Grimstaff
Explorer
***Some Mild Spoilers***
Dragora's Dungeon is a Goodman Games adventure for 1-3rd level characters, and is "compatible" with 4th Edition D&D.
Detailed Summary: The adventure assumes the PCs are guests at the local palace, and they are present on the night when the malicious eye of Parhok, a "lost city" of sorcerer-kings falls upon the kingdom with designs of conquest. This module is completely setting-nuetral, btw, unlike the DCC line, which supports the DCC world of Aereth in various degrees of subtlety. A powerful enchantment is laid over the ruling family, and its up to the PCs to find out who exactly is behind this, and stop their nefarious plans.
The module starts with a brief bit of combat, and then goes into what can be a lengthy or short session of RP and research (let your players dictate this - the module supports both playstyles) as the PCs investigate the origins of the fell sorcery and the bestial agent sent to infiltrate the palace. This agent by the way, is a member of a new race, the "Zain-Kin". Picture the bestial assassin crawling over the garden wall to kidnap the pasha's daughter for the High Priest of Set in any number of Conan-style fantasy pulps, and you've got a good handle on the "feel" of this race (the appendix even provides player character rules for this race).
Now, this beginning part of the module can take as little as 30 minutes, or as long as a couple of hours, depending on whether your players are into the investigation/RP style of play, or if they want to just hurry up and get to the next encounter. And this is all in just two pages of the module - the whole module is like this, unlike the WotC mod layout of "Background page, Encounter page, Encounter page, etc". The RP side of things is given as much or often more emphasis than the combat side.
The next part of the module is tracking the assassin back to his lair. Fans of the classic mod "Dweller's of the Forbidden City" will notice some similarities here: the PCs must work their way through a couple of dungeons before finally emerging into a massive ruined city. The first dungeon is just that - a dungeon - and takes up about 8 pages of the mod, inlcuding maps. This is a remarkably well-balanced dungeon with 3 monster encounters, 2 envoronmental skill challenges (one "assisted" by a magnificent little villain I suspect may become a recurring enemy when I run this), 1 hazard, 2 traps, and a puzzle. Making it through this leads to the next part of the dungeon, a rotting underground jungle.
The jungle cavern is about 6 pages long, and how the characters navigate it will determine how many of the 5 monster encounters (one a plant-monster!) and 2 environmental hazards the party has to contend with. Successfully making it through this leads to the final area: the Lost City of Parhok.
This is the longest section of the module - 18 pages - and is more of a mini-campagin-setting than a dungeon. Here the PCs can explore the ruins (8 different kinds of "wandering" encounters are provided), interact with the natives, and gradually, through wit, diplomacy, and intimidation, discover the truth behind the "rise" of the lost city and decide what to do about it. Full details on the three great clans of the Zain-Kin and their leaders are provided (each controls a section of the city) and the characters will need to interact with them extensively to "win" the adventure. Unlike the various beasts lurking in the ruins, the beast-men are intelligent, and have their own plans and motivations. They can be played against each other, alliances gained or broken, information or disinformation gained.
Behind it all is the namesake of the module - Dragora - and her "lover", the Green Dragon Mouringlar. Eventually the party must confront these villains, and likely several times - negotiation, capture, seduction, subterfuge, and combat are all likely options here, and most groups will probably have several encounters with them before the final showdown. The module sets things up nicely for an epic climax atop a pyramid-temple.
The last few pages of the mod deatil the Zain-Kin, give several statblocks, encounter groups, and racial traits/feats. Also provided are two new monsters, a giant artillery spider, an extremely Howardesque giant serpent, and a new swarm. The last page gives three very evocative new magic items, and a nice list of "further adventures" in Parhok - like "Dweller's of the Forbidden City" the setting is still useful beyond the immediate plot.
The Physical Product: The module is a slim 48 pages, classic module form. The cover art is magnificent Clyde Caldwell cheesecake, and the interior art is spare, but evocative. The interior layout is nice, everything flows together nicely, and its all clear and easy to find what you want. The stablocks are clear - if a little larger than the WotC variety - and easy to read and use. The cover and pages are durable and this mod should hold up just fine for years of use. The cartography is black and white only, and very-well done. I hate when maps are "over-produced" and rendered nearly unreadable by all the artistic clutter - these maps are clear, functional, just right, imo.
