Fools Errand

[Rockrattled]

Fool's Errand is an E-Venture from Privateer Press for PC's of levels 3-5. Tough Characters of levels 3-5!
It's a downloadable product that costs $3.50. The art on the title page and interior remains on par with the art in other Privateer Press publications. (That's real good!) The format is of pages is great, and the organization of information good.

What made this module truly outstanding was the feel created by the art and detail to setting style. Corvis (the setting) is a different place to say the least! It has pistols, mechanized Steamjacks, and now apparently vast organized criminal network with ties to characters recognizable in the Witchfire series.

The extra mood setters (descriptive insertable text) for the section of the city Filcher's Crossing, sets the stage for what I guarantee is a memorable encounter...

The flow of the adventure is typical for Privateer Press thus far, in the sense that it is fairly linear. Things happen on cue, but it's so well orchestrated that if any character complains, just give them the "Thunderwicket"... (Thunderwicket is the antagonists lil' friend...) Don't mess with Thunderwicket.

The only thing I would change is the placement of encounter information. If I want to know the stats of a monster I have to turn to the back. I know it's to save space and cut down on redundancy, but it just added a little more to prep time for the adventure. This is not a big complaint, just a preference on my part.

Birdwalk- NPC's in Fool's Errand are memorable. NPC's in The Witchfire series are also memorable and therefore deserve their own miniature! They are designed to be reoccurring, and would send a tingle (or a shudder) down the spines of any player sitting at the table where these miniatures are used!

Conclusion- Privateer Press is still leading by example in the D20 market. Buy this product.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

"Fools Errand" is a short (it took us one evening to play) adventure meant to take place between the first and second part of the Witchfire trillogy. It's essentially one big encounter with prelude and epilogue so don't expect an involved story.

--- attention: spoilers!

The PCs are hired by a shady NPC to do a less than legal job for him. And of course - as every Shadowrunner could have told 'em - they're framed by him and walk into a trap they can't possibly survive. But fortunately nothing ever goes as planned, even for the bad guys...

Like "The Longest Night" this adventure draws much of it's fascination from the intriguing background and a strong NPC. Regrettably the sequence of events is preset, but that is not as bad in a short adventure as it would be in a longer one (my players at least where quite happy to use the one option to survive they had ;-).

The artwork is great and showing the players the pictures of the NPC helped quite a lot in setting the mood.
The adventure is available as downloadable pdf file - a format which I personally don't like: printing it adds to the cost and IMHO a pile of papers can't compete with even a basic booklet. On top of that - even though "Fools Errand" seems inexpensive at first glance, the used font is quite large, so you don't get much more content per dollar than in most printed products and definetly not more than in the printed Privateer Press products.

"Fools Errand" delivers an unusual (by D&D standards) encounter worth for an evening of fun. My players had a great time (even though their characters had to suffer quite a lot) and I recommend to pick it up (or rather load it down).

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Nominated for 2 ENnies!

In Fool's Errand, the party will cross paths with some of the most notorious figures in the criminal underworld of Corvis. FE is best played in between Parts 1 and 2 of the Witchfire Trilogy, but it can be adapted to work anywhere -- before the trilogy, or even into another fantasy setting with a large city. FE contains six new illustrations by Brian Snoddy and Matt Wilson.

Privateer Press also won ENnies for Best Publisher, 2001, and Best Setting, 2001

 

[Felon]

Rockrattled, this is pretty ironic. I just finished replying to your comments on my review of Hell in Freeport, and here I am stumbling across your review of another scripted module where the PC's railroad into being patsies for the bad guys. And once again we disagree. I find Privateer Press's linear approach to module design pretty shallow and lax, not to mention insulting to the intelligence of accomplished gamers. When will this company realize that PC's are not cattle to be herded from one encounter to the next?

 

[Messageboard Golem]

well, personally I don`t mind railroaded adventures IF there is a possibilty of expansion. I think this adventure does provide some of these. BUT i think it`s a pretty simple plot and too straightforward for my taste. I`d rate it a 3