JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Hellspike Prison
Written by Matthew Sernett
Published by Wizards of the Coast
www.wizards.com/dnd
ISBN: 0-7869-3848-X
Fantastic Locations
16 b & w pages
2 double sided full color maps
$14.95
Hellspike Prison is the second adventure in the Fantastic Locations format. Looking at the back of the text, the book provides a very brief synopsis of the adventure but doesn’t provide one crucial piece of information, the level. Turning to the adventure proper, that would be for four 9th level characters. This type of information really needs to be on the cover.
The interior art is minimal, consisting of three black and white illustrations by Wayne England. The cover is by Francis Tsai. Maps are done by Jason Engle. The quality of art is high all around but limited in the interior. Interior space use suffers a bit. First page is a credits page, last page is information on using the maps for the miniature game. This is more of a ‘waste’ for those DMs who are uninterested in the miniatures. Not so bad for those into the collector’s game.
The four maps included are magma keep, hellspike grotto, mushroom cavern and the temple of the prismatic flame. The double sided pages are roughly small sheets of paper and are designed for miniature use. The visuals on the maps are great and Jason Engle has done a fantastic job of bringing the locations to life.
These maps are reproduced on the back of the cover and include location notes on monsters and important map details. There are over thirty numbered locations to explore. Text to be read aloud by the GM is indicated by italics. There are numerous sidebars for new DMs when it comes to critical encounters that help the DM understand what is expect of her next in terms of plotting the adventure.
One of the draws of the product is that it allows you to use your collectible miniatures with the RPG. Unfortunately, it calls for a wide variety of miniature from old sets like barghests from the original set of Harbringer, as well as having numerous rare miniatures like three chain devils for one encounter from the Angelfire set. Each suggested miniature is named with the set and its number included so for the barbed devil, it’s Angelfire 35/60.
The background is that the population of a village has turned missing and many suspect it’s the barghest monsters that hail from the fallen Castle Ferrule. There are several options for getting the players involved from having a relative captured to having the players stumble upon the ruins.
The players are pitted against ancient magics and find themselves fighting against fiendish opponents. One of the interesting things here is that because many of the encounters are with standard monsters, there is only one stat block here for a unique chain devil and all other monster references are made to the monster manual with a page reference.
Some may be wondering why there’s a map for mushroom caves in a keep based adventure. That’s because the party may need to battle against a beholder in order to gain a specific item which will in turn lead them to the Temple of the Prismatic Flame, for another item. It’s a simple set up and allows the party to be quickly moved and motivated to explore the different environments.
Hellspike Prison is a good site based location adventure. In terms of miniature suggestions, it needs some work. I understand that as time goes on, the miniature references will be harder and harder to achieve but starting with miniatures that have long been out of production like Stone Golems from Giants of Legend or Wriaths from Archfiends and deciding on so many rare figures, especially multiples of rares, seems like poor decision making to me. Where are the common or uncommon monsters from sets that were recent when this product was coming out or where’s the cooperation between departments so that the author can draw on upcoming sets as opposed to long out or print ones?
The miniature rules at the back of the bookare brief, covering warband construction, choosing a map, placement of bands, and different notes for different scenarios such as Demon Denfeses where one player is the Hellspike defender that grants him more points but only for building CE Outsiders.
If you’re playing the miniatures game and use the maps for the miniatures, consider this a 4 star product. If you’re looking for a quick read and a quick adventure for your campaign, Hellspike Prison doesn’t make a lot of campaign world assumptions and is a good romp for 9th level characters.
Written by Matthew Sernett
Published by Wizards of the Coast
www.wizards.com/dnd
ISBN: 0-7869-3848-X
Fantastic Locations
16 b & w pages
2 double sided full color maps
$14.95
Hellspike Prison is the second adventure in the Fantastic Locations format. Looking at the back of the text, the book provides a very brief synopsis of the adventure but doesn’t provide one crucial piece of information, the level. Turning to the adventure proper, that would be for four 9th level characters. This type of information really needs to be on the cover.
The interior art is minimal, consisting of three black and white illustrations by Wayne England. The cover is by Francis Tsai. Maps are done by Jason Engle. The quality of art is high all around but limited in the interior. Interior space use suffers a bit. First page is a credits page, last page is information on using the maps for the miniature game. This is more of a ‘waste’ for those DMs who are uninterested in the miniatures. Not so bad for those into the collector’s game.
The four maps included are magma keep, hellspike grotto, mushroom cavern and the temple of the prismatic flame. The double sided pages are roughly small sheets of paper and are designed for miniature use. The visuals on the maps are great and Jason Engle has done a fantastic job of bringing the locations to life.
These maps are reproduced on the back of the cover and include location notes on monsters and important map details. There are over thirty numbered locations to explore. Text to be read aloud by the GM is indicated by italics. There are numerous sidebars for new DMs when it comes to critical encounters that help the DM understand what is expect of her next in terms of plotting the adventure.
One of the draws of the product is that it allows you to use your collectible miniatures with the RPG. Unfortunately, it calls for a wide variety of miniature from old sets like barghests from the original set of Harbringer, as well as having numerous rare miniatures like three chain devils for one encounter from the Angelfire set. Each suggested miniature is named with the set and its number included so for the barbed devil, it’s Angelfire 35/60.
The background is that the population of a village has turned missing and many suspect it’s the barghest monsters that hail from the fallen Castle Ferrule. There are several options for getting the players involved from having a relative captured to having the players stumble upon the ruins.
The players are pitted against ancient magics and find themselves fighting against fiendish opponents. One of the interesting things here is that because many of the encounters are with standard monsters, there is only one stat block here for a unique chain devil and all other monster references are made to the monster manual with a page reference.
Some may be wondering why there’s a map for mushroom caves in a keep based adventure. That’s because the party may need to battle against a beholder in order to gain a specific item which will in turn lead them to the Temple of the Prismatic Flame, for another item. It’s a simple set up and allows the party to be quickly moved and motivated to explore the different environments.
Hellspike Prison is a good site based location adventure. In terms of miniature suggestions, it needs some work. I understand that as time goes on, the miniature references will be harder and harder to achieve but starting with miniatures that have long been out of production like Stone Golems from Giants of Legend or Wriaths from Archfiends and deciding on so many rare figures, especially multiples of rares, seems like poor decision making to me. Where are the common or uncommon monsters from sets that were recent when this product was coming out or where’s the cooperation between departments so that the author can draw on upcoming sets as opposed to long out or print ones?
The miniature rules at the back of the bookare brief, covering warband construction, choosing a map, placement of bands, and different notes for different scenarios such as Demon Denfeses where one player is the Hellspike defender that grants him more points but only for building CE Outsiders.
If you’re playing the miniatures game and use the maps for the miniatures, consider this a 4 star product. If you’re looking for a quick read and a quick adventure for your campaign, Hellspike Prison doesn’t make a lot of campaign world assumptions and is a good romp for 9th level characters.
