Beware! This review contains major spoilers.
This is not a playtest review.
Price: $9.95
Page Count: 48
Price per page: About 21 cents per page
Designed for Character Level: 9th
Format: Softcover
External Artwork: Reasonably typical Atlas Games front cover - good quality unusual artwork depicting a meeting with one of the monsters from the adventure.
Additional Page Use: Both inside covers are blank. The first two and a half pages and the last half page contain credits, contents, the OGL and an advert.
Internal Artwork: The internal two-tone (dark green and white) sketches are darkly atmospheric and of excellent quality. They remain relevant to the text and enhance the feel of the adventure.
Maps: The single map of the main lair is basic but practical, with a 1 square = 10 feet scale.
Text Density: The text density is mediocre with large white spaces before and after titles, regular chunks of totally unused white space, and large pictures together with a fairly hefty side margin.
Text Style: The style is basic and occasionally redundant, lacking eloquence but getting the point across. There are a few typos.
The Adventure: The Introduction gives us an adventure background and synopsis. An undead black dragon is causing chaos in the village of Iversham and surrounds. The dragon was originally killed by a group of monks 250 years ago after it rampaged insanely across the local area. The dragon's dying statement that he could not have been defeated in his lair somehow suspends the dragon's spirit from departing the mortal coil fully. Some adventurers rooting around in a nearby tower reawaken its spirit and it once again begins to kill all living beings in the area. The dragon's lair is actually an acid palace on the ethereal plane protected by traps and various long-lived results of the dragon's bizarre fetish for breeding with anything and everything before its death - thus we have half-dragon half-manticore, half dragon half-giant constrictor snake, half-dragon half-stone giant, half-dragon half-drow, half-dragon half-Umber Hulk and half-dragon half-Carrion Crawlers. This is a sick mind at work.
The PCs must gather information about the dragon (which is not known to be undead at first) from the villagers of Iversham, and via divination, an exploration of the nearby dangerous swamp (including a direct conflict with the undead dragon), and conversation with the two remaining mad monks of the order that originally killed the dragon centuries before. In case the PCs fail to get the hint, the half-dragon half-stone giant is sent to taunt the characters to follow it back to the dragon's lair - the dragon, totally insane, wants to prove how it could have bested anybody in its lair, thus wants the PCs to invade its lair so it can prove itself right.
The PCs eventually find a bridge that looks as though it is only half built or half has crumbled away - however, the other half of the bridge is in the ethereal plane and the players must cross it to enter the dragon's lair. The lair itself was built by the dragon's powerful father and is made of magical acid (there are some nasty rules for bumping or falling into its walls). The PCs must brave the wards and guards of the palace including some nifty puzzles and a Vampire Quarter-Dragon Cleric. The dragon seeks to kill the PCs all the way around the palace, appearing heart-thumpingly out of the acid when the PCs least suspect it. There is a large dragon's hoard if the PCs make it to the end.
There is an extensive CR/EL and XP summary chart at the end as well as an index covering magic items, monsters, traps, the new spell (wall of will) from the adventure and a new weapon special ability (sundering) also from the adventure.
The High Points: There are enough new elements in this adventure to satisfy anyones craving for crunchy bits. It has a very original premise (an insane incorporeal undead dragon in an acid palace on the ethereal plane with very weird offspring). There are plenty of bits of helpful advice to the GM for running the adventure spread throughout the text. There is a good balance of combat, traps, puzzles, and information gathering. The encounters are challenging but seem balanced for the party level it was intended for.
The Low Points: Despite an attempt to introduce roleplaying elements into the adventure, the inhabitants of Iversham are shallow and boring. The depth of personality of the guardians of the dragon's lair and indeed the dragon itself suffer from the same fate. The only characters with any interesting traits are the two mad monks - even these are more useful for entertainment value rather than as rounded characters. My personal opinion of all these half-dragon half-something else monsters is that they're just plain silly. My disbelief required a heck of a lot of suspension to stop laughing. Further disbelief suspension was required with the thin plot thread and background.
Conclusion: For those of you who enjoy a strange dungeon crawl with lots of weird elements and don't mind the dodgy adventure background, this may be a fun adventure for you to run - its got a lot of potential for outfoxing experienced players. For those of you like myself who want to see depth of character, a strong storyline and immersion into a cohesive and 'realistic' setting, this adventure falls flat. Its original and well-organised enough for me to give it an Average rating, but its not an adventure I can personally recommend.
