Midnight's Terror
ISBN# 1-889182-55-9
Designed by David Johansson, Steve Johansson, Brian Jelke, Jolly R. Blackburn, David S. Kenzer, DAvid Berent
Published by Kenzer and Company
Originally reviewed by Jesse Dean on AtFantasy.com
Midnight's Terror is the third in Kenzer and Company's line of d20 modules. Serving as the third edition update of the old Kenzer and Company module Secret Temple of Adayj, it is written for a group of four to six characters of levels six to eight. It is set in the Khydoban Desert, located in Kenzer's Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign setting. The setting is not mandatory for this particular adventure however, and is easily placed in any setting that has a large desert and a city within that desert that permits both good and evil religions to openly practice their faith. It is priced at $15.99
Plot Outline
Midnight's Terror is a free-flowing adventure, without any set plot or direction for the PCs to follow. Rather, it presents what is going on, a number of possible ways for the PCs to get involved, and than the tools for the GM to resolve their involvement. It is quite possible to run this adventure multiple times with different groups and have a different adventure each time.
The core basis of the adventure is this: A wizard, Tur Radhkke, in search of the potential that could be found discovering a new source of the drug known as Silver Sand. In he course of his search he, accidentally unearthed an artifact called the Greater Orb of Midnight, a relic sacred to the Temple of Sleepless Nights. The wizard was slightly disturbed yet fascinated by the relic so he encased it in a magic circle against evil to secure it until he had time to study it later. Unfortunately for Tur, his attempts to gain more of the Silver Sand failed. He owed a lot of money to the Secret Network of the Blue Salamander and feared their eventual assassins if he failed to pay up. An opportunity presented itself, however, when a band of adventurers attacked him and were defeated. His sale of their equipment netted a nice profit, and Tur came upon a new idea to pay off the Network. He merely needed to lure fortune seekers to the pyramid that was his base and kill them off while he attempted to tap more Silver Sand/
The orb's temporary unearthing alerted the leadership of the Temple in the nearby city of Thygahsa, resulting in a hive of activity as the leadership assigned two task forces to recovering the Greater Orb and the Lesser Orb, which was being held somewhere in Thygasha. One of the priests, Alovina, seeking to beat out her rival, sent her bound efreet to recover the Lesser Orb, encasing it in a magic circle against evil upon her receiving it. Meanwhile, her efforts in seizing the Greater Orb failed due to strong resistance from the wizard. However, due to the presence of the magic circles against evil, the two halves had dropped out of the sight of the Temple of Sleepless Night, giving Alovina time to try another way to seize the Greater Orb. Arav, her rival, suspects that she is responsible for the Lesser Orbs' disappearance.
With these events in place the PCs are brought in. A number of avenues are presented for their participation in the adventure ranging from looking for the lesser half of the Orb of Midnight for the Church of the SIlver Mist, to working for Alvonia in weakening Tur Radhkke's position, to working for Arav in attacking Alvonia, to simply following the lures Tur Radhkke has set in place to lure treasure seekers into his clutches.
The bulk of the adventure describes the various locations involved with the module, allowing the GM to use them as he sees fit, depending on the plot hook used to snare the PCs into the adventure. The City of Thygasha is described in increased detail over that found in the Kingdoms of Kalamar hardbound. The rigors of the desert are described so that the GM does not need to reference the Dungeon Master's Guide. A large number of random encounters are detailed in depth, with some interconnections between them. Also detailed, in great depth, are the Temple of Sleepless Nights and the Pyramid of Kadar.
Presentation
Midnight's Terror, a standard laminated, softcover, book, is eighty-two pages long. The inside covers have maps on them. The margins are partially white and partially marbled and are an inch wide.
The cover illustration, by William O'Connor, depicts a battle between the priestess Alovina, with her nightmare, and some adventures at the center of a circle of power. The interior artwork is comprised of miniaturized versions of the module's ImageQuest illustrations found at the back of the module. They depict scenes and creatures to be shown to the players.
