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Thanks to Sandy and RPGNet for sending me this adventure! This is a capsule review of the product, not a playtest review. I hope to playtest this adventure soon, but all these holidays keep interfering with schedules.

The title alone should tell you that you're in dangerous territory. Old fans of the Greyhawk Adventures line will be immediately familiar with the Maimed Lord. Couple the Master of the Spidered Throne with the Darkest of Settings-Ravenloft, and you have the ingredients for terror overflowing into your lap!

This adventure is for 4-6 characters of levels 5-7. Yes, levels 5-7. That may seem a little low when one considers the title of the adventure. Any AD&D player worth their 6 pound dice bag would know that with levels this low, and an antagonist that is essentially a demigod, one should not expect the Player Characters to come face to face with the Whispered One or his traitorous Lieutenant Kas. That is all right, in fact it's good. You don't want your characters running into these legends of evil, but unfortunately what might happen is even more frightening. What is more horrifying than a 6th level mage going up against a guy whose missing eye and severed hand are major artifacts?

Well, I'll tell you…a little. The Mists would disapprove of my spoiling their fun. What I can say is that the player characters are transported to Ravenloft via the Mists (the ultimate DM story hook) and they are literally strangers in a strange land. The adventure stresses the character's inability to speak to the locals because of a language barrier. This may seem like a bad plot device, I surely thought so. But I could see where some good role-playing and general tension would be created by not being able to speak to the locals of a town. Not only do you not belong here, you can't even communicate with anyone for help. You are truly...alone.

A town, by the way, where plotting cults, overly aggressive police and numerous lunatics call home. Your allies are few and far between, and the implications of the cult's mission could have massive repercussions for the Demiplane of Dread.

The adventure has a semi-linear quality to it, but the players aren't led by the nose. The players have several paths open to them, but there are several duties the group must tend to, but the order in which they are addressed doesn't necessarily matter. From the reading I felt that there weren't many actual combats that would give the players immediate concern for their character's lives. Although the combat encounters serve to heighten the tension and set an overall mood, which in the end, is what Ravenloft is all about. One should be very concerned when adventuring in this setting, because death is not always a way out.

The adventure has a very nice layout. The art has a heavy chalk look to it, which I believe serves to enhance the layout. The page borders and the chapter divisions have a reddish color to them, one gets the impression that they are reading an ancient tome. Ravenloft products have always been a few notches above the average AD&D 'standard' fantasy supplement. TSR has taken a few tips from the White Wolf camp, they've included numerous quotes from various literary sources...even one from the book of Revelations. Yikes!

The meat of the story is that the characters become embroiled in a plot involving Vecna's cultists in Kas' city of Tor Gorak. Along they way they receive help from the keeper of an insane asylum and a lore-ward, search for the Book of Inverted Darkness, gain access to a room that is outside of space and time, sneak around the Temple of Vecna, wander through a city ruled by Undead Lords, face a menacing war machine composed of animated body parts, and dodge a magical plague. Whew! That's the stuff of adventure.

The only downside to the adventure is that I think it should've been longer, maybe around 96-128 pages for a truly epic feel. One could easily extend some aspects of the adventure for added game play. Although if the adventure were considerably longer, it might remove the sense of urgency that the authors are trying to convey.

There was only one typo that I could find. Rather amusing considering the subject matter. The typo on page 14 mentions "Azalin's War Machine", but what they meant to was Vecna's War Machine. I guess the Ravenloft authors will have to get used to having two super-liches in the Demiplane of Dread, I hope that place is big enough for both of them.

This adventure should provide several solid nights of quality gaming and create many memorable moments. If you like the subject matter check out the 1990 Greyhawk Adventures module Vecna Lives, and the new boxed set Return to the Tomb of Horrors. The new Tomb of Horrors adventure doesn't feature Vecna, but it does revolve around a lich and a really scary city.

