catsclaw227
First Post
I am reposting this under my catsclaw227 user name rather than my old "cats_claw" user name. Mods please delete the "cats_claw" version rather than this one, since catsclaw227 is my active account.. (Idea taken from Treebore... 
)
Warning – this review contains spoilers. This is not a playtest review. And for what it is worth, it is my first review.
From the Publisher
There was a time when darkness reigned. In a war lost to history and myth, the dread God Chairos engaged on a campaign of destruction and conquest. His goal was to topple the existing pantheon of Gods, and to establish a dark new order in which he was supreme…a goal in which he was nearly successful. Only after a long and vicious campaign between Chairos' diabolic forces and the celestial armies of good were his evil plans torn asunder, and the God of Destruction himself forever undone.
But evil never dies. For Chairos' mightiest weapon in his dark campaign - the Chain of Scars - has been discovered. Draz Ghulan, a fiendish general with his mind set on revenge, has rekindled the flames of the ancient conflict with his burning hatred. In his possession lies the Chthonic Heart, the one item capable of reactivating the awesome power of the Chain of Scars. Unless Ghulan is stopped, Chairos' lost campaign of terror and annihilation will begin anew, and the awesome and untold powers of the Chthonic Heart shall be released unto the unsuspecting world.
To stop him, heroes will have to engage in a deadly race against Ghulan's own agents of evil, journeying through the stygian depths of the subterranean city of Il'drazza'kuul and to the horrific demi-plane known as The Sea of Endless Night. Ultimately, their quest will bring them to Hellstone Deep, an impenetrable fortress populated with Ghulan's Hellish minions. But within the Heart lie powers that even Ghulan cannot understand. Powers that, if released, could spell disaster for all. And darkness shall reign again...
The Review
Hellstone Deep is a 3.5 edition D20 adventure for 4-6 18th-20th level characters, 104-pages, with a perfect-bound soft cover, written by Steven Montano and published by Monkey God Enterprises. The cover depicts a nasty looking Draz Ghulan and his minions on a bloody plain, with blood red skies. Evil to the extreme.
When I came across it at my FLGS, it was the first 3.5 edition print module that I had seen, and especially one of such high level. It is my understanding that during play-testing they had to bump up the PC levels higher than the original 16th-18th level to properly balance the module, and avoid TPKs.
It's divided into 3 basic parts:
Temple of the Iron Flames - the starting point. A remote wilderness temple with liquid metal that provides help with divinations, and can repair magic items. It's been recently attacked by a pair of twins, a "survivor" left behind offers friendship and clues as to what has happened. Following hints as to the whereabouts of the assailants lead the party to...
City of the Frozen Sea - the descent into Il'drazza'kuul, a Mind Flayer city lying beneath a frozen sea in the middle of an icecap known as the Skull of the World. It's been recently attacked and taken over by a Drow clan called the Black Blade, adventuring eventually takes them to...
Hellstone Deep - A massive spire of jet-black stone, hundreds of miles high, located on a demi-plane (known as the Sea of Endless Night) that has been occupied by chief protagonist, Draz Ghulan, and his forces.
Let me state right away that I love the feel of this module. It's high fantasy, with a world-ending story, denizens of Hell, ancient artifacts, deception, backstabbing and treachery. It's got some seriously tough encounters and doesn't try to nerf the PCs abilities to make itself challenging. There are read-aloud descriptions for most areas, an appendix with NPC stats, lengthy descriptions, and well thought-out motivations. The adventure is admittedly linear, and requires a good party mix to cope with the need for healing and divinations, heavy armored swordplay, and teleport and/or planar travel. The premise of stopping Foozle from destroying the world may be old-fashioned but it's well done here and it offers a challenging dungeon romp for a high level party.
OK... some of the bad. Since this is a 3.5 dungeon, there are numerous errors that look like it was hastily converted from 3.0 to make print in time: incorrect DR stats, skill point calculation problems, feats that are improperly documented, and flat out wrong combat modifiers and NPC attacks. Personally, I am not a stickler for these things, and I go with the flow on items like this when I DM, but for some this is a big sticking point. And I must point out that there are a lot of these kinds of errors.
The art is just average. If there had been more, and it had been better done, it could have given this relatively plain looking module a lot of punch.
At first glance, it's appears that this isn't an adventure full of political intrigue, long role-playing sessions and deep NPCs -- that is far from the truth. It's not entirely hack-and-slash either. Yes, it looks to be a bloody romp, but I think, if well DMed, this module can add bigger picture to your game world. It's generic enough to place it in your homebrew world, and yet is fleshed out enough to be added without too much work.
Some would think this module is TOO linear and not very intellectual. I beg to differ. I am taking this work and making it the culmination of a long running campaign. With my PCs currently at 5th level, I'm already introducing the rumors of the Chthonic Heart and the Chain of Scars. I'm dropping background about the derro wizard, Crulaj, and in a few game sessions, they'll hear a bards tale about Eredeth, a solar corrupted and made psychotic by the Chthonic Heart. If I do this right, I'll take this colorful, challenging, and well written module and make it the "coupe de gras" of a long and winding story.
