The Longest Night

[bramadan]

To make a point of how good this adventure is, let me first say I do not like steam punk and am not a great fun of dark fantasy either. Naturally then, when I first heard about WitchFire Trilogy, I was almost certain I would give it a pass.

Then I heard how good it is and thought, oh well, maybe I can fit it to my own (Birthright) campaign. One of the designers from Privateer convinced me that it is not too hard to eliminate all the quirks of the setting and that adventure stands strong on its own merit. After reading it I must say that he was correct and that adventure can be run in any setting and (more importantly) at almost any power level on the strength of story and NPC's alone and will still compare favourably to 95% of anything published for d20 system.

However, after reading it I have grown to like the setting (gunpowder and all) so much that I believe that I will make a mini campaign in Corvis once entire trilogy is out.

There are very few adventures that can carry the weight of an entire setting, "Enemy Within" and "Ravenloft" were only ones I can now think of now and the "Longest Night" has a makings of being the begining of another.

Besides superb story which mixes oportunities for roleplaying with some excelent dungeoneering situations, remarkable and novel setting, and hands down best d20 artwork so far what makes this adventure stand ut is superb writing style that makes the adventure a pleasure to read for the DM and automaticaly sets him (or her) in the mood which he can convey to the players. 0nly d20 adventure that can compare with "Longest Night" in writing quality is WotC's own "Standing Stone".

Only objection I have to this adventure is that it is too short. At 64 pages for the price of 42 it is a good deal but I would not mind paying much more for something the size of "Shadow over Boegenhafen" or even "Axe of Dwarvish Lords".

Mega adventures can become dreary when written poorly but folks at Privateer are the people I would trust to produce something truly epic and even thogh WichFire trilogy is going to be substantial when it is complete it it is so good that like a good novel you finish it craving for more.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

One other person to date has also posted a review so I'm going to try not to repeat what he said other than to say I completely agree with him. Don't ask me why. I'm also a big Birthright fan and looked at steampunk with a scepticle eye, especiall y after some of that silly looking artwork that came out in Dragon Magazine. Art is a big thing for me, as it sets the tone of the game for my players.

The Longest Night, Book One of The Witchfire Trilogy (I love that campaign name!) is an excellent product and though some of the more unconventional elements can be taken out and fit into any campaign, the authors did a great job in providing a tone and flavor to the world that I'm starting to fall in love with.

Though I did give this product a Superb rating as I think it deserves, no review is too useful unless it points out some of the problems with the product. This is not to say that the product is bad because of its flaws, but it is certainly something that the consumers and designers alike should look at, either because its a slgiht problem or its just a slight problem for me.

The first of my complaints, is that the beginning and ending are horrible. The beginning has a horribly modular onset so that you could use any campaign world and any characters. The ending was likewise made both very modular and very cliche to leave a very "What will happen now?" kind of feeling since, literally, anything can happen now. In practice, however, I'm dreading the end of this adventure because I know it will leave my players very frustrated and they might feel cheated. Also, the end requires them to make "an important decision" but I'm not too sure if the players, at such a time will know the importance of their decision. Likewise, I'm fairly certain that they are not going to pick one of the two decisions listed. This isn't really a problem per se, but it is kind of annoying to have the middle of the adventure written so well but with little thought going into the beginning or the end.

My second complaint is that there was no handout that I can photocopy and give to the players. We went to generate characters and when they asked what kind of characters would be appropriate I was left to do little but shrug. So finally they asked what I recommended for their character composition and background, but I just had to shrug, reminding them that I only had 1/3 of the adventure and very little campaign information.

Naturally since there were undead on the cover, I got a paladin and a cleric in the party. They asked what choices they had for clerical domains. I just sort of shrugged and invented a few. My point is that the writers of the adventure gave very little information on character generation or anything to be used for making backgrounds.

My main complaint, however, is that a witch hunt is sort of at the center of the book, but no information was given in relation to witchcraft and society. I told my players not to be sorcerers because it looks like, based on my interpretation, that all the sorcerers were considered witches. Or maybe it was just all the female sorcerers. Or maybe all the evil female sorcerers, I don't know. There seem to be plenty of wizards around and magic has been heavily integrated into society, but it seems like all the sorcerers get hunted down and killed. I don't know why. No information is given. You'd think something like Magic and Society would be a definite thing to add in an adventure/campaign that had a huge emphasis on witchcraft hunts. I still don't know if its because the society hated witches or if the society just hates *these* witches because of what they had done. One of my players asked, if being a witch/warlock was a requirement to being a sorcerer. I just had no idea and finally banned wizards and sorcerers from their character generation choices.