Ravenloft: Vecna Reborn is classic AD&D adventure with classic AD&D villains with the right touch of darkness that only Ravenloft can provide.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Ravenloft: Vecna Reborn
Author: Monte Cook Category: game Company/Publisher: TSR Cost: $13.95 Page count: 64 ISBN: 0-7869-1201-4 Capsule Review by John Snyder on 12/19/98. Genre tags: Fantasy Horror Gothic	Thanks to Sandy and RPGNet for sending me this adventure! This is a capsule review of the product, not a playtest review. I hope to playtest this adventure soon, but all these holidays keep interfering with schedules. The title alone should tell you that you're in dangerous territory. Old fans of the Greyhawk Adventures line will be immediately familiar with the Maimed Lord. Couple the Master of the Spidered Throne with the Darkest of Settings-Ravenloft, and you have the ingredients for terror overflowing into your lap! This adventure is for 4-6 characters of levels 5-7. Yes, levels 5-7. That may seem a little low when one considers the title of the adventure. Any AD&D player worth their 6 pound dice bag would know that with levels this low, and an antagonist that is essentially a demigod, one should not expect the Player Characters to come face to face with the Whispered One or his traitorous Lieutenant Kas. That is all right, in fact it's good. You don't want your characters running into these legends of evil, but unfortunately what might happen is even more frightening. What is more horrifying than a 6th level mage going up against a guy whose missing eye and severed hand are major artifacts? Well, I'll tell you…a little. The Mists would disapprove of my spoiling their fun. What I can say is that the player characters are transported to Ravenloft via the Mists (the ultimate DM story hook) and they are literally strangers in a strange land. The adventure stresses the character's inability to speak to the locals because of a language barrier. This may seem like a bad plot device, I surely thought so. But I could see where some good role-playing and general tension would be created by not being able to speak to the locals of a town. Not only do you not belong here, you can't even communicate with anyone for help. You are truly...alone. A town, by the way, where plotting cults, overly aggressive police and numerous lunatics call home. Your allies are few and far between, and the implications of the cult's mission could have massive repercussions for the Demiplane of Dread. The adventure has a semi-linear quality to it, but the players aren't led by the nose. The players have several paths open to them, but there are several duties the group must tend to, but the order in which they are addressed doesn't necessarily matter. From the reading I felt that there weren't many actual combats that would give the players immediate concern for their character's lives. Although the combat encounters serve to heighten the tension and set an overall mood, which in the end, is what Ravenloft is all about. One should be very concerned when adventuring in this setting, because death is not always a way out. The adventure has a very nice layout. The art has a heavy chalk look to it, which I believe serves to enhance the layout. The page borders and the chapter divisions have a reddish color to them, one gets the impression that they are reading an ancient tome. Ravenloft products have always been a few notches above the average AD&D 'standard' fantasy supplement. TSR has taken a few tips from the White Wolf camp, they've included numerous quotes from various literary sources...even one from the book of Revelations. Yikes! The meat of the story is that the characters become embroiled in a plot involving Vecna's cultists in Kas' city of Tor Gorak. Along they way they receive help from the keeper of an insane asylum and a lore-ward, search for the Book of Inverted Darkness, gain access to a room that is outside of space and time, sneak around the Temple of Vecna, wander through a city ruled by Undead Lords, face a menacing war machine composed of animated body parts, and dodge a magical plague. Whew! That's the stuff of adventure. The only downside to the adventure is that I think it should've been longer, maybe around 96-128 pages for a truly epic feel. One could easily extend some aspects of the adventure for added game play. Although if the adventure were considerably longer, it might remove the sense of urgency that the authors are trying to convey. There was only one typo that I could find. Rather amusing considering the subject matter. The typo on page 14 mentions "Azalin's War Machine", but what they meant to was Vecna's War Machine. I guess the Ravenloft authors will have to get used to having two super-liches in the Demiplane of Dread, I hope that place is big enough for both of them. This adventure should provide several solid nights of quality gaming and create many memorable moments. If you like the subject matter check out the 1990 Greyhawk Adventures module Vecna Lives, and the new boxed set Return to the Tomb of Horrors. The new Tomb of Horrors adventure doesn't feature Vecna, but it does revolve around a lich and a really scary city. Ravenloft: Vecna Reborn is classic AD&D adventure with classic AD&D villains with the right touch of darkness that only Ravenloft can provide. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 4 (Meaty)