Madness in Freeport

[Tuerny]

Originally reviewed by Jesse Dean on AtFantasy.com

Madness in Freeport, written by William Simoni, is the final module in Green Ronin Publishing's Freeport Trilogy. It is designed for four characters of fourth through sixth level and is set in the city of Freeport. It is intended for parties who have completed the previous two portions of the Freeport Trilogy, and assumes their success in both of them.

Plot Outline

Madness in Freeport starts out a few days after the end of Terror in Freeport, as the PCs, who are hailed as heroes for stopping the actions of the "villainous" Verlaine, are invited by Sealord Milton Drac to attend the Grand Lighthouse Ball. Due to Verlaine's untimely death the Ball is also being used to choose a new member of the Captain's Council, resulting in a complex political duel between Drac's allies and those of this most prominent foe on the Council, Lady Elise Grosette. This allows the PCs the opportunity to get to know the players in the city as well as influence the result of who is chosen for the council. Milton Drac also attempts to use the Ball as an opportunity to set up the PCs, removing them as a threat. The Ball ends with the arrival of a strange man who acts as a Prophet of Yig, propelling the PCs into the next portion of the adventure.

After the Ball, it is assumed that the PCs have a good idea of what is happening and what to do next. Thuron, High Priest of the God of Knowledge, tells them that the Jade Serpent of Yig was found in the Temple of Yig in Ancient Valossa. Thuron does not know where the Temple is found but he does know that a pirate known as Blackdog, who disappeared many years ago, found a doorway that could very well be the entrance to it. A bit of quick investigation on the street leads to Blackdog's mate and directions to the cave where the door is found. Within the cave, and the temple after it, are a series of encounters with traps and monster culminating with the recovery of the Jade Serpent of Yig.

With only a short period left to spare, the PCs have to storm the lighthouse with the Jade Serpent of Yig, in order to disrupt the ritual. This is impossible to do during the day, due to the presence of the Sea Lord's marine patrol. To further complicate matters, Drac has ordered the arrest of the PCs, in order to insure they do not interfere with his plans for the lighthouse. Assuming the PCs arrive at night, they find the interior of the Lighthouse well-guarded by cultists and serpent men. In order to stop the lighting of the Lighthouse, and the madness that would follow, the PCs must confront Milton Drac at the top, and replace the gemstone use to activate it with the Jade Serpent of Yig. If they do so the Cult of the Yellow Sign is defeated and the PCs have saved Freeport form a horrible fate.

Presentation

The module, a standard laminated, stapled perfect bound booklet, is forty-eight pages long. The inside covers are illustrated with maps of the Sealord's Lighthouse. The margins are barely noticeable.

The cover illustration, by Brom, depicts a man with a demented look on his face fondling a skull. The interior artwork, by Chris Keefe, Rob Hinds, Drew Baker, Toren Atkinson, is composed of black and white drawings appropriate for the material discussed in the text.

The maps are informative, including a grid and scale where necessary, and including major furniture and physical features.

Overview

Madness in Freeport is divided into an Introduction, four adventure sections, and an Appendix. The OGL/d20 System License is split between the first page of the book and the end of the appendix.

The Introduction discusses the conventions used in the module, what happened in previous portions of the Trilogy, and an introduction on the Captains' Council and how it evolved to its present form. The conventions are standard for a d20 module with discussion about the handouts, where the stats for monsters are, and what Freeport is. The previous adventures are summarized well, with an explanation of what exactly the PCs were expected to have done and learned in the previous parts of the Trilogy. The history of Freeport is also expanded from the previous two modules with explanations of the Captains' Council's origins, how it gained more power form the previous Sealords, and its present form.

The adventure sections subdivide the action in the adventure. Part One details the Grand Lighthouse Ball, including tips of how to run it, details of Drac's attempt to get the PCs, the arrival of the prophet of Yig, and an overview of each of the major visitors to the ball. Part Two talks about Black Dog's cave, including the search for it and a description of the caves themselves. Part Three describes the Sunken Temple of Yig. Part Four details the PCs return from the temple, the assault on the Lighthouse, and the Aftermath.