I don't care too much for then name, Morrow, as the name of the deity which all the PCs worship.

Finally, we had some rules for guns, but not many. I recalled seeing somewhere that pistols costed 800gp but I couldn't find it again, so maybe I was wrong. We have rules for loading guns now and rules for how ammo is made and how much it costs. But that's it. I assume we are supposed to use the DMG rules for guns, but I'm not too sure. The DMG guns are not that great, all things considered. Also, one player mentioned to me that in a society where guns were a little more common, there would be no need to make them Exotic Weapons and perhaps they should be considered Simple Weapons like the crossbow. For those of you who are worried about such a thing, one look at the DMG entry on firearms should show you that they are not easy to get at character generation. The availability of guns was another thing I was curious about, since although they are supposed to be rare, the various guilds and shops in the merchant-city of Corvis is supposed to be able to supply you with pretty much anything.

I would have appreciated a full-page map to hand to the players (though there's one at Privateer Press' website so that's not so bad), at least three or four pages of campaign introductory material, a section about witchcraft since its intregal to the plot and the NPC's motivations, and some recommended character concepts. I still don't know, for example, if a knight walking into Corvis in full plate mail is an uncommon thing or not. I guess nothing is that uncommon in Corvis. But does the city Watch have similiar protection or do they just rely on dexterity and such?

Also at the center of the plot is a magical sword that although not nearly as cliche as a Sword+1 or a Holy Avenger or anything like that, I still would have preferred something a bit more original.

-Lord Rahvin

 

[Morrus]

This is a playtest review.

The Longest Night . . . part 1 of the Witchfire Trilogy, set in Privateer Press' Iron Kingdoms setting. This product is two-thirds adventure, one-third sourcebook . . . and it's great.

First, the good . . .

The book itself is beautiful; the production quality is even better than WotC's standard. The front cover boasts the best art I have seen so far on any published adventure (and I've seen a few!), the pagecount is a whopping 64 pages (and that's with a smallish font, too), information is well laid out, with useful sidebars in just the right places, and the artwork by Brian Snoddy and Matt Wilson, while black and white, is of excellent quality (either of you guys feel like donating a few pics to Daemonforge?)

The Iron Kingdoms setting itself is excellent. As I believe someone else said, there are few adventures that can support a new setting on their own - but this is one of those few. I wait eagerly for more information on this world. In the meantime, I will comment on what we have so far.

The setting can be loosely described as 'steampunk', although I don't feel that this term is entirely accurate. The technological elements of the setting are far from overwhelming as some might fear - they blend seamlessly into a traditional-style fantasy setting. Steamships, firearms (opertaed by magical blasting powders), the wonderful steamjacks (...the ultimate fusion of the wizard and engineer's arts. They are powered by a coal fired steam plant, but given a mind through magic.) all serve to enrich the setting in a subtle yet effective way.

For those who don't like the idea of technology in D&D - yes, it can be easily removed. But after you read The Longest Night, I doubt you'll want to!

The NPCs in this adventure are well detailed and, more important, interesting. The City of Corvis is equally detailed, and seems far more real than, for example, the town of Brindinford from The Speaker in Dreams. Privateer Press make the effort to cover geography, law and order, merchants, shops, guilds and unions - more than enough for a DM to run a believable city.

This brings me on to one of my favourite things about this module - the writers' attention to the small details. For example - one of the initial encounters has the PCs defending a caravan from ambush. Now, if your players are like mine, one of them is bound to open one of the caravan's chests for no reason whatsoever, and you will find yourself saying something like "You find . .err . . some spices . . .". Privateer Press have made the effort to provide an unobtrusive sidebar with a random chart describing the contents of any chest the PCs should happen to open. Other such sidebars include wandering monster tables, histories of various areas (hey, you never know when you might suddenly need that info), or little boxes saying things like "If anyone gets the idea of blowing a hole in the old drawbridge with the explosive kegs, it has hardness 5 and 25 HP." References to the Core Rulebooks include page numbers, which makes relevant info simple to find in a pinch.

