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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2010132" data-attributes="member: 9860">Beware! This review contains spoilers.This is not a playtest review.White Robes, Black Hearts: Enigma Of The Arcanexus is a series of interconnecting adventures set in Dark Portal Games' 'Land of Arekoz', and is designed for PCs of levels 3-5. It is designed to be a logical follow-on from the free Dead Fire adventure, downloadable from Dark Portals website.White Robes, Black Hearts is a 112-page mono softcover product costing $14.95. Layout is attractive with good size fonts used and average margins. There is plenty of white space at the end of each chapter and around some of the player handouts, but the product does use both inside covers (an ad and a map of Arekoz). The art runs from poor to average, the front cover showing a group of adventurers fighting white-robed sorcerer/clerics. The maps are generally basic but clear, scaled (mainly with a grid, although scale differs with each map) and with compass direction where appropriate. The map of Arekoz on the inside cover is helpful and nicely rendered. Writing style is good, as is editing (with occasional minor errors).Chapter 1: Secret Meetings, Hidden AgendasThe chapter begins with some general information about the adventure where we learn that a wizard or sorcerer and a rogue are pretty much vital to surviving the adventure, that the adventure is deemed challenging for the party level ascribed, and that various web enhancements are available from the Dark Portal website, including an experience point chart for the adventure for the GM. It is expected that PCs will gain 3 levels (presumably from 3rd to 6th level) during the course of the adventure.The chapter also gives the adventure background, which involves the invasion of Calrendia by Mhulnish forces followed by guerilla warfare by the conquered Calrendians. At the heart of the adventure is the search for a hidden key to a magical portal, which the Calrendian guerillas hope will allow them to push back the Mhulnish forces. Various advice on adapting the unusual aspects of the adventure (the magical portal, the White Robe sorcerer/clerics of the title, climate and terrain) to your own campaign setting is given.The adventure can begin in Foresthall, site for the Dead Fire adventure, or in the city of Gateway. It is in Gateway that the action really begins though, with the PCs needing to interact with two NPCs to increase the knowledge of the key they are looking for. Each NPC has a thorough listing of the information that can be obtained given the right circumstances.Chapter 2: Secrets Of The DeadThe PCs must enter a mausoleum to retrieve a journal, avoiding either the cemetery's suspicious guards or the undead that frequent the area at night. There are a mixture of encounters in the cemetery and the catacombs beneath, running from gruesome to amusing, with a range of roleplaying, combat, and skill use involved. There are some imaginative traps and NPCs are given relevant background information and motivations where appropriate. There are also a couple of side quests which can be introduced within the limits of the chapter to expand encounters.Chapter 3: The Sundered TempleThe PCs progress to looking for a map in the lair of a blue dragon, based in an old monastery. The chapter provides some random encounters in the badlands around the temple, some tough combats in the temple itself, and some imaginative side quests, including a realistic consequence of looting stolen treasure from the temple.Chapter 4: Testament To The FallenThe map leads the PCs to some caves, where they have a chance to retrieve the codex of the key, if they can survive the creatures, traps, puzzles, and natural hazards of the cave complex. There are also some opportunities for roleplaying, despite the heavy focus on combat. There is some epic adventuring here, with a grand finale to the chapter for one PC.Chapter 5: Disgrace, Salvation, RevelationsThe PCs must use the codex to enter a wizard's castle located on the Astral Plane. Once they locate the portal key, they are finally faced with an evil group of Mhulnish troops, sorcerer/clerics and their leader, as they attempt to esacpe with their prize.Appendix: StatisticsThis appendix holds stats and descriptions for the major NPCs, six new monsters (borer maggots, chardzish (troll/shark aberration), quartz golem, red troglodyte, sandipede, giant water monitor) and a new template (trapped soul), and magic items (including the portal key known as the Arcanexus). The remainder of the book consists of 9 pages of player handouts.Conclusion:White Robes, Black Hearts contains some well-written old-style adventuring, which also features some more recent innovations in adventure presentation. The adventure offers some good opportunities for roleplaying, with character's background information and knowledge presented helpfully. EL's are given for all encounters, and sidebars and notes at the end of each chapter give great ideas for expanding the adventure with mini side quests.Despite the setting-specific plotline, the adventures can be adapted to another setting with a little work, and some advice is given in the book on how to achieve this.</blockquote>

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