0. Preliminary notes
I won a free copy of Raise the Dead (Necromancer Games) in a contest, for which I only had to delve into my collection of old AD&D modules and find the proper reply to "Fair is the day", which is (as I now know without going through that module again): "but fairer the jewels of evening". This has been by far the nicest way in which I ever obtained a D&D book, and I'd like to express my thanks for it once more at this place.
The price I have to pay for being a winner is writing this Review <grin>. Not a high price at all. However, this is my very first D&D book review, so I'll just hope the result will be passable. Of course the FAQ on this site has been a great help.
This review *will* contain some major spoilers....
1. About the product
As the title suggests, this product is about raising deceased (player) characters. Rather than sending your party to a temple where they can pay (or pray) to have their friend resurrected, the modules contained within Raise the Dead make things a bit harder on the adventurers, sending them off into new perils with as a possible reward the life of their comrade.
The first adventure,
Nature's Bounty, and the second,
Kinslayer's Moon, are designed for 8th level characters, the next,
The Crypt of Ronashim, for 6th level PC's, and the final one,
Them Bones, once more for 8th level parties. Each adventure offers help in adjusting the difficulty to parties of 1 or 2 levels lower, or a few levels higher.
Some ideas are also offered in each adventure to get your party involved even if none of them has died.
2. How I have used the book so far
I have DM'ed the second and the fourth adventures, the former with a dead character that needed raising, the latter using one of the alternative character hooks. The other two adventures appealed somewhat less to me, so I won't discuss them here and instead focus on the ones that I like(d) and used.
3. Kinslayer's Moon
In this adventure, the heroes (looking for a legendary Well that is said to restore the deceased to life) walk into a region where two peoples fight a grim fight. And in order to find the Well, they typically align themselves with one of the two factions, the honorable Horonaim or the evil Abarim barbarians. As a matter of fact, the Abarim have sent a group to the Well as well, in order to raise the fallen barbarian warlord Chemos. If the adventurers are helping the Horonaim, their task is to stop this barbarian envoy, if they are helping the Abarim, they
are the barbarian envoy and have to fight off the group sent after them by the Horonaim.
In the first part of the module, the party is trying to reach the Well at Ashan'kor before the other group does, with some encounters on the way. In the second part, they have to work their way through the Tempel of Set (which is located in the ruined city of Ashan'kor and contains the Well the adventurers are looking for), find the Well and use it.
Apart from that, there is a deadline here, for the Well will only function on the eve of Kinslayer's Moon, when the moon's crimson light shines upon the Temple, and the Well. I think the adventure states that this occurs only once a year, but I thought it prudent to make it an even more rare occurance
4. My evaluation of Kinslayer's Moon
I like the idea a lot. The party's choice to support either of the two sides, the trek to the ruined city, the crawl through the temple. And last but not least the time pressure. Of course, the party happens to arrive at about the right time, but they don't have the luxury of loitering much on the way.
Personnally, though, I liked the second part better than the first. The adventure describes how to handle the chase between the two parties to reach Ashan'kor, but I'm much too stubborn a DM to have an adventure tell me where the two parties will meet. And I decided that it would be the most fun if the encounter took place in the room of the Well. So the entire discussion on the chase was a bit wasted on me. Also, I regretted not finding a map and a brief description of the ruins of Ashan'kor in the adventure. I think it would have been nice if the party had actually had to find their way through the ruins, perhaps fighting a fihyr (MM2) on the way. A missed chance in my opinion.
The temple of Set was much to my liking. The entire complex seems to be designed as a death trap, to prevent people from reaching the Well (I even added an extra trap myself). It might be a bit hard to explain why not every single trap has been set off by now, centuries after the devastation of Ashan'kor, especially since even goblins seem to know about the Well. But this isn't bothering me in the least. It is reminiscent of many first edition modules (which I liked a lot). And after all, Necromancer Games *is* the company with the first edition feel.
There are a few details of KM that might have been done better, in my humble opinion - a few critical notes. For example the choice of NPC names. A minor detail, I agree, but still.... For example, the barbarian cleric who has found out about the Well to revive Chemos is called Baudelaire. Why the name of my favourite 19th century French poet? Of course, the writers could not have known that, but a name that breathes a bit more fantasy and less 'real world' would have been a better choice. Many of the other names in this module show the same lack of imagination, I think.
Something my players found somewhat unbalanced about KM is the huge difference in CR between the encounters. I can't say I really agree with this - why couldn't there be an orc in a module designed for party level 8? But after the orcs the players were a bit shocked by the giralons <grin> (OK, I admit, I increased the number of giralons
).
Another minor thing: on the map of the temple, room number "8" was omitted. I like maps, and I dislike inaccuracies in them.