The plot itself is original and captivating. To cut a long story short, the PCs are asked to investigate a local case of body-snatching from the nearby graveyards (and yes, the writers do provide a plausible answer to the quesiton 'Why don't the watch do it?'); this turns out to be connected with an old witchcraft scandal. Through investigation, they PCs will explore the tomb of the dead witch, the catacombs beneath the city, and the depths of Widower's Wood before discovering who is behind all this and why. By the end of the adventure, they find themselves dealing with an undead attack on the city orchestrated by . . . well, that would give it all way!

The focus of the adventure - not that the PCs will realise this for quite a while - is the sword called Witchfire. No mere Holy Avenger this, methinks - this artifact actually sounds interesting! You find out more in later installments of the trilogy.

The adventure is long, varied and interesting. When I first picked up the book, I couldn't stop reading it. It's like a novel, with its detailed characters and locations, captivating storylines, intriguing plot and finely crafted, immersive backdrop. I'll need a thesaurus if I'm gonna write any more . . .

And now, the bad . . .

It's not clear which skill is used to roll the check to reload a gun. A handout or two would have been nice.

The adventure does tend to railroad the players, moving them from one set piece to the next. The final scene was the most problematic, since the players do little more than watch the events resolve themselves with no way of influencing the outcome. This factor is the reason that this adventure did not score 5/5 from me; in places the adventure is more of a novel than an interactive game.

Incidentally, I notice that other reviewers have bemoaned the lack of background source material; I can't agree with them. This is an adventure, not a sourcebook, although it does remarkably well as such. Perhaps some info on witches in the Iron Kingdoms would have been nice, but that would just have been yet more icing on an already very sweet cake.

In summary . . .

This adventure is quality stuff; it has its flaws, but there is only one test when it comes to such an adventure: did my players enjoy it? The answer was unequivocably "yes". As Privateer's first attempt, I was impressed.

For those interested in the setting, Privateer have created a website with backgound info on the Iron Kingdoms: http://ironkingdoms.com/

 

[Liquide]

Well then I really must review this product since it is so bloody great!

The Longest Night . . . the first of the Witchfire Trilogy, set in Privateer Press Iron Kingdoms campiagn setting.

The Art

Well what can one say; The cover, made by Matt Wilson, is one the best pieces of art I have ever seen on an RPG product, well you can even frame it and put it up on the wall without being ashamed of it.

Interior art is in B/W made by Brain Snoddy & Matt Wilson, it has a very high standard even on the limit to be brilliant and outdo many other modules I have seen, even the offical modules from WotC.


The Content

The module is a massive 64 pages, about 2/3 is adventure and 1/3 campaign info since the Iron Kingdoms campaign setting isn't yet released when this module hit the shelves!

Within these pages you get a grand story circling around undead a magical blade and steam-punk, the story is well-written and very detailed.

Sidebars and secret DM info is all set up in boxes at all the right places, these boxes provide everything from the essential to the things you usually doesn't think about and have to make out on a flash while you DM!

The whole adventure is extremely detailed, both sites and NPC's are detailed to such degree that almost nothing makes you think why, and if you do you usually find it within seconds since you didn't enough attention to text


Well since this is too early in the morning for me and I havn't gotten any sleep I will end now, but I truly recommend this adventure the best adventure you'll ever get ever get for the 9.95 this module cost, I would even pay then this since it is so bloody brilliant.

In summary

This is best adventure I ever had laid my hands upon. Superior plot, great artwork ad design! this module is a 5 I never will regret
Cannot wait to get my hands on the sequel!

 

[cscottk]

**spoilers**

First off, overall this a really good adventure. What this module does best is evoke a sense of adventure and plot. Plot, in most modules, is a rare occurrence. Often the average module is a dungeon crawl with a smidge of plot, but not this one. Privateer Press obviously went with the idea of a story-driven module first, then added the combat elements (this is no Keep on the Borderlands).

Which brings up the faults of this module. More often than not, this module can slow down my group. The first act, although was fun for the DM, is devoid of any really scripted action. Toward the end of the first night, my group was dying to kill something. In order to find the secrets of the grave robberies, players have to interview various town folk. However, almost all of the people that they will interview have no information, which can really discourage the rolepalyers. Each interview should have provided a little bit of information to encourage the players.

The other problem this adventure has is barren, and almost pointless, dungeons. The first 2 acts have crawls that do little (in terms of the size of the dungeon) to forward the plot of the story. The DM has to incorprate a lot of "new" stuff to keep the dungeon intersting and to motivate the players to continue. I know that Privateer Press is going to correct the "lack of encounters" in the next module, so the next one should be really good.

