Demon God's Fane Written by Monte Cook
The criteria I use to evaluate a d20 adventure includes the following:
1. Interesting and varied encounters: I look for unique encounters, allowing for a variety of role and roll playing.
2. Motivations for NPCs and Monsters: or some detail of how they interact with their environment or neighbors.
3. Logical: the adventure should obey a sense of logic that clever players can use to their advantage.
4. Writing Quality: this includes foreshadowing, mystery, and descriptions that bring locations and NPCs to life.
5. Ease of DMing: Clear maps, friendly stat blocks, skill check numbers, player handouts and illustrations.
I don't give much weight to text density and cost per page... I'd rather pay a lot for a small clever mystery than pay a little for a huge repetitive monster bash. I don't give much weight to new monsters, prestige classes, and magic items... they can add a little variety to an adventure, but I consider them to be only decoration.
THE BASICS: (not exactly spoilers) The adventure is 48 pages long, cover price of $9.95 American. Both inside covers used for maps.
5 pages of credits/legal/advertising
7 pages of background, introduction, hooks, conclusion
33 pages of adventure, (10 pgs town/investigation, 23 dungeon)
3 pages describing a new (old) god
All of these pages break down into the following encounters:
Approximately 20 combat encounters.
Approximately 7 roleplay encounters.
Approximately 8 trap encounters.
Approximately 11 puzzle encounters.
Approximately 13 exploring encounters (interesting things to examine)
The EL for combat encounters is appropriate to the expected party level. There are some minor traps which I didn't include on the stats since they are far enough below party level to not be worth experience. The adventure is setting neutral and could be dropped into most worlds. There are excellent hooks for dropping the adventure into your world. There is no planer travel, though the adventure describes what to do if players plane shift or become ethereal.
The adventure is designed for 3.0. It could update to 3.5 easily; there are a few demons, and even though demons received a major overhaul in the transition from 3.0 to 3.5 I think that they are still reasonable within the adventure. The adventure says that it is a companion to the Book of Eldritch Might, and refers to some new classes, spells, and items found within that supplement. There are just enough hints for the adventure to be playable without the Book of Eldritch Might, but I would have liked to have seen more instruction, especially suggestions for alternate spells or a gp value of some magic items so that someone without the Book of Eldritch might could pick appropriate substitutions.
THE SPECIFICS: (Some Spoilers Follow)
1. Interesting and varied encounters: (5/5) This is a major strength of the adventure. There are very interesting roleplay encounters, and exciting combat. In many cases I had difficulty deciding whether an encounter was "puzzle" or "combat" due to the fact that they were often inseparable. There are no repeated encounters (multiple rooms with the same combatants). There are some outstanding puzzles here, and creative uses of monsters: (Night Hags riding Retrievers for example). The initial investigation is a very interesting puzzle as well: one of the best investigation type scenarios I've seen for Dungeons and Dragons. Each of the dungeon encounters was well detailed. There was no "Padding" (empty rooms) encounters as I've seen in all of the Adventure Path series. Almost every encounter combined elements of traps and puzzles with combat encounters... so that players who are able to think fast and change tactics to suit the situation will excel. This, to me, is a hallmark of good writing and good adventure design.
2. Motivations for monsters and NPCs: (4/5) All of the major NPCs and monsters have a good amount of personality, and many of the supporting monsters do as well. There are hints of a power struggle going on within the adventure, and some rivalries and envy among some opponents. This is a step up from Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, in which I thought that many monsters and NPCs seemed a little flat.
3. Logical: (4+/5) The bulk of the dungeon has been sealed for several hundred years. I would have expected the adventure to contain mostly unaging creatures or undead, but there are a fair number of living creatures such as trolls, fire giants, and ropers. I'm not exactly sure how they lived. Aside from that, the adventure is very complex and a great deal of attention has been spent on detailing what has happened over the years, why creatures act the way they do, and what the effects of time and solitude have been on the inhabitants. This is great work and a pleasure to read. The puzzles were quite interesting and suited the adventure. The "Nightmare Rooms" especially provided excellent flavor that enhanced the adventure, bringing players deeper into the story. (Unlike some puzzles which require too much meta-thinking).
