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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 2009540" data-attributes="member: 172">The Witch of Loch DurnanThe Witch of Loch Durnan is an adventure by Mystic Eye Games nominally set in Gothos, the world of their Hunt Rise of Evil setting. The adventure follows the Pit of Loch Durnan, but playing that adventure is not required to play this adventure.The Witch of Loch Durnan is designed for a party of 5th to 7th level characters.A First LookThe Witch of Loch Durnan is a 72 page perfect-bound book priced at $13.95. This give the same price per page ratio as the somewhat smaller Rappan Athuk II by Necromancer Games.The cover of the book, by Jhoneil Centeno, has a nice depiction of a party facing off with a horde of misshapen beasts. The interior art is black and white, and features Scott Druin, Scott Purdy, and Marcio Fiorito. Some of the art is medioce, but other pieces are very good and somewhat macabre in feel.The cartography is a mixed lot. Most of the maps are well illustrated, but many lack grids and/or scales, and all lack symbol legends.The interior body text is easily readable, but a bit larger than average. There are a few layout gaffes, such as a table that bleeds over into a following chapter and the chapter that is not denoted in the table of contents.A Deeper Look(Warning: this review contains spoilers to the content of the adventure)The book begins with a short introductory chapter outlining the background details of the adventure, including a brief summary of the events of the Pit of Loch Durnan and background information bridging that adventure to this one. In the previous adventure, the mines housing a crystal holding the spirit of a devil were collapsed. This did not destroy the crystal, however, and led to a deeper cave, connected to the ancient burial site of an elven king. The power of the devil's spirit warped native creatures into horrible monstrosities and raised undead in the cave.In addition to this, since the time of the previous adventure, the church has restored the corrupted local church, and the new priest has some of the new immigrants riled up and ready to take action against the witch Mellie, who the party may know from the previous adventure.The introduction provides a variety of simple hooks, some of them dependant upon the party having played the previous adventure. The introduction also contains a summary of some of the relevant NPCs of the story, but does not contain a summary of the contents or the expected flow of the adventure.The adventure itself is divided into six nominal acts. The first act describes the village and the party's arrival and initial attempts to gather rumors and become acquainted (or reacquainted) with the village. The act includes guidelines depending on whether the party left a good or bad impression in the last adventure or whether they are new to the village.The second act marks the first major sign of trouble as the party is eating dinner and is interrupted by a panicked young lad whose family is under attack by the newfound monstrosities. The party has a chance to save members of the family and get a first glimpse of the mutant creatures.In the third act, O'Malley (the new representative of the major church) riles up some locals and convinces them that the witch Mellie is responsible for the strange creatures. The party may debate O'Malley if they have reason to suspect that she is not responsible, or they may go along with or ahead of the witch hunt. This will result in a meeting with a few of the creatures as well as meeting with Mellie.The fourth act, the monsters retaliate for the incursions into the forest. This section is more a tactical exercise and more open to DM judgement and player reactions. The section outlines the actions of a variety of monster forces advancing on the town, and is very likely to leave several local dead, even with the party's intervention.In the fifth act, Mellie contacts the party and lets them know where she thinks the source of these strange creatures is: a cave beneath the mines and near the loch. This section is a fairly simple dungeon crawl that has the party facing the mutants and undead inhabiting the caves and grotto to recover the crystal housing the devil's soul. There are some hazards that the party has to face, but there are insufficient details on spot or search DCs to avoid these hazards.The final act describes some possible resolutions to the adventure depending on how the party handled the locals and the crystal.There are three appendices.The first appendix contains statistics and descriptions for major characters in the adventures as well as the new mutated creatures that appear herein. Each character has full statistics and motives, and many have illustrations.The second appendix has maps and details for many locales within the village that the party may stumble across during the adventure.The third appendix contains a "mutant generator", a system (and set of tables) for creating bizarre creatures from basic animals.ConclusionThe Witch of Loch Durnan has a lot of potential as an adventure. The adventure is fairly flexible and allows a lot of GM judgement. But it also requires it. The different acts are loosely linked, and getting players too (or past) them may take a little wrangling, especially if you have willful players. As such, I would not recommend it for inexperienced GMs.-Alan D. Kohler</blockquote>

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