Thoughts on Fane of the Drow?

[Davelozzi]

Has anyone picked up Fantastic Locations: Fane of the Drow yet? I saw it in the FLGS but it was shrinkwrapped so I couldn't really get a feel for it. I don't particularly care about the poster map, and I was wondering if anyone could tell me whether or not the other material is any good. Is it a real adventure or just a bunch of stat blocks?

Any info is appreciated.

 

[Sleepy Voiced]

I grabbed it yesterday. It looks fairly interesting. In fact I was more impressed with the poster maps than I expected to be. I haven't read much of the content, but it looks like there are short adventures for each of the maps. There is definitely more there than just stat blocks, however, the adventures are VERY short, as there aren't many pages for them to fill. Just from scanning the book the adventures do look like they have interesting monster choices. I'll look through it and post some more detail.

 

[MerricB]

I really hope it gets to Ballarat next week... rather than taking the 2-3 months the DMG2 took.

Here's a comment from mtbdm on the Necromancer Games boards about Fane:

"I actually like the style of the new "Fane of the Drow." It gives key encounters with a spiffy battlemat for each and if you want to run it as an RP scenario, it lets you flesh out the rest and tailor it to suit your own campaign. I much prefer this to an 800 page module that sucks up my entire campaign and takes a decade to play." - this thread

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

Also see the except from Fane of the Drow posted on the Wizards site.

Cheers!

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Fanes, why is it always Fanes? The Fane of Lloth in D3, Demon God's Fane, Fane this, Fane that. Why not a chapel? Or a cathedral?

 

[Shemeska]

It seems like an overglorified minis game product, not an RPG product.

 

[Sleepy Voiced]

Having read some more, I see I was mistaken. The four maps constitute a single adventure (although each part could easily be separated from the others).
It seems to be a pretty good, albeit standard, adventure for dealing with Drow and other underdark badguys.

It is definitely for the promotion of the miniatures game, but manages to be a pretty good RPG adventure as well (well, I think it would be, haven't run it yet). Yes, all the monsters used have a corresponding D&DM figure, but most seem to have their own RPG stats separate from the ones on the D&DM cards. I very much appreciated that. So it basically uses monsters fleshed out in whatever way the designer wants, and just suggests a mini that may represent it.

I think it looks good if you are interested in fairly short, straightforward adventures that don't require drawing out the tactical situation.

 

[Imruphel]

Fanes, why is it always Fanes? The Fane of Lloth in D3, Demon God's Fane, Fane this, Fane that. Why not a chapel? Or a cathedral?

My favourite related word is adytum.

You don't see that one often, do you?

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=adytum

The Fane of the Drow maps are quite good and definitely of value to RPGers. I've only looked at them briefly as I also bought Sons of Gruumsh at the same time and spent my free time reading that instead (great little adventure that!).

 

[Wycen]

I guess I'm spoiled with Necromancer and other company modules, cause when I picked up Fane and Sons at the store today and flipped through them I was not impressed, mostly by the length. That's not to say the production value was lacking. Sons of Gruumsh I might actually buy, but not Fane.

 

[IronWolf]

I am still on the fence on this one. I think it will take flipping through it or some reviews on it before I decide whether to pick it up or not.