The appendix has details of the stats of the NPCs and unnamed opponents in the adventure as well as some handouts. The statistics are standard for a d20 adventure, with the usual stat block detailing each of the NPCs. Three new monsters, the Shadow Constrictor Snake, the Shadow Serpent, and the Zombie Constrictor Snake, are introduced. Two handouts finish off the Appendix, each detailing documents that the PCs receive. The first is the invitation to the Grand Lighthouse Ball. The second is the remains of Blackdog's journal recovered by Thuron.

Analysis

Madness in Freeport is a fitting conclusion to the Freeport Trilogy that manages to maintain the overall themes found since the start of the Trilogy, while maintaining its own, distinct feel. The complex role-playing opportunity found in the Grand Lighthouse Ball shine in comparison to all the other d20 modules produced so far, save for In the Belly of the Beast. A number of intriguing adventure hooks and ideas are provided throughout the module allowing the threads introduced in the Trilogy to be carried even further within Freeport and beyond.

Unfortunately the module suffers from linearity and inflexibility. This is understandable considering the timeframe (three days) involved within the adventure, but few options are provided for alternate ways to go about the adventure. Luckily, few groups are likely to notice this with the way the adventure is crafted. The dungeons included in the adventure serve as suitable representations of the dichotomy found in the Trilogy as a whole. One, Blackdog's Caves, is an apt representation of the freebooting, pirate nature of the city. The other, the Sunken Temple of Yig, serves as a good representation of the Cthulhuesque overtones that the setting has attempted to provide. The Lighthouse itself is a merging of both of the themes into one whole.

The usefulness of Madness in Freeport for those who are not running the Freeport Trilogy is rather limited. The most useful of the materials within it for those who wish to use it outside of the Trilogy are the two dungeons. Blackdog's Caves and the Sunken Temple of Yig are both transferable to another campaign with only moderate difficulty. The material on the city itself and the Captains' Council may also be of use to those who wish to run a Freeport campaign without running the Freeport Trilogy. This material's usefullness is limited however, due to the release of Secrets of Freeport, a city guide for Freeport, later this year.

Conclusion

Madness in Freeport is a suitably suspensful closing to the Freeport. The strength of its connection to the two previous modules is also a weakness, unfortuantely, as the module has limited use to those who are not running the Trilogy. For those that are, Madness in Freeport is a worthwhile purchase that is worth the cover price.

 

[trancejeremy]

First of all, let me point out that this is the first (and only) module in the Freeport series that I have. (Why did I buy it? Mostly because I got it very cheap). For a person without the other Freeport modules, it's overly useful. There's very little content in this about Freeport itself (although it does have a map, and general history, as well as a recap of the first two modules)

But aside from that, it seems to be a very good adventure. I'll be looking into acquiring the first two modules in the trilogy.

There are basically 3 parts. The first party is a ball the characters are invited to. The players are supposed to interact with the guests and gather information. That's a very nice idea, but I'm sure a lot of people (at least me) are not that familiar with what a formal ball is like. Not being a debutante, I would have liked some information on just what goes on at those things. But it does give very good sketches of the important people at the ball, as well as insight into their personality and motivation.

The second part is a dungeon crawl, in which the PCs have to explore pirate caves, and then a sunken temple. While it's fairly well done, it's basically a case of 'find the magic ______'.

The third part is basically foil the bad guy's evil plot. Which in this case, involves a large lighthouse. Pretty much the typical showdown you'd see in a movie or such. Not great, but not terrible.

It seems a very solid adventure, if a bit cliched - diabolical villain wants to destroy the world for no real reason other than he's maniacal, and the PCs must stop them while everyone else twiddles their thumbs. It does seem based on the Cthulhu mythos, although it lacks the weirdness that made the original Cthulhu writings so plausible.

Physically, I'm happy to say that there is almost no margin, either on the side or top (maybe a cm, that's it). The text is maybe a bit larger than normal, but nothing out of the ordinary, and is very clear and readable. In the key to the dungeon section, the encounter level is indicated in the title, which is a nice move, I think. It really seems they spent the effort to make the module clear, clean, and very usuable.

There's quite a bit of artwork, (usually fairly small), including portraits of what seems like all the major NPCs. The quality and style of the artwork vary, but most of the illustrations are good. The maps are well done and clear. The cover art is by "Brom", who is apparently a famous artist since he only goes by one name, although you probably wouldn't know from looking at it.