4. Writing Quality: (4+/5) The adventure was very well written. There was nothing confusing or ambiguous. There were some elements of boxed text that inferred player actions or reactions. There was nothing over the top, although some of the boxed text details monster attacks which shouldn't be possible if the party is using stealth. The writing maintains a consistent vision and a consistent voice. It is at all times professional and instructional.The characters don't have the extra bit of humanity that really brings things to life (as I've seen in adventures like 'Vault of Larin Karr', 'Lost City of Barakus', and 'Morrick Mansion'). The writing is far more compelling than the last adventure I reviewed, 'Lords of the Iron Fortress'.
5. Ease of DMing: (4/5) There is boxed text to read, but no player handouts. The maps are clear; the monsters have good tactics written up. Everything received adequate or better treatment. I personally would liked to have seen some additional suggestions for running the investigation... there was enough to play as-is, but I would liked to have seen more examples of sample dialogue from some of the witnesses. All of the dungeon encounters were excellent. There is a final encounter that I think would be very challenging to run. It involves the party interrupting a combat between two high power entities. Although this is interesting drama, I imagine that it would be quite difficult to run. There is a section that details involuntary alignment shift by a player... it goes so far as to say that character's attitude changes. I think that unless the DM is going to be heavy handed and restrict or dictate character actions (such as when a character is dominated), it is not a good idea to demand subtle personality changes on a character.
FINAL WORD:
This book did the best job of integrating elements of high-level play without handicapping the spell casters. There are clear instructions on how various spells such as divinations, teleportation, and other magic will impact the plot. When I compare this with other high-level adventures, such as Lord of the Iron Fortress, Black Ice Well, and Demons and Devils… this adventure is the best of the bunch for using players abilities and maintaining a consistent level of challenge.
The final encounter involves traveling back in time… it is handled well, I mention this only because some DMs may not like including time travel in their campaigns. I suspect that without a little bit of prodding, some players might not fully understand the final puzzle, and could easily botch things up. I am torn between rating this a 4 and a 5… I think that if you have the Book of Eldritch Might, this is a 5, but if you don't own it, it is a high 4.
The criteria I use to evaluate a d20 adventure includes the following:
1. Interesting and varied encounters: I look for unique encounters, allowing for a variety of role and roll playing.
2. Motivations for NPCs and Monsters: or some detail of how they interact with their environment or neighbors.
3. Logical: the adventure should obey a sense of logic that clever players can use to their advantage.
4. Writing Quality: this includes foreshadowing, mystery, and descriptions that bring locations and NPCs to life.
5. Ease of DMing: Clear maps, friendly stat blocks, skill check numbers, player handouts and illustrations.
I don't give much weight to text density and cost per page... I'd rather pay a lot for a small clever mystery than pay a little for a huge repetitive monster bash. I don't give much weight to new monsters, prestige classes, and magic items... they can add a little variety to an adventure, but I consider them to be only decoration.
THE BASICS: (not exactly spoilers) The adventure is 48 pages long, cover price of $9.95 American. Both inside covers used for maps.
5 pages of credits/legal/advertising
7 pages of background, introduction, hooks, conclusion
33 pages of adventure, (10 pgs town/investigation, 23 dungeon)
3 pages describing a new (old) god
All of these pages break down into the following encounters:
Approximately 20 combat encounters.
Approximately 7 roleplay encounters.
Approximately 8 trap encounters.
Approximately 11 puzzle encounters.
Approximately 13 exploring encounters (interesting things to examine)
The EL for combat encounters is appropriate to the expected party level. There are some minor traps which I didn't include on the stats since they are far enough below party level to not be worth experience. The adventure is setting neutral and could be dropped into most worlds. There are excellent hooks for dropping the adventure into your world. There is no planer travel, though the adventure describes what to do if players plane shift or become ethereal.
The adventure is designed for 3.0. It could update to 3.5 easily; there are a few demons, and even though demons received a major overhaul in the transition from 3.0 to 3.5 I think that they are still reasonable within the adventure. The adventure says that it is a companion to the Book of Eldritch Might, and refers to some new classes, spells, and items found within that supplement. There are just enough hints for the adventure to be playable without the Book of Eldritch Might, but I would have liked to have seen more instruction, especially suggestions for alternate spells or a gp value of some magic items so that someone without the Book of Eldritch might could pick appropriate substitutions.
