Are telling me that You can't make things seem scary, awe-inspiring, and fearful, with this module? I sure can, I like the module. Hell, I took the same idea and created a similar aspect, of some worshipers of an Evil god attempting to overthrow a city, while sacrificing clerics, building up to a summoning of a handmaiden to their goddess. To accomplish this, they poisoned the groundwater, spreading disease through their food source, getting them to loose faith in the patron god of the city, and inflict a serious sickness to the guards of the city, let alone other stuff.
Was it just a mixmash of powerful things because I had clerics and necromancers, a Rakshasa, demons, and a poison golem? No. My players were pulling their hair out because they didn't know what to do, the clock was ticking, and they were scared out of their willies. When an excaping priestess summoned some fiendish sharks into the water her bodyguard was standing on, because he was surrendering to the party, and when she had them tear him limb from limb, they felt very little.
So, the same can't be done with monsters? Come ON. Vampires, Illithids, Liches, Dragons, these are <i>intelligent</i> beings, able to manipulate things from behind the shadows. If all your monsters are are big scary things out THERE, away from humans, where they're waiting for people to just stumble on them and stab them, where's the awe?
Do these monsters not have the brain capacity to go 'Hey! I have these special powers that dominate/trick/manipulate these humans, and control them for my own desires' then that's a problem. This is what Illithids are *supposed* to do, and *not* get in Melee.
I see nothing wrong with having the Illithid there, or his bodyguard. The wererats should be there, since well, they're rats, and it's a city. It's been hand and hand since they were created. Gargoyles? Seems like a pretty good place, seeing as there are ACTUAL GARGOYLES in the architecture of the city, more defenseless people they can kill (Since there are very few adventurers in relation to the population, right?). The demons, why not? Atleast, some Smart demons like a Succubi, Osyluth, or such, nothing like a pure bruiser. These are *smart* demons.
The portal to hell and the fiendish dinosaurs, I'll give you. That was sort've off, but still.
With the right workings, you can have a sense of a Dungeon Inna City, a CoC-esque mystery, or something in between. It just depends on your group, your campaign, and You the DM.
I personally Applaud WotC on this module. As apposed to the Standing Stone which was just a stinking Pile. Look at their other stuff, like The Forge of Fury. Sans succubi and roper, it's a good module, with inter-relations between different humanoids and a dragon. Or it could be a hack-fest.
Allow me to offer another example: A small town, or village, that has a deal with an ettin. They give the ettin a sheep, or food, or a new weapon when it needs it, and the ettin protects them. Is that any Awe-inspiring? The people having a fear of anyone who would slay Their Ettin, or how the Ettin would recieve shouts of good luck, of cheers, when it faced any PCs who apposed the town? Properly described, it could be either just a monster, or a pivotal thing about this village.
In most fantasy literature, there Is Not Many monsters. They are few, far between, and holed up, basicly waiting for the hero to go in and obliterate. But in D&D, in this world, there's magic, there's monsters. This is the world coping with these things. How do we stop these monsters from eating us? Let's bargain with the ones who'll bargain, and kill the ones that're things like Grendel, while sacrifice things to the Dragon.