To sum up, even though I don't have the 2 previous modules, I was quite impressed by this, so I have to give it a 4.5. Since I can't, I'll give it a 5.0

 

[Messageboard Golem]

This one drops a bit in quality from the Terror in Freeport. Conclusion is a bit schematic and expected and solutions a bit heavy handed at places (sacrifice 2 points of CON to get through the adventure - no ifs ands or buts) but still it has a very good atmosphere and strong plot.
Art continues to suck and there is still some filler (altrough less as a percentage of the total as the book is thicker now).
It avoids seeming overly linear which is important for this type of the adventure and is overall a good conclusion to a very decent trilogy.

 

[Simon Collins]

Beware! This review contains major spoilers!

Madness In Freeport is an adventure for four characters of levels 4-6 and the final part of the trilogy which began with Death In Freeport. It cost $10.95.

Presentation: Madness In Freeport is a 48 page softcover module. The front page offers an excellent piece of colour artwork depicting a yellow-eyed being wearing a feather headband and rolling a skull in his hands. The back cover has a black and white drawing of a PC emerging through a trapdoor, and an overview of what the module offers. Both the inside covers have maps of different lvels of the lighthouse, Milton's Folly. The first page contains credits and the OGL (which partly bleeds over into a later page. The last page is an advertisement. The internal black and white artwork ranges from poor to good. The maps are clear and scaled. There is little white space and the margins are narrow.

The Story: Madness In Freeport is the final instalment of the trilogy that gegan with Death In Freeport and continued with Death In Freeport. The PCs have investigated a cult worshipping the Unspeakable One. The lord of Freeport, Milton Drac, is also a high-ranking cultist. Drac plans to build a lighthouse that has the power to project the sign of the cult into the skies above Freeport, an act which will cause all who see it to become insane - this insanity is infectious and will spread to other lands. The PCs have previously discovered two temples of the cult and thwarted some of Milton Drac's minor plans. In Madness In Freeport, the lighthouse is completed, and the PCs must stop Drac performing the ritual which will bring about the infectious insanity. The module begins with an overview of Freeport and what has gone before. It then gives an adventure synopsis and covers a brief history of the Council of Freeport, giving an insight into some of the politics. Part One: The Grand Lighthouse Ball covers Drac's alternative plan to frame Councilor Verlaine, after the PCs actions in Terror In Freeport. In order to eliminate the pesky PCs, Drac decides to invite them to the inauguration ball at Drac's palace. The PCs can gain plenty of information from those attending the ball from interacting with the guests. There are two main events that occur at the ball - a ploy to get the PCs arrested for attempting to assassinate Drac, and the arrival of a mysterious man who reads out an ancient poem giving the PCs a clue as to the way to stop the ritual coming to fruition. Seventeen NPCs, guests at the ball are then described. Each NPC gets a third of a page which includes a description, quote and roleplaying information as well as the faction they belong to (a supporter of Milton Drac, Lady Elise - Drac's political opponent - or neutral) and a mini-portrait. There is also a sidebar describing some of the other political plotting that is happening above and beyond the main plot of the adventure. The PCs should by now have discovered clues that they need to search for an artifact, the Jade Serpent of Yig, somewhere in the sunken city of Valossa. They follow further clues to reach Part 2: Black Dog's Caves, the secret caves of Black Dog the Pirate, braving traps and creatures (including the spectre of Black Dog himself) to reach Part 3: The Sunken Temple of Yig. Yig was a god of the serpent-people who opposed the cult that is currently flourishing in Freeport. By retrieving several magic items from around the temple, they gain the help of a good-aligned undead serpent-person (shadow serpent, a new monster). The PCs face traps, evil shadow serpents, and cunning puzzles to gain the items. The good Shadow Serpent then asks for a sacrifice of blood from one of the PCs (which equates to the loss of 2 permanent points of Constitution) in order to cause the Jade Serpent of Yig to appear on an ancient altar. In Part Four, Milton's Folly, the PCs approach the lighthouse on the night of a new moon, attempting to stop the ritual using the Jade Serpent. There is a useful sidebar on modifying the timing of the PCs entry into the lighthouse so as not to seem too contrived, but still reach the climax of the plot. The PCs must deal with cultits, a gibbering mouther, a serpentman wizard before facing a final showdown with Milto Drac and his minions at the top of the lighthouse. The module goes on to give options for dealing with the aftermath of the showdown (its hard for the PCs to prove Drac's plan and they face murder charges from Drac's supporters on the council). There is then a short section giving four adventure hooks for further play in Freeport. The module ends with stats for NPCs, three new creatures (shadow constrictor snake, shadow serpent, and zombie constrictor snake), and two player handouts.

