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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2010094" data-attributes="member: 18387">By Glenn Dean, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack*Caution: May contain spoilers!Sizing up the TargetThe Whispering Woodwind by Creative Mountain Games (CMG) is a d20 system adventure designed for 2d level characters. Written by Mark Clover, this product is a 38 page PDF that retails for $5.First BloodThe Whispering Woodwind is set in Creative Mountain Games’ World of Revloc, though it could easily be adapted to any campaign setting by simply changing the names of the locations. The adventure would easily fit into a coastal setting close to a medium-sized or larger town. It uses both site- and event-based encounters to develop its story.The adventure begins in the town of Jalston, where in reacting to a local emergency the party meets an innkeeper with a problem. Eventually, the adventurers are hired to recover an item from the inn’s former bard, and are led on a merry chase down the coast. On the way, they meet a number of colorful inhabitants, and eventually find a small hamlet with troubles of its own, where the adventure climaxes.The Whispering Woodwind is not a hack-and-slash dungeon exploration. While there are several combat encounters, the adventure provides many encounters that can best be handled with shrewd roleplay. The setting for the adventure is relatively low fantasy – most of the encounters are with animals or humanoids in a civilized setting. The overall feel is more gritty and realistic than some of the more high-magic, high-monster adventure offerings.Though designed for 2nd level characters, each encounter provides a sidebar on “Adjusting the Bar”, enabling the encounter to be easily scaled for levels 1-4, or to change the difficulty on the fly if the party is having too easy or too hard a time with the encounter.The adventure file includes a brief supplement that outlines a culture called the Trundlefolk, nomadic bands of people reminiscent of gypsies. The supplement provides two complete NPC classes for the Trundlefolk, and this culture could easily be imported into any campaign. Also included is a list of Open Game Content spells developed from the “name” spells in the Player’s Handbook.Critical HitsThe great strength of this adventure is the depth of the setting and the development of the non-player characters the adventuring party will encounter. CMG has gone to great lengths to create vivid, interesting NPCs that the game master can portray in a realistic manner. Each of the primary NPCs is described using CMG’s “PROSE” system, which rates each character’s outlook in terms of view on Politics, Religion, Others, Self, and Economics, along with some basic character traits. With a little study of the system, the GM use these NPCs and their surroundings to create a living locale in which to base a campaign with a great deal of realism and internal consistency.The adventure also makes good use of boxed text both for encounter descriptions and to provide suggestions for the game master. Its handling of skill checks in roleplay is particularly effective, with a number of possible responses for each situation mapped out depending on how players handle each encounter. This assistance is invaluable for a relatively novice GM who is attempting to introduce more roleplaying and character interaction into his or her game.Critical MissesThe Whispering Woodwind does have a couple of challenges a prospective GM should be prepared for. Though many of the encounters are event-based, the exact timeline is left to the GM to develop. Because of the detail provided, the GM should also be sure to study the links between events carefully, to be better prepared to transition from one to another. At least one significant encounter is not directly relevant to the basic adventure plot, but could be used to develop a number of interesting future adventures. Lastly, the town of Jalston in which the adventure begins is not described – there is a $1 player download from CMG that gives some good basic background, and a full DM‘s treatment of the town is forthcoming. This might pose a challenge for a GM whose players decide they want to spend some time in town before proceeding on the adventure. Coup de GraceVirtually all of this adventure is Open Game Content, with the exception of shaded text boxes. The bonus NPC classes and spell list are a nice touch. The adventure is well balanced for 1st to 4th level play, and shows careful attention to detail in the use of stat blocks. At $5, this adventure is a tremendous value, particularly for a gaming group that is looking for an adventure that encourages greater character interaction and roleplay. Combined with the Jalston products from CMG, this adventure could provide an excellent starting point for a low-level campaign in a believable setting with richly developed NPCs.To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to Fast Tracks at <a href="http://www.d20zines.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=index&catid=&topic=4" target="_blank">www.d20zines.com.</a></blockquote>

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