The "Feel": My first impression when reading this module was that it would make a perfect Conan novel. It just drips with old-school, pulp sword-n-sorcery feel. This is definitely not a "Knights of the Round Table" adventure, and probably not a "Fellowship of the Ring" adventure either. A bloodthirsty but shrewd warrior, sneaky wizard with ulterior motives, greedy thief, and megalomaniac priest will do very well at this adventure - picture the type of folks who would hang out with Conan or others of his ilk.
The module is the first of Goodman's new "Master Dungeons" line - modules designed with more "advanced" players in mind. Political strategy, role play, and setting immersion are much more heavily emphasized than the hack-n-slash side of D&D so elegantly celebrated by the Dungeon Crawl Classics line. This is an adventure experienced gamers can really flex their role-play chops, hang out a while, and explore the boundries of this new 4th Edition a bit.
The Crunch: Here's the only place the module is lacking a bit (Disclaimer - it is not *impossible* that this has something to do with the legal issues at play here). The monster stat blocks aren't spot on, folks who've designed their own from the 4E DMG guidelines will notice a few discrepancies here and there - nothing that will affect play, however, as 4E monsters are largely arbitrary in design anyway. There are a few errors here and there (one encounter is listed as "Level 1 - 500xp" and another "Level 2 - 500xp") and I'm not sure how much is typo, how much comes designing the mod before the "final" rules were released, and gain how much was "legally" necessary. I was disappointed that there were no "Quests" or RP xp rewards given or suggested (unless I missed them somehow) - so DMs should think about coming up with their own.
Value: At $12.99 (about $10 from most online retailers) for this much adventure, you really should pick this up, even if you don't plan on running it but would simply like to see what 4E adventure design is capable of handling.
Rating: I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars, its an excellent module. The storyline and excellent presentation make it easy to overlook the little crunch error here and there.
Dragora's Dungeon is a Goodman Games adventure for 1-3rd level characters, and is "compatible" with 4th Edition D&D.
Detailed Summary: The adventure assumes the PCs are guests at the local palace, and they are present on the night when the malicious eye of Parhok, a "lost city" of sorcerer-kings falls upon the kingdom with designs of conquest. This module is completely setting-nuetral, btw, unlike the DCC line, which supports the DCC world of Aereth in various degrees of subtlety. A powerful enchantment is laid over the ruling family, and its up to the PCs to find out who exactly is behind this, and stop their nefarious plans.
The module starts with a brief bit of combat, and then goes into what can be a lengthy or short session of RP and research (let your players dictate this - the module supports both playstyles) as the PCs investigate the origins of the fell sorcery and the bestial agent sent to infiltrate the palace. This agent by the way, is a member of a new race, the "Zain-Kin". Picture the bestial assassin crawling over the garden wall to kidnap the pasha's daughter for the High Priest of Set in any number of Conan-style fantasy pulps, and you've got a good handle on the "feel" of this race (the appendix even provides player character rules for this race).
Now, this beginning part of the module can take as little as 30 minutes, or as long as a couple of hours, depending on whether your players are into the investigation/RP style of play, or if they want to just hurry up and get to the next encounter. And this is all in just two pages of the module - the whole module is like this, unlike the WotC mod layout of "Background page, Encounter page, Encounter page, etc". The RP side of things is given as much or often more emphasis than the combat side.
The next part of the module is tracking the assassin back to his lair. Fans of the classic mod "Dweller's of the Forbidden City" will notice some similarities here: the PCs must work their way through a couple of dungeons before finally emerging into a massive ruined city. The first dungeon is just that - a dungeon - and takes up about 8 pages of the mod, inlcuding maps. This is a remarkably well-balanced dungeon with 3 monster encounters, 2 envoronmental skill challenges (one "assisted" by a magnificent little villain I suspect may become a recurring enemy when I run this), 1 hazard, 2 traps, and a puzzle. Making it through this leads to the next part of the dungeon, a rotting underground jungle.
