The Banewarrens

[Messageboard Golem]

The banes -- the worst, most nightmarish evils imaginable. Long ago, a powerful saint gathered together objects of evil power and buried them away so no one could ever use them. But concentrating that much evil in one place was not a good idea, and now some of these unique malignant creatures, artifacts, and forces have been loosed upon the world. To bind them once again, you must brave the timelost Banewarrens.


This mega-dungeon takes characters from 6th to 10th level. Uncover new monsters and magic, including dozens of foul banes like the Phylactery of Forsaken Souls.

But The Banewarrens is more than just rooms of evil creatures to bash: Its dynamic plot is full of intrigue and twists. Characters race against evil adventurers seeking to use the banes for their own gain. With every action they risk loosing even more malevolent forces upon an unsuspecting world. And in the end, amid this deadly labyrinth both figurative and literal, who can they really trust?

The Banewarrens includes new magic items, new monsters, and other tidbits -- such as new poisons and diseases. It also builds on material found in the two Books of Eldritch Might.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

WARNING! Major spoilers ahead. It is not a playtest review.
(Thanks to Simon Collins for the review format.)

Price: $10.00
Page Count: 138
Price per page: About 7 cents per page
Designed for Character Level: 6

Format: Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) 7.2 MB file

External Artwork: Color image of a clawed demon plunging down a shaft at a trio of hapless adventurers.

Additional Page Use: The last page is an ad for the upcoming "Requiem for a God." One page is devoted to the OGL; there is also a title page and a VERY complete table of contents.

Internal Artwork: There are few internal illustrations aside from chapter headings. However, sixteen full-page black-and-white illustrations are provided in an appendix as player aids (with references in the main module text indicating which illustration should be shown where). On the whole, quality is high, with several styles represented. A handful seemed a bit amateurish/sketchy for my taste, but still usable.

Layout: The module is laid out in two-column format with occasional sidebars. Text density is good, font styles are consistent and easy-to-read, and the layout in general is very clear, clean, and well-suited to be printed out.

Maps: The maps (of which there are many) are all clear and well-labeled. They are stylish, in a minimalistic way, without the over-the-top rendered look of some modern d20 maps.

Editing: So far I haven't found any errors or typos in the text, and the prose is consistently clear and readable.

The Story:
Long ago a great saint made it his mission to collect the evils of the world and seal them away so that they could never again cause harm. He built a great underground complex known as the Banewarrens to serve as an impenetrable prison for these "banes," sealing it with powerful magics. Over the millenia, these vaults and their terrible contents were forgotten -- until recently. An organization of monstrous humanoids known as the Pactlords of the Quaan, whose mission is to eradicate the humanoid races, have broken into the Banewarrens in an attempt to find a powerful evil artifact that would further their cause. Opening the vaults causes troubles, though, and this in turn alerts several other organizations with an interest in the Banewarrens: the powerful Church of Lothian and the secret arcanist's guild the Inverted Pyramid.

Enter the PCs. They arrive at the city of Ptolus -- which is built, unbeknownst to its citizens, above the long-forgotten Banewarrens -- only to be entangled in a power struggle between groups seeking to pillage the Banewarrens (the Pactlords and House Vladaam), explore them (the Church), and seal them again forever (the Inverted Pyramid). The PCs can choose to work for either or both of the latter two groups, or to explore the Banewarrens for reasons of their own. Whichever path they take, they will find themselves on a race against the other competing groups, each of which has sent agents into the vaults. Of course, the Banewarrens themselves are a deadly, deadly place, filled with evil and dangerous banes (ranging from monsters to magic items to diseases) and the traps intended to keep intruders from liberating them from imprisonment.

It's not all a dungeon crawl, however. There are a number of interludes set in Ptolus, including some sleuthing, a burglary, the uncovering of a traitor, and the rescue of a kidnapped PC. There's also a possible expedition to the pocket dimension called the Quaan, home base of the Pactlords.

