The Howling Hills (Dragonsfoot 2011)
By Charley Phipps
D&D 1st edition for character levels 10-14
Far to the north, in the upper reaches of the land of dread Iuz, lies one of the possible resting places of the ancient evil sorcerer, Acererak. Rumored to lie inside are deadly traps and terrific treasures, but all pales in comparison to the awesome power of the Demi-Lich.
THE BASICS:
The PDF is available for free at Dragonsfoot Adventure Downloads
The adventure is 11 pages long:
Overview:
This adventure is very similar to Tomb of Horrors, being a trap-filled dungeon. The background is that Acererak built one or more false tombs in addition to his true tomb, and this is one of the false tombs.
The dungeon is fairly linear, with the party progressing from room to room, picking up 3 keys on the way. Many of the true paths are well hidden behind secret doors; if you miss the correct path, the wrong path leads to dangerous traps. Even the true path involves some very nasty traps.
Strengths of the Adventure
If you like dangerous trap-filled dungeons like Tomb of Horrors, this will hit your sweet spot.
Weaknesses of the adventure
There are no player illustrations, which in my opinion was one of the best parts of the original Tomb of Horrors. There are a few editing problems that make this harder to read.
THE SPECIFICS:
I don't give much weight to text density and cost per page... I'd rather pay a lot for a small clever mystery than pay a little for a huge repetitive monster bash. I don't give much weight to new monsters and magic items... they can add a little variety to an adventure, but to me they are minor decoration.
1. Interesting and varied encounters (I look for unique encounters, allowing for a variety of role and roll playing.): (3/5)
There were no role-play encounters and very little to provide the characters with a sense of history or mood. There is one encounter (area 12) in which a dead body gives a lengthy (perhaps too lengthy) personal back-story, but only if the party casts speak with dead or animate dead. I really liked the back-story, and would like to have seen more bits of flavor or exposition spread throughout the dungeon. The Tomb of Horrors begins with a great long riddle "go back to the tormenter or through the arch..." and that riddle really set the tone for the Tomb of Horrors. There is no similar exposition here.
There is a particularly nasty trick in which at least one henchman is required to make 5 consecutive system-shock rolls in order required to gain the 2nd of 3 keys. I can see several henchmen buying the farm at this encounter.
There is one encounter in which if a party casts "Transmute Rock to Mud" the mud will turn into a mudman. I think this spell effect should have appeared in the introduction and applied to the whole adventure. Heck, a "stone to flesh" should turn into an aggressive flesh-golem while we are at it. I think there are probably several other interesting spell effects that could throw a wrench in some party's plans (like "summon monster" always summoning something evil and non-obedient).
2. Motivations for monsters and NPCs (or some detail of how they interact with their environment or neighbors.): (2/5)
There are negligible motivations provided for the few monsters. At the very least I would like to have seen some of the more intelligent combatants (the Efreet, the Vampire, and the Demon) start encounters with a little friendly banter before commencing hostilities. These conversations would be a great opportunity to provide some additional background about the dungeon or clues about what might still lie ahead.
3. Logical (the adventure should obey a sense of logic that clever players can use to their advantage): (2/5)
The only thing players can really do is to be extra cautious. When I was a player in Tomb of Horrors, we used a lot of summoned creatures and augury spells before committing any character to a course of action. When we got stuck, we used disintegrate fairly liberally, making tunnels in random directions in the hopes of finding other areas of the tomb past secret doors that we missed. (A gem of seeing would have been even more handy). This dungeon seems particularly vulnerable to a combination of "locate object" and "Dimension Door" (once someone has lost their gear to a teleport trap).
4. Writing Quality (foreshadowing, mystery, and descriptions that bring locations and NPCs to life): (2/5)
The writing is utilitarian and easy to follow. There are a few editing errors that possibly detract from the adventure. The 1st of 3 keys doesn't appear to have any use, and there is a typo in which the 3rd key is called the 2nd key a few times in Area 20.
