Psion
Adventurer
Vindication
Vindication is an adventure game by Necromancer Games, published through Troll Lord Games. The adventure is written by Bob Sarvas. The adventure is written for a party of 10th level characters, though aspects of it are to be introduced in the game prior to that point.
A First Look
Vindication is a 120 page perfect bound softcover book priced at $23.95 US.
The cover of the book is adorned by a picture of multiple dragon-like creatures burning a corpse while a worried looking man looks on. The interior art is black and white. All art is by Veronica Jones, perhaps most famed in the D20 world for her work on Spycraft product covers.
Cartography is by fan favorite Ed Bourelle, who is in his usual fine form here.
A Deeper Look
(Spolier Warning: This section contains some details about the plot of the adventure)
Vindication is an unusual sort of adventure, both for D20 System fantasy adventures in general and for Necromancer Games adventures in particular. It is not a straight of site based adventure (though the latter third or so it), nor is it a simple event driven adventure.
Rather, the adventure does something a little different: it goes about planting the seeds for itself rather early. Though the front cover describes the adventure as being suitable for 9th-12th level characters, and the interior continually refers to 10th level being the level at which the action begins, the adventure provides for planting the seeds of hate in the PCs (and, for that matter, the players) quite a bit before that.
The main villain of the adventure is a wizard by the name of Lord Sesses. He sits at the head of a crime syndicate called The Butchers. The Butchers engage in the normal sort of activities that you would expect of a crime syndicate... casinos, prostitution, political graft, and the like. But they also have a rather unique branch of business. They prey on adventurers.
You see, Lord Sesses has a penchant for making cursed items. But this is more than just a hobby. Lord Sesses likes to make sure they make their way into the hands of adventurers and have invisible imp spies monitor them. And, of course, adventurers have a tendency to face harrowing peril to acquire great treasures... treasures that Lord Sesses is only to glad to strip of them, either by stealth of after they have met their demise due to one of their cursed possessions.
The adventure itself falls int three phases, which might be termed provocation, investigation, and reckoning.
The provocation occurs in the section entitled Prologue: The Seeds of Torment. The section does not proscribe specific actions or events. Rather, it provides a variety of different means whereby the PCs come into possession of one of Lord Sesses’ cursed items and the Butchers and Lord Sesses first become aware of and begin monitoring the PCs. There are a number of additional encounters with the agents of Lord Sesses. None are strictly required; it is up to the GM to pick and choose the appropriate events and timing for the game. This prologue does not have specific combat encounters, and can actually occur quite a bit before the party reaches the described level.
Once the players ire is aroused and the GM feels like feeding the players the proper clues, they may find themselves in the position to actually begin to investigate the Butchers and Lord Sesses. This leads them to a region known as the Lorremach Highhills and a town named Pfefferain. The highhills section describes the surrounding region including appropriate wilderness encounters.
The Town of Pfefferain is pretty much in the hip pocket of the Butchers, with various operations being controlled by them. There is some real potential for some roleplaying and investigation here, and some NPCs in the town will be key to cracking open the butchers. The town has several well detailed NPCs, including some highly unusual ones - such as an iron golem smith.
This encounter, in particular, drew my attention. While interesting, it strikes me as odd. First, the smith was formerly an adventurer, but possesses no adventuring classes. Second, there is a magic item that serves at the plot device behind this encounter: a magic jar amulet that "overcomes all spell resistance and magical immunities". While I can see why this was made this way to make the encounter possible, the GM may want to take care lest this item fall into hands of the PCs or it could have some unintended consequences (I am imagining the like of players possessing stone colossuses at epic levels.) Items with such sweeping blanket powers are potentially very potent.
Following clues to be found there, the players can find the keep which is Lord Sesses’ abode. In actuality, part of this final section lies in the nether plane of Gehenna, which can face some characters (particularly divine spellcasters) with additional problem. Though by this point, the players are primarily in "dungeon crawl" mode, thorough investigation can pay off here as well.
Appendices contain collected statistics blocks for the Butchers, various cursed items the players may run afoul, other new magic items, and a new creature template, the Sytec (a construct that can be created with the aid of a manual to be found in the adventure.)
Conclusions
This is a nice, if unusual, adventure. It has a lot of flexibility, and has a lot of potential for interesting investigative and roleplaying play, as well as the traditional scuff-ups. The foreshadowing section is a particular gem that I have not seen to this extent in another d20 adventure.
The adventure does put a lot of onus on the GM, providing more resources than a strict outline of events or locations. Though many events are provided for you, incorporating and bridging to the next session could be a daunting task, and demands a bit more from the GM than the typical adventure. However, this may fit the style of more freeform GMs rather neatly. So if you feel you are up to the demands of this adventure, the payoff in terms of enjoyable play could be rather handsome.
For those who run many Necromancer adventures, Vindication would make a nice adventure to run after Vault of Larin Karr or Tomb of Abysthor and as a work-up to Chaos Rising.
