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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 2011535" data-attributes="member: 3586">Once upon a time, Wizards - and, before them, TSR – produced adventures on a regular basis for D&D. However, because of the small profit margins on adventures, in recent days they have mainly left the production of adventures up to the various d20 System publishers and Dungeon Magazine.This policy hasn't changed, but with the launch of their new campaign setting, Eberron, Wizards have taken the opportunity to showcase their new world in three brand new adventures. Shadows of the Last War is the first of these.In actual fact, that's not quite true: there are four adventures. The first, The Forgotten Forge, is in the Eberron Campaign Setting. The second adventure is the one I'm reviewing today, Shadows of the Last War, and the final two adventures will be out by early 2005.Although Shadows of the Last War may be used as a stand-alone adventure, and possibly even not in Eberron, I do feel that you would be cheating yourself if you used it that way. It follows upon the events of The Forgotten Forge, and sets up events that will be resolved in the two later adventures. You could use it as a stand-alone, but it seems far more enjoyable and downright fun as part of the series.Shadows of the Last War is interesting in how it showcases Eberron. Written by the creator of Eberron, Keith Baker, Shadows of the Last War takes the characters across the continent of Khorvaire and into the mysterious Mournland, there to investigate a ruined artificer's workshop and discover artifacts that their patron seeks.Much as in a good pulp/noir book or movie, there are other forces acting against the player characters. There are some elements in this module that make me want to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark or The Maltese Falcon again just to get the right spirit of things. It is a solid adventure to begin with, but played in the proper spirit, should become exceptional.The adventure does require reference to the Eberron Campaign Setting for some elements – primarily a map of the wilderness and some magic item descriptions. It provides wilderness, city and dungeon adventuring, although some elements of the module are not quite as fleshed out as you might expect. The basics of the adventure are very well done, but the DM will need to improvise if the players move too far from the outlines. I do not see this as too much of a problem, however.The module is somewhat short at 32 pages. Keith Baker estimates that it should take two sessions (or about 8 hours) to complete. The design is not of a dense dungeon crawl, but of several different acts in different location. I think this design is a positive, as the players will not become bored with an endless dungeon.In addition to the adventure itself, Shadows of the Last War comes with a 16-page short-story booklet: Death at Whitehearth by Keith Baker. This describes events in the main adventure location (Whitehearth) during the Last War. I greatly enjoyed this story, as it does help you understand the world of Eberron and the implications of the adventure. There should be no problems with the players reading this story before playing in the module, in fact, I would advise such.So, what do I like about the adventure? It has interesting traps and tricks, a variety of encounter locations, lots of role-playing opportunities and intelligent opposition. Don't discount that last - it's hard to write well or effectively.Where the adventure may fall down is in its somewhat linear quality. I do feel there are many opportunities for differences in player approach, but the final dungeon really feels like "Do A to get to B which allows you to do C to get to D."I do think that the biggest problem with the module is certain assumptions about the survival of NPCs. Of course, it is most likely that all will go as planned, but some advice about what to do if the players derail this should have been included.The last encounter has the biggest problems with it: although it makes some provisions for different player behaviours, there is one assumption it makes that is utterly unwarranted, and could seriously derail further adventures in the line. This is a great pity - of course, it is most likely that the players act as the adventure expects, but players will be players...Physically, the module is moderately attractive without being stunning. It is very nice to see portraits of all the main NPCs in the module, although I do not personally like the style they were drawn in.I was especially pleased to see the maps drawn both aligned to a grid and with the grid at a sensible scale. The one problematic map is that of the Broken Anvil Inn - why is most of it aligned diagonally compared to the grid?Although the font for the bulk of the module is fine, I am not so pleased with the italic text which is mainly used for descriptions to be read to the players - I found it a little difficult to read easily.Despite those niggles, I do consider this a worthy adventure, and a good continuation of the Eberron line.</blockquote>

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