Terror in Freeport

[Messageboard Golem]

[Minor spoilers]

The first adventure in the Freeport trilogy, Death in Freeport, introduced players and GMs alike to shadowy city where law is more an idea than a practice, where an ancient race moves within the shadows and where nothing is as it seems.

In the follow-up, Terror in Freeport, your players will begin to discover that they've uncovered a bigger nest of vipers (or, in this case, snake people) than they originally thought.

If anything, TiF is even more complex than its predecessor. There are definitely "wheels within wheels" in this adventure, so much so that the author provides text boxes for the GM to explain "The Real Story." If your party would rather 'roll play' than role play, this is most certainly not going to be for them. Those willing to ask questions first, however, will be rewarded by being able to fight later.

Although the book states that playing DiF isn't a prerequisite for TiF, it certainly makes playing the module easier. All in all, DiF makes for a good couple sessions of investigation, and is a good value for its reasonable price tag.

 

[Angelsboi]

Another GREAT game!!!

It takes place 1 month after you rescue brother luscian and a lighthouse is being built to be iopned during a festival in the city. But the temple you explored in the first game is now being guarded and cleaned up.

So whats the problem?

The Ratmen (Snakemen actually. My DM is using Ratmen) are still skulking under the temple scurrying about! The mysterious councler Verlain seems to be too mysterious and Laredo, a young man wanting to come with you, also appears to be too helpful.

You get arrested and Brother Egal helps you out but what do you do later when it appears brother egal has turned on you?


Find out in a adventure of mystery, murder and mayhem!

 

[Messageboard Golem]

My group just got finished running through Terror in Freeport. And I must say, I was a little disappointed in the follow up to Death in Freeport.

My biggest problem was encounter difficulty. The encounters in Terror in Freeport are hopelessly underpowerd for average or above-average characters (25-30 points, if you're using the point buy system). If you were running a low powered campaign, the encounters might be about right. But I realized about halfway in that I was going to have to seriously beef up these bad guys to make the adventure a challenge for the party. This is all fine, and can be done, but the power levels should have been checked a little closer before the product got released.

The plot was pretty decent on a strategic (macro) level, so if you're looking for a module solely for plot ideas, this might be a good one for you. That and the handouts, which are helpful, can be very good for that. However, the individual encounters (micro level) were somewhat forced and contrived in my opinion, so perhaps some modifications or a more creative DM than I can make the tactical action more interesting.

Terror in Freeport also gives you a *little* more detail on this great campaign setting, so it is useful for that. I just found myself disappointed in the adventure as a whole...I was actually bored with it by the end and glad to see it be over.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

The story of this follow-up to "Death in Freeport" is really complex. On the down side this means the module is not as easy to run as DIF (even more so since the flow of events is not as smoothly designed), but on the up side this means an involving plot, which fully captivated my players. Additionally the module makes better use of it's 32 pages than DIF (i.e. more content).
The plot itself is well conceived, just the last scene is poorly (to vaguely) designed and not really the climax the story would have deserved.

If you like intrigues, "Terror in Freeport" is a must-have.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Most of what I said about the Death in Freeport holds for this book as well. Plot is thickening (although not expanding significantly) Role-playing opportunities are even more present and prose has actually improved. On the other hand, filler is still there (those same pre-gens, but at least no ads). Cover is still ugly and unrelated to the adventure (I guess I can not help it - I just do not like Brom) but interior art is getting better. Overall I would give it 4.33 but it is still a step bellow the highest mark.

 

[Simon Collins]

Beware! This review contains major spoilers.

Terror In Freeport is an adventure for PCs of levels 2-5, although designed for four 3r-level PCs. It is a sequel to the Death In Freeport module. It costs $7.99.

Presentation: Terror In Freeport is a 32 page softcover module. The front page offers a superb piece of colour artwork depicting a skeletal warrior in ridged armour and horned helm, clutching a morningstar. The back cover has a black and white drawing of an orc gang waylaying a messenger, and an overview of what the module offers. Both the inside covers are blank. The first and last pages contain the OGL and credits. The internal black and white artwork is average to good. The maps are clear and scaled. There is little white space and the margins are narrow.