My final gripe with KM is the lack of imagination in the way Set treats those who find themselves both dead and immersed in his Well. I think it would have been more fun if there had been a small list of possibilities the DM could choose from. Something that comes to mind: the resurrected character is under the effect of a
geas to perform a quest for any temple of Set (that is not in disuse).
All in all, I liked KM a lot, and it was fun playing. But there are a few things in it that temper my enthusiasme just a little.
5. Them Bones
In this adventure, parties trying to resurrect a fallen friend are in search of a mysterious magical substance known as
ephemeryl. This substance has the power of granting a wish (just once).
The
ephemeryl is located in a mining complex abandoned by the Dwarves who delved it decennia ago. At the moment a group of troglodytes and a group of fungus men are the inhabitants, and both groups are at war with each other. The troglodytes are led by a cloaker, called Red Eyes, who hopes to one day rule the entire area. To that end he wants to eliminate or chase away the humans who live on the shore of the lake under which the former dwarven mine is located. And it has been discovered that a poison can be manufactured from certain spores found within the bodies of fungus men. The peace-loving fungus men had to defend themselves, and this has led to a situation of all-out war.
A few days before the party arrives, a young rogue has found his death in the very first room of the mining complex, and because both fungus men and troglodytes took parts of his body to their homes, the distance between body and place of death became too large, preventing him from entering after life. Now he haunts the house of a ranger living on the shores of the lake. This offers the party a nice alternative motivation to enter the caves.
When the adventurers have dealt with the first monsters they encounter (all slimes; a very interesting encounter!!), they meet a drow who just escaped from the troglodytes, and a deep gnome, Ulk, who tries to use them in his own plot to wipe out both fungus men and troglodytes, so he can take over the caves. This gives the group an interesting choice - will they follow the deep gnome's advice, and kill the current cave inhabitants, or do they prefer a more diplomatic approach? Even more interestingly, in case they choose the latter option, Ulk uses his illusions to ensure there *will* be a large-scale battle (unless the party is smart and reacts appropriately).
6. My evaluation of Them Bones
My first impression of Raise the Dead was that I liked this adventure best, and even though Kinslayer's Moon was a real success, I think I can hold on to my first impression. The entrance into the Dwarven Mines is very well done, where the party has to get past a brown mold that clings to the ceiling next to the opening of a shaft they are descending through. A very interesting problem for them to get their teeth into! (Not literally speaking of course
).
After that, the adventure offers very good possibilities for roleplaying, and different ways for the adventurers to get to their goal(s).
But of course, there are also some things that should have been done better, I think. Once again, I have a bit of a problem with the map. The map of the caves, that is. Once again, a room number is missing, but more annoyingly than in KM, because there one room had no room number, whereas here the missing room number 4 designates the ceiling of cave 5. I think the map should have shown this. Also, I miss the sinkhole to the Underdark on this map.
I have to add, though, that I think the way the vertical shafts linking the different parts of the caves here, are shown on the map is very clear and self-explaining.
The thing I dislike most about Raise the Dead is the fact that it contains monsters (like the Mercury Ooze in this adventure) for which you are referred to Necromancer's Games'
Tome of Horrors. No details of these beasties are included in RtD. Of course, you can replace the Mercury Ooze with another slime (which I did), but I still think this isn't a very elegant way to handle things. Even if it weren't annoying that you're supposed to have this other rule book, the cover does not state this. It does say, on the cover: "This product requires the use of the D&D Player's Handbook", but in my opinion it would have been nice if it also said: "and the Tome of Horrors will be useful".
Next, another minor detail. This adventure refers to the rules for overbearing in the PHB. I agree that I may have done a bad job looking for those rules, but the only PHB I was able to locate them in was the second edition one. Never mind, I didn't need those rules
But I thought I'd mention it anyway.
All in all, the same end result as for Kinslayer's Moon: I may have enjoyed this adventure a little bit more than KM, but the critical notes (especially the Mercury Ooze) weighed more heavily for me here.
7. My evaluation of the product
As I have said before, I liked both adventures I played a lot, but have a few critical remarks about them as well. The same goes in fact for the product as a whole. I like it a lot. I think it is a great idea to have a few small adventures written for a special situation such as raising a fallen comrade. It wouldn't be bad, I think, if more such products were published. Like a module containing several adventures specifically designed for parties who have become lord of a town or city, and encounter adventures that concern the welfare of their city.
The one criticism I would like to add is this - three of the four adventures were written for level 8 parties, and one for level 6. True, there are tips for scaling down the adventure a few levels, but I would have liked to see one adventure suitable for 2nd to 5th level parties (for example). Especially since at 9th level most adventuring groups have their own ways of raising the dead.
To conclude - I would rate the adventures themselves 5/5. But the critical notes "force" me to subtract one point from that, resulting in a 4/5.