Ultimately, the PCs may reach the heart of the Banewarrens, a great towering spire called Tremoc Korin, and find a means to permanently seal the vaults off from the world. Along the way, they have the opportunity to foil the plans of the various evil groups, and to make some considerable allies. Of course, evil PCs could take a much different route, if they were willing to liberate some of the more powerful banes for their own use....

Organization:
The adventure is very well-organized (essential for a module of this size and complexity). At the beginning, there is a detailed adventure synopsis as well as a section describing Ptolus and the major organizations involved in the module. General reference information about running the adventure is also provided, as well as an index of major characters.

The main body of the module is broken into ten chapters, each one detailing single major chunk of the plot. These chunks are fairly non-linear, however, and their order will depend on the choices made by the PCs. Guidance is provided on how to deal with different orderings of the chapters; many chapters begin with a discussion of the most likely possible states of affairs leading into that chapter, and give ideas for adapting chapter material if your PCs take a wildly different path. The adventure has a lot of flexibility built into it, both in terms of adapting it to your own campaign world as well as in letting your PCs approach it the way they want to -- this is not a railroading module.

Each chapter begins with a plot synopsis and a section describing any special rules or information needed to run that chapter. The body of the chapter is then laid out in an event/location format. The events are a set of situations that can/will occur at some point in the chapter -- often encounters with one of the other teams exploring the Banewarrens. These events are only loosely scheduled: they provide advice on when they should occur, but exact timing is up to the DM's sense of plot development. Events are well-described and provide lots of advice on monster tactics and possible outcomes.

The locations, on the other hand, are keyed descriptions of the places on the maps. Each has flavor text (marked between horizontal lines) as well as notes for the DM on traps, monsters, and other interesting features. Abbreviated monster stat blocks are included in the text, with page references to the source book.

At the end of the book is an appendix describing a variety of banes used in the module, including a number of new monsters and magic items.

It should also be noted that The Banewarrens uses some magic items, spells, and prestige classes from the Malhavoc Books of Eldritch Might.

Good Points:
This module is one of the most dynamic and flexible that I've come across. The PCs should truly get the feeling that they're involved in a race against the other teams -- events occur if they choose not to act, and they may well find themselves trying to catch up with another group in the Banewarrens. The module gives plenty of suggestions for ways of showing time passing -- traps set off by other groups, members of the opposing groups dead or wounded, vaults already plundered. If run correctly, it could really bring out the competitive spirit in the PCs.

The module is also chock-full of creative ideas. Many times as I read through it I thought, "Wow, what a neat idea for an encounter!" or "Why didn't I think of that trap?" In particular, the Pactlords of the Quaan present a varied and interesting set of opponents -- classed monstrous humanoids ranging from a lamia monk to bugbear fighters.

In addition, The Banewarrens does an outstanding job of allowing the DM to customize it to his own needs. Campaign assumptions are clearly stated, and suggestions are provided for alternatives and adaptations. That, combined with its excellent organization, should make it very easy to run despite its large size.

Bad Points:
Hmm. I can only think of two minor quibbles. One is that I felt slightly disappointed by the banes described in the module appendix. Some of them are very cool and others are pretty dastardly, but there are a few that just don't seem quite evil enough to me. And I had a nagging feeling that there should have been MORE of them. Of course, adding another wing of vaults to the Banewarrens to house them would have made the adventure even more gigantic.

The other quibble is with the interlude in the Quaan pocket plane. It's only a side trek in the plot arc, but even so it seemed just a bit short and dry. I guess I expected more weirdness from a place called 'the Quaan."

Conclusion:
All in all, this is one fantastic module, full of exciting encounters, terrible evil, intrigue, traps, and interesting characters. It's the kind of thing I wish I'd thought up myself. I'm looking forward to running it soon. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Malhavoc will do the sequel before too long....

 

[JoeGKushner]

The Banewarrens
Written by Monte Cook
Published by Malhavok Press
Stock # 16165
http://www.montecook.com/index.html
138 b & w pages
PDF File
$10.00

One of the toughest things about being a GM is keeping up campaign continuity. When you’re running numerous 32 page modules, that can get rough as even with the ‘core’ D&D modules that do have links, it can seem that everything is a little random. When using larger modules, like Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, Rod of Seven Parts, Axe of the Dwarvish Lords, or Banewarrens, a lot of that work is done for you.

