 page Adobe Acrobat file. The front cover depicts a fiery wolf's head against a grainy-wood background. The back cover holds a small picture of an osyluth against the same grainy background. Neither picture is particularly inspiring. The sparse internal colour artwork is no better; the creatures portrayed seem to have limbs reminiscent of a praying mantis and are all stick-thin and seem out of proportion - they are definitely inferior to the artwork in Bastion's other release, e-Minions. The third page holds credits and contents and the penultimate page has the OGL. The maps are computer-generated and lack style, though they are clear. Text density is standard though a surrounding margin is large and reduces the available space for text considerably.
The Story: The module begins with an adventure background (gnoll bandits are slaughtering and kidnapping whole caravans along a trade route, and an exiled devil resides beneath the gnoll lair). There is a sidebar outlining ideas for scaling the adventure for PCs of different levels. Following this are some basic and unimaginative adventure hooks. The adventure begins in the stereotypical hamlet of Thornbury and there are some vignettes of a few of the local NPCs and a useful set of rumours that link to different parts of the adventure. Some of the NPCs have secrets to hide, and there is some help for the GM in running encounters where the PCs can interact with these characters. There is also a possible timeline of events outlined after this. An optional encounter to follow a caravan out of the hamlet and ambush the ambushers is then detailed. The next section explores the area surrounding the gnoll fort and the module goes on to detail the gnoll fort itself, focusing on the behaviour and tactics of the gnoll bandits and introduces the idea that some of the non-gnoll opponents are being controlled in some way. A sidebar details Gnoll morale. the PCs have a chance to rescue a gnome merchant and come across some 'controlled' non-gnoll opponents. We finally learn for certain that the devil is the leader of the bandits and that there is also a pack of wererats stealing from the bandits who as yet remain undiscovered. The following section explores the wererat lair in the upper levels of the gnoll lair, before moving on to the lower levels which is inhabited by undead, a destrachan, an ogre mage, and a number of humanoid guards, as well as slaves. There are a couple of interesting traps in this area. The adventure climaxes with a combat against a female wizard, her weasel familiar and an osyluth devil, after which they can discover the being that controls the captives within the complex - a two-foot-round ball of flesh known as The Master, which the PCs can easily destroy. The module continues the return to Thornbury and ideas for expanding some of the threads from the adventure. The appendices offer new creature stats from the adventure - Guardian Shadow, Slave Controller and Master Controller.
The Good: The adventure is regularly interspersed with ideas on how to modify the adventure and deal with varying PC tactics, as well as detailing the tactics used by their opponents well. The use of innocent controlled NPCs to attack the PCs is an interesting concept, and the devil at the end makes for a good climactic encounter. The 'Scaling The Adventure' sidebar makes it useable by PCs of levels 2-6.
The Bad: I couldn't get too excited about this adventure - the ideas on the whole were very stereotypical and at times bland (apart from the central theme itself). Take this as a compliment if you want, but the adventure reminded me of the banality of some of the recent WotC adventures such as 'Forge of Fury', but without the production values. The spread of monsters often seemed contrived and the encounters possibly a little underpowered. The Adventure Background and Adventure Synopsis did not give enough information, mentioning nothing of the Master Controller and those it controls.
Conclusion: A disappointing adventure - I expected more from Bastion Press. The adventure in itself might have scraped an Average rating, but the artwork and huge margins pull it down into Poor. I would have liked to have seen an EL Summary, some more creative roleplaying hooks for the NPCs, and some more plot complexity, amongst other things. Against this, you do get 48 pages for your 6 bucks, which isn't a bad 'cents per page' ratio.
Bandits is a downloadable .pdf adventure for 4-6 4th-level characters. It costs $5.99 and can be downloaded via www.bastionpress.com
Presentation: Bandits is a 48 page Adobe Acrobat file. The front cover depicts a fiery wolf's head against a grainy-wood background. The back cover holds a small picture of an osyluth against the same grainy background. Neither picture is particularly inspiring. The sparse internal colour artwork is no better; the creatures portrayed seem to have limbs reminiscent of a praying mantis and are all stick-thin and seem out of proportion - they are definitely inferior to the artwork in Bastion's other release, e-Minions. The third page holds credits and contents and the penultimate page has the OGL. The maps are computer-generated and lack style, though they are clear. Text density is standard though a surrounding margin is large and reduces the available space for text considerably.
The Story: The module begins with an adventure background (gnoll bandits are slaughtering and kidnapping whole caravans along a trade route, and an exiled devil resides beneath the gnoll lair). There is a sidebar outlining ideas for scaling the adventure for PCs of different levels. Following this are some basic and unimaginative adventure hooks. The adventure begins in the stereotypical hamlet of Thornbury and there are some vignettes of a few of the local NPCs and a useful set of rumours that link to different parts of the adventure. Some of the NPCs have secrets to hide, and there is some help for the GM in running encounters where the PCs can interact with these characters. There is also a possible timeline of events outlined after this. An optional encounter to follow a caravan out of the hamlet and ambush the ambushers is then detailed. The next section explores the area surrounding the gnoll fort and the module goes on to detail the gnoll fort itself, focusing on the behaviour and tactics of the gnoll bandits and introduces the idea that some of the non-gnoll opponents are being controlled in some way. A sidebar details Gnoll morale. the PCs have a chance to rescue a gnome merchant and come across some 'controlled' non-gnoll opponents. We finally learn for certain that the devil is the leader of the bandits and that there is also a pack of wererats stealing from the bandits who as yet remain undiscovered. The following section explores the wererat lair in the upper levels of the gnoll lair, before moving on to the lower levels which is inhabited by undead, a destrachan, an ogre mage, and a number of humanoid guards, as well as slaves. There are a couple of interesting traps in this area. The adventure climaxes with a combat against a female wizard, her weasel familiar and an osyluth devil, after which they can discover the being that controls the captives within the complex - a two-foot-round ball of flesh known as The Master, which the PCs can easily destroy. The module continues the return to Thornbury and ideas for expanding some of the threads from the adventure. The appendices offer new creature stats from the adventure - Guardian Shadow, Slave Controller and Master Controller.
The Good: The adventure is regularly interspersed with ideas on how to modify the adventure and deal with varying PC tactics, as well as detailing the tactics used by their opponents well. The use of innocent controlled NPCs to attack the PCs is an interesting concept, and the devil at the end makes for a good climactic encounter. The 'Scaling The Adventure' sidebar makes it useable by PCs of levels 2-6.
The Bad: I couldn't get too excited about this adventure - the ideas on the whole were very stereotypical and at times bland (apart from the central theme itself). Take this as a compliment if you want, but the adventure reminded me of the banality of some of the recent WotC adventures such as 'Forge of Fury', but without the production values. The spread of monsters often seemed contrived and the encounters possibly a little underpowered. The Adventure Background and Adventure Synopsis did not give enough information, mentioning nothing of the Master Controller and those it controls.
Conclusion: A disappointing adventure - I expected more from Bastion Press. The adventure in itself might have scraped an Average rating, but the artwork and huge margins pull it down into Poor. I would have liked to have seen an EL Summary, some more creative roleplaying hooks for the NPCs, and some more plot complexity, amongst other things. Against this, you do get 48 pages for your 6 bucks, which isn't a bad 'cents per page' ratio.