The Story: The introduction deals with a brief history of Freeport (the setting where the adventure takes place), a summary of the action from the previous module, Death In Freeport, and an adventure synopsis. There is also a 1/2 page map of the districts of Freeport with a key showing locations relevant to the adventure. For those who know nothing of the happenings in 'Death In Freeport', the basic plotline is that Milton Drac, the sealord of Freeport, is actually a high-ranking cultist of the Unspeakable One. He is constructing a lighthouse using magical bricks which is the focus of the sealord's nefarious plotting and the adventure series itself (the plot culminates in the final part of the adventure, Madness In Freeport). Milton Drac is duping one of his councilors, Verlaine, to front the building activities - the councilor knows nothing of the true machinations of Sealord Drac. At the beginning of the adventure, the PCs suspicions are aroused that the threat they discovered in 'Death In Freeport' is not being dealt with as efficiently as they might have expected. As they investigate further, they discover clues that imply that Councilor Verlaine is preventing the destruction of the temple the PCs previously discovered. In fact, Drac has ordered Verlaine to guard the outside of the temple, but Verlaine is unaware that it is still being used as a hiding place by the cultists. Meanwhile, a new temple is being constructed - beneath Verlaine's home. Whilst investigating the old temple, the PCs may discover the magical bricks which are being produced for use in the construction of the lighthouse. In the meantime, Drac has ordered Verlaine to investigate the PCs as troublemakers. Verlaine attempts to haul the PCs in for questioning and there is an opportunity for a face-to-face confrontation with Verlaine (including a selection of answers to awkward PC questions). Just as the threats from Verlaine's guards are about to lead to a fight, the PCs friend Brother Egil saves them in the nick of time; however, 'Brother Egil' is actually a cultist disguised with a potion of alter self, pretending that Lucius has been kidnapped again (as per Death In Freeport). In fact, Drac intends to lead the PCs into the centre of a twisted plot to brand the church of knowledge as the serpent cultists. The highlight of Drac's plot will be that all his opponents will be killed - the clerics of the temple of knowledge, Verlaine and the PCs. The disguised cultist attempts to lure the PCs down the sewers into a deathtrap. If the PCs escape, they can investigate the new temple beneath Verlaine's house (where they can discover the real Brother Egil) and the house itself, before returning to the temple of knowledge. The PCs arrive just in time to attempt to foil the plan to kill off all the clerics with clues gained from the new cultists' temple. The module finishes with some adventure seeds for play between Terror In Freeport and Madness In Freeport, some statistics for NPCs, a couple of handouts, and four example PCs.

The Good: Terror In Freeport follows in the tradition of Death In Freeport with an engaging plot, that has some really nice twists to it. Scattered through the text are boxes outlining the 'real story' behind the red herrings, to keep the GM up to speed with whats going on, and this keeps the proceedings manageable, despite the complexity. There is plenty of information on how to handle NPCs (including the very useful section on the confrontation with Verlaine). There are opportunities for combat and a rather nasty trap, in addition to the plethora of opportunities for detective work and NPC interaction.

The Bad: Though the plot itself differs from its predecessor, 'Death In Freeport', the theme itself is essentially repeated here - follow clues to learn of the subtle plotting going on, and discover the cultists temple. If you liked 'Death' and want some more, this is fine, but it isn't as fresh second time round and doesn't pack the punch of the last in the trilogy, 'Madness In Freeport'.

Conclusion: This adventure is still a worthy successor to Death In Freeport, and is best used as a sequel. It has limited use outside of this context, but its complex, twisting plot should prove a memorable experience for mature gaming groups. I would have liked to see some of the suggestions for dealing with any PC actions that move away from the plotline, put into sidebars with an 'If the PCs do this...then do this...' focus, and an expansion of this approach. The module might also have benefited (although lost its intensity perhaps) by adding in some less plot-orientated scenarios to intersperse with the main focus. A more detailed explanantion of how to scale the adventure for PCs of different levels and an EL summary would also have been useful.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Did you get a different version of the module than I did? Laredo? I don't see him anywhere in my module.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

The d20 System once again provides the framework for a story of heroism and villainy. This time the PCs learn that not all cultists lurk beneath the streets, and not all serpent people are agents of evil. Plunder and peril await in Freeport, the city of adventure. For characters level 2-5.