The Banewarrnes is a mega-module designed for four 6th level characters who can reach up to 10th level by the end of the module. The majority of the action takes place in a dungeon-tower combo known as the Banewarrnes in the city of Ptolus.

The good news is that the description of Ptolus takes up a minimum amount of space and that the various groups detailed can be replaced fairly easily. Most of the action takes place in the Banewarrens themselves and the module relies on a combination of event and site based encounters to keep the action moving. The bad news is that there is a minimum amount of information on Ptolus and that GMs who want to base their campaign there will have to do some added research with Monte’s website and the various chronicles he’s posted to act as guidelines. Another important note is that Monte uses a lot of his own material within the module including magic items, prestige classes, core alternative classes (bard & sorcerer from Book of Eldrich Might II, ranger from website), and spells. While the modifications needed to change those are minimal, it’s important to be aware of it beforehand.

The module starts off with the players walking through the city as when WHAM! One of the events hits them. In this case, it’s a dark elf whose mere presence is enough to begin brining out the latent sorcery within those he walks by. This often takes the form of energy expulsions, summoning monsters, or other, slightly less dangerous displays. After having a few dangerous encounters with those who’ve been transformed and taking care of the dark elf, the party is contacted by the Inverted Pyramid, a guild of mages and one of the many factions here, to find out where this dark elf came from. Of course, this being a major event in a large city, another group, the Church of Lothian, a lawful and good aligned church, also approaches the party and seeks their aid in finding one of their champions.

At this point, the party learns a little about the Banewarrens. How a noble priest sought to eliminate evil from the world by collecting those items and monsters, which brought destruction with them. How the earth itself was repulsed by those same forces and spit them out in the form of a massive spire. How the priest fell to darkness and almost ruled the world. How now something is invading those locked places and must be stopped.

From here, events unfold that require the party to continue to gain in strength and power as well as deciding who they can trust. There are several events in the module that require the GM have some skill at running numerous NPCs as other factions soon become involved as well. For example, to gain further access to the Banewarrens, the party will soon need a key that is held by a noble, yet decadent noble family. This family has a scion that seeks more than to be merely another noble. The dangerous Navanna, a master of disguise, may use the characters without them ever knowing what their role in all of this was. Top this off with corruption in the church, and mages that act to serve their own interest ahead of everyone else and the party’s only chance of survival is working together to survive.

If this were just a standard dungeon crawl, patrons would be satisfied with the dozens upon dozens of rooms to explore through the various levels. Like Undermountain or Castle Greyhawk, the Banewarrens takes the path of least resistance, providing maps and encounters for those levels that players are going to explore and hinting not only at the other levels that can be explored, but also the terrible battles that took place here in another age. This includes the unreachable fortress that sits atop the spire as well as side passages that were never connected.

The good news though, is that this isn’t just a dungeon crawl. The party will need to explore several areas outside the dungeon and this requires a few trips to the city. For example, one of the quests that the party must undertake is to assemble the Staff of Shards. To do this, they will have to travel to another plane, the Quaan. In this strange demi-plane, the party will get a chance to investigate the instigators of all this, the inhuman Pactlords, a group of aberrations that have sworn allegiance to one another to topple the human empires. This group has numerous servants and makes the perfect foil for players as they’ll have to battle creatures that are in general, different than standard monsters by the very nature of them being aberrations. There are several groups described in the module and the Pactlords make the perfect place for GMs to use the various NPCs described in the Fight Club section of the WoTC site. (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article1.asp?x=dnd/fc/fightclub,3 )

Another variant here is the Doomwalker. This device, found towards the end of the module, is like a giant robot that the party can control. It’s one of the few ways that the party has of overcoming one of the many imprisoned creatures. In this case, the fallen Planetar, Malificite. It’s different in that the party has an object of immense power, but they gain less experience points for using it. If they don’t use it to battle the Malificite, it’s unlikely that they’ll survive. Decisions, decisions… It’s something different and takes the D&D game in a different, yet rational direction.