The Good: Madness In Freeport offers the same plot complexity, depth of NPC character and enthralling atmosphere as the previous two modules in the series. This module has more focus to it than the previous two with the PCs under a time limit to stop the ritual that will bring madness to the entire world - its global implications heighten the tension. There is a good mix of roleplaying and combat within the adventure and in particular,the information backing up the NPCs in The Grand Lighthouse Ball section was an excellent basis for encouraging some great role-playing.

The Bad: Though most of the encounters were well-balanced, the final climactic encounter was EL 13, which seems a little high for a party of four PCs of levels 4-6, though reading the encounter, some of these opponents attempt to move out of the area rather than attacking the PCs, effectively reducing the real EL. My preference is to see the stats for a NPC or creature in the main text rather than at the back of the book, an EL summary and a relatively thorough sidebar regarding Scaling The Adventure, but this is nitpicking.

Conclusion: An excellent finish to the series, well-balanced and exciting. Works best as the final part of the trilogy but could be used standalone at a pinch. Has new monsters that could also be plucked out and used elsewhere and a style and infrastructure that serve well as an example of constructing and pacing an adventure.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

This is a slightly revised version of a review I posted on RPG.net. This review does contain a few spoilers, but I'll try to keep the blow-by-blow plot details to a minimum. The adventure is fun and it's not necessary to ruin that in order to review the book.

Madness in Freeport is a 48-page book, staple bound. The interior covers, front and back, are printed with maps of the Lighthouse "Milton's Folly. "

The book details the history and structure of the Captains' Council in Freeport, contains a bare-bones map of the Sea Lord's Palace, and includes 18 NPC descriptions of some of the movers and shakers from the Captains' Council in Part One. (The free Focus on Freeport at the Green Ronin website supplements this material: http://www.greenronin.com/files/focus04.pdf ) This part of the adventure is roleplaying intensive and gives players a chance to get deep into character if they like that kind of thing. In addition to interacting with the NPCs to gather information needed to advance the plot of the adventure, there are also ample opportunities to unravel the history and political factions of Freeport. This section of the adventure went over very well with my group and gave me a ton of plot hooks and NPC contacts for future encounters. I decided to use one of the optional encounters that was suggested in the text by introducing my group to Margy Roth, daughter of the head of the Merchant’s Guild. The character isn’t fully statted out, just has a basic description in the adventure hooks section. Nevertheless I laid the groundwork for some additional Freeport adventures of my own design by including that optional hook. There are several others suggested as well.

Part Two focuses on the legend of an old Freeport pirate named Black Dog, and the caves he used as his lair (a nice full-page map of the caves is included). This section gives rugged adventuring types a chance to use their abilities. Dexterity checks, Wisdom checks, Willpower saves, Search checks, Reflex saves, Swim checks, and Disable Device opportunities abound. The map has a section of waterway that leads off to an unmapped area that I used to detail the underground cave system even more.

The Sunken Temple of Yig section is where the plot really begins to advance. Another full-page map details the six levels of the Temple of Yig and as with the map of Black Dog's Caves, there is a passage left open for the GM to add on to the mapped area if they want to. There is some of background for the GM on the Valossan civilization, several minor artifacts, an opportunity to gain a powerful artifact (detailed in Focus on Freeport number seven, free download at: http://www.greenronin.com/files/focus07.pdf ), a riddle to solve, a curse to be lifted and several other items that again gave me plenty of plot hooks for the future.

Part Four takes the PCs to the lighthouse itself. The timing of this section is the trickiest part of running this adventure. The PCs have to have a sense of urgency that's built up for them throughout the previous encounters. They have to stop Drac and time is ticking. The most difficult part for me was trying to keep the PCs from running off to storm the lighthouse in broad daylight, they were so wound up and ready to take on Drac and his minions. The author warns about this in the adventure itself, and I should have paid more attention to his advice.

