Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Dire Spirits
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Mr. Patient" data-source="post: 2011835" data-attributes="member: 4118"><p><em>Dire Spirits</em> is an introductory adventure in the African-themed Nyambe campaign setting, by Atlas Games. It is a 48-page stapled softcover booklet priced at $12.95. It utilizes 3.0 rules and conventions. Note: this is a playtest review. Spoilers follow.</p><p></p><p>The adventure is set in the village of Mounchili, in the bIda Rainforest. The villagers have poisoned and captured a dire lion, but in the middle of a celebratory festival, the lion is set free by awakened monkeys who appear to serve some dark master. After the party has defeated the lion, the lion spirit (orisha, in Nyamban terms) warns the party that there is a great evil in the rainforest which is awakening animals for some malevolent purpose. The adventure takes the party to various locations in the rainforest, and eventually to a crumbling shrine once used by the apparently extinct kosan orcs.</p><p></p><p>There are four sample characters provided in the back, and two more are available as a web enhancement. The link from Atlas' website is broken. Try <a href="http://www.nyambe.com/goodies/DirePreview3.pdf" target="_blank">this</a> instead.</p><p></p><p>Along the way, several new monsters are introduced, including the pseudo-lich template, the howling fern, and the rainforest zombie, along with a few new magic items.</p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>Overall, this is a solid introductory adventure that really gives players a good feel for the Nyambe setting. The primary villain is quite unique and innovative, and makes an excellent challenge for the party. The encounters are mostly appropriate, and feature a good mix of roleplaying and combat opportunities (but see below). They may be a bit heavy on the awakened animals, but this is really the focus of the adventure, so it is understandable. The artwork, especially the cover by Steven Sanders, is striking and evocative, and the design is attractive throughout. The writing and editing are excellent. The new crunchy bits (monsters and magic items) are well-designed and usable in any setting.</p><p></p><p>Even if you don't intend to run it as an adventure, <em>Dire Spirits</em> is an excellent DM's aid for Nyambe campaigns. It's a very useful tutorial on the layout of a typical Nyamban village, the composition and layout of Nyamban households, the inhabitants' relationship with the orisha, and many other areas which are touched on but not discussed extensively in <em>Nyambe: African Adventures</em>.</p><p></p><p>On the downside, I found that I really had to try to spice up the random encounters in the bIda rainforest; a couple of the ones provided were pretty similar to one another, and perhaps a little dull. In addition, a couple of the encounters seemed extremely nasty for a 1st or 2nd level party. In particular, there is an encounter near the end with a reliquary guardian, a Nyamban construct with DR 10/+1 and SR 13, that I think would be almost impossible for most party members to survive. Clever PCs will figure out that they can't defeat it, but by the time they realize that, half of them may be dead. In the game I ran, the reliquary guardian essentially ended the adventure. I'd recommend toning him down, or making him easier to avoid.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mr. Patient, post: 2011835, member: 4118"] [i]Dire Spirits[/i] is an introductory adventure in the African-themed Nyambe campaign setting, by Atlas Games. It is a 48-page stapled softcover booklet priced at $12.95. It utilizes 3.0 rules and conventions. Note: this is a playtest review. Spoilers follow. The adventure is set in the village of Mounchili, in the bIda Rainforest. The villagers have poisoned and captured a dire lion, but in the middle of a celebratory festival, the lion is set free by awakened monkeys who appear to serve some dark master. After the party has defeated the lion, the lion spirit (orisha, in Nyamban terms) warns the party that there is a great evil in the rainforest which is awakening animals for some malevolent purpose. The adventure takes the party to various locations in the rainforest, and eventually to a crumbling shrine once used by the apparently extinct kosan orcs. There are four sample characters provided in the back, and two more are available as a web enhancement. The link from Atlas' website is broken. Try [url=http://www.nyambe.com/goodies/DirePreview3.pdf]this[/url] instead. Along the way, several new monsters are introduced, including the pseudo-lich template, the howling fern, and the rainforest zombie, along with a few new magic items. *** Overall, this is a solid introductory adventure that really gives players a good feel for the Nyambe setting. The primary villain is quite unique and innovative, and makes an excellent challenge for the party. The encounters are mostly appropriate, and feature a good mix of roleplaying and combat opportunities (but see below). They may be a bit heavy on the awakened animals, but this is really the focus of the adventure, so it is understandable. The artwork, especially the cover by Steven Sanders, is striking and evocative, and the design is attractive throughout. The writing and editing are excellent. The new crunchy bits (monsters and magic items) are well-designed and usable in any setting. Even if you don't intend to run it as an adventure, [i]Dire Spirits[/i] is an excellent DM's aid for Nyambe campaigns. It's a very useful tutorial on the layout of a typical Nyamban village, the composition and layout of Nyamban households, the inhabitants' relationship with the orisha, and many other areas which are touched on but not discussed extensively in [i]Nyambe: African Adventures[/i]. On the downside, I found that I really had to try to spice up the random encounters in the bIda rainforest; a couple of the ones provided were pretty similar to one another, and perhaps a little dull. In addition, a couple of the encounters seemed extremely nasty for a 1st or 2nd level party. In particular, there is an encounter near the end with a reliquary guardian, a Nyamban construct with DR 10/+1 and SR 13, that I think would be almost impossible for most party members to survive. Clever PCs will figure out that they can't defeat it, but by the time they realize that, half of them may be dead. In the game I ran, the reliquary guardian essentially ended the adventure. I'd recommend toning him down, or making him easier to avoid. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Dire Spirits
Top