Overall Grade: B
-Alan D. Kohler
Vindication is an adventure game by Necromancer Games, published through Troll Lord Games. The adventure is written by Bob Sarvas. The adventure is written for a party of 10th level characters, though aspects of it are to be introduced in the game prior to that point.
A First Look
Vindication is a 120 page perfect bound softcover book priced at $23.95 US.
The cover of the book is adorned by a picture of multiple dragon-like creatures burning a corpse while a worried looking man looks on. The interior art is black and white. All art is by Veronica Jones, perhaps most famed in the D20 world for her work on Spycraft product covers.
Cartography is by fan favorite Ed Bourelle, who is in his usual fine form here.
A Deeper Look
(Spolier Warning: This section contains some details about the plot of the adventure)
Vindication is an unusual sort of adventure, both for D20 System fantasy adventures in general and for Necromancer Games adventures in particular. It is not a straight of site based adventure (though the latter third or so it), nor is it a simple event driven adventure.
Rather, the adventure does something a little different: it goes about planting the seeds for itself rather early. Though the front cover describes the adventure as being suitable for 9th-12th level characters, and the interior continually refers to 10th level being the level at which the action begins, the adventure provides for planting the seeds of hate in the PCs (and, for that matter, the players) quite a bit before that.
The main villain of the adventure is a wizard by the name of Lord Sesses. He sits at the head of a crime syndicate called The Butchers. The Butchers engage in the normal sort of activities that you would expect of a crime syndicate... casinos, prostitution, political graft, and the like. But they also have a rather unique branch of business. They prey on adventurers.
You see, Lord Sesses has a penchant for making cursed items. But this is more than just a hobby. Lord Sesses likes to make sure they make their way into the hands of adventurers and have invisible imp spies monitor them. And, of course, adventurers have a tendency to face harrowing peril to acquire great treasures... treasures that Lord Sesses is only to glad to strip of them, either by stealth of after they have met their demise due to one of their cursed possessions.
The adventure itself falls int three phases, which might be termed provocation, investigation, and reckoning.
The provocation occurs in the section entitled Prologue: The Seeds of Torment. The section does not proscribe specific actions or events. Rather, it provides a variety of different means whereby the PCs come into possession of one of Lord Sesses’ cursed items and the Butchers and Lord Sesses first become aware of and begin monitoring the PCs. There are a number of additional encounters with the agents of Lord Sesses. None are strictly required; it is up to the GM to pick and choose the appropriate events and timing for the game. This prologue does not have specific combat encounters, and can actually occur quite a bit before the party reaches the described level.
Once the players ire is aroused and the GM feels like feeding the players the proper clues, they may find themselves in the position to actually begin to investigate the Butchers and Lord Sesses. This leads them to a region known as the Lorremach Highhills and a town named Pfefferain. The highhills section describes the surrounding region including appropriate wilderness encounters.
The Town of Pfefferain is pretty much in the hip pocket of the Butchers, with various operations being controlled by them. There is some real potential for some roleplaying and investigation here, and some NPCs in the town will be key to cracking open the butchers. The town has several well detailed NPCs, including some highly unusual ones - such as an iron golem smith.
This encounter, in particular, drew my attention. While interesting, it strikes me as odd. First, the smith was formerly an adventurer, but possesses no adventuring classes. Second, there is a magic item that serves at the plot device behind this encounter: a magic jar amulet that "overcomes all spell resistance and magical immunities". While I can see why this was made this way to make the encounter possible, the GM may want to take care lest this item fall into hands of the PCs or it could have some unintended consequences (I am imagining the like of players possessing stone colossuses at epic levels.) Items with such sweeping blanket powers are potentially very potent.
Following clues to be found there, the players can find the keep which is Lord Sesses’ abode. In actuality, part of this final section lies in the nether plane of Gehenna, which can face some characters (particularly divine spellcasters) with additional problem. Though by this point, the players are primarily in "dungeon crawl" mode, thorough investigation can pay off here as well.
Appendices contain collected statistics blocks for the Butchers, various cursed items the players may run afoul, other new magic items, and a new creature template, the Sytec (a construct that can be created with the aid of a manual to be found in the adventure.)
Conclusions
This is a nice, if unusual, adventure. It has a lot of flexibility, and has a lot of potential for interesting investigative and roleplaying play, as well as the traditional scuff-ups. The foreshadowing section is a particular gem that I have not seen to this extent in another d20 adventure.
The adventure does put a lot of onus on the GM, providing more resources than a strict outline of events or locations. Though many events are provided for you, incorporating and bridging to the next session could be a daunting task, and demands a bit more from the GM than the typical adventure. However, this may fit the style of more freeform GMs rather neatly. So if you feel you are up to the demands of this adventure, the payoff in terms of enjoyable play could be rather handsome.
For those who run many Necromancer adventures, Vindication would make a nice adventure to run after Vault of Larin Karr or Tomb of Abysthor and as a work-up to Chaos Rising.
Overall Grade: B
-Alan D. Kohler