There is a clumsily written portion in room 6. The author writes "In a large floor-standing vase in the South-West corner is a strange, ornate key made of iron. If checked for, it radiates magic. This is the key to unlock the great iron door to gain entrance to the Grand Foyer. The key is one of 666 keys inside the vase. A second key also radiates magic, but this one {is cursed}". It would have been much clearer to first mention that the vase has 666 keys. Then mention that two of the keys are magical. Then describe each of the two magical keys.
5. Ease of GMing (Clear maps, friendly stat blocks, skill check numbers, player handouts and illustrations): (3/5)
The map is outstanding. There is no boxed read-aloud text. There are no player handouts. The stat blocks are minimal--as is standard in 1st edition products.
There is one encounter that looks particularly difficult to run, and that's the room with an acid fog that destroys objects but is harmless to living creatures. The adventure calls for the DM to start rolling saving throws for equipment. I am not sure if the author intends one saving throw for each piece of equipment, or one saving throw per person, with a failure resulting in the loss of one or more items.
The final encounter, a teleportation trap into a sealed Oubliette, seems like a non-event. I would expect most parties to have plenty of ways of getting out of a sealed underground chamber, and light should not be a problem with continual light cast on objects. It almost reads as if the party is somehow expected to arrive in the final chamber without their adventuring gear, but it is clearly not the case.
FINAL WORD:
As long as you are a fan of the Tomb of Horrors, this is a great little free product. It could use some polish and I'd like to see a bit more flavor added to really bring the environment to life. It might be a fun romp for players who have read or played the Tomb of Horrors and want more of the same kind of challenge.
If you want a lot of role-playing with NPCs, with mysteries to uncover and various factions to pit against each other, you should pass on this.
I have not reviewed or read many free OSR products, so I am not convinced that it is fair to rate a free independent product on the same scale as large studio publications. I don't care much about cost and I never downgrade products for being too expensive. It is probably more useful for a cost-conscious reader to ignore my numeric grade and simply pick up the PDF for themselves.
You can see my other reviews on the forums at http://www.grippingtales.com
By Charley Phipps
D&D 1st edition for character levels 10-14
Far to the north, in the upper reaches of the land of dread Iuz, lies one of the possible resting places of the ancient evil sorcerer, Acererak. Rumored to lie inside are deadly traps and terrific treasures, but all pales in comparison to the awesome power of the Demi-Lich.
THE BASICS:
The PDF is available for free at Dragonsfoot Adventure Downloads
The adventure is 11 pages long:
- 1 cover page with credits
- 1 page of background
- 0.5 pages wilderness/wandering monsters
- 6.5 pages dungeon encounters
- 1 page of a new monster (a Demon)
- 1 page of a dungeon map
- Approximately 4 combat encounters
- Approximately 4 encounters with things to explore or examine
- Approximately 13 trap encounters
Overview:
This adventure is very similar to Tomb of Horrors, being a trap-filled dungeon. The background is that Acererak built one or more false tombs in addition to his true tomb, and this is one of the false tombs.
The dungeon is fairly linear, with the party progressing from room to room, picking up 3 keys on the way. Many of the true paths are well hidden behind secret doors; if you miss the correct path, the wrong path leads to dangerous traps. Even the true path involves some very nasty traps.
Strengths of the Adventure
If you like dangerous trap-filled dungeons like Tomb of Horrors, this will hit your sweet spot.
Weaknesses of the adventure
There are no player illustrations, which in my opinion was one of the best parts of the original Tomb of Horrors. There are a few editing problems that make this harder to read.
THE SPECIFICS:
I don't give much weight to text density and cost per page... I'd rather pay a lot for a small clever mystery than pay a little for a huge repetitive monster bash. I don't give much weight to new monsters and magic items... they can add a little variety to an adventure, but to me they are minor decoration.
1. Interesting and varied encounters (I look for unique encounters, allowing for a variety of role and roll playing.): (3/5)
There were no role-play encounters and very little to provide the characters with a sense of history or mood. There is one encounter (area 12) in which a dead body gives a lengthy (perhaps too lengthy) personal back-story, but only if the party casts speak with dead or animate dead. I really liked the back-story, and would like to have seen more bits of flavor or exposition spread throughout the dungeon. The Tomb of Horrors begins with a great long riddle "go back to the tormenter or through the arch..." and that riddle really set the tone for the Tomb of Horrors. There is no similar exposition here.
