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Message: <blockquote data-quote="der_kluge" data-source="post: 9351504" data-attributes="member: 945">Dark of the Moon <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" alt="⭐" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/2b50.png" title="Star    :star:" data-shortname=":star:" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" /> This adventure is set in Vorostokov, yet another domain the 5e VRGtR seems to have forgotten about. It’s got a Russian feel to it, and at 300 miles across, mostly arctic-like conditions, and a grand total population of, like, 1,000 people not a terribly interesting place. The adventure, for PCs of 5-8th level, starts with sucking the PCs, who are presumably minding their own business, with a blast of arctic air, a dead hunter, and an attack by a mist wolf which apparently shunts each PC into the domain one at a time with its misty bite. I don’t know what happens if the wolf misses, or the party kills it, however. I guess the GM is free to keeping adding wolves until that happens…What follows is 3-4 pages of DM torture porn, where the PCs must survive the arctic cold. Eventually, the group is set upon by a werewolf and 10 wolves. In what is described as a near-TPK of a fight, and the GM is encouraged to kill characters “if the dice and the player tactics dictate that result.” The goal here is to try and inflict lycanthropy upon at least one PC, and if a PC or two dies in the process, I guess that’s OK, too. Regardless of how this turns out, we fast-forward to the night, where the PCs meet Mikhail, some hunter from the local village who has a campsite out in the middle of nowhere. There’s a list of questions you can give to Mikhail, including his answers; unfortunately, one of the questions isn’t “How in the hell are you still alive in this frigid land of ravenous wolves?”In chapter 2, the PCs leave this village and are meant to head to the village of Kirinova. They can do this if they wish to take down the villain, Gregor, or to just try and find a way out of this accursed land. Any other options meet with failure. “Give them a fair shot to do whatever they are trying, and when it fails, resume the adventure…” Choo-choo, baby! On the way to Kirinova, more DM torture porn – and more heavy-handed combat. Once in Kironova, they find all the people dead, and Gregor is there once again with his men, and another fight ensues in what the module describes as “an extremely difficult battle for the PCs”. There are 45 total bodies in the village. At this rate, the entire domain will be dead in, like, two months.If the PCs lose the fight, there is a good chance they get captured, and are forced into lycanthropy by Gregor, who then controls them. He then releases them into the wilds so he can hunt them. PCs who fail to come up with a good plan on how to avoid this plan, are probably just killed. If they manage to get to the village, they’ll meet two witches, Natalya and Elena, who are Gregor’s sisters. They try and enlist the party’s help to kill Gregor.In chapter 3… you know what, I’m tapping out. There are so many problems with this module, I can find no hope of redemption here. The entire thing is just a heavy-handed DM torture porn device and plot railroad. The PCs aren’t going to care about any of this. They’re only going to be interested in leaving this Russia-like domain and will only go along with the story at this point if it actually means finishing it. Honestly, the best outcome here is for the party to just TPK in the first ridiculously hard fight. At least then they’ll get to make new characters and start a new campaign.</blockquote>

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