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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2010149" data-attributes="member: 18387">Nature's Fury is a two adventure game book from Fiery Dragon. The earlier reviewers did a great job in covering what is inside; this review will focus on how it was to DM for my normal gaming group.Although they are set in the opposite order in the book, I'll cover The Crystal Tower first, as that is for 5th level characters, and Swords Through the Icy Gate, which is for 6th level (at least). Since pretty much any party that does both will do them in this order, I'm not sure why Fiery Dragon choose to put the higher level one first.<spoilers below>The Crystal Tower by James Bell.The map, NPCs, and creatures are all towards the back of the module, so a sticky bookmark is invaluable. Especially since none of these are on the inside back cover. The map would have been nice there, but instead, an ad.I ran this right after Green Ronin's Madness In Freeport, and had the iceberg float off the coast of Freeport. There is an NPC group that is going for the same treasure as the players, and tying them to the Freeport (or pick a city in your world) underworld is no problem, and adds to the fun. I recommend it.This was my first Fiery Dragon counter game, and I have to say it works well. I pulled out a bunch of gnolls for the first battle, and one of my players yelled "hey, those look like gnolls!" No words from me, and the artwork conveyed enough to let her make the right conclusion. Nice.However, the module has the Gnolls taking up a great defensive position behind an overturned table, and then gives them no missile weapons. I recommend DMs just give them some.The main puzzle in the center was great, and it was hard to keep a straight face as the players tinkered with it. Basically, there is a device on many floors that control tower security and access to the main treasure. There is a clue found on an old guard's body that helps. What is very nice about it, at least for my group, is that it is not a "stop the game until you do the puzzle" thing, at least until the very end. It's play with the puzzle and suffer the consequences until you figure it out. By luck, skill, or whatever, my players did well with this.The traps did manage to kill the party Cleric. It was an explosive runes trap that got her, and it's not hard for it to take out a 5th level character, especially if they are down hit points already. The player was not very attached to her passive healer, so she finished the adventure as a Monk, so no worries.The other, NPC, party tried to fight the players, then surrendered, only to have their leader slain by gargoyles. Ilgen Jaspar, the NPC rogue, ended up getting a share of the treasure and is now a roving NPC with a grudge against my players.The last room was a bit of a let down for my players, who were itching for a boss monster, and got two wimpy Ice Mephits and a trap. Unfortunately for the drama, they were pretty well healed up before entering this room.A very nice touch is that the iceberg is melting, and the embedded stone tower will sink to the bottom of the sea. I had to accelerate the melting a bit to keep the tension up, as they were moving well ahead of the timeline.If you have more than four players, definitely scale up. But watch out for the traps. Fifth level wizards can just evaporate in this place!No matter what the timeline says, I recommend the tower start to sink as soon as the players grab the big treasure. Let them rush up to the top before the place fills with water, it adds to the fun.Swords Through the Ice Gate by Mike Mearls.This was the first time my players got to go through a portal to another plane, and they loved it. Some interesting role-playing of bugbear factions against each other, and a great fight on floating ice bits in a warm spring welling up in an ice field. And a dragon, the first my players had faced.The map is even harder to find than in the other adventure, so a sticky bookmark is a requirement. It is near, but not in, the middle of the book. The monsters and npcs are in the back of the book with the ones from the other adventure. Hmmmm...I knew my players would do well until the dragon, but I worried about a total party kill when they did. So I ran a homegrown adventure and Fiery Dragon's Ghost Machine before my players got to the bugbear valley, to get some levels up. I set both my adventure, and the Ghost Machine, in the other plane, so after the Owen's Point opening of this adventure. Sensing I over corrected, I scaled up the bugbear opposition by adding some Gnomish Necromancer support. But I digress...Back into the plot, my players enjoyed dealing with the bugbear shaman, but they never trusted him. The fight on the ice was fraught with sinking PCs, as player after player missed rolls and slipped into the ice water. A good many castings of endure cold had been cast beforehand, so there was more laughter than panic. I think the Paladin went in the drink four times!The dragon's ice lair was also fun, with some water elementals giving the players a good challenge. Then the dragon. I had let some of the players get up to 7th level. Yet facing a 189 hit point white dragon with spells will be beyond the reach of most parties at this level, especially since the module has good instructions on how she will fight intelligently from above, out of reach of the fighters.Here the DM should fill in where the text does not. I believe in having things the players have to run from, but I use shows of force, to let the players have a chance to run, before wiping them out.I did so here, targeting only the half orc fighter who had a few metric tons of hit points in the first breath attack. The players got the message, and grabbed the prisoner, and prepared to run. Then the dice failed me, and the player's spells were all landing even with her great saving throw numbers, I was rolling 1s and 2s! Charmed bugbears were distracting her, and taking the hits instead of the players. She became confused, and came down within range of fiery swords, and was missing on her melee, and though her breath was bringing the players to a few hit points, it was not taking them down. Before anyone could believe it, the tide had turned, and the total party kill had turned into a dragon kill. There was much rejoicing. I caution other DMs, this was an unnatural result, and I had six players, two 7th level, and four 6th level. The module does not discuss what the players might do besides combat to the death. The players could leave the last prisoner with the dragon. They could try to grab him and run with a distraction of charmed bugbears as my players did. Or they could see "the boss monster" and decide to fight. The module seems to assume they will fight and win, but I don't see it, not four 6th level players. So be prepared.In any case, the rest is balanced enough and the dragon fearsome enough, most DMs will see the problem. I gave lots of foreshadowing, so they had a number of tricks up their sleeves, and were willing to go through all their spells, potions, and scrolls.DownsideA bit too much page flipping, and not enough role-playing. The big thing to watch out for is a total party kill with the dragon.UpsideCool counters by Claudio Pozas, great settings, a sense of wonder and novelty.ConclusionAll in all, two fun adventures, well worth a place in my bookshelf.</blockquote>

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