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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 2009437" data-attributes="member: 172">Dark Awakenings: ShadowlandAuran first tried to introduce the use of computer graphics to d20 system tabletop gaming with their Dark Awakenings: Guardian adventure. The adventure was set apart not only by the fact that it provided a CD with interactive 3d graphics designed to enhance a tabletop game, but the adventure itself was top notch, one of few d20 system adventures that makes good use of mood, timing, and an event based structure.Dark Awakenings: Shadowland is the sequel to Dark Awakenings: Guardian and the next of Auran's CD-enhanced adventures. The adventure is designed for 4-6 characters of levels 3-4.A First LookDark Awakenings: Shadowlands is packaged as a 56 page perfect-bound soft cover book with a CD-Rom disk. The CD Rom contains a PDF document with the entire contents of the adventure books, and an application that displays 2D and 3D versions of various scenes from the game. The package is priced at $19.95 US.The cover of the book has a red stone-textured background with an image of the eerie landscape that the characters end up in during the game.The interior is black-and-white. The illustrations are by a artist by the name of Bob Jones. His style is very crisp, detailed, and displays a lot of character. Jones is one of the better artists to grace the pages of d20 system adventures.The book includes some slick full-color pages including maps and player handouts.The text on the interior uses a small typeface, though there are many gaps between paragraphs and sections in the books. Dark Awakenings: Guardian was $19.95 for 84 pages plus the CD-rom. Dark Awakenings: Shadowland has a smaller book (plus CD-rom) for the same price. This makes it even more important to consider how much value you will get out of the CD-rom when purchasing this product.The Adventure(This section contains spoilers regarding the content of the adventure.)The Adventure book contains some brief instructions for using the CD rom 3D scenes in the game. Parts of the adventure that provide 3D scenes are labeled with a CD symbol for easy reference. The contents of the disk are discussed in the next section.The adventure background is exhaustively detailed. As mentioned in Dark Awakenings: Guadian, the adventure centers around a demonic creature called the Grimorden, an implacable foe of elves in days long past. The Grimorden is a servant of Sirrith, a goddess of death. Sirrith's otherworldly realm is called the Shadowland, a dark and forboding land which is covered with illusions to snare the souls of elves on the way to the afterlife.In Dark Awakenings: Guardian, the PCs visit an island called the Guardian, where the Grimorden is imprisoned. However, due to some actions by thieves, three gems that prevent the Grimorden from using its three powers has been removed, and a slaughter ensued. In Dark Awakening: Guardian, the PCs have the opportunity to recover two of the three gems called the Star-kin Stones. The third Star-kin Stone was transported to the Shadowland. At the end of the adventure, the PCs enter a portal to begin their journey to retrieve it.The characters begin the adventure by appearing in an otherworldly sea. Unless they players are exceptionally dense, the characters will be picked up by one of two beings: the ghost of the murdered priestess Wynsar (that the charters may have met in Guardian) or Lord Fate, a semi-divine being sent to assist the players.After that, the players will be taken to the Shadowland, which is a nightmarish land covered with illusion. Their conversation with Wynsar may or may not provide them with the clue to the fact that the island is covered by a pleasant illusion.Once the PCs disembark, they will have to travel along the grey road to the tower where the Emerald Star-kin Stone is sequestered. Along the way they will face a variety of obstacles. There is a grey road that the characters are admonished to stay on. While on the path, the PCs are relatively safe. However, there will be many illusions to tempt them to stray. If they do, they may be attacked by undead creatures.The players will face other hazards and landscape features along the way, such as a rain of fireballs and other attempts at deception. One of the first things they run across is a chamber that has a barrier that makes it difficult for elves to escape the shadowlands. Daring players can fiddle with the mechanism that causes this effect and the illusion, but the effects could easily kill characters of the described levels.Once in the tower of the Grimorden, the PCs might meet (and possibly free) Aedrinia, an elven sorceress with some useful information about the Grimorden. Aedrinia has clues that might allow the PCs to not only re-imprison the Grimorden, but actually defeat it. However, the PCs will probably have to face Murlyssa, a female elf possessed by a ghost like creature, a Bean Sidhe.While in the tower, it is possible the PCs might draw the attention of Sirrith. In that case, their return journey will be interrupted by her minions. Otherwise, the players can return to the shores of the Shadowland, back to the mortal realms, and either enlsave of destroy the Grimorden.The CD RomThe CD Rom is very similar to the one presented with Dark Awakenings: Guardian. The CD Rom is for PCs and has an adobe acrobat file version of the printed adventure. It also has an application that can display 3D rendition of scenes from the adventure.In the 3D application, there is a control panel that you can use to alter what is to be shown in the 3D scenes. Some scenes have different camera angles and other options. For example, some scenes feature camera angles with and without the illusions that cloak the Shadowland, and while crossing the bridge, the GM can click a button to activate the firestorm animations, which show fireballs raining down.Each 3D scene allows you to pan or zoom the camera. Some scenes have multiple cameras. Overall, the scenes are nicely done, but they are all background. There are no people or creatures in the scenes.The specs on the back of the product specify that you must have a PC with a NVidia TNT or equivalent card. This is unfortunate, as many laptops (including mine) use a portable version of the ATI rage card, which cannot run the 3d software, and laptops are probably the first choice when it comes to adding computers to tabletop games. I was able to get it to run on my desktop computer (with a GeForce II MX card) and it looks very nice.ConclusionIn my review of Dark Awakenings: Guardian, I stated, I think the adventure is a little pricey if you are not able to take advantage of the CD-Rom. That statement is even more emphatic for Dark Awakenings: Shadowland. Not only do you get a smaller book, the adventure is a bit more ordinary, in contrast to the rather excellent adventure presented in Dark Awakenings: Guardian-Alan D. Kohler</blockquote>

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