Simon Collins
Explorer
Beware! This review contains major spoilers.
Price: $9.95
Page Count: 40
Price per page: About 24 cents per page
Designed for Character Level: 4-6
Format: Softcover
External Artwork: A beautiful woman dances whilst a noble warrior looks on - above them lurks a menacing shadow of war-like images. This beautiful piece of artwork is set against a background of a musical score, nicely setting the tone for the adventure without giving too much away.
Additional Page Use: The back page gives an introduction and overview of the adventure. Both inside covers are blank. The first two pages contain contents, credits and the OGL. The last two pages are adverts.
Internal Artwork: I love the work of David Interdonato, who did all the internal black and white sketches. Its a treat to have his work showcased throughout the adventure.
Maps: The three maps of the castle in which the adventure takes place are basic but clear and practical.
Text Density: Text density is diffuse (though this does make it easy to read) and there are regular amounts of white space.
Text Style: The text style is engaging and humorous, on the whole easy and enjoyable to read. Each chapter is introduced by a well-written piece of flavour text in the words of an adventurer who has already experienced the sights that the PCs will face. Its also pleasant to come across a product with no typos (that I could find).
The Adventure: Many centuries ago, a forward-thinking human king (Mileas) planned to marry his eldest daughter (Kylea) to an orc prince (Gragtor), sealing peace between the two nations. The king's younger son (Aster) hates orcs and is jealous of his sister. He plans to poison Kylea, blame the orcs, and slaughter them in 'revenge'. He enlists the help of a braggard sorceress (Dezaria) and gives her a moonstone (a magic amplifier) to help her force the guests at the signing of the peace treaty (held at Mileas' castle) to dance uncontrollably, allowing him to enact his part of the plan. Everything goes horribly wrong of course - King Melias drinks the poison, Aster's cronies fail in their ambush attempt on the orcs, and a bloody battle ensues. In addition, the amplified magic spirals out of control, causing all those still living to continue dancing until they die of exhaustion. The uncontrolled magic also has a side effect - it set off a series of temporal echoes that cause the gruesome scenes to be re-enacted again and again and again. Only one member of the court that night manages to finally escape the scratched record effect - a miserable jester called Frog. Though his throat was slit when he was discovered listening in on Aster's assassination plans, his early death in the proceedings has allowed him to eventually break free of the castle grounds. He travels to a nearby crossroads in order to enlist help to stop the endless dance of death in the castle halls. Enter the PCs.
After this adventure overview, Chapter One deals with the PCs meeting Frog at the crossroads. Not only is Frog's throat slit (so he can't talk) but he doesn't understand modern-day parlance so the PCs and Frog can only communicate by mime (there is a sidebar dealing with spells that may reduce this challenge). Once the PCs spot the gaping gash in Frog's throat, they may fear him to be undead. "So be it" says the module and gives some advice for dealing with this possibility. The PCs, however, may still have some difficulty understanding the state of Frog and the rest of the cast of NPCs - the module states "Despite their bizarre condition, neither the beggar/jester Frog nor any of the other NPCs who the characters will meet are undead. They're just disturbingly active dead people."
This may take some suspension of disbelief on the part of the players and the DM as well as the PCs, but its necessary (and worth it) to experience the rest of the module. Frog attempts to begin to teach the PCs some of the dance steps that will help them later in the adventure and then tries to lure them to the castle to help. The DM is encouraged to physically act out the dance steps and this theme continues on into the rest of the module, including encouraging the players to get up and try out the twirls, bows, and leaps that make up the ancient formal dancing style - loads of fun if people are brave enough.
Chapter Two begins with the journey to the castle through the forest where they may be attacked by a phase spider. The PCs enter the castle and the distorted spell, where they must attempt to resist the lure to join the eternal dance. If they become entranced, they enter a magical trap - a series of dances that they can only escape by dancing the correct moves. They discover these moves by suffering small amounts of subdual damage for every wrong move they make and get mystical encouragement when they are close to following the sequence of moves that will allow them to move through time to the aftermath of the slaughter. They are then free to explore the rest of the castle.
