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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Daniel Knight" data-source="post: 2008512" data-attributes="member: 1113">--The following review contains major spoilers to this entire series of adventures.I've been a DM for almost a century now, and over that time I've used very few published adventures.  This isn't because I'm a cheap bastard with far too much time on my hands (and thus able to produce my own adventures), but more because I know what my players want best.  They want a damn good story.  Near the end of the 2nd Edition days I found there were very few adventures that grasped my imagination - or were stories that hadn't all ready been told before in some manner.  So it was with some reluctance I handed over my money to by The Sunless Citadel, 3e's first adventure in it's new series.First ImpressionsSigh... a low level adventure where the party must fight through the goblin and kobold infested ruins to fight the evil magic user at the end.  I'm sure Dungeon Magazine warns against submitting adventures so blatantly unoriginal.  Well that was a waste of time, I feel significantly less intelligent for having read it.  Well done Bruce, a fantastic companion to the Psionics Handbook in quality... snort.Second ImpressionsSo some timed past, and Wizards of the Coast released some more adventures, all of which I read and filed away.  And then came The Heart of Nightfang Spire.  Hey, there's a name in that, that name sounds familiar I thought, (flip, flip, flip), ooooh... story arc!  So I reread The Sunless Citadel with fresh eyes.  Okay, I thought, I can see where this is going now.The JigsawYou see, as a standalone adventure I really wasn't that impressed with it.  There was nothing incredibly new about it, other then the 3e rules being used.  But as a piece of the jigsaw in the grand story using the entire series of adventures, it's actually not that bad.  Being able to be used in both a solitary or complete arc way is no easy feat, and I think Bruce did a fantastic job.  My first problem with the adventure is that there was too much.  I saw no reason for the ruins to be a temple to some dragon cult that had fallen beneath the ground.  I thought it was useless fluff that really added nothing to the feel or story.  So what if there was a dragon that rampaged past the town creating some desolate plain?  Who cares if the evil tree at the end grew from a vampire being staked to the ground?  To me all this was just too much.  There were so many minor stories that overwhelmingly meant nothing to the adventure, that I thought it was just losing focus on what the plot boiled down to.  I felt that it would mean more if the ruins were simply a temple to some dead evil god of nature.  The druid at the end could be a the last surviving priest, who had created the tree to bring his gods will back into the world.  If I was to run it as a standalone, that's how I would play it.  When I do play it however, I'll be sure to keep all of Bruce's details, as well as play through the following adventures.  I believe that is the best way to run it.The BonesThe mechanics of the module are aimed at first time users, and I think it does a fantastic job explaining things as it goes.  It does cut down on the length of the adventure, but I feel it's for a worthwhile cause.  The artwork inside is fine at best, but that's okay because I tend to draw my own pictures to show the players.  The maps are also of a satisfactory standard.  Although I must admit I haven't played through it, the difficulty and treasure seem about right.The FleshAs said before, this adventure means so much more provided you play through the follow up adventures.  The story is simple and effective, although as said a little bit unfocused.  I'm inclined to place more traps in around the kobolds, and change the colour of the dragon.  I'm assuming white was used due to its low CR.  That's fine, when I play it I'll be using a weak green.  A white dragon in this environment just doesn't seem to make sense to me.  I'll also be putting the ravine in a forest as opposed to a plain, and focusing on the apple part of the story, (they'll need it to reawaken a beautiful young noble woman who has fallen into a comma after being pricked by a Soul Rose).  I'll be playing up the fairy tale part or the adventure to the hilt.  I have no problem with things being contrived so long as they are aware that they are.In ConclusionIt's not really worth it by itself, or unless you're very new to the game.  If Bruce had played up the fairy tale part more, explained a few things here and there (like why a white dragon was in this environment), and made the end challenge a little more epic, I would have given it five stars.</blockquote>

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