The one part of the book that I didn't like, and it's a minor issue, is having the stats in an appendix in the back of the book. I like to have the stats for the NPCs and creatures listed in the part of the adventure where they appear. Flipping back and forth through the book is annoying. (I ended up photocopying the appendix so I could look at it separately.) In addition to the stats for the NPCs, there are three new creatures detailed in the Appendix, and two nice player handouts meant to be photocopied straight from the book. The last page is an ad for Legions of Hell and Hell in Freeport.

Anyway, bottom line is that this book has a lot of useful stuff in it. Besides wrapping up the trilogy, Madness in Freeport has a lot of useful bits in the form of great maps NPCs, political factions, city history, and adventure hooks. It's everything I like in an adventure and my group will be playing through the adventures spun off from these hooks for a long time.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

ENnie Winner of Best Cartography, 2001!

The Freeport Trilogy concludes with this exciting 48-page adventure. Return to the city that started it all with Madness in Freeport. The unveiling of Milton's Folly draws near, and the PCs must uncover its sinister secrets before time runs out. This time they face more than back alley toughs and mindless undead. Sealord Drac has his eyes on the PCs and they may not survive his malefic attentions.

 

[Kalendraf]

It's time to add a review for the 3rd episode in the Freeport series, Madness in Freeport. This one has a lot more material than the first two adventures had. This one lasted 4 playing sessions for my group, or about 16 hours. My players had a blast and so did the DM! As usual, spoilers are included below.

The adventure starts with a heavy duty dose of role-playing opportunity at Lord Drac's Ball. Depending on your taste and those of your group, you could easily stretch the events and sidebar intrigues to fill an entire playing session. That's what happened when I ran it. They roleplayed all the events from buying fancy clothing up thru the closing of the ball, and a final discussion with K'Stallo regarding the Jade Statue, taking about 4 hours to run thru all of it. As a DM, running this event can push your limits with approximately 2 dozen NPC's to keep track of throughout the session. I wish there was a bit more Q&A info regarding each character. I would have liked to have had a large gather information chart to work off of to find gossip regarding the various notable NPCs. If you have time, you could put something like this together yourself in advance, and tailor it to suit your particular campaign.

Following the ball, the action moves to finding an old crew mate of a notorious pirate. Finding him is rather easy, and his info is easily obtained. Make sure the party has enough gold to pay his price, however. My group tends to blow all but about 10 gp per character whenever they can, so they really had to scrounge to meet his price.

The caves where the pirate hid his treasure are trapped in a number of ways. One thing to note is that the 11 CR3 traps on the beach near the pirates final resting place are worth more experience than any single encounter in the nearby temple (assuming a 4th thru 6th level party). You may want to tone down the CR and/or experience from those in case your rogues decide to clear them all out.

As for the temple, it's filled with a number of undead, especially non-corporeal ones. If you haven't run these before, you and your players may be in for quite a surprise. The 50% miss makes them very difficult to kill especially if you get on a hot streak in your die rolls. I rolled about 20+ miss rolls in a row and almost killed the party in the process. The stat damage from the shadows accumulates quickly, making it very hard for a party to survive. I actually had to perform some DM-intervention at one point to avoid losing the party en-masse.

The lower levels of the temple are quite a bit easier compared to the levels above. The zombies at the bottom and the huge zombie snake die rather quickly to a well equipped party. This made the temple seem a bit uneven and unsatisfying for my group.

Once they have obtained the necessary pieces to reclaim the Jade Statue, they still have to make one more sacrifice. The players aren't going to like it. One character has to lose 2 points of constitution. I strongly recommend that you download the Focus on Freeport information from the Green Ronin website which details the powers of the Jade Statue as well. The item is an artifact with several powers. That may explain why such a heavy price must be paid to obtain it. How to recover those lost points of con is probably fodder for a future adventure at the very least.

Returning from the temple and the caves, the party has one final objective: The assault on the lighthouse. However, there is a chance that the party might not realize it's time to do this yet. A curious party will likely have wanted to go there in previous episodes, only to be turned away. The increased guards at the lighthouse at this point make it look even more doubtful that they will be able to get there now. Some subtle hints may be required to steer them in the right direction. The one clue requiring a Knowledge: Nature check may not be enough.