It is obvious from the structure of the module, that the third act is where most of the focus was spent. It is in this act that all of the elements blend best--their is both plenty of story and action.

Overall, this is a very good module for a DM who is not new to the game. A lot of elements need to come from the DM to keep the players both motivated and interested. The story needs some prodding from the DM to keep it moving, a lot of the creatures need "beefing" up (my group was never really challenged in this module).

Even though this review is just full of complaints, I do highly reccomend this module. Privateer Press will get better with practice. The Iron Kingdoms world will get better with the release of the source material (which I wish they had released first).

 

[Tuerny]

ISBN# 0-9706970-0-7
Written by Matt Staroscik
Published by Privateer Press
Originally reviewed by Jesse Dean on AtFantasy.com

The Longest Night, written by Matt Staroscik, is the initial module in Privateer Press's Witchfire Trilogy. It is an event-based adventure designed for three or four first level characters and is set in and around the city of Corvis in the Iron Kingdoms setting. The Iron Kingdoms differs from most settings in the presence of some steam technology. There are steamjacks, steam-powered golems, steam ships, a limited amount of guns, and other, similar items. The Iron Kingdoms campaign setting, which hasn't been published yet, is not required to run the module.

Plot Outline
The adventure starts with the PCs serving as guards for a caravan led by a man named Gunner Wadock. After fighting off an attack by swamp gobbers, the group arrives in town and is introduced to Father Dumas, a local leader in the Church of Morrow. He has a request for the PCs: He wants them to investigate recent grave robberies that have been going on around Corvis in the last month.

Through the investigation of the disturbed grave sites, a tomb built to house the bodies of four of five witches that were executed years ago, a ruined fort the PCs, and eventually the battleground that the streets of Corvis become, come to find out what is recently going on. Ten years ago the five members of a coven of sorcerous witches were executed by the city for practicing black magic. One of them was Father Dumas' niece, Alexia Ciannor, who has instigated a plot to gain revenge on Ulfass Borloch, the man responsible for their deaths, and the city of Corvis itself.

To do this she has worked to focus her rising powers as a sorceress towards the mastery of the necromantic arts. Her plan, at least for this portion of the trilogy, has three parts. First she plans on animating the four members of the coven as powerful forms of undead capable of retaining much of their magical power. Secondly, she has perfected the art of creating a form of undead known as Thralls, and plans to use an army of them to attack Corvis. Using the army she plans to seize the body of her dead mother, and the sword Witchfire, from the grounds of her uncles temple while simultaneously gaining vengeance on the city.

The adventure ends with this attack on the temple and the arrival of someone only hinted at previously, the wizard who served as the executioner of the witches. This battle is the final culmination of the plans of the wizard, Vahn Oberen, as well. He first backed Ulfass Borloch in his plans for ascension just so he could gain the opportunity to kill the witches with Witchfire, draining a portion of their power. He lost Witchfire in some confusion after the executions and it was buried with the body of Alexia's niece. In response to this he began subtly influencing Alexi towards her current actions so that he could recover the sword. Through his attack the sword ends up in the PCs hands, with both individuals demanding that he give them the sword. Regardless of whom the PCs give to the sword ends up in Alexi's hands and the first part of the trilogy ends.

Presentation
The module, a standard laminated, stapled perfect bound booklet, is sixty-four pages long. The margins are ends of a fray scroll and are generally 1.5" wide.

The cover illustration, by Matt Wilson, depicts Alexi walking in a subterranean location with the sword Witchfire on her shoulder and a horde of undead surrounding her. The interior artwork, by Brian Snoddy and Matt Wilson, is composed of black and white drawings that are suitably dark for the setting, and often show unique aspects of the setting, such as illustrations of the main characters and unique creatures like steamjacks and swamp gobbers.

The maps are informative, including a grid and scale where necessary, and including major furniture and physical features.

Overview

The Longest night is divided into an Introduction, three Acts with multiple Chapters in each Act, an Appendix, and a section About Privateer Press, which is basically an Advertisement. The OGL/d20 System License appears at the start of the book.

The Introduction discusses the conventions used in the module, a plot summary, and an overview of the setting. The conventions are standard, detailing what is required to play, the format of the adventure, and where the monster stats are located. The setting overview is mostly focused towards the City of Corvis itself, but there is some information on the Iron Kingdoms in general and the Kingdom of Cygnar in particular. The information on Corvis details the layout of the city, points of interest, law and order, the merchants of Corvis, and the guilds of Corvis. After the information on Corvis there is some information on the Widower's Wood that surrounds Corvis and some locations within it.