THE SPECIFICS: (Some Spoilers Follow)
1. Interesting and varied encounters: (5/5) This is a major strength of the adventure. There are very interesting roleplay encounters, and exciting combat. In many cases I had difficulty deciding whether an encounter was "puzzle" or "combat" due to the fact that they were often inseparable. There are no repeated encounters (multiple rooms with the same combatants). There are some outstanding puzzles here, and creative uses of monsters: (Night Hags riding Retrievers for example). The initial investigation is a very interesting puzzle as well: one of the best investigation type scenarios I've seen for Dungeons and Dragons. Each of the dungeon encounters was well detailed. There was no "Padding" (empty rooms) encounters as I've seen in all of the Adventure Path series. Almost every encounter combined elements of traps and puzzles with combat encounters... so that players who are able to think fast and change tactics to suit the situation will excel. This, to me, is a hallmark of good writing and good adventure design.
2. Motivations for monsters and NPCs: (4/5) All of the major NPCs and monsters have a good amount of personality, and many of the supporting monsters do as well. There are hints of a power struggle going on within the adventure, and some rivalries and envy among some opponents. This is a step up from Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, in which I thought that many monsters and NPCs seemed a little flat.
3. Logical: (4+/5) The bulk of the dungeon has been sealed for several hundred years. I would have expected the adventure to contain mostly unaging creatures or undead, but there are a fair number of living creatures such as trolls, fire giants, and ropers. I'm not exactly sure how they lived. Aside from that, the adventure is very complex and a great deal of attention has been spent on detailing what has happened over the years, why creatures act the way they do, and what the effects of time and solitude have been on the inhabitants. This is great work and a pleasure to read. The puzzles were quite interesting and suited the adventure. The "Nightmare Rooms" especially provided excellent flavor that enhanced the adventure, bringing players deeper into the story. (Unlike some puzzles which require too much meta-thinking).
4. Writing Quality: (4+/5) The adventure was very well written. There was nothing confusing or ambiguous. There were some elements of boxed text that inferred player actions or reactions. There was nothing over the top, although some of the boxed text details monster attacks which shouldn't be possible if the party is using stealth. The writing maintains a consistent vision and a consistent voice. It is at all times professional and instructional.The characters don't have the extra bit of humanity that really brings things to life (as I've seen in adventures like 'Vault of Larin Karr', 'Lost City of Barakus', and 'Morrick Mansion'). The writing is far more compelling than the last adventure I reviewed, 'Lords of the Iron Fortress'.
5. Ease of DMing: (4/5) There is boxed text to read, but no player handouts. The maps are clear; the monsters have good tactics written up. Everything received adequate or better treatment. I personally would liked to have seen some additional suggestions for running the investigation... there was enough to play as-is, but I would liked to have seen more examples of sample dialogue from some of the witnesses. All of the dungeon encounters were excellent. There is a final encounter that I think would be very challenging to run. It involves the party interrupting a combat between two high power entities. Although this is interesting drama, I imagine that it would be quite difficult to run. There is a section that details involuntary alignment shift by a player... it goes so far as to say that character's attitude changes. I think that unless the DM is going to be heavy handed and restrict or dictate character actions (such as when a character is dominated), it is not a good idea to demand subtle personality changes on a character.
FINAL WORD:
This book did the best job of integrating elements of high-level play without handicapping the spell casters. There are clear instructions on how various spells such as divinations, teleportation, and other magic will impact the plot. When I compare this with other high-level adventures, such as Lord of the Iron Fortress, Black Ice Well, and Demons and Devils… this adventure is the best of the bunch for using players abilities and maintaining a consistent level of challenge.
The final encounter involves traveling back in time… it is handled well, I mention this only because some DMs may not like including time travel in their campaigns. I suspect that without a little bit of prodding, some players might not fully understand the final puzzle, and could easily botch things up. I am torn between rating this a 4 and a 5… I think that if you have the Book of Eldritch Might, this is a 5, but if you don't own it, it is a high 4.
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