So what would this module have to do to get a 5? A flowchart for new GMs is a must for a module this lengthy and detailed. Next, it uses a lot of references to the Monster Manual to save space and is a great move. However, it means that you are required to own the Monster Manual, which is not indicated. It doesn’t provide the page references in every case, like with the encounter table in the demi-plan of Quaan. In addition, some sidebars about what levels the players should be and equipment that would be useful in each chapter heading, would be great. For example, if you have a larger group, they won’t advance as fast but should still be about the same power level as a smaller, higher level group. With spellcasters, there are a few key levels between 6th and 10th that add tremendously to their spellcasting potential. Knowing that at section X your characters should be level Y would help. It would also be good for those GMs using the Banewarrens with other modules as they would know when the players should be focusing on gaining power and when they should be moving on.

Maps are crisp and clean with high readability. Art is top notch with Toren Atkinson, Lars Grant-West, Quinton Hoover, Allan Pollack and Arne Swekel leaving their mark on the industry. Because the illustrations are collected on separate, full-page sheets, you get the full effect of the art. This is very similar to the way Kenzer does their ImageQuest illustration. If you don’t believe me, check http://www.montecook.com/mpress_Baneart.html , and get a look for yourself. My favorite illustration is probably the Doomwalker, a construct that seems more mechanical than magical. Layout is standard, two-columns and has no sidebars or placeholders, a true benefit for a PDF file that must be printed out.

As far as the electronic file part goes, the PDF has numerous bookmarks including cover page, table of contents, chapters, and specific events within the chapters themselves. Traveling around the file is easy. Thumbnails are included so if you see a picture that catches your eye or a map you need to review, it’s easy to spot. I would’ve liked to seen more use out of the format though as thus far, only Bodies & Souls has gone a little further in terms of what can be done with printing pictures and non-printing picture options, as well as pop-up text boxes with additional information. Still, the file has all the basic options and is easy to navigate.

The book is something that will take a long time to play through and may be too much for new GMs. The various factions and the numerous events that the GM has to follow are not for the faint of heart. However, the module will provide weeks, if not months of adventure. It will provide the GM with opportunities to gain further use out of his Malhavok goods as various spells, magic items, prestige classes, and even variant core classes are utilized here. It also provides the GM with something that will probably have a sequel in the future as more D&D rules (especially the Epic ones) become SRD.

Think not of The Banewarrens as a module, but rather, a mini-campaign. Note, because of the file size, and that fact that it’s going to eat a lot of ink, some may wish to wait for the print version. In this case, the $7.00 difference in price probably isn’t that great a different from the true cost of printing and binding the file.

RESOURCES
http://www.montecook.com/ptolus.html More details about the city
http://www.montecook.com/arch_stuff22.html Web enhancement for Banewarrens

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Great review - very informative. Just a tiny nitpick:

No book should ever list that you'll need the MM to use it fully as the MM is a Core Rulebook. All DMs are expected to own the three Core Rulebooks (and I guess very few don't)...
-Zarrock

 

[Felon]

Solid review. I think the Banewarrens is an excellent module, and I will be running it for my group in the upcoming weeks. A review will be forthcoming, but I think I can safely say that I too will be posting some very positive comments.

 

[Psion]

The Banewarrens

The Banewarrens is a sizable "mega-adventure" from Malhavoc Press. The author, Monte Cook, is the author of the Dungeons & Dragons campaign adventure Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, as well as many other adventures including the classic planescape adventures Dead Gods and Tales of the Infinite Staircase. Monte Cook is certainly an experienced hand at these sorts of expansive adventures.

The Banewarrens is designed to take characters from 6th to 10th level.

A First Look

The Banewarrens is a 138 page (including mock front and back covers) PDF file priced at $10.00. The PDF file is available at RPGnow (www.rpgnow.com) as well as through the Malhavoc website via the WW online store. A print version is also available at a price of $17.95.

