Temple of Solusek Ro

[Messageboard Golem]

Fire Birthed the World
At the edge of a great caldera of boiling magma in the Lavastorm Mountains is the Temple of Solusek Ro, the Burning Prince. Do not look for greetings from the fiery efreet who guards the entrance, for you shall lose face with those who dwell within. They believe, as does their god, that the powerful can - and should - take what they desire. They dare you to confront the challenges they present. Succeed, and your rewards shall be great.


Fire Shall Consume It
This supplement contains two items of equal importance: a 48- page adventure of quests and related rewards - including magical armor special to each character class - and a Gamemaster screen with essential charts for running a fantasy roleplaying game - including information specific to the EverQuest Roleplaying Game.

U.S. Page Count: 48 + screen, Authors: SSS staff, Developers: Stephan Wieck & Stewart Wieck, Artists: SSS staff

 

[JoeGKushner]

Screens are something that most GMs use. Their utility lies on common tables and a little bonus material to insure people purchase them. White Wolf has a good history of providing solid utility in their screens for their World of Darkness products by including a miniature sourcebook with their screens.

The Temple of Solusek Ro follows that method. For $12.95, you get a four panel screen with fantastic art. This being Everquest, the art is old, taken from the box covers of the various expansion packs. The interior of this four panel screen includes the standards. What untrained skills are there? What are the movement rates? How about weight limits or actions in combat? Almost all of the standards are covered making the screen fairly easy to use. It includes page numbers for the three Everquest books, as well as material on Channeling DC rolls, Bard Song Twisting DC numbers and Mana Recovery.

The 48 page book that comes with it is icing on the cake. This book offers 15 different little side quests, one for each core class to gain a magic suit of armor. The temple itself is mapped with ten different areas to wander around and includes game statistics on the defenders and inhabitants.

The quests aren't fully fleshed out but rather give the character a list of requirements that must be satisfied in order for the armor to be crafted with ideas on how to gain those items. In some ways, it's an Easter egg hunt. The good news is that not everything boils down to bring one wing from bat x and one leg from frog y as in many instances, the characters are called upon to make little items on their own, or at least hire someone to do so for them. In many instances, the characters have to use brain and skills as opposed to brute force. For example, the beastlord quest requires the players to find four spiritling stones, each one with a high DC roll to discover any knowledge about them that sends the players all over the landscape.

The quests could use some more fleshing out but would take up more room. The important characters in each section are fleshed out and can be reused.

Internal covers aren't used. First page is a list of credits, second page the contents. A full page at the end is used for the Open Game License. Art is top notch with such favorites as Ed Bourelle, Brian LeBlanc and Tyler Walpole doing the honors here.

At $12.95 for 48 pages of side quests and a 4 page panel GM shield, it's hard to find serious fault with this product. I wouldn't recommend this product for anyone running a standard d20 campaign, but for an Everquest Game, if you need a screen, this one is a real no-brainer.