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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 456983" data-attributes="member: 1645">Like mirthcard's entry, Waylander the Slayer's Song of Sorrows gives us an elaborate background story before the adventure begins.  Perhaps we could trim this down?In anger at the encroachment of the growing Aldavir empire and its civilized ways, Grellak Tharn, high shaman of Morlak, father of the Northgar tribes, sends a cursed gift to Lord Lorac Elaven in his gilded city of Khallor -- a ring infused with Chaos, a ring he named "Unmaker".Although this could be considered a cop-out, I actually liked the poetic use of "tree of knowledge" -- particularly for a bard amongst elves in the midst of their eternal city.  No two ways about it, the pudding angle's weak.  Perhaps the chef could, in the backstory, poison his lord with the pudding?  Or feed him a blood pudding of horrific origins?  After all, the beloved chef may be jealous of the even-more-beloved bard...Not quite ironic.  Certainly tragic, and I love the ring as a corrupting influence, but it's not particularly ironic.Yeesh!  That's certainly rage.  Interestingly, we have a seething barbarian at the start of the story, and a raging paragon of civilization here.  It's not quite Barbarian Rage, but I like it -- and it has a small dose of irony.I'm not quite clear about when everyone became undead.  I'm guessing it's the ring's influence.  What happened to the populace as a whole?  All I know is that they "degenerated over time" and "eek out a meager living".If we break down the actual adventure, we have a few good encounters: <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Ghost of Lady Shiala -- If the PCs approach her to parlay or calm her with song, they can get the whole backstory.  Otherwise, they fight a ghost.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Janos Tith -- Janos, like Shiala, can be calmed with music.  He can also point them to his magic harp and teach them his Song of Creation.  It can destroy the Unmaker.  If they fight him, they have to recover his notes and learn to play the song the hard way.  (Fairly flexible.) </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Lothaine Marar -- The cook simply wants to cook for them.  If they don't eat his food, they fight a Ghoul.  If they do eat his food, they learn the Lord Lorac is a Vampire who still loves pudding -- and the chef gives them pudding to tempt Lorac.  (Silly, but I guess it works.  I certainly see room for blood pudding here though.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Lord Lorac Elaven -- Lorac is a Vampire, and he's bound to the throne room.  (Why?) He can be reasoned with, if not easily, and he's easily distracted by pudding.  (Again, silly.)  He has armed cohorts with him.  (That makes the pudding distraction a bit difficult to actually use, no?)</li> </ul>In all, I loved the gothic feel, but -- like almost every Iron DM entry -- it uses some of the ingredients much better than others.  Earlier, seasong gave the advice to spell out ingredients in blinking lights.  I think my advice is to spell out what needs to be spelled out, but to keep any background brief enough to get to the meat of the adventure.</blockquote>

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