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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Darian Damas" data-source="post: 2009173" data-attributes="member: 3379">In the Belly of the Beast - a wonderful adventure with lots of roleplaying OVERVIEWIn the Belly of the Beast is an adventure for three to six PCs of level 2 - 4. The adventure is written by Mike Mearls and is published by Atlas Games in their Penumbra series. It is a short stand-alone module and it easily fits in all standard fantasy settings. The adventure takes place in a city where merchant houses and sewers are present.The adventurers are hired by the young local representative of a well-known merchant house. His trade operations have suffered a number of accidents lately, his caravans have been attacked. In fact, the merchant house as a whole had lost a great deal of money, is in debt and down on its knees. The representative wants the PCs to give him some support in his investigations - he believes that forces within the local government is conspiring to destroy his house. The first assignment is a "simple" escort mission. A trusted servant is going to talk to a person who presumably has some interesting information to give them. The second assignment is also an escort mission. This time the PCs follows the young merchant down into the sewers and to the secret base of a slave trade organisation. When the group arrives to the underground base, the real adventure begins.The style of In the Belly of the Beast is that it's heavy on roleplaying. To succeed with their missions - and to survive - the heroes have to talk with people, listen to what other say - and what they don't say!. The PCs must find out who they could trust and who they should look out for. The chances of survival increase significantly if the adventurers have managed to ally with other characters. There is a big and deadly fight in the end of the adventure, but exactly how the scenario ends depends mostly of how the PCs have interacted with the NPCs up to then.The setting in the later part of the adventure is like a chamber play. Several different groups of people, with different personalities, different goals and shifting loyalties are trapped in a small space - one main underground room and two small chambers connected to it. A lot of the NPCs hate each other and would very much like to kill the other part, but in the current extraordinary situation there is a temporary and fragile peace. When the heroes arrive, the balance is shifted. The direction depend on what the PCs do. Which one do they talk to first? The slavers, the necromancers or the orcs? What do the other groups think about the PCs talking so much with that other group? And so on...Playing this adventure is a very rewarding experience. The PCs' (players') interaction with the NPCs (DM) becomes uniquely interesting, fascinating and memorable. All the NPCs are detailed and fully fleshed-out, but the DM still has to keep a lot of things going on in his head. When that NPC sees that other NPC listening intently to what the PC is questioning the third NPC - what will be the effect? Since there are orginally about 15 NPCs in the room, there's a lot of (dynamic!) relations to keep track of. This could be a little bit tough for the unexperienced DM, but if you are willing to make careful preparations and study the NPCs over and over again - then it's definitely worth it.( Edit: )DM tip:It proved extremely useful to use a large "combat map" of the room and miniatures for all the NPCs. Even if it isn't combat, this is a great visual aid. The DM and the players can "act on stage". It's much easier to follow what's happening with miniatures, even if it's only one NPC walking over to another group. So, use visual aids and a "combat map" (with grids)!This is the kind of adventure you and your players will remember always, you will compare other scenarios with it, and you will keep looking for similar experiences! I not only recommend this adventure - In the Belly of the Beast is a must-play!THE GOOD* Lots of roleplaying opportunities* Amazingly interesting NPCs - in great detail* A good adventure plot with a tense atmosphere* A climactic final battle* The PC actions really matters, they can completely change the situation* The art is good, I thought the NPC portraits were fine* The background story and the group motivations are well laid out - and well thought through* There is a whole bunch of tips on both prequels and sequels to the adventure - or more precisely, there is a lot of information on what the NPCs have done before and what they will do after the adventure. * The DM support material is useful: combat sheet (also downloadable), NPC cards.THE BAD* While the NPCs are perfectly described, the locations are not that detailed* The map has no grid and no scale (but its dimensions are described in text)* The first part of the adventure could give the players a feeling of not being able of doing so much* The margins are noticeable wide (with a large chunk of tentacles on each page)* Some small editing or typing errors (errata on Atlas-Games.com)MATTERS OF TASTE* If you are looking for a dungeon crawl, with doors, traps, one waiting monster in each room - look somewhere else. In the Belly of the Beast revolves around the PCs interactions with the NPC - all trapped in a small space.* ( Edit: ) There's only about 12 pages (of 32) that contains the events of the adventure. The rest is background information or "useless" stuff / empty space.CONCLUSIONIn the Belly of the Beast is clearly one of the best adventures I have ever DMed. My players also thought that this adventure was one of the best they had played. The key to the success is the unique situation and the importance and opportunities of roleplaying. If you like more roleplaying, more communication, more intrigue then you absolutely should take a serious look at In the Belly of the Beast. However, controlling a lot of strong and dynamic NPC demands a DM with some experience - or a lot of preparation. I highly recommend this adventure! It's a must-play! I give it a score of 4.60, rounded up to 5.</blockquote>

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