I'd give it a 5 out of 5, but the really poor 3.5 editing was just too much. A potentially great module is therefore only a really good one.
)Warning – this review contains spoilers. This is not a playtest review. And for what it is worth, it is my first review.
From the Publisher
There was a time when darkness reigned. In a war lost to history and myth, the dread God Chairos engaged on a campaign of destruction and conquest. His goal was to topple the existing pantheon of Gods, and to establish a dark new order in which he was supreme…a goal in which he was nearly successful. Only after a long and vicious campaign between Chairos' diabolic forces and the celestial armies of good were his evil plans torn asunder, and the God of Destruction himself forever undone.
But evil never dies. For Chairos' mightiest weapon in his dark campaign - the Chain of Scars - has been discovered. Draz Ghulan, a fiendish general with his mind set on revenge, has rekindled the flames of the ancient conflict with his burning hatred. In his possession lies the Chthonic Heart, the one item capable of reactivating the awesome power of the Chain of Scars. Unless Ghulan is stopped, Chairos' lost campaign of terror and annihilation will begin anew, and the awesome and untold powers of the Chthonic Heart shall be released unto the unsuspecting world.
To stop him, heroes will have to engage in a deadly race against Ghulan's own agents of evil, journeying through the stygian depths of the subterranean city of Il'drazza'kuul and to the horrific demi-plane known as The Sea of Endless Night. Ultimately, their quest will bring them to Hellstone Deep, an impenetrable fortress populated with Ghulan's Hellish minions. But within the Heart lie powers that even Ghulan cannot understand. Powers that, if released, could spell disaster for all. And darkness shall reign again...
The Review
Hellstone Deep is a 3.5 edition D20 adventure for 4-6 18th-20th level characters, 104-pages, with a perfect-bound soft cover, written by Steven Montano and published by Monkey God Enterprises. The cover depicts a nasty looking Draz Ghulan and his minions on a bloody plain, with blood red skies. Evil to the extreme.
When I came across it at my FLGS, it was the first 3.5 edition print module that I had seen, and especially one of such high level. It is my understanding that during play-testing they had to bump up the PC levels higher than the original 16th-18th level to properly balance the module, and avoid TPKs.
It's divided into 3 basic parts:
Temple of the Iron Flames - the starting point. A remote wilderness temple with liquid metal that provides help with divinations, and can repair magic items. It's been recently attacked by a pair of twins, a "survivor" left behind offers friendship and clues as to what has happened. Following hints as to the whereabouts of the assailants lead the party to...
City of the Frozen Sea - the descent into Il'drazza'kuul, a Mind Flayer city lying beneath a frozen sea in the middle of an icecap known as the Skull of the World. It's been recently attacked and taken over by a Drow clan called the Black Blade, adventuring eventually takes them to...
Hellstone Deep - A massive spire of jet-black stone, hundreds of miles high, located on a demi-plane (known as the Sea of Endless Night) that has been occupied by chief protagonist, Draz Ghulan, and his forces.
Let me state right away that I love the feel of this module. It's high fantasy, with a world-ending story, denizens of Hell, ancient artifacts, deception, backstabbing and treachery. It's got some seriously tough encounters and doesn't try to nerf the PCs abilities to make itself challenging. There are read-aloud descriptions for most areas, an appendix with NPC stats, lengthy descriptions, and well thought-out motivations. The adventure is admittedly linear, and requires a good party mix to cope with the need for healing and divinations, heavy armored swordplay, and teleport and/or planar travel. The premise of stopping Foozle from destroying the world may be old-fashioned but it's well done here and it offers a challenging dungeon romp for a high level party.
OK... some of the bad. Since this is a 3.5 dungeon, there are numerous errors that look like it was hastily converted from 3.0 to make print in time: incorrect DR stats, skill point calculation problems, feats that are improperly documented, and flat out wrong combat modifiers and NPC attacks. Personally, I am not a stickler for these things, and I go with the flow on items like this when I DM, but for some this is a big sticking point. And I must point out that there are a lot of these kinds of errors.
The art is just average. If there had been more, and it had been better done, it could have given this relatively plain looking module a lot of punch.
At first glance, it's appears that this isn't an adventure full of political intrigue, long role-playing sessions and deep NPCs -- that is far from the truth. It's not entirely hack-and-slash either. Yes, it looks to be a bloody romp, but I think, if well DMed, this module can add bigger picture to your game world. It's generic enough to place it in your homebrew world, and yet is fleshed out enough to be added without too much work.
Some would think this module is TOO linear and not very intellectual. I beg to differ. I am taking this work and making it the culmination of a long running campaign. With my PCs currently at 5th level, I'm already introducing the rumors of the Chthonic Heart and the Chain of Scars. I'm dropping background about the derro wizard, Crulaj, and in a few game sessions, they'll hear a bards tale about Eredeth, a solar corrupted and made psychotic by the Chthonic Heart. If I do this right, I'll take this colorful, challenging, and well written module and make it the "coupe de gras" of a long and winding story.
I'd give it a 5 out of 5, but the really poor 3.5 editing was just too much. A potentially great module is therefore only a really good one.
