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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2008499" data-attributes="member: 9860">Beware! This review contains major spoilers.This is the 1st core adventure for D&D3e by WotC. It is designed for four 1st-level characters.Presentation: The front cover features PCs fighting off little thorny creatures in front of a large twisted tree. The back cover has a short introduction to, and overview of, the adventure. The internal art is black & white, of mediocre quality. The page count is 32. 9/10 of the page is text, the rest a runic border. The text is clear and readable. The inside front cover has four maps - three smaller ones of the area around Oakhurst, Oakhurst itself and a cutaway of the Sunless Citadel, and a larger one of an overhead view of the upper level. The back inside cover has an overhead map of the lower level. The maps are of good quality; the larger maps have a key and scale. The first page contains credits and contents. The final three pages contain creature statistics, magic item descriptions, and a new creature.The Story: In an ancient fortress, a vampire is staked through the heart. The fortress sinks into the ground. The stake takes on life and grows into an evil tree, which produces two fruits a year - one that is a cure-all, the other bearing a fatal poison. The fruit of the tree, if planted, gives rise to evil animated thorny creatures (as portrayed on the front cover) called twig blights.  An evil druid is drawn to the tree and strikes up an alliance with some of the evil creatures that already inhabit the underground fortress. The PCs are enticed to the Sunless Citadel with two possible hooks – searching for a group of adventurers from the nearest village, Oakhurst, who went missing in the citadel recently; or solving the mystery of the missing saplings that the villagers plant after buying the fruit from goblins who inhabit the citadel.The PCs must descend into the underground fortress, battle or negotiate with a group of kobolds, then battle a clan of goblins to reach the lower level. There are also a few side treks on this level, including a dire rat lair and a combined quasit/troll duo in a sealed off area. In the lower level, the PCs face bugbears, more goblins, skeletons, and plenty of pesky twig blights before reaching the climax combat against the evil druid, aided by the previous adventurers from Oakhurst who are now dominated by the druid thanks to the effects of the evil 'Gulthias' tree. The PCs must cut down or otherwise destroy the Gulthias tree.The Good: The module has plenty of action, good advice to the DM on creature tactics and nice little side bars to aid the DM in running particular scenes. The adventure also has a small number of traps and a couple of puzzles to break up the combat. The adventure allows for negotiation with the kobolds and the druid. There are also hints of the fortresses history as a shrine to a dragon-worshipping cult, which can link in with future adventures in this series.The Bad: This module reinforces my perception that TSR/WotC write good dungeon crawls, but lack either the enthusiasm or ability to integrate any plot complexity or real _roleplaying_ advice into the concept. For example, the sidebar 'Dealing With Kobolds Diplomatically' deals completely with the XP gained from this process, whereas the main text concentrates on the information they hold, rather than the personalities and character background (which added a whole new dimension to the negotiations, when I developed these for the game I ran). I was also disappointed that the Gulthias tree did not actually animate and aid the druid - I expected more from the source of all evil in the Sunless Citadel.Conclusion: This module aimed to provide an adventure that highlighted the 'back to the dungeon' aims of 3e. It did this with a good, solid dungeon crawl, which I'm sure will have delighted many gamers out there. I prefer a good deal more complexity and roleplaying support in my adventures, and for me it passed the time and no more. I therefore give it an Average rating, but recommend it for those who like a solid dungeon crawl.</blockquote>

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