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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 2011318" data-attributes="member: 172">Aerie of the Crow GodAerie of the Crow God is an adventure in Goodman Games' Dungeon Crawl Classic series of adventures designed to emulate first edition adventure modules. The adventure is written by Andrew Hind, and is designed for a party of level 7-8 characters (though it has adaptation notes for different levels.)A First LookAerie of the Crow God is a 48-page saddle-stitched (it's been a while since I used those words!) softbound book priced at $12.99 US.The cover is a goldenrod color, adorned b a somewhat cheesy looking color pick of adventurers battling harpy-like creatures. The front cover is illustrated by Chuck Whelon and the back by Brad McDevitt.The interior art is black and white, with art by Jason Edwards, Brad McDevitt, and Brian Tarsis. Some of the art is a bit "old school", but there is a rather nice collection of illustrations to show the players.Cartography is by Jeremy Simmons. The inside covers are used for some maps, which are done with blue ink in the old school style.A Deeper Look(Warning: There are spoilers to secrets of the adventure in this section.)Goodman Games have been doing the Dungeon Crawl Classic series for a while, but this is the first one that I have had the pleasure to review.As some of you may be aware, the big dog  in d20 adventures, Necromancer Games, has adopted "Third Edition Rules, First Edition Feel" as its tagline. While they may emulate that feel in some ways, it is interesting to see that a large portion of their products are mini-campaign style adventure more characteristic of... well, I won't say it. Not to say that Necromancer's adventures are bad, anything but. But most of the quality in their adventures shows itself in the ways which they are not like first edition adventures.As far as format and presentation go, perhaps Goodman games deserves the first edition feel tagline. The thin saddle stitched booklet with blueprint maps were a hallmark of first edition adventures, as is the uncomplicated dungeon-crawl plot.Of course in some ways, I feel like Necromancer, Goodman has defied the first edition feel by doing better than the adventures they hoped to pay homage to. Noteworthy innovations that I would not have seen in a first edition adventure include scaling notes for different level parties, accommodation in the hook for details of the GMs game, and a variety of introductory hooks.The adventure also has a little "early third edition" feel in that it has a EL chart that few adventures use these day (some to their detriment, especially larger ones). The chart professes to be useful for XP calculation, but the be useful for that, it would have to list CRs, which are used for XP calculation  It also has more than the recommended amount of treasure, though some are well hidden and to his credit, the author points out the treasure and provides suggestions for those who would rather tone it down to standard levels.The basic concept of the adventure is that the adventures are asked to search for the body of a lord who had gone to assail an ancient fortress. The lord was said to carry a key to a lockbox, one that is important to open, which an unknown assailant has demanded. There are a few weaknesses in this hook. First off, the lockbox being impregnable to thievery and magic is wise to keep the adventure on course, but seems a little handwaved. Second, many parties would want to go after the assailant.The real adventure lies in the direction of the keep that the lord was lost in assailing.the tower at Gunard's Head. The tower was long ago protected by guards that fell to canibalism, and eventually became ghasts and fell to the worship of Malotoch, the carrion crow god, who also is the patron of harpies and rooks. (Rooks are sort of musically retarded harpies introduced in this module.) The tower became home to many rooks, and the lord that went there had done so not knowing that there were more inhabitants than "harpies."The adventure is basically a dungeon crawl. There are two main sections, the ascent of the rocky cliff that the tower is on, and the tower itself. The challenges are mainly traps and monsters, many of the latter classed (another thing you will rarely see in 1e.) There is little in the way of diplomatic or roleplaying challenges, by design. The dungoen section has in-line stat blocks for all creatures, and interesting junctures are illustrated through photocopyable pages to display to the players.Appendices include a description of the environs around Gurnard's Head, new creatures, new magic items, player handouts, and a character record sheet that reminds me not of the 1e character sheets, but the basic set character sheets.ConclusionsIf you are going to do something, do it well. Words that Goodman seems to live by when it comes to this installment of the Dungeon Crawl Classics series. It is a fairly straightforward dungeon crawl in the classical mold. But it is excellently supported with good hooks, guidelines, and illustrations, aspects which many modern adventures have been negligent on and would have been nearly unheard of in the adventures the series hopes to emulate. But this deviation is, undoubtedly, a good thing.Overall Grade: B+ -Alan D. Kohler</blockquote>

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