By Elton Robb

The Ascension of the Magdalene is a Coriolis Adventure that combines Unknown Armies with the D20 Fantasy Game System (or Dung eons and Dragons, 3rd Edition).  Coriolis, as you recall from my last review, is Atlas Games' imprint for publishing adventures that combine their original games with the D20 Fantasy Game System.  As you recall, Burning Shaolin was was about Kung-Fu Movie Action, adolescent butt-kicking, and power gaming fun.  But the adventure in The Ascension of the Magdalene has a much more serious tone.  How does it deliver?


The Basic Story

It seems that not is all well with the merry old city of Prague.  As the seat of power to the Holy Roman Empire in the Year of Our Lord 1610 A.D., the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, suffers from maddness (seemingly caused by syphilis).  One of the signs of his maddness is his apparent habit of collecting artifacts in a public gallery and in a private gallery.  While in the public gallery are artifacts of mundane quality, the Holy Roman Emperor collects artifacts of arcane power in his private gallery.  One of these is a painting of Mary Magdalene.

Although it may be a curious work of art, this particular painting of Mary Magdalene is no ordinary painting.  It was painted by a Renaissance painter called Caravaggio, who mysteriously disappeared after painting it.  Afterwords, it seemed to have a magical quality all of it's own.  And several factions want the painting for their own designs.  Of note, some of these factions include the Roman Catholic Church and a Hermetic Order, known as the Order of Hero of Alexandria.  And one of these groups have learned that our intrepid group of Player Character adventurers is in city and try to hire them to procure the painting.  However, Rudolf II has some allies.  The Hermetic Magus Edward Kelly and jewish rabbi, Rabbi Loew.  And his inexhaustable golem.  Plus there are the very loyal guards that serve his Majesty.

The sad thing is, Rudolf is the only man on the planet that understands the painting.  However, in his madness, no one will believe him.


Procuring the Painting

So, assuming that our Heroes have taken the job with one of the factions in Prague, they participate in a dungeon crawl through the palace.  But unlike any other dungeon crawl, the dungeon here is filled with interesting encounters and interesting items.  One of the weird properties of the painting is that it has the ability to animate certain things.  However, there some items of note: a clockwork griffin and unicorn given a semblance of life, a certain gladius with the words Mea Cvlpa Brvtvs that causes it's owner to betray his friends, undead animal feti and stillborn babies, and a cunning trap that incorporates two statues: one representing maternal love, the other representing watonness.  And then there is the painting itself.


Concluding the Adventure

The adventure can conclude in a variety of ways, depending on how the player characters accomplish their mission.  The results include being hunted down by the Emperor, blackmail by Edward Kelly, being chased for the rest of their lives by a golem, and maybe worse.  Also, the ending depends on who gets the painting.  In the hands of the Roman Christian Church, it gets locked away for further study.  If the Society of Hero of Alexander gets it, the Painting becomes incorporated on to the clock in an attempt to stop the clock from being stopped.  For they believe that if the clock ever stops, the Apocalypse descends on the world and the world is plunged into Armageddon.  Of course, incorporating the painting in the clock produces an unexpected result.  And if Rudolf gets it, he locks it away again for his own personal enjoyment.


Extras

Like all Atlas Games' D20 Products, their are some plugins.  First of all, D20 GMs may not want to set the adventure in historical Prague.  They may want to set the adventure on their own World System.  Atlas Games was gracious enough to to provide some suggestions and details on how to fit the adventure in your world: including on how to include Baroque Technology into your campaign.  For instance, the Knights of Malta becomes the Knights of Storm Isle, and Prague might become Pregara.

Second of all is the inclusion of Avatars game mechanics from Unknown Armies into D20.  The rules for these isn't quite what I expected, and from first glance, the game mechanic seems unbalanced and not very well conceived.  Third of all is Mechanomancy, these look well done.  But it is more fitting for gnomes in some settings, and not for all races in others.


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The Artwork was better than what was found in Burning Shaolin.  The drawings are perfect, and finished.  They provide the proper feeling of the world system and makes one feel that they are in a mystery adventure rather than a light-hearted dungeon romp.  The D20 Stats and UA Stats are provided on plaques.  In otherwords, the use of Art was brilliant.


CONCLUSION

This particular adventure, and I mean the Adventure itself, is a Mystery adventure rather than a typical dungeon crawl.  It has a very austere feeling, and can have great consequences on the player characters' lives.  The horror aspect can be played up very well; if you want to add it.  It certainly has a different, more serious tone than the one that the Feng Shui crossover adventure produced.  But of course, Unknown Armies has a different premise and feeling to it's Secret War scenario.  If it was the adventure itself, I would give it a 4 for style, and 5 for substance.  But to include everything else I would give it a 3 for style, and still a 5 for substance.