The PDF version has the standard refinements, with a nicely rounded selection of bookmarks, letting you quickly jump to any section of the file. Except for the "covers" the book is black and white, which is less of a burden to the ink cartridges of those who wish to print the adventure out.

The cover picture is by Alan Pollack and depicts an avian creature wielding a glowing sword descending upon a party of hapless adventurers.

The interior art is black-and-white, and includes pieces from Toren Atkinson, Lars Grant-West, Quinton Hoover, Alan Pollack, and Arne Swekel. The back of the book contains 16 illustrations to show to players during the game as depictions of events and locations depicted in the adventure. The rest of the book is only sparsely peppered with art, with symbol illustrations and out-takes from the depictions at the beginning of each section.

A Deeper Look
Warning: This Section Contains Spoilers Regarding Secrets in the Adventure

The namesake of The Banewarrens is a vault created by a cleric by the name of Danar with a very noble goal. Danar sought to gather some of the most powerful evil artifacts and creatures in the world - which he called banes - and imprison them in the Banewarrens. Unfortunately, the powers of darkness took notice of this effort and corrupted him. His former allies eventually overcame him, but his work with the banewarrens was left incomplete.

The Banewarrens is a mix of a site and event based adventure. The players are drawn into the adventure when one of four organizations outlined in the adventure manage to breach an incompletely sealed section of the Banewarrens and release one of the occupants that wreaks havoc on the city. The party is in the path of destruction when an occupant of the Banewarrens (a drow that awakens unwanted magical powers in nearby people) is released.

After this event, the party is contacted by two other organizations with an interest in the banewarrens and given lucrative offers to look into it.

From there, various events unfold. In all, there are four organizations with an interest in the Banewarrens, all for their own purposes - a secretive wizards guild, a lofty church with a fifth column, an alliance of inhuman creatures, and an underhanded noble family that dallies with fiends. The party's involvement is spurned on by events brought about by these organizations, and while within the Banewarrens, the party frequently has to contend with agents of these organizations, who aren't exactly sitting still.

The Banewarrens themselves are a unusual environment. The artifacts and creatures therein present a hazard, and the wards that guard the Banewarrens serve to pace the party's progress through the complex.

In an attempt to reseal the Banewarrens, the adventure will eventually take the party out of th Banewarrens and into other places, such as a corrupted church in the city and an otherworldly demiplane.

The adventure provides a city if you do not have one to place the action in; the city is Ptolus, the city of Monte Cook's home campaign. The adventure also provides details on each organization, including which aspects of the organization may be changed to fit them into your game.

The book references other Malhavoc products in several places. There are a few magic items from the Book of Eldritch Might I&II and NPCs in the book use variant Sorcerer and Bard classes described in the Book of Eldritch Might II and the variant Ranger described on the Malhavoc website.

Conclusion

The Banewarrens is a well written and conceived adventure. The adventure is very flexible in that the events are describe in enough detail that it adapts to a variety of player actions. The presence of the other organizations in the Banewarrens make it a bit more than a classical dungeon crawl, and the evolving plotline should keep the players engaged.

Though I appreciate this style of play, I imagine new GMs might be put off by it, and juggling events and timing in some places might be a bit of a problem.

Another possible problem is that Monte chose to use the alternate versions of character classes in the module. There is a good chance that a reader might not own the other products, and even if you do, you may not want to use them. Monte himself admits that the variant classes aren't for everyone, and no alternate characters using the normal versions of the classes are provided (as was done in Requiem for a God, which had both a normal and variant bard version of some NPCs.)

-Alan D. Kohler

 

[Simon Collins]

Beware! This review contains major spoilers.
This is not a playtest review.

The Banewarrens is a mega-adventure from Monte Cook's Malhavoc Press designed to take PCs from 6th to 10th level.

The Banewarrens has the cheapest price per page of any .pdf on the market and its chock full of content too. All the art is to be found in an illustration appendix, which has two advantages - those wishing to save on ink and printing time can restrict printing to miss out the illustrations, and the illustrations can be given to players at the appropriate time without risking them seeing text related to the adventure or having to take the 'book' back to continue running the adventure. Within the text of the .pdf, small icons link directly to the relevant illustration; unfortunately, there is no such link back to the original text. The quality of the art runs from poor to good in this section. The maps are basic but useful, showing scale (1 sq = 10 ft.) and compass direction. The writing style is good, as is the editing.

