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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Neuroglyph" data-source="post: 5343355" data-attributes="member: 85633">I have always been a fan of “dungeon” tile sets long before 4E made them a nearly indispensable part of the game.  Having a ready-made full-color map to use during an encounter is a whole lot more exciting than a line drawing in erasable marker on a vinyl battlemat any day of the week!  Over the years, a lot of different publishers have offered dungeon tile sets to use in D&D and other fantasy RPGs, but the recent versions by Wizards of the Coast <a href="http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=83883&filters=0_0_0_31813_0?affiliate_id=270466" target="_blank">[align=right]http://www.neuroglyphgames.com/rpgblogs/home/neurogly/public_html/rpgblogs/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/tankard-tales-cover.jpg[/align]</a>have been unusually successful.  And one can chalk up their success to how often WotC has been featuring their own dungeon tiles as maps in their official product releases.  Whether it is a sourcebook or module or even a Dungeon Magazine adventure, all the maps these days are being generated by using dungeon tiles in new and interesting configurations to make them a useful part of the play experience.  And now, Myth Merchant Press has their own spin on this accessory concept, and developed not only a new “dungeon” tile set, but a series of three short adventures to go with it, in Tankard Tales: The Comeback Inn!  Tankard Tales: The Comeback Inn   <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Authors:  Steven Muchow</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cover Illustrator: Steven Muchow</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Publisher: Myth Merchant Games</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Year: 2010</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Media: PDF (48 pages)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Retail Cost: $4.95 (available from RPGNow.com)</li> </ul>                Tankard Tales: The Comeback Inn is a dungeon tile set and a trio of adventures bundled into one accessory, and is designed for D&D 4E to be usable in almost any campaign setting.  The accessory includes over 20 pages of full-color tiles, depicting a medieval fantasy inn and an underground dungeon complex, as well as three pages of furniture and other props to add to the maps as desired by a Dungeon Master.  In addition to the maps, there is a complete description of the inn and its services, nearly a score of new monsters, two new diseases, and three short adventures with appropriate hooks designed for the Heroic and Paragon Tiers.    Production Quality  The production quality of Tankard Tales: The Comeback Inn is very good, with some solid writing and a good layout, along with some splendidly rendered dungeon tile maps.  The adventure and the encounters are set down in formats very similar to official releases, and the monsters use the new MM3 formatting which is readily usable by 4E Dungeon Masters.  It was a disappointing that there was no table of content or pdf bookmarks in this ebook to make it easier to reference, but since nearly half the accessory is dungeon tile maps, I assume the publisher felt that DMs would only have to contend with a little more than a couple dozen pages of text.  Still, to be able to click quickly between adventures and combat encounters is a boon for those of us DMs who try to “go green” and use their laptop at the gaming table, rather than printing every adventure out on paper.  I really liked how the artist designed the six dungeon room maps, and provided an illustration guide for how they fit together to form one big map.  The map pages can be easily printed out on heavy paper or even cardstock, and then assembled into one big map, or used room by room for individual encounters.  There also seems to be a couple additional map configurations which can be created, by placing the tiles in different positions, and then decorating the maps with the additional furnishings provided by the artist.  The furnishings include things like tables, chairs, benches, boxes, crates, barrels, trestle tables, altars, a fireplace, and an icky green brazier.  These are properly proportioned, and can be used not only with this map set but with any other dungeon tile set a gaming group might have on hand.  Introduction  Tankard Tales: The Comeback Inn introduces the Players to an adventuring inn which has been established in a old underground shrine, and provides not only a starting point for adventures, but a safe haven between quests as well:The Comeback Inn is run by a good cleric named Griselda, and she provides not only a place to stay in the wilderness, but also can perform the raise dead ritual to bring back fallen heroes.  Those unable to pay for the ritual are indentured to the inn as servants for a year and a day, and the author provides a nifty scroll handout to use if a hero ever finds himself waking at the Comeback Inn without the means to pay gold for his new second life.  