HalWhitewyrm
First Post
This is the first d20 module by MonkeyGod Enterprises and, I must say, not a very auspicious beginning. Retailing for a reasonable $8.95 US, this 28-pg adventure does not deliver more than $1.50 worth of excitement.
I'm not sure what made me buy it, but I must say that I'm glad I did for the collectibility. "What, but you just said that it was no good?!" Very true, but the collectibility is from the glaring non-compliance of the OGL. Clearly, skill checks should be designated Open Game Content, yet they are all included in Product Identity. I think the poor MonkeyGod may get spanked by the d20 lawyers before too long, thus making this baby a keeper for that one reason. Buy it while it's still out there.
SPOILERS BELOW, BUT IT LIKELY DOES NOT MATTER...
As for the module itself, the plot appears to have possibilities, if being a bit standard. A classic "save female in peril" turns into the even more classic "stop resurrection of evil god by dark minions". But the twist here is that the instruments necessary to the minions (dark druids in this case) are possessed by the local Baron. To this end, the daughter is kidnapped and the Baron is made to think that it is the local giant (a half-stone, half-hill variety no less....mmhmmm). The ransom note "from the giant" demands the chalice and the bronze mask (the instruments of the dark god Marruk's return). Naturally, the Baron sens an envoy with these seemingly useless items and the druids intercept these and take what they've been waiting for.
The Baron becomes increasingly agitated for news but does not desire all-out confrontation with the giant and his ogres--enter the PC's. The perfect strike force for the job. A behind-the-scenes twist (yes, another one) is that the chalice and mask are not the real ones. When this same ritual was performed 2 centuries ago, the father of the woman being sacrificed swapped the items for some illusory fakes and his them with the sacrificed's body. Confused? I thought so.
It wouldn't be so convoluted if the writing had been better. As it is, the grasp on stat blocks and general module layout is rather poor. The skill checks mentioned above are sometimes capitalized, sometimes not, and only sometimes in parentheses! I was not at all impressed by the cover or interior artwork and the whole thing has a rushed feel to it, as if they had to get this module finished before the OGL was revoked or something. There are many specifics to get into, but I'll just mention a few:
I'm not sure what made me buy it, but I must say that I'm glad I did for the collectibility. "What, but you just said that it was no good?!" Very true, but the collectibility is from the glaring non-compliance of the OGL. Clearly, skill checks should be designated Open Game Content, yet they are all included in Product Identity. I think the poor MonkeyGod may get spanked by the d20 lawyers before too long, thus making this baby a keeper for that one reason. Buy it while it's still out there.
SPOILERS BELOW, BUT IT LIKELY DOES NOT MATTER...
As for the module itself, the plot appears to have possibilities, if being a bit standard. A classic "save female in peril" turns into the even more classic "stop resurrection of evil god by dark minions". But the twist here is that the instruments necessary to the minions (dark druids in this case) are possessed by the local Baron. To this end, the daughter is kidnapped and the Baron is made to think that it is the local giant (a half-stone, half-hill variety no less....mmhmmm). The ransom note "from the giant" demands the chalice and the bronze mask (the instruments of the dark god Marruk's return). Naturally, the Baron sens an envoy with these seemingly useless items and the druids intercept these and take what they've been waiting for.
The Baron becomes increasingly agitated for news but does not desire all-out confrontation with the giant and his ogres--enter the PC's. The perfect strike force for the job. A behind-the-scenes twist (yes, another one) is that the chalice and mask are not the real ones. When this same ritual was performed 2 centuries ago, the father of the woman being sacrificed swapped the items for some illusory fakes and his them with the sacrificed's body. Confused? I thought so.
It wouldn't be so convoluted if the writing had been better. As it is, the grasp on stat blocks and general module layout is rather poor. The skill checks mentioned above are sometimes capitalized, sometimes not, and only sometimes in parentheses! I was not at all impressed by the cover or interior artwork and the whole thing has a rushed feel to it, as if they had to get this module finished before the OGL was revoked or something. There are many specifics to get into, but I'll just mention a few:
- The nomenclature and layout of the land (Blood Plateau, etc.) is disturbingly familiar to the old Bloodstone modules
- a recipe for orc and onion stew, while interesting, is not useful and takes up precious space
- the module is a 1/4" taller than most others, but still has 2" top margins and a little over 1" side margins
- Evil creatures are not allowed to enter a room, but there is nothing that tells the DM what happens if they try
- NPC statistics are clumped, for the most part, into one huge paragraph; hard to read, inconvenient, & not in standard format layed out in the DMG and other modules