The jungle cavern is about 6 pages long, and how the characters navigate it will determine how many of the 5 monster encounters (one a plant-monster!) and 2 environmental hazards the party has to contend with. Successfully making it through this leads to the final area: the Lost City of Parhok.
This is the longest section of the module - 18 pages - and is more of a mini-campagin-setting than a dungeon. Here the PCs can explore the ruins (8 different kinds of "wandering" encounters are provided), interact with the natives, and gradually, through wit, diplomacy, and intimidation, discover the truth behind the "rise" of the lost city and decide what to do about it. Full details on the three great clans of the Zain-Kin and their leaders are provided (each controls a section of the city) and the characters will need to interact with them extensively to "win" the adventure. Unlike the various beasts lurking in the ruins, the beast-men are intelligent, and have their own plans and motivations. They can be played against each other, alliances gained or broken, information or disinformation gained.
Behind it all is the namesake of the module - Dragora - and her "lover", the Green Dragon Mouringlar. Eventually the party must confront these villains, and likely several times - negotiation, capture, seduction, subterfuge, and combat are all likely options here, and most groups will probably have several encounters with them before the final showdown. The module sets things up nicely for an epic climax atop a pyramid-temple.
The last few pages of the mod deatil the Zain-Kin, give several statblocks, encounter groups, and racial traits/feats. Also provided are two new monsters, a giant artillery spider, an extremely Howardesque giant serpent, and a new swarm. The last page gives three very evocative new magic items, and a nice list of "further adventures" in Parhok - like "Dweller's of the Forbidden City" the setting is still useful beyond the immediate plot.
The Physical Product: The module is a slim 48 pages, classic module form. The cover art is magnificent Clyde Caldwell cheesecake, and the interior art is spare, but evocative. The interior layout is nice, everything flows together nicely, and its all clear and easy to find what you want. The stablocks are clear - if a little larger than the WotC variety - and easy to read and use. The cover and pages are durable and this mod should hold up just fine for years of use. The cartography is black and white only, and very-well done. I hate when maps are "over-produced" and rendered nearly unreadable by all the artistic clutter - these maps are clear, functional, just right, imo.
The "Feel": My first impression when reading this module was that it would make a perfect Conan novel. It just drips with old-school, pulp sword-n-sorcery feel. This is definitely not a "Knights of the Round Table" adventure, and probably not a "Fellowship of the Ring" adventure either. A bloodthirsty but shrewd warrior, sneaky wizard with ulterior motives, greedy thief, and megalomaniac priest will do very well at this adventure - picture the type of folks who would hang out with Conan or others of his ilk.
The module is the first of Goodman's new "Master Dungeons" line - modules designed with more "advanced" players in mind. Political strategy, role play, and setting immersion are much more heavily emphasized than the hack-n-slash side of D&D so elegantly celebrated by the Dungeon Crawl Classics line. This is an adventure experienced gamers can really flex their role-play chops, hang out a while, and explore the boundries of this new 4th Edition a bit.
The Crunch: Here's the only place the module is lacking a bit (Disclaimer - it is not *impossible* that this has something to do with the legal issues at play here). The monster stat blocks aren't spot on, folks who've designed their own from the 4E DMG guidelines will notice a few discrepancies here and there - nothing that will affect play, however, as 4E monsters are largely arbitrary in design anyway. There are a few errors here and there (one encounter is listed as "Level 1 - 500xp" and another "Level 2 - 500xp") and I'm not sure how much is typo, how much comes designing the mod before the "final" rules were released, and gain how much was "legally" necessary. I was disappointed that there were no "Quests" or RP xp rewards given or suggested (unless I missed them somehow) - so DMs should think about coming up with their own.
Value: At $12.99 (about $10 from most online retailers) for this much adventure, you really should pick this up, even if you don't plan on running it but would simply like to see what 4E adventure design is capable of handling.
Rating: I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars, its an excellent module. The storyline and excellent presentation make it easy to overlook the little crunch error here and there.
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