In addition to heroes-turned-waiters, the inn hosts a pack of brownies which appear to have been native to the temple, who provide “gifts” of cleaning and repair to any adventurer canny enough to leave out an offering before bedtime.  The author also details a number of other “regulars” at the inn, including Ferol the gnomish peddler, a braggart warrior named Gaston the Great, and a suspicious shopkeeper named Grels Roomast.  All these personalities, as well as several other odd folk, all live in the small town of New Stormhold, which has grown up near the fortified inn.  There are sufficient hints in the NPCs backgrounds to start additional quests and adventures at the Comeback Inn, should an enterprising Dungeon Master decide to make this locale a base of operations for his adventurers.  There are also some sample “Strange Events” provided by the author, which can be used for even more adventure material to work into a campaign.  The Adventures  There are three adventures detailed in this accessory, and all of them utilize the dungeon tile set provided in the ebook.  There are two Heroic Tier adventures, a Level 1 introductory quest and a Level 5 dungeon crawl, and a Level 15 Paragon Tier adventure involving the recovery of an artifact from an ancient tomb.  The adventures all involve the Comeback Inn, and star Griselda as the quest giver, although Dungeon Masters could make minor alterations to expand upon these short quests to suit their own needs in their campaigns.  The plot lines are fairly straightforward and a little linear, but that is not too surprising given that these adventures are short one-shot style quests.  The introductory adventure (one encounter) is particularly fun, and could be used with a traditional 4E group or with a band of Essentials Characters.  The other two adventures have three encounters each, and include traps, hazards, and even nasty diseases to make the dungeon delve feel complete despite its brevity.  The Encounters  The introductory adventure, “The Plundered Cellar”, involves the inn’s resident brownies getting plastered on booze and making pests of themselves in the cellar.  Griselda sends the newbie heroes into the cellar to capture (not kill!) the brownies, by stuffing them into bags.  The adventure is great to introduce Players to a variety of combat conditions and tactics, including slides, teleports, pushes, grabs, and lighting effects, making it just about perfect for 4E neophytes whether using Traditional or Essentials characters.  The brownies are fey, and therefore have a nice arsenal of annoying and tricky powers to bring to bear, and adventurers are suitably rewarded for following directions and capturing the drunken fairy folk.  The other Heroic Tier adventure, “Stop Frztratch!”, is set for the middle of the tier, and involves recovering Griselda’s stolen ritual book before it can be used by thieving orcs to raise their dead leader.  The story and encounters are nicely designed, although they are a little heavy in their use of soldier monsters, which might make combats drag on a bit.  The second encounter of the three for this adventure is a nifty assault on an ancient dwarven defense system, and involves not only a combat encounter but a skill challenge too, in order to shut down the automated constructs barring the way to the final battle.  The final adventure is a 15th Level quest in the Paragon Tier called “Artifact Hunt”, in which Griselda finds a map left behind by one of her indentured adventurers leading to an evil artifact.  While the artifact is not detailed in this adventure, the heroes are offered a handsome reward for bringing it back to the cleric for safekeeping.  Although the storyline is pretty fun, the encounters for this adventure might need a little work, particularly the final encounter against a 17th Level Elite Soldiers backed by three 16th Level Elite Controllers.  The monsters are solidly designed, but having so many elite monsters in one encounter, and with three of them as controllers, this fight could potentially drag on for several tedious hours.  Overall Grade:  A-  Final Thoughts  Overall, I think Tankard Tales: The Comeback Inn is a really spectacular gaming accessory, combining the best parts of an adventure module with a dungeon tile set.  The adventure elements are well designed, even if the actual adventures themselves are somewhat short one-shot style affairs, and the dungeon tiles can be used over and over by Dungeon Masters in a variety of ways.  With all the monsters, encounters, npcs, and dungeon tiles in this one product, the price tag of $4.95 is a real deal, even if a DM has to print out the tiles on his own.  So until next blog… I wish you Happy Gaming!  Grade Card  <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Presentation: A-</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">- Design: A</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">- Illustrations: A-</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Content: B+</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">- Crunch: B+</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">- Fluff: A-</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Value: A</li> </ul></blockquote>

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