The three Acts form the meat of the adventure, detailing the events that happen within it. Act One details the player's arrival in Corvis and the events that set them along the adventure's path. Act Two details the investigations of the Witches' Tomb and Alexia's subterranean hideout. Act Three details the Watch Captain Julian Helstrom's insistence that the PCs investigate Fort Rhyker, where he believes Alexia is, that investigation, and Alexia's attack on the city, ending with the finale at the church.

The Appendices detail the new monsters introduced in The Longest Night, detail generic NPC foundations, and detail the prominent, named NPCs in the adventure. The new monsters are mostly interesting variations of existing monsters. They are bog constrictor, cavewort, devil rats, gorax, pygmy boar, razorbat, swamp gobber, swamp shambler, swamp squid, and thralls. The generic NPCs are 1st and 3rd level variations of NPC types found in the adventure, namely Thugs, Rogues, Merchants, and Watchmen. The details of the prominent NPCs include their motivations and current status as well as their stats.

Analysis
The Longest Night has only a few flaws that might discourage its use. First of all none of the NPCs provided have spells listed. Suggestions are given for the overall theme of an individual’s spell lists, but if a GM wants to know what a particular PC has than he is going to have to make them himself. Secondly, there are some inconsistencies in regards to Alexi. She is listed as neutral in her statistical write-up, but in other instances it refers to her being hedged out by a protection from evil effect. This is also at odds with her status as a human, because protection from evil does not keep out humans. Her actions are also rather extreme for a neutral individual. Also, despite her exceptional intelligence and respectable wisdom, she is willing to divulge information about her plot during one point in the adventure, almost to the point of following the classic formula of the "Bond Villain." Finally, there are a few flaws in the rule-knowledge of the producers of the module. In several instances characters are provided with less feats than they should have, and an important point in the plot, when the PCs are supposed to be captured by a hold person spell from Alexia, the writers seem to forget that in d20 hold person only affects one individual per spell. For some of the generic NPCs they seem to have made up stats for them rather than rely on the NPC classes found in the DMG.

These flaws are minor, however, when compared to the positive points that are found in the module. It would have been very east to make this module linear, and in some ways it does retain traces of that, but in almost every instance the module provides details of the results of multiple directions on the PCs part, and encourages the GM to allow the PCs to go their own way and learn about the city rather than forcing them down any particular path. Corvis, and the setting itself, drips with atmosphere and is a nice change from settings that are slightly more traditional. If you prefer more traditional settings, it is not too difficult to remove the steamwork items that make the adventure different. They have no major relevance to the plot. The plotline itself is interesting, and, with 64 pages, the module allows the players to deal with a variety of settings, dungeon, urban, and wilderness, before it ends.

Conclusion
The Longest Night is an overall good adventure that is well worth the $9.95 it costs especially since it weighs in at 64 pages. Its use is optimized if you use the Iron Kingdoms setting, or at least steam-based technology, but this is not required.

 

[jaldaen]

Adaptability: 3 - This is the only true failing of the Witchfire Trilogy, though TLN is a little more adaptable if heavily scripted. If you and your players don't mind scripted events however this makes little difference.
Production: 5 - The artwork the started it all... great stuff.
Presentation: 5 - A great layout and feel to the book, I love the side boxes.
Content: 3 - I have problems with certain aspects of the content (such as misunderstandings of certain rules, flawed NPCs, and a few other oversights), but overall it is useful if not always well thought out.
Value: 5 - I feel that I must point out that the 64 page TLN (the third one will be 96 pages) costs about the same as the "normal" 32 page adventures. To me that is an incredible value.
Overall: 4 - TLN is a good adventure, but one you will have to be willing to work with or rework.

 

[Simon Collins]

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

Price: $9.95
Pages: 64
Price per page: About 15 cents per page.
Designed for Characters of Level: 1-2.

Front Cover: A superb piece of art depicting the villainess surrounded by an appropriately gruseome horde of undead.

Extra Page Use: The back cover gives a brief introduction to the adventure and the Iron Kingdoms setting. Both inside covers are blank. The first three pages contain credits, contents and the OGL and d20 Licence. The last 1/2 page gives a brief overview of future Privateer Press releases.

Internal Artwork: The internal artwork are superb, black-and-white sketches with a dark, brooding style to them.