The basic premise behind the adventure is as follows: A long time ago, a good cleric decided to collect all the remaining evil artifacts, items and cursed creatures (banes) he could, and lock them in a prison that no-one could enter. He created a warren of separated cells that thus became known as The Banewarrens. Now, the PCs find that someone or something has managed to enter the Banewarrens, releasing one of the inmates to cause chaos in the city that has developed above the Banewarrens over the centuries. Four different organisations have their own vested interests in what lies beneath the city and its up to the PCs to discover who wants what, who's betraying whom, and for them to enter The Banewarrens to find the means to destroying the only key to the complex and thus sealing the area permanently.

The prelude gives a background and synopsis of the adventure, some hints on running the adventure, and a short discussion of the uses of classes from Malhavoc Press' previous releases - a quick conversion is required from Malhavoc's sorcerer variant to a standard sorcerer if you don't own the relevant books (warning: this is not done for you). There follows an overview of the city setting of Ptolus, beneath which lies the Banewarrens. The various quarters of the city are described with sidebars covering the look and feel of Ptolus and the use of personal identification papers in the city, which can help or hinder the PCs throughout the adventure. There is also a map of the city. Next is a discussion of the organisations that play a major part in the plotline behind the module - the Church of Lothian, the Inverted Pyramid (a secret cabal of arcanists), the noble House of Vladaam, and the Pactlords of Quaan (a powerful cult of various monsters come together under a binding pact). Each organisation is discussed in terms of their goals, information to be discovered from or about them, their role in the adventure, and some ideas for integrating them into your campaign. The various NPCs from the organisation are listed and given a page number where you can find more details on them in the adventure. A few short hooks are given and there is a discussion about the PCs returning to the city for healing, information, rest, equipment, or help from the authorities (yeah, riiiight). The final part of this section looks at the architecture of the Banewarrens in terms of doors, walls, floors, and ceilings.

Chapter One: It Begins, deals with the escape of one of the cursed creatures from the Banewarrens, a drow who causes people with latent sorcery abilities to suddenly burst forth with chaotic manifestations of their hidden (up till now) powers. This certainly keeps the PCs busy for a while and obviously should provoke the PCs into trying to discover more about the drow. Various pssibilities for clues that lead the PCs to the entrance to the Banewarrens are provided.

This information leads them to a short Chapter Two: The Meandering Passage, which brings them to the guarded entrance to the Banewarrens.

Chapter Three: The Broken Seal, deals with the PCs first reconnaissance mission into the Banewarrens. This is a mixture of events and locations, where the PCs get a chance to explore a limited area of the Banewarrens that has been breached, along with a chance to meet the breachers themselves, a half-elf Paladin who has fairly successfuly sought to stop any further incursions, and loosed banes. The rest of the chapter is devoted to a discussion of the PCs options when they return to the city above, including interactions with the organisations that offered potential hooks in the beginning, with various further clues being offered as to the next step. They discover that the key to the Banewarrens is still extant, and in the hands of the noble House of Vlaadam. The key is being sought by nefarious powers and the PCs must get hold of the key before evil does. They may also discover that one part of an item that will seal the Banewarrens forever actually lies within the complex itself.

Chapter Four: Enter House Vladaam, details the options the PCs have for gaining the key - either through theft (with the help of information from a mysterious Knight of the Chord who seeks vengeance against the House) or through diplomacy/money. The Estate of Vlaadam is detailed, with an accompanying map.

In Chapter Five: The Outer Vaults, the PCs return to the Banewarrens with the key which will allow them further into the Banewarrens. Depending on their actions in the previous chapters, various possibilities are discussed in relation to the four organisations and their goals. Again, this chapter is presented as a mixture of events and locations. The locations are fully described with accompanying maps. The challenges include NPCs from the other organisations, traps and guards set to stop entrance to the Banewarrens, and of course the Banes themselves. The Banes that are items are all evil or cursed, which should limit the 'treasure' count as long as the PCs are not evil themselves - the author gives a warning in the introduction that the adventure would be unbalanced for evil NPCs in terms of 'treasure' accumulation. The encounters are pretty varied and unusual but all remain close to the theme of the adventure - heavily guarded cursed creatures or items.

