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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ASEO" data-source="post: 2010453" data-attributes="member: 12224">The Forge of Fury - 4 GoodLet me start by saying that I DM a lot.  I also enjoy running Dungeon Crawls as long as the dungeon ecology makes sense and the plot is more than a room-by-room hackfest.Cost $9.9532 pages, maps on inside covers.For 4 characters begining at 3rd level. - - - - - - - - - - SPOILERS - - - - - - - - - The plot of this adventure is that there is an old abandoned Dwarven Forge site that is available for investigation.  There are several plot hooks provided:  Stop the Orc Raiders who are using the site as a HQ,  Recover blades made by a famous Dwarven smith that may still be stashed at the site, Follow a map to the site and check it out.  All the plot hooks are fairly weak, but do give a reason for investigation of the dungeon.  Personally, I usually place the adventure in an area that has been over run by humanoids in the past and have a Dwarf in the party wanting to go see what is left of his ancestor’s holdings.Like The Sunless Citadel, this adventure contains a Dragon.  I am glad to see the Dragon being put back in Dungeons & Dragons.  I remember playing many first and second edition adventures and never seeing a dragon appear.  Getting to see dragons at this level is something that I applaud.  The way that it is done, with the dragons being young, keeps the dragons within the EL range of the party and lets the party know that all dragons start small somewhere.Occasional side pars give hints to new DMs about replacing dead PCs with rescued prisoners, vision range in the large dark caverns,Forge of Fury is comprised of 5 basic areas. These are mixed between cavern and dungeon regions. A DM could easily use only part of this adventure as the levels tend to have different ecologies and can thus be pulled out of the adventure and used piecemeal if desired.The first area encountered is the Orc held front door to the complex.  This area can easily result in a TPK if the party fails to get through the front door before they get closed, or is foolish enough not to know when to retreat.  Orcs, an Ogre, and Stirges inhabit this 14-room level. ELs run from 1 to 4 and there are some prisoners to rescue.The second level is a large 15-18 encounter area, natural cavern level.  This area was part of the Dwarven mine portion of the complex and now houses a Troglodyte clan, Gricks, Yellow mold, Subterranean Lizards ( which are detailed in the back of the module) and some Dwarven crypts.The next area is called the Sink Hole since a sinkhole on level two leads to this area.  This area was once a storage area for the Dwarves and bisected by an underground stream.  Hopefully your players will know when to run, because there is an EL 10 Roper on this level that is meant to show players that not everything in a dungeon is meant to be killed.  If your players are thick headed about killing everything (and you know that) the module suggests you omit this encounter.  Personally, I say leave it in and go for the TPK.   The fact that characters encounter things stronger then themselves is something that all players should know, or learn the hard way.The Fourth area is large 30-room dwarven forge area.  Some of these rooms are not numbered, and several are keyed to "Looted Room", that comes with a 1d8 random room contents chart.  On this level the party finds that Duergar have moved in and are using the forges.  I had a TPK when the party I was running managed to excite EL 4, EL5 and EL6 encounters simultaneously.  Some undead on this level will make the party cleric feel useful for more than their healing spells.  Skeletons, an Allip and a Wight are all present. An EL9 Succubus will try to get the party to free her from an entrapment spell/curse that holds her in a room.  Her main goal is to flee, but she may toy with a party before departing.The final area is the Black Lake, this cavern area is crossed by the underground stream and is home to Nightscale, a Young CR4 Black Dragon.I found the dissectability of this adventure (whether it was designed that way or not) to be nice.  The Dungeon ecology is well done.  My players have always thoroughly enjoyed playing this adventure, even the TPK group who all hit their heads against the table and declared that they would never flee a combat into two previously unexplored areas again.  "If you can, run back the way you came" became their new motto.This adventure will be hard for a 4 character 3rd level party.  I used the party that had completed Sunless Citadel, with the additions of Erky Timbers and Meepoo the Kobold, and the party did fairly well.  The division between the levels makes it easy for a party to rest in cleared areas.  One party even brought in Men-at-arms to occupy the first level as they explored deeper.The only thing that this module was lacking that kept it from getting a 5 from me was a cutting edge plot/adventure hook/ or something to set it apart from other modules of similar quality.  It didn't have the depth of the Tomb of Abysthor, or the Nation building and living castle aspect of The Gryphon's Legacy.  Still it is an excellent adventure that I will continue to run for my players.ASEO out</blockquote>

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