The actual lighthouse adventure will likely take a full 4 hour playing session to finish up. Some of the battles can be quite intense, especially the ones against the gibbering mouther or the one against the Wizard. The final battle against Drac and his cronies can be very difficult as well, though that can be ended quickly if the party follows the clues they have. As they climb their way through the lighthouse, the danger increases, just like a climactic finish in a movie. Play it to the hilt, and your players will love it. My group was very near dying in the last battle, and just barely managed to pull it off. It's something they'll never forget! I can't think of any other adventures that will be etched in our minds quite like this one.

My biggest gripe about this adventure is the suggested party levels being 4 thru 6. I strongly believe that a party should be at least level 5 before starting this. My group was level 4 and had a very rough time in the caves and temple. I'd also recommend the possibility of toning down the number of non-corporeal undead in the temple, or giving your party access to at least 1 or 2 ghost-touch weapons. Otherwise, it's very easy to slaughter the party down there. The final battles with the wizard and Drac are quite challenging, and you may want to consider dropping each of them by 1 level. Also, the few items they are carrying are quite powerful (+3 stuff), which might be better to tame down to +2 and add in some other lesser items to make up for it.

Overall, it's a great conclusion to the freeport series. Sure there are some things that I would have liked to see changed or added, but its nothing that can't be fixed by an astute DM. If decimal ratings were allowing I'd put this around 4.8 out of 5. So I'm rounding it up to 5.

 

[The Lost Muse]

Madness in Freeport is a mid-level adventure set in Green Ronin's Freeport, and written by William Simoni. It is a 48 page soft cover with a stapled binding, and written for D&D 3.0. The inside covers are used to map out the various levels of the infamous Lighthouse, one page is lost to credits and the open game licence, and one page for advertisements. Of the remaining 46 pages, a lot of great content is packed in.

The module opens with a few pages describing Freeport and the events outlined in the two previous modules (Death in Freeport and Terror in Freeport). We are then presented with a synopsis of the module outlining the events scheduled to take place over the next three days of game time. The inclusion of the backstory is essential for GM's picking up on the story with just this single module, and the synopsis helps to keep events straight in the mind of the GM.

Part One begins the module in earnest, beginning with The Grand Lighthouse Ball. The players are invited to a ball to be awarded with medals for their efforts in defending the city from the evil Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign. This section is the most useful in the module because it contains the biographies of all the members of the Captain's Council as well as a few candidates to fill the empty seats. A few important citizens of Freeport are also outlined. This section can be as short or as long as the GM wants, depending on how much the PC's want to talk to the various NPC's. For groups that are combat-focussed, this section is best skimmed over, as they may not appreciate the subtle and obvious machinations taking place.

Part Two and Three sees the playesr going on a treasure hunt in submerged caves, and through the Sunken Temple of Yig. This section is pretty much a dungeon crawl with a spirit getting the party to go and get stuff from various parts of the cave. While I personally didn't enjoy running this part of the adventure, it definately helps to keep things interesting. One item to note – to retrieve a necessary artifact, one PC must sacrifice two points of Constitution. Some players may frown on this, and the text suggests using that as a future plot hook; I think it forces a tough decision, and parties uninterested in roleplaying are going to have trouble with it.

Part Four is the showdown in the OK Corr… I mean, the Lighthouse. Emerging, just in time, from the caves, the party must rush to the lighthouse, secure entry, get to the top, and stop the ritual the bad guys are performing. There are notes allowing for the party to arrive early, and suggestions on what to do if they are late, and the possibilities of failure are also hinted at. The module is nicely wrapped up, while still leaving some nagging loose ends to ensure that the party is kept busy after the events of the module are concluded.

Wrapping up, there is an appendix with tats for all the characters in the book, as well as creatures encountered, some handouts, and a new monster is detailed.

This module is fairly linear, requiring each part to be completed before the next is commenced, and although parts of it are great and useful long after the module has been played, other parts are not. Still, the module holds up well on repeated use with different groups. 5 stars – but only because it’s contents are so useful for a Freeport GM.