Maps: Though some are a bit dark, the maps are clear with a 10 ft. per square scale.

Writing Style: The style is fairly standard stuff, occasionally lapsing into informality. What is being written about tends to be better than the quality of the writing itself. There are fairly regular typos scattered throughout the text.

Layout: The text density is good. There are some chunks of white space and a wide graphic margin, although sidebars do overlay this at times. The monster stats in the appendix are in a reduced font size to maximise text density for these aspects.

The Adventure:

The module begins with some advice on how to run the module and an adventure summary. The PCs are asked by Father Pandor Dumas to investigate some bodysnatching from the local graveyard. Dumas' niece is behind the thefts, as she practices necromancy to eventually avenge her mother's death in a recent witch-hunt by the city. A wizard, Vahn Oberen, was secretly the man behind the witch-hunt. He is now manipulating the insane niece in the hope of gaining access to a magical sword which was the motivator behind the original witch-hunt. The sword has absorbed the powers of the witches that were killed with it and Oberen seeks to gain access to those powers himself.

In the next section, The Iron Kingdoms, an overview of the setting is given. Some in-character descriptions of the kingdom of Cygnar, and the city of Corvis, where the adventure series takes place. Three interesting areas in Corvis are previewed - the Undercity (the oldest part of the city now swallowed by the surrounding swamp), the Quad (merchants quarter/market) and the Waterfront (the rough end of town). The section goes on to deal with Law and Order in some detail and includes subsections on The City Watch, Taxes, and a sidebar on Crime & Punishment. There is also a sidebar on Firearms, as a magical version of gunpowder is available in very limited quantities; the sidebar contains a brief synopsis of craft, profession and knowledge skills related to firearms.The setting information continues with an overview of the Merchants of Corvis, where different types of merchants are located in different areas of the city, before going on to give specific examples of noteworthy shops and shopkeepers. Four important guilds are covered - the Merchants Guild, the Thieves Guild (actually a number of unrelated organisations), the Wizards Guild (actually just 11 wizards), and the Engineers Guild (also known as The Union). There is a sidebar on Steam Power, which is an important part of the setting as (amongst other things) it powers steamjacks, metal giants powered by steam but given a basic intelligence through magical means; the sidebar contains a brief synopsis of craft, profession and knowledge skills related to steam engineering. The section ends with an overview of the nearby Widower's Wood, with legends of undead, lost gold, and a mysterious dragon. There is an accompanying sidebar detailing random encounters in the wood, with some thoughtful modifiers. There is also a rough map of the region.

The adventure itself begins with the PCs entering Corvis with a merchant caravan after suffering an ambush in the surrounding swamps. They visit Father Dumas to deliver goods from the caravan and receive healing. Dumas raises the issue of the missing bodies and asks the PCs to investigate. There is a sidebar on the 'Human Religions in the Iron Kingdoms' and more information on this (and other Iron Kingdoms info) can be found at http://ironkingdoms.com. Some background information is then given for the adventure to the GM before the PCs move on to investigating the grave robberies. Several areas for investigation are detailed, along with a sidebar on clues and some information for the GM as to whats going on behind the scenes.

One of the strongest leads the PCs discover is information on the witch-hunt and the relation of this information to the Witches' Tomb, an ancient tomb dating from the Orgoth Empire (there is a sidebar giving some background info on the empire) where the witches bodies were laid 'to rest'. The tomb is curently being used by a tribe of Swamp Gobbers - a new monster - chameleon-like Goblinoids. The PCs have a chance to interact with a frightened gobber, explore the secrets of the tomb, face a new type of undead (the Thrall, crafted by a necromancer using arcane glyphs to animate the dead), discover some interesting treasure and, possibly, deducing that Dumas' niece (actually a necromancer) is behind the grave robberies. Various options for dealing with the PCs' plans and reactions are detailed, with plenty of encouragement for letting the PCs have some free reign as to how to deal with the situation.

The PCs get an opportunity to follow Dumas' niece (Alexia) back to her hideout in the Undercity of Corvis, whatever the outcome of the PCs actions. If they brave some traps, they can find Alexia and interact with her to discover her motivations and arguments behind her actions. However, she has the ability to escape from the PCs using her magic (she is significantly higher level than the PCs), leaving them trapped in her hideout. Further exploration of the area reveals more secrets and a way out via a temple dedicated to the Iron Kingdoms equivalent of a saint, an Avatar of the gods.

