JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Vampires and Liches is a 3.0 collection of three adventures that pits the characters against the undead forces. It’s designed for high level play, the first section, Sewers of the Underguild, meant for 11th level characters, while The Pyramid of Amra is for 12th level characters and the final one, The Isle of Eliphaz, for 14th level and higher characters.
These are not mini-campaign settings but rather, straight dungeon crawls, holding true to the 1st edition feeling. The bad news in some cases though, is that means that there is some of the ‘cheese’ of first edition too. I know I’m not the only GM who hates taps and tricks that outright do things like disintegrate or otherwise incapacitate players with only a saving throw between them and dust.
The bad news with the set up is that there is little to help the GM in using the adventuer save for descriptions of the rooms and the creatures within them. This isn’t saying that there aren’t any notes or that the formatting is difficult to use, but it could’ve been made a little easier by consistent use of gray backgrounds on read aloud text and more clues as to actual campaign use.
The authors have created three very tough scenarios for the players. Those who proceed without paladins and clerics, are going to get their heads handed to them. If I knew my GM ever wanted to run these scenarios, I would defiantly take some sort of PrC that narrowed my focus down to killing the undead. That’s how dangerous these adventures are.
One of the strengths of the module is that all three scenarios are very easy to put into almost any campaign. Sewers can go under any major city. A pyramid into any desert. The island into any large body of water. By doing this, the authors have insured that campaign continuity won’t be effected by the introduction of these adventures. The theme of the adventures, much like their previous product in this line, is that while the party is going to take a beating, if they survive, they get access to some terrific items, perhaps too terrific.
The treasure of the first adventure is the hollow blade. The second the tome of mind and body. The third, the girdle of elements. Now what do I mean by too powerful? Well, the girdle of elements, while only useable by a druid, grants a +4 strength and wisdom enhancement in addition to a +3 deflection bonus. Not too shabby but it also provides fire resistance at 15, stoneskin once per week, and the ability to command a huge elemental once per day. Now the tome of mind and body also provides some fantastic abilities, but the interesting thing about it, is that it’s a corrupt monk book and can turn the reader chaotic evil if he misses a will save so that even as it augments a monk’s nature abilities, it can prevent gaining any more monk levels until the monk can restore his alignment some how.
The book is not heavily illustrated. This allows more text per page and makes up for the white space at the end of some sections. The art is by long time Necromancer Games fan favorite Brian Leblanc and he brings a wide variety of styles to the book including ink and charcoal style illustrations. The cartography is done by none other than Ed Bourelle of Skeleton Key Games fame. He does a fantastic job, as always on all of the maps here. One thing I hope that Necromancer Games changes on their adventures is the borders. These skulls surrounded by a pale grey background don’t match the talent that Necromancer Games has under its belt and should be updated to or dropped. At $13.95, the book is a fair price for a 56-page book. Almost like getting three Dungeon Crawl Classics.
These adventures should be read all the way through and adjusted as necessary. I can see them, much like Goodman Games Dungeon Crawl Classics, being great for a one night setting or convention setting but harsh on a campaign’s kill ratio in some instances and requiring some long term thinking on the magic items it brings to a game.
These are not mini-campaign settings but rather, straight dungeon crawls, holding true to the 1st edition feeling. The bad news in some cases though, is that means that there is some of the ‘cheese’ of first edition too. I know I’m not the only GM who hates taps and tricks that outright do things like disintegrate or otherwise incapacitate players with only a saving throw between them and dust.
The bad news with the set up is that there is little to help the GM in using the adventuer save for descriptions of the rooms and the creatures within them. This isn’t saying that there aren’t any notes or that the formatting is difficult to use, but it could’ve been made a little easier by consistent use of gray backgrounds on read aloud text and more clues as to actual campaign use.
The authors have created three very tough scenarios for the players. Those who proceed without paladins and clerics, are going to get their heads handed to them. If I knew my GM ever wanted to run these scenarios, I would defiantly take some sort of PrC that narrowed my focus down to killing the undead. That’s how dangerous these adventures are.
One of the strengths of the module is that all three scenarios are very easy to put into almost any campaign. Sewers can go under any major city. A pyramid into any desert. The island into any large body of water. By doing this, the authors have insured that campaign continuity won’t be effected by the introduction of these adventures. The theme of the adventures, much like their previous product in this line, is that while the party is going to take a beating, if they survive, they get access to some terrific items, perhaps too terrific.
The treasure of the first adventure is the hollow blade. The second the tome of mind and body. The third, the girdle of elements. Now what do I mean by too powerful? Well, the girdle of elements, while only useable by a druid, grants a +4 strength and wisdom enhancement in addition to a +3 deflection bonus. Not too shabby but it also provides fire resistance at 15, stoneskin once per week, and the ability to command a huge elemental once per day. Now the tome of mind and body also provides some fantastic abilities, but the interesting thing about it, is that it’s a corrupt monk book and can turn the reader chaotic evil if he misses a will save so that even as it augments a monk’s nature abilities, it can prevent gaining any more monk levels until the monk can restore his alignment some how.
The book is not heavily illustrated. This allows more text per page and makes up for the white space at the end of some sections. The art is by long time Necromancer Games fan favorite Brian Leblanc and he brings a wide variety of styles to the book including ink and charcoal style illustrations. The cartography is done by none other than Ed Bourelle of Skeleton Key Games fame. He does a fantastic job, as always on all of the maps here. One thing I hope that Necromancer Games changes on their adventures is the borders. These skulls surrounded by a pale grey background don’t match the talent that Necromancer Games has under its belt and should be updated to or dropped. At $13.95, the book is a fair price for a 56-page book. Almost like getting three Dungeon Crawl Classics.
These adventures should be read all the way through and adjusted as necessary. I can see them, much like Goodman Games Dungeon Crawl Classics, being great for a one night setting or convention setting but harsh on a campaign’s kill ratio in some instances and requiring some long term thinking on the magic items it brings to a game.