Chapter Three details the various rooms of the castle, and their inhabitants, including a carrion crawler, the sorceress Dezaria, and a manivore (a new monster, an incorporeal outsider that feeds off magic). They may also witness Frog's murder by Aster's cronies, and can learn more about the plot behind the tragedy.
Chapter Four concludes the adventure. The PCs can learn more of the plot, and the DM can play around with time and mystical encouragement to bring the PCs to the point where they can attempt to change the course of the final events - the poisoning of the king and the ensuing battle with the orcs. The best solution to doing this is to enter the eternal dance again and attempt to move close enough to the king to stop him drinking the poison. They may be interfered with in this attempt by several possible characters - Prince Aster, Dezaria, the manavore (who is happily feeding off the eternal spell), Aster's minions or possibly the orcs or the king and his guards if their actions are misinterpreted (remember, no-one can understand each other without magic). If they are drawn into combat, the PCs are forced to dance and fight at the same time, most dance moves taking up a partial action. Advice for the DM on handling various accusations by the PCs is given, and the possible repercussions of the PCs changing history.
The High Points: The module is well-written and beautifully illustrated. The story is intriguing and humorous and has a complex and clever magical trap as the central idea behind the adventure. The NPCs are well-detailed and some interesting and amusing roleplaying is encouraged due to the language barrier and the magical dance. The new monster is very creative and is congruous with the setting and the situation.
The Low Points: The plot and the characters require occasional suspension of disbelief, and the nature of the roleplaying may intimidate some groups who are less keen on the roleplaying aspects of gaming. The adventure is quite expensive considering the text density and price per page. There are no ELs and no serious advice for scaling or modifying the adventure.
Conclusion: Despite the leaps of faith required and the value issue, this is still an original and engaging adventure, attractively illustrated and well balanced. It could be a lot of fun if you've got the right mix of players, or a total wash out for rulemasters and hack-and-slashers. Low on crunchy bits, too, but still to my liking.
Price: $9.95
Page Count: 40
Price per page: About 24 cents per page
Designed for Character Level: 4-6
Format: Softcover
External Artwork: A beautiful woman dances whilst a noble warrior looks on - above them lurks a menacing shadow of war-like images. This beautiful piece of artwork is set against a background of a musical score, nicely setting the tone for the adventure without giving too much away.
Additional Page Use: The back page gives an introduction and overview of the adventure. Both inside covers are blank. The first two pages contain contents, credits and the OGL. The last two pages are adverts.
Internal Artwork: I love the work of David Interdonato, who did all the internal black and white sketches. Its a treat to have his work showcased throughout the adventure.
Maps: The three maps of the castle in which the adventure takes place are basic but clear and practical.
Text Density: Text density is diffuse (though this does make it easy to read) and there are regular amounts of white space.
Text Style: The text style is engaging and humorous, on the whole easy and enjoyable to read. Each chapter is introduced by a well-written piece of flavour text in the words of an adventurer who has already experienced the sights that the PCs will face. Its also pleasant to come across a product with no typos (that I could find).
The Adventure: Many centuries ago, a forward-thinking human king (Mileas) planned to marry his eldest daughter (Kylea) to an orc prince (Gragtor), sealing peace between the two nations. The king's younger son (Aster) hates orcs and is jealous of his sister. He plans to poison Kylea, blame the orcs, and slaughter them in 'revenge'. He enlists the help of a braggard sorceress (Dezaria) and gives her a moonstone (a magic amplifier) to help her force the guests at the signing of the peace treaty (held at Mileas' castle) to dance uncontrollably, allowing him to enact his part of the plan. Everything goes horribly wrong of course - King Melias drinks the poison, Aster's cronies fail in their ambush attempt on the orcs, and a bloody battle ensues. In addition, the amplified magic spirals out of control, causing all those still living to continue dancing until they die of exhaustion. The uncontrolled magic also has a side effect - it set off a series of temporal echoes that cause the gruesome scenes to be re-enacted again and again and again. Only one member of the court that night manages to finally escape the scratched record effect - a miserable jester called Frog. Though his throat was slit when he was discovered listening in on Aster's assassination plans, his early death in the proceedings has allowed him to eventually break free of the castle grounds. He travels to a nearby crossroads in order to enlist help to stop the endless dance of death in the castle halls. Enter the PCs.
