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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2010506" data-attributes="member: 1129">The review below contains spoilers. If you're GM is planning on running Sanctuary by Auran publishing, read no further.Designed for a party of 3rd-4th level characters, or is that 4th-5th (both are mentioned), Sanctuary is site and time based adventure. Characters will start off looking for a relative of their patron, but quickly discover that what plagues the small town of Cherrimoor isn't slavers selling people to a foreign country, but something far more sinister.The adventure is set up into an introduction that describes the current events and the town of Cherrimoor, as well as how the players get involved. It's a bit heavy handed and some GMs may find themselves rewriting the introduction to better suit their campaign. The adventure does take place in the Auran setting so further modification on location may be necessary prior to running the adventure.After they're hired and find themselves looking for Guilfarn, a fallen paladin, their research leads them to the town of Cherrimoor where they find that not everything is as it seems. The town is detailed with NPCs and locations for the DM to use as he sees fit but certain events are supposed to happen to get the players to Tharlen Keep where they learn the true nature of the slavers.Turns out that the slavers have been killed by a vampire who uses the old keep as her sanctuary, hence the title of the book, sanctuary. Worse, some of the villagers are in on this little scam and wind up putting the players in a bad situation. The keep is fully mapped out with all encounters listed by room and relies on the GM to keep straight the different events that occur as the players take action. The module itself takes up less than half of the adventure.A good chunk of the book deals with the resources for the GM and players. For example, NPCs have their own character sheets. I'm not talking about stat blocks, I'm talking about character sheets. This gives the GM a lot of information on roleplaying and properly using the characters, but might be a bit overkill. Other tools include random encounter tables for both the town of Cherrimoor and the wildlife outside of it. Handouts for players include letters and maps, as well as background history to flesh out the area.The maps are in full color and top quality but lack the one square = 5' indication that makes combat easier. Minor issue with the overland maps but more serious when it comes to the smaller locations as this also makes drawing out the maps for the players more difficult.Stats sometimes have wrong numbers. For example, Maedranna, the vampiress, is introduced as a 3rd level cleric, 2nd level fighter, and then latter as a 6th level cleric, 2nd level rogue. There's a huge difference between those two class numbers. Other minor errors like listing a commoner of 1st level as a CR of 1/4th and then another one as ½ creep in. Minor but annoying issues.Those interested in the background of this setting will enjoy the DM's background on vampires, that ties directly into this adventure, as well as the material on the Faar and Ormocea churches. This makes it useful for GMs of other settings to swap out gods, but takes up some odd three pages.The CD provides great bonus material. Several images are taken from the maps and expanded upon. This allows the GM to move on the map and move in or out for different areas of viewing. The introduction to the module itself is like the advertisements for various EN World products. While easier to use in terms of 3d power, it's less powerful overall as you can't add the same effects to it. A PDF version of the module is also included, as are 8 tracks of music to add atmosphere to the game.The module itself is top notch in terms of physical quality. The binding is sturdy. The layout crisp and clean. The art, by Jason Robson is top notch. The only problem is that some of the art is reused in the module as you've got the art in its original place and then reprinted again at the back for certain characters and events.Sanctuary is perfect for those playing in the Auran campaign setting who use their computers at the game. For others, it'll take some work to translate over, but you'll have a solid adventure with a lot of 'fluff' that you might be able to make your own.</blockquote>

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