When the PCs return to Corvis, they meet the Watch Captain, who offers some advice and some equipment to help them discover more of Alexia's plans. This includes some explodable powder kegs detailed in a sidebar. He also points them in the right direction to Alexia's lair - an abandoned keep - and hints at interference in his attempts to bring Alexia to justice from high within the government of Corvis. The PCs reach the keep to discover that Alexia ia raising an army of undead and must fend off the attacks of a group of assassins sent by Oberen who wants Alexia to launch her attack so that he himself can steal the sword.

The final part of the adventure involves the launch of Alexia's attack on the city by her undead army and her attempt to recover her mother's corpse and the magical sword from the church. Various sidetracks during the invasion are given to keep the PCs occupied and details of the enemy plan are given. The climax of the attack comes with the PCs defending the Church and the attempt by Alexia and Oberen to take the sword for themselves.

The Appendices give descriptions and stats for 10 new creatures (Bog Constrictor, Cavewort, Devil Rats, Gorax, Pygmy Boar, Razorbat, Swamp Gobber, Swamp Shambler, Swamp Squid, and Thrall), Generic NPCs (e.g. Thug, Merchant, Watchman), and the major NPCs of the module.

High Points: A fascinating setting, a strong and twisting plotline, well-developed NPCs, some original new monsters, and rules for Firearms and Steam Power. In addition, the module introduces a powerful artefact, an army of undead, a a dark sorceress and high-level political intrigue, yet still manages to make it a balanced and worthwhile experience for the low-level characters the adventure was designed for. The art is very atmospheric and there is plenty of advice for running the adventure and keeping the PCs options open.

The Low Points: Minor stuff really. The regular typos and the occasional glitches with text for reading to the players being outside text boxes. The adventure could be modified to a more generic campaign world, but you'd miss out on the idiosynchrasies of the setting that make it so unusual and interesting. There is little information on scaling or modifying the adventure in the module. I would have liked to see the existence of monsters, treasures and traps highlighted in each encounter area for ease of use during game play.

Conclusion: One of the best low-level adventures I have read. A balanced and rich adventure with depth and verve. A few minor design faults do not detract from this overall impression.

 

[Canada_K]

Bottom Line: Worth owning. This installment was mediocre, but the trilogy improves as it goes along. A professional looking product that suffers from some silly mistakes and awkward pacing, it is pretty good overall.

The Nitty Gritty Review: First of all, the look and the artwork are absolutely top notch. I'm far more willing to overlook minor deficiencies when the book looks as good as this one. A huge thumbs up to the production group!

Now my complaints about The Longest Night may seem picky, but they are born of being subjected to the rather brutal editorial staff over at Dungeon Magazine. There are a few things about this adventure that would curl my editor's ears.

(1) Spelling and grammar errors. ACK!

(2) The players are expected to follow the path the game designers have set out for them… come hell or high water. The entire trilogy is essentially a long series of neatly packaged encounters, strung together by an ongoing plot line. Each new scenario is completely independent from the last. The problem is that the segues from one encounter to the next are stiff, and often contrived. In almost every case, once the PCs have wrapped up one scenario, they MUST go to one of the major NPCs before they have enough information to get to the next scenario. This would be frustrating to me as a player because it means I am always beholden to the NPCs. It wouldn’t have been very hard for the game designers to leave clues so that the players could draw some of these conclusions for themselves.

(3) The game, in many cases, requires the DM to force a particular event to occur, or to impose a particular ending to a combat regardless of what the players do. In some places, the text of the adventure actually gives the DM advice on how to railroad the players without making it obvious to them. I think it is a sign of a poorly planned game if the designer has to force something to happen. Besides, players are a sophisticated bunch, and they can usually sniff out an artificial plot development a mile away. There is always a way to set-up an encounter so that no one has to be made to do anything. Hell, the people at WotC have many times insisted I rework an entire manuscript to ensure this sort of thing does not happen, and if I can do it anyone can.

The good points, though, are very, very good. The individual encounters are clever, the mood is appropriately creepy, and the environment is certainly engaging. I like the city of Corvis, and the swampy environs. The writing style is also very free and open, a welcome relief compared to the sterile precision that smothers most WotC products.

If you are going to invest in The Longest Night I highly recommend getting the entire trilogy. I think each book is stronger when taken in context of the whole story. The three books cost me $50 Canadian, which is a pretty good deal given how much material you get.