After this adventure overview, Chapter One deals with the PCs meeting Frog at the crossroads. Not only is Frog's throat slit (so he can't talk) but he doesn't understand modern-day parlance so the PCs and Frog can only communicate by mime (there is a sidebar dealing with spells that may reduce this challenge). Once the PCs spot the gaping gash in Frog's throat, they may fear him to be undead. "So be it" says the module and gives some advice for dealing with this possibility. The PCs, however, may still have some difficulty understanding the state of Frog and the rest of the cast of NPCs - the module states "Despite their bizarre condition, neither the beggar/jester Frog nor any of the other NPCs who the characters will meet are undead. They're just disturbingly active dead people."
This may take some suspension of disbelief on the part of the players and the DM as well as the PCs, but its necessary (and worth it) to experience the rest of the module. Frog attempts to begin to teach the PCs some of the dance steps that will help them later in the adventure and then tries to lure them to the castle to help. The DM is encouraged to physically act out the dance steps and this theme continues on into the rest of the module, including encouraging the players to get up and try out the twirls, bows, and leaps that make up the ancient formal dancing style - loads of fun if people are brave enough.
Chapter Two begins with the journey to the castle through the forest where they may be attacked by a phase spider. The PCs enter the castle and the distorted spell, where they must attempt to resist the lure to join the eternal dance. If they become entranced, they enter a magical trap - a series of dances that they can only escape by dancing the correct moves. They discover these moves by suffering small amounts of subdual damage for every wrong move they make and get mystical encouragement when they are close to following the sequence of moves that will allow them to move through time to the aftermath of the slaughter. They are then free to explore the rest of the castle.
Chapter Three details the various rooms of the castle, and their inhabitants, including a carrion crawler, the sorceress Dezaria, and a manivore (a new monster, an incorporeal outsider that feeds off magic). They may also witness Frog's murder by Aster's cronies, and can learn more about the plot behind the tragedy.
Chapter Four concludes the adventure. The PCs can learn more of the plot, and the DM can play around with time and mystical encouragement to bring the PCs to the point where they can attempt to change the course of the final events - the poisoning of the king and the ensuing battle with the orcs. The best solution to doing this is to enter the eternal dance again and attempt to move close enough to the king to stop him drinking the poison. They may be interfered with in this attempt by several possible characters - Prince Aster, Dezaria, the manavore (who is happily feeding off the eternal spell), Aster's minions or possibly the orcs or the king and his guards if their actions are misinterpreted (remember, no-one can understand each other without magic). If they are drawn into combat, the PCs are forced to dance and fight at the same time, most dance moves taking up a partial action. Advice for the DM on handling various accusations by the PCs is given, and the possible repercussions of the PCs changing history.
The High Points: The module is well-written and beautifully illustrated. The story is intriguing and humorous and has a complex and clever magical trap as the central idea behind the adventure. The NPCs are well-detailed and some interesting and amusing roleplaying is encouraged due to the language barrier and the magical dance. The new monster is very creative and is congruous with the setting and the situation.
The Low Points: The plot and the characters require occasional suspension of disbelief, and the nature of the roleplaying may intimidate some groups who are less keen on the roleplaying aspects of gaming. The adventure is quite expensive considering the text density and price per page. There are no ELs and no serious advice for scaling or modifying the adventure.
Conclusion: Despite the leaps of faith required and the value issue, this is still an original and engaging adventure, attractively illustrated and well balanced. It could be a lot of fun if you've got the right mix of players, or a total wash out for rulemasters and hack-and-slashers. Low on crunchy bits, too, but still to my liking.