There are a plethora of maps in the modules, as is standard for the travel-dedicated modules that Kenzer produces. Each of them is informative and flavorful, matching the tone of the area with enough information to make them useful for their purpose. The DM maps are each gridded and scaled, with the physical features of the mapped area apparent on the map.
Overview
The bulk of Midnight's Terror details the locations that are used in the adventure, but space is also provided for the standard Introduction, Synopsis, Background, and Adventure Hooks. Frequent sidebars provide additional flavor to what is going on in the adventure. The Appendixes provide NPC statistics, several new magic items, a spell, and a section on dreams and nightmares. A glossary is also included. The module ends with sixteen pages of ImageQuest illustrations.
Analysis
Midnight's Terror's main strengths are its variety and its flexibility. It does a very good job of avoiding the feeling of linearity that was present in the previous two Kalamar modules. The ability to use this module a variety of different ways adds to its overall value, resulting in the ability to tell different stories over multiple uses. The encounters and locations are also easily transportable to other settings. The maps in particular are easily exploitable. The included illustrations are fantastic, and are a cut above even those of the previous Kalamar modules.
Midnight’s Terror has few flaws. The main problem it has are the strength of some of the encounters. It is likely the PCs will end up fighting 12 and 14th level characters over the course of the module. The likelihood of even an 8th level group being able to defeat several of these encounters is unlikely.
Conclusion
Midnight's Terror is a flexible and very adaptable adventure, serving as a nice variation from Kenzer's initial offerings. It continues the tradition of providing an expansion of the source material found in the Kingdoms of Kalmar setting through adventures, and contains a good deal of information that is useable even outside of the adventure. This module is a worthwhile purchase for anyone who is running the Kingdom of Kalamar setting, anyone who likes infinitely plunderable modules, and anyone who needs a mid-level adventure for use in a desert setting.
ISBN# 1-889182-55-9
Designed by David Johansson, Steve Johansson, Brian Jelke, Jolly R. Blackburn, David S. Kenzer, DAvid Berent
Published by Kenzer and Company
Originally reviewed by Jesse Dean on AtFantasy.com
Midnight's Terror is the third in Kenzer and Company's line of d20 modules. Serving as the third edition update of the old Kenzer and Company module Secret Temple of Adayj, it is written for a group of four to six characters of levels six to eight. It is set in the Khydoban Desert, located in Kenzer's Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign setting. The setting is not mandatory for this particular adventure however, and is easily placed in any setting that has a large desert and a city within that desert that permits both good and evil religions to openly practice their faith. It is priced at $15.99
Plot Outline
Midnight's Terror is a free-flowing adventure, without any set plot or direction for the PCs to follow. Rather, it presents what is going on, a number of possible ways for the PCs to get involved, and than the tools for the GM to resolve their involvement. It is quite possible to run this adventure multiple times with different groups and have a different adventure each time.
The core basis of the adventure is this: A wizard, Tur Radhkke, in search of the potential that could be found discovering a new source of the drug known as Silver Sand. In he course of his search he, accidentally unearthed an artifact called the Greater Orb of Midnight, a relic sacred to the Temple of Sleepless Nights. The wizard was slightly disturbed yet fascinated by the relic so he encased it in a magic circle against evil to secure it until he had time to study it later. Unfortunately for Tur, his attempts to gain more of the Silver Sand failed. He owed a lot of money to the Secret Network of the Blue Salamander and feared their eventual assassins if he failed to pay up. An opportunity presented itself, however, when a band of adventurers attacked him and were defeated. His sale of their equipment netted a nice profit, and Tur came upon a new idea to pay off the Network. He merely needed to lure fortune seekers to the pyramid that was his base and kill them off while he attempted to tap more Silver Sand/
The orb's temporary unearthing alerted the leadership of the Temple in the nearby city of Thygahsa, resulting in a hive of activity as the leadership assigned two task forces to recovering the Greater Orb and the Lesser Orb, which was being held somewhere in Thygasha. One of the priests, Alovina, seeking to beat out her rival, sent her bound efreet to recover the Lesser Orb, encasing it in a magic circle against evil upon her receiving it. Meanwhile, her efforts in seizing the Greater Orb failed due to strong resistance from the wizard. However, due to the presence of the magic circles against evil, the two halves had dropped out of the sight of the Temple of Sleepless Night, giving Alovina time to try another way to seize the Greater Orb. Arav, her rival, suspects that she is responsible for the Lesser Orbs' disappearance.
