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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lightful" data-source="post: 848680" data-attributes="member: 10870">Group 2 judgmentThe Dirge of the Lupis BrotherhoodFirst off, I’d have to say that the suggested levels for this adventure (5-7) are way off. In my estimate something like 2-4 would be better. The only expected combat is with 3 advanced wolves, and as much as I love using them, 5-7 level characters would make short work of them before they have a chance to run off.The Good:I like the boots, nice custom design.The Bad:What exactly is the waraxe doing in an overgrown caldera ? If it is so important, I’d expect the brotherhood to take better care of it or at least be on their own quest to find it. Not only that, but it seems as if it’s use is precisely what I warned against. Brother Graypad is a dwarf so it’s a dwarven waraxe. If the ingredient had been a gnomish hook-hammer he’d have been a gnome. I felt that the solitude aspect was underplayed, I’d imagine that the brotherhood would want all of the prospectors out of their territory – in fact that could be the reason why the royalties stop accruing. The Ugly:All told, with the (I believe necessary) adjustment in levels the adventure is good and playable. The backdrop is nice and provides a fitting atmosphere and the scenario lends itself to recurring NPC’s (very flavourful) and further entanglements which are always more than welcome. Village SprawlThe Good: The ceremonial spade is a nice touch.The Bad: Unless Hammond took an active hand in the breeding of the wolves, I have to wonder how they advanced; the reasons suggested (solitude and isolation) tend to suggest inbreeding rather then advancement. The dwarven waraxe is slightly iffy, but an obvious effort has been made to integrate it (even too obvious ?). Also, I have to wonder how it is that the wolves missed the prints which the PC’s are meant to find – unless they really are inbred. Why Leomund’s trap, and not Fire Trap or a Glyph of Warding? Treak Dwarfsplitter doesn’t seem to be a terribly subtle guy.The Ugly: I like some of the ethical dilemmas presented as well as the fact that they are almost certain to breed disagreements within the party. The backdrop is nice and I like the ideas of wolf cubs being stolen (I actually used something similar in an adventure of mine several years ago).The Trials of Princess OllorilThis isn’t an adventure, it’s a scenario and as such (with all of the ingredients in the background) I’m not certain to which standard I should hold it. That said I’ll do my best.The Good:The Leomund’s Trap is great, perfect. The waraxe fits in very well.The Bad:Even granted that the advanced wolves could be winter wolves (but why would they be and why would they be advanced ?) they seem to exist mostly as vehicle to show that the conditions around Dwor-akarak are freezing and set up the boots to be included as treasure. Also, I have to wonder, if the Princess was so eager to be reunited with Whitey, why didn’t she make finding him the first task ? The spade (while we appreciate the homonym) is bogus – drawing a club (another homonym) works just as well. The Ugly:I love the perfect dwarven princess with a beard like “fresh-spun golden silk”. Even though the idea of the princess jilting and testing her suitors is as old as time, making her a dwarf lends a whole new, wonderful, flavor. The whole setup is nice in a classic “lost princess” kind of way and could make for some fine adventuring.All three adventures have weak points which would make me (as a PC) wince and make suspension of disbelief that much more difficult. In “Village Sprawl” this so glaring that it disrupts the whole adventure. Why would the wolves believe the humans were stealing their cubs ? If Treak Dwarfsplitter had left tracks leading to Reinspreig and then flown (via potion acquired from the same wizard which trapped his chest) back to his allies it would work better. It could even lead to the PC’s believing that someone in the village really was the culprit !The waraxe in “The Dirge of the Lupis Brotherhood” is better left out. You could play the adventure almost as well without, but you’d lose two ingredients !The wolves (wolf) and with them, the boots, in “The Trials of Princess Olloril” are almost completely unnecessary. Have two tests instead of three and decree that the princess will be awakened by true love (this is actually a good precaution – the Derro already hold Tunneler, and given their magical nature it would be a simple matter to polymorph into a winter wolf and speak the Princesses name. Voila ! The princess lives out her days as a prized concubine of the derro king.)All three entries visibly strain to accommodate the ingredients (I still can’t get over the playing card spade). “Village Sprawl” actually does the best job, but even that is less then I’d hoped for. In the end, I have to give the win to MerakSpielman for sheer fun and inspiration. dave_o gets second place, almost by default, since I deem DocSer’s entry to be unplayable as written.</blockquote>

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