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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Clint" data-source="post: 2008871" data-attributes="member: 2283">Shadows Under Thessalaine is an adventure module for 3rd or 4th level characters, by Monkey God Enterprises.This review contains spoilers.Physical Description / Criteria for Review:The book is extremely attractive, with a high-quality painting depicting some of the elements of the story, without giving away anything. It is a perfect-bound softcover, and 64 pages long. I paid cover price, $14.My group is 2nd level, and I am looking for an adventure to lead them towards. This is not a playtest review.Content DensityThe inside of the covers have five computer generated maps to be used in the adventure. OGL license (1 page), ToC (1 page). There are roughly 10 total pages of interior art. The page layout is somewhat heavy in graphic design, and is too far away from the edge of the page. The text density of text areas is fair. Overall, a moderate value on content density.Story:This adventure is a series of dungeon crawls, bringing the characters from towns to cities, beaches to mountains, underwater to underground. The group has to deal with mysterious disappearances near communities, which require investigation from... blah blah. Total cookie-cutter hooks and setup. The individual scenes are much more interesting than the premise.To Like:* The connecting story is broken into three sections, with each one being generic enough to swap in local campaign areas easily.* The settings for the dungeon crawl are varied and interesting.* The art on both the cover and the interior is of fair to good quality.* Graphic design layout is attractive without being obstructive.* Aside from a few typos, the writing is clear, with few grammar issues.To Note:* Cartography is clear and interesting, but is somewhat cramped on the inside covers.To Dislike:* No summary of Encounters with CR.* The NPCs have no depth beyond their brief 'on camera' appearances. They also have no stats. This is explained by space confinements. See below.* Back of module reads, "suitable for third or fourth level characters". Inside of module reads, "Shadows Under Thessalaine is intended for an average-sized party of 4th level. 3rd level characters might manage, but will find the story particularly challenging." The back cover is wrong, and a DM will have extra work to do to bring in a 3rd level group.* This adventure will bring characters up to around 6th level by the end. This isn't listed in the module, and it's the kind of thing that DMs like to know.* NPC equipment is frequently spread between Appendix and the area which they are encountered in. Constant flipping required. Total equipment is not listed for any NPC, but must be derived from stat block ( "No weapon listed under Possessions... ah, it says greataxe under Damage, and look in Area 15 for more stuff" ). This means extra work for DM.* No list of total treasure value of adventure. See below for why.* Town stats not given in full, making it harder to find a target town to swap in. Extra work for DM.* NPC stats have minor errors in them, but nothing horrible.To Hate:* EL of NPCs is off. A Drow with three levels of Cleric is listed at CR3, where it should be CR4. This occurs throughout. Replace the word Drow with Evil Elf and the encounters should work. This is less work than it sounds, since Drow abilities like Spell Resistance aren't listed in their stats. Extra work for DM.* Four pages of SRD monsters reprinted in an appendix. This space could have been used to much greater benefit... like describing any of the NPCs that are in the adventure.To Despise:* "3rd-5th level PC, would you like some Bracers of Armor +6? A Ring of Evasion? +3 Chainmail? Minor Cloak of Displacement? +1 Shocking Burst Mace? All of the above? Even more?" This adventure is incredibly poorly thought out in terms of rewards. Total value of treasure available for PCs (not including NPC contracts which are part of the story) to loot in this adventure is roughly 271,000 gp. This comes mostly in the form of magic items (few extremely powerful, some powerful, some moderate, and many weak), coins, gem, and art (some). This is enough treasure to fully equip 4 ninth level characters from scratch, and will horribly unbalance a campaign of the targetted character levels. Every single treasure award would need to be reworked. This alone brings the value of the product down to near-zero.Conclusion:Overall, I felt as if the authors had some cool ideas, but really dropped (lost) the ball on rules execution of this module. This adventure is a decent read, with some interesting settings for dungeon crawling. However, it would take a tremendous amount of effort to make it actually playable. This one will collect dust on my shelf, never to be used or read again.</blockquote>

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