I've picked up the low-level desert one as well (name escapes me), but it doesn't seem to be nearly as well developed. I will definitely be picking up more, and I will certainly be looking for more of Mr. Finch's work in the future!
RC
Thanks for the kudos, everyone!
I've written two modules since Pod Caverns. I wouldn't give a general recommendation on
Tomb of the Iron God because it's an introductory adventure for Swords & Wizardry (0E retro-clone), and as such it's more of a meat-and-potatoes dungeon crawl for newer players, not a showcase piece.
Spire of Iron and Crystal is a showcase-type module similar to pod-caverns. It's also written for Swords & Wizardry, so it's usable with 1e without conversion. It has gotten good reviews - here's the concluding paragraph of the review at Grognardia:
Retailing for $9.95, this is an excellent mid-level adventure module for referees looking for a slightly more outré locale into which to throw the characters in their campaign. I suspect it will prove a very difficult challenge for many players. Finch pulled out all the stops in writing this one, creating both a truly memorable environment and filling it with obstacles to test even experienced players. If I have a complaint about The Spire of Iron and Crystal, it's that it feels a little cramped. I kept expecting there to be more than its four levels (most of which have only 15-20 rooms), but that probably speaks more to how much I enjoyed it than to any deficiencies in the text itself. And, as I said, the module gives more than enough hooks on which to hang many more follow-up adventures -- high praise for any module, especially one as unique and evocative as this one.
Full review:
HERE
It will work well with 3e and 4e (although you'd have to generate stats to replace the 0e/1e stats). The only way to
break the dungeon would be by using skills/feats like dungeoneering to give away strategic answers, and that's an issue in 3e dungeons as well. At one point in the adventure, in each and every playtest session, the players have exploded into wild activity, splitting up the party and trying all kinds of strange ideas at once. This won't cause a problem in 4e (based on my limited experience) but it might be a bit cumbersome in 3e, depending on how light a touch the DM uses with skills and feats. The less "powerful" the DM makes skills, the better the adventure will work, but the workhorse skills of spot and search will operate fine in this adventure.
For 4e, I think the risk would be that there are frequent minor combats taking place through the entire thing. If your group is adept with the combat rules, the more-specific 4e combat rules shouldn't get in the way. If the group treats each and every combat like a chess game, the large number of small combats might cause the module to go off focus. Again, I only have a couple of 4e sessions to base this on, so it's just my best guess based on what I've played.
