Dark Times in Sherwood #82
DUNGEON ISSUE # 82
1. Scenario & Author: Dark Times in Sherwood "Where is Robin Hood When You Need Him" by Ian Malcomson
2. Overall Rating (1-5 stars: 1*=Awful, 3*** = avg, 5*****=best scenario ever): I rate it 4****
3. Did you play it yet? No
4. Comments/SPOILERS:
For starters, I get a kick out of this issue because of Carl Critchlow's "Thurra" cover, which is a direct representation of BETTY PAGE (the pin-up model). If ever there was a "Man Show" girly picture for gamers, it's this one.
Now, onto the scenario.
"The Sheriff of Nottingham and the outlaws of Sherwood Forest share a common enemy. Will and unlikely alliance end this newest threat to the land?" ONe comment on adventure blurbs: I DETEST BLURBS THAT END IN A QUESTION. The blurb is something that should inform and entice..blah, blah, blah.
It's for 3rd level characters and has it's main setting in Sherwood forest (all easily changed). It's compatable with Dragon issue #274 (major implied characters of the Robin Hood 'myths').
OPENING ART: The opening art by Trevor Hairsine & Greg Staples is a pretty cool picture of a guy witha great sword being advanced upon by a bald guy with a dagger and a clenched fist (sounds like a fair fight doesn't it?) Still, it's a cool picture that will fit well in my Hyborian campaign
The other color picture is of Isambart de Belame: The Making of a Villain. It's not bad. Both are presented with the idea-sketches.
The Plot of the adventure, as described is about the "schemes of Baron Isambat de Belame and his bid ot gain political power within England and spread the influence of hte dark master he serves.." as well as his obstacles. The players basically are encouraged to do some witty combats, gain some allies, find out where to go, and then crawl to the 'final room' of the dungeon to find and kill 'the bad guy.' It's a lot more complicated and fun than that, but since I haven't played it yet, it's hard to give a better summary.
There are some undead, which make for a nice surprise to your players, who think that they'll only be facing the "Normans" as well as an artifact that needs to be dealt with. I think the DM can really play this one out and frighten the PC's, especially if he gives a twist to the creatures presented (maybe use some undead presented in non-D&D books or perhaps someof the creatures from Dragon magazine).
HANDOUTS: The handouts are troublesome but good to help the plot along. They are 3"x2" size and on parchment-like background. The will be hard to photocopy so a DM will have to WASTE TIME either handwriting them or doing them up on the computer. These could have been made a lot more DM friendly.
MAP: The internal maps are nice and readable and consist of a castle and some environ maps. The REGION map is a 36x24 size poster that is double sided. The "Robin Hood Country" map by Stephen Daniele is intensely hard to read, but does look better posted up on my wall with a dagger stuck into it. The "Nottingham Castle" map is a sketch of the castle with a couple of castle terms that include such gems as, "Curtain Wall" and "Bastion." Yawn. Things like these are unnecessary and the space could have been better used to show some internal room diagrams to the castle (SUCH AS THE JAIL-DUNGEONS). This side of the map is also littered with your typical advertisements for books, star trek, and japanaporn.
One thing that I wish DUNGEON would bring back is the "Encounter Level Chart." One appeas in the end of this scenario and is a nice, quick assessment of the scenario for the DM. It makes for very simple and easy changes of encounter levels for raising or lowering levels. At one point in the past I was opposed to these things on the old DUNGEON boards and now I'd like to see them return!
Overall, I tried not to give any spoilers for this adventure, because it's just not possible to do it properly without having had run it.
This scenario strikes me as a good one overall and should be easily dropped into a campaign. The Sherwood theme actually helps the DM place a foundation for the scenario instead of just another generic scenario with nothing for the DM to help build his home campaign.
I give it a 4****
Em
p.s. I don't know of any Known Errata for this scenario or Dragon #274's info.
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