 

[Kalendraf]

Terror in Freeport picks up sometime after Death in Freeport. It's a very well-written follow-up adventure. It builds on the themes introduced in the first adventure and pulls the party deeper into the action. (Warning spoilers ahead!)

The twists and turns in this adventure are wonderful. The intro hook worked perfectly for my group. They were already wanting to investigate further when DiF was finished. And Milos was one of those figures that they wanted to learn more about. So this lead-in worked spectacularly.

There are numerous situations that allow for lots of role-playing in this adventure. Here's a quick list: (1)Brother Egil, (2)Innkeeper and dwarves, (3)Street fight, (4)guards outside brick building, (5)Lloyd and the guards outside Verlaine's mansion, (6)Office of Public Works, (7)Lloyd and the guards again, (8)Councilor Verlaine, (9)Brother Egil, (10)other Brother Egil, (10)The Temple of Knowledge, and finally, (11)Thuron. In fact, there are very few encounters in this entire module that don't have significant role-playing potential. If you want a hack'n'slash module, look elsewhere. If you like role-playing opportunities, this is your kind of adventure.

The plot is quite devious. Just when the party thinks someone is good and helpful, they find themselves duped and led to their near-death. On the flipside, one of their prime suspects for the goings-on with the temple turns out to actually be an innocent fall guy. And the misinformation they uncover in the temple and at Verlaines are a nice touch in hammering home the fact that in Freeport, you can't always believe what you're told.

The final battle at the Temple of Knowledge provides a solid climax for the adventure. The party had that desperate look as they raced from Verlaine's mansion to the Temple. And they made it in just the nick of time to prevent the cult's scheme from working all too well. Were it a movie, it would have been a heart-pounding sequence. The actual fight was well-balanced, with the 2 assassins who escaped the mansion joining in the battle. This proved to be just enough to make things very interesting for my group, and I recommend running it this way if you can.

My favorite part of the entire adventure occurs after the fight. Thuron leads them to the crypts and makes his revelation. It's a perfect ending to the 2nd adventure in the Freeport series.

I do have a couple things that I don't like about this adventure. I was disturbed by the amount of railroading that occurs near in the middle of this adventure. The part I don't like is the sequence where Verlaine's Guards show up after the visit to public works which is then followed by Brother Egil's showing up to save them followed by the likely trip to the sewers and the deathtrap. It seems like this is just too much of a forced storyline at this point. I would have much preferred to have Verlaine's guards show up at the Scholar's Quill where the party is staying, and escort them to a visit with Verlaine. Have him give them an ultimatum to leave, and release them. Then have the false Egil show up sometime in the next 12 hours after they've been released. It would still lead to the same results, but would be a lot less railroading.

Also, for the amount of playing time this adventure is likely to take, there's not a lot of experience or treasure to be found here. It seems like the new temple should have had a bit more of a battle as well as more items to be found. Also, the earlier battle below the bricked-up building could have included more foes as well as more crates with goodies. Such changes wouldn't turn the adventure into hack'n'slash by any means, but would help the party get closer to the levels they'll need for playing the final adventure, Madness in Freeport.

Overall, I'm giving this adventure a 4. If I could give it a 4.5, I would. It's good, and it is clearly a worthy follow-up to Death in Freeport. However, these few drawbacks are enough to bring it down somewhat. I really enjoyed running it, and my players liked it as well, but I could tell they were hoping for more at a few points.

One final note - If you plan to run this after Death in Freeport, you may want to consider running the free download available on Green Ronin's website entitled "Holiday in the Sun" prior to running this adventure. It will provide the party with a bit more experience. I think a party should be about 3rd level to run thru Terror in Freeport, so you'll likely need another small adventure or two to fill the month gap between these two.

 

[Kalendraf]

The group I DM had five 3rd level characters when we played this adventure. The encounters were very balanced for them. They are average to slightly above average characters equipped with slightly below average amount of equipment for their level. Granted, a few of the encounters were fairly easy for them such as the street fight, the encounter with the snakes and priestess below the bricked up house, and in the new temple area, for example. But the deathtrap nearly killed 1 party member, and the final battle in the Temple of Knowledge nearly killed a couple more of them. I didn't need to beef these encounters up for my group.