There is a particularly nasty trick in which at least one henchman is required to make 5 consecutive system-shock rolls in order required to gain the 2nd of 3 keys. I can see several henchmen buying the farm at this encounter.
There is one encounter in which if a party casts "Transmute Rock to Mud" the mud will turn into a mudman. I think this spell effect should have appeared in the introduction and applied to the whole adventure. Heck, a "stone to flesh" should turn into an aggressive flesh-golem while we are at it. I think there are probably several other interesting spell effects that could throw a wrench in some party's plans (like "summon monster" always summoning something evil and non-obedient).
2. Motivations for monsters and NPCs (or some detail of how they interact with their environment or neighbors.): (2/5)
There are negligible motivations provided for the few monsters. At the very least I would like to have seen some of the more intelligent combatants (the Efreet, the Vampire, and the Demon) start encounters with a little friendly banter before commencing hostilities. These conversations would be a great opportunity to provide some additional background about the dungeon or clues about what might still lie ahead.
3. Logical (the adventure should obey a sense of logic that clever players can use to their advantage): (2/5)
The only thing players can really do is to be extra cautious. When I was a player in Tomb of Horrors, we used a lot of summoned creatures and augury spells before committing any character to a course of action. When we got stuck, we used disintegrate fairly liberally, making tunnels in random directions in the hopes of finding other areas of the tomb past secret doors that we missed. (A gem of seeing would have been even more handy). This dungeon seems particularly vulnerable to a combination of "locate object" and "Dimension Door" (once someone has lost their gear to a teleport trap).
4. Writing Quality (foreshadowing, mystery, and descriptions that bring locations and NPCs to life): (2/5)
The writing is utilitarian and easy to follow. There are a few editing errors that possibly detract from the adventure. The 1st of 3 keys doesn't appear to have any use, and there is a typo in which the 3rd key is called the 2nd key a few times in Area 20.
There is a clumsily written portion in room 6. The author writes "In a large floor-standing vase in the South-West corner is a strange, ornate key made of iron. If checked for, it radiates magic. This is the key to unlock the great iron door to gain entrance to the Grand Foyer. The key is one of 666 keys inside the vase. A second key also radiates magic, but this one {is cursed}". It would have been much clearer to first mention that the vase has 666 keys. Then mention that two of the keys are magical. Then describe each of the two magical keys.
5. Ease of GMing (Clear maps, friendly stat blocks, skill check numbers, player handouts and illustrations): (3/5)
The map is outstanding. There is no boxed read-aloud text. There are no player handouts. The stat blocks are minimal--as is standard in 1st edition products.
There is one encounter that looks particularly difficult to run, and that's the room with an acid fog that destroys objects but is harmless to living creatures. The adventure calls for the DM to start rolling saving throws for equipment. I am not sure if the author intends one saving throw for each piece of equipment, or one saving throw per person, with a failure resulting in the loss of one or more items.
The final encounter, a teleportation trap into a sealed Oubliette, seems like a non-event. I would expect most parties to have plenty of ways of getting out of a sealed underground chamber, and light should not be a problem with continual light cast on objects. It almost reads as if the party is somehow expected to arrive in the final chamber without their adventuring gear, but it is clearly not the case.
FINAL WORD:
As long as you are a fan of the Tomb of Horrors, this is a great little free product. It could use some polish and I'd like to see a bit more flavor added to really bring the environment to life. It might be a fun romp for players who have read or played the Tomb of Horrors and want more of the same kind of challenge.
If you want a lot of role-playing with NPCs, with mysteries to uncover and various factions to pit against each other, you should pass on this.
I have not reviewed or read many free OSR products, so I am not convinced that it is fair to rate a free independent product on the same scale as large studio publications. I don't care much about cost and I never downgrade products for being too expensive. It is probably more useful for a cost-conscious reader to ignore my numeric grade and simply pick up the PDF for themselves.
You can see my other reviews on the forums at http://www.grippingtales.com