With these events in place the PCs are brought in. A number of avenues are presented for their participation in the adventure ranging from looking for the lesser half of the Orb of Midnight for the Church of the SIlver Mist, to working for Alvonia in weakening Tur Radhkke's position, to working for Arav in attacking Alvonia, to simply following the lures Tur Radhkke has set in place to lure treasure seekers into his clutches.
The bulk of the adventure describes the various locations involved with the module, allowing the GM to use them as he sees fit, depending on the plot hook used to snare the PCs into the adventure. The City of Thygasha is described in increased detail over that found in the Kingdoms of Kalamar hardbound. The rigors of the desert are described so that the GM does not need to reference the Dungeon Master's Guide. A large number of random encounters are detailed in depth, with some interconnections between them. Also detailed, in great depth, are the Temple of Sleepless Nights and the Pyramid of Kadar.
Presentation
Midnight's Terror, a standard laminated, softcover, book, is eighty-two pages long. The inside covers have maps on them. The margins are partially white and partially marbled and are an inch wide.
The cover illustration, by William O'Connor, depicts a battle between the priestess Alovina, with her nightmare, and some adventures at the center of a circle of power. The interior artwork is comprised of miniaturized versions of the module's ImageQuest illustrations found at the back of the module. They depict scenes and creatures to be shown to the players.
There are a plethora of maps in the modules, as is standard for the travel-dedicated modules that Kenzer produces. Each of them is informative and flavorful, matching the tone of the area with enough information to make them useful for their purpose. The DM maps are each gridded and scaled, with the physical features of the mapped area apparent on the map.
Overview
The bulk of Midnight's Terror details the locations that are used in the adventure, but space is also provided for the standard Introduction, Synopsis, Background, and Adventure Hooks. Frequent sidebars provide additional flavor to what is going on in the adventure. The Appendixes provide NPC statistics, several new magic items, a spell, and a section on dreams and nightmares. A glossary is also included. The module ends with sixteen pages of ImageQuest illustrations.
Analysis
Midnight's Terror's main strengths are its variety and its flexibility. It does a very good job of avoiding the feeling of linearity that was present in the previous two Kalamar modules. The ability to use this module a variety of different ways adds to its overall value, resulting in the ability to tell different stories over multiple uses. The encounters and locations are also easily transportable to other settings. The maps in particular are easily exploitable. The included illustrations are fantastic, and are a cut above even those of the previous Kalamar modules.
Midnight’s Terror has few flaws. The main problem it has are the strength of some of the encounters. It is likely the PCs will end up fighting 12 and 14th level characters over the course of the module. The likelihood of even an 8th level group being able to defeat several of these encounters is unlikely.
Conclusion
Midnight's Terror is a flexible and very adaptable adventure, serving as a nice variation from Kenzer's initial offerings. It continues the tradition of providing an expansion of the source material found in the Kingdoms of Kalmar setting through adventures, and contains a good deal of information that is useable even outside of the adventure. This module is a worthwhile purchase for anyone who is running the Kingdom of Kalamar setting, anyone who likes infinitely plunderable modules, and anyone who needs a mid-level adventure for use in a desert setting.
. 5% of the dreams have equal chances of predicting the future or the opposite. Those could be used in many way: in Ravenloft the nigtmare section could give some nice idea, or in the planes, etc...