Chapter Six: The Belfry, deals with the possibility of a successful kidnap attempt on one of the PCs by the Pactlords of the Quaan, which was posited in Chapter Three. The characters can follow the demands of a ransom note, or track the kidnappers down to their lair, which is again detailed with an accompanying map.

Chapter Seven: Portal To The Quaan, takes the PCs to the extradimensional headquarters of the Pactlords. The PCs need to come here to collect another piece of the item which will seal the Banewarrens. The area is described and mapped, with some further advice if PCs decide to go beyond the limits of the map.

Chapter Eight: The Inner Vaults, is a mix of events and locations which come into play only after the PCs or NPCs find the means to enter this inner area of the Banewarrens. Further betrayal, combats, banes, guards, and traps are encountered.

Chapter Nine: Tremoc Korin, The Baneheart, is the heart of the Banewarrens where the most dangerous banes are locked up (most of the rooms remain inaccessible to PCs - the author suggests he may explore them in an adventure for 20th level or greater characters at a later stage). The locations that are accessible contain some of the major artifacts and creatures hinted at previously in the adventure. The area is also connected to a further area at the top of the central area.

Chapter Ten: The Dread One's Path, is another extra-dimensional area which holds an original servant turned betrayer of the cleric who built the Banewarrens. There is a climactic battle which could see the PCs using an enormous construct to fight the evil creature within this strange dimension. The fight may be complicated by the arrival of the Pactlords of Quaan. Some discussion of the possible consequences of various PC actions ends the chapter. It is noted that there may be other areas of the Banewarrens that could be explored that do not fall within the protections laid upon the main area.

The Banes Appendix lists all the magic items, artifacts, poisons, diseases, cures, and monsters that can be found in The Banewarrens.

The Illustrations Appendix holds all the main images.

Conclusion:
The Banewarrens has many things to recommend it. For those who like dungeon crawling, it makes a superb dungeon crawl. For those who like complex plots, its got enough mystery, betrayal, and background logic in to fulfil them too. The quality of writing is good, the advice for the GM in terms of NPC tactics and knowledge is excellent. Its use and knowledge of the d20 rules is (strangely ;-) without compare. The encounters are unusual and exciting, and the consequences of failure dire - once the PCs become aware of them, they should be totally motivated.

What was lacking for me, was a sense of depth of character. Even the potentially most interesting character, Navanna Vladaam, seemed wooden and shallow. Lots of great information on her tactics and knowledge, but little feel for her actual character. Most of the other NPCs were similarly lacking in personality. Though the adventure is not lacking roleplaying opportunities, its certainly not its strong point. The other thing that didn't totally agree with me (and this is a personal opinion) is that quite a lot of the encounters smacked of sci-fi/horror scenes, wrapped up in a fantasy cloak. Not by any means all of them, but enough to slightly rankle. Stuff like invisible wire mesh flooring that electrocuted seemed definitely futuristic to me, and there were several other similar encounters.

But for those of you who read the above and say "So what?", go buy it now. Its a snip at the price.

 

[Felon]

I've been running this for a few weeks now. Is it just me, or does the module fail to explain how Brother Hogarth has continued to carry on his facade for such a long period of time? He's evil, has lost all of his clerical powers, yet nobody in the church suspects anything? None of the paladins of this lawful good deity has ever bothered to detect evil in his presense? He's doesn't even have a ring of mind-shielding listed amongst his equipment.

There's a paladin in the party, and the first thing he does whenever he encounters an NPC is check him for evil. I'm surprised Monte wouldn't address such an obvious point of order. Have I missed a sentence somewhere?

 

[Felon]

Sorry, that's Brother Heth, not Harth.

 

[Felon]

...or Hogarth