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The Unguarded Hoard is an adventure supplement for AD&D based in Kenzer and Company's Kingdom of Kalamar campaign setting. I own the Kalamar boxed set but found the material to be too high level for my use. Since they only have a couple adventures that use the setting, I never considered using it. Anyway, when I saw this new adventure was only $4 I bought it. It looks to be the first in a series as it is labeled SV1. It is called a Kalamar Quest, so I'm not sure what the SV stands for.

The Books

The book is tiny. It is about the same size as those old Pulp Dundeons (do they still make those?). It is four 8.5" by 11" sheets folded in half with a card stock cover. The front cover is color and printed to look like an old book. The back shows a cut out from one of the maps from the Kingdom of Kalamar with the area of the adventure highlighted in a box. On the inside front and back covers are maps. The interior sheets are two-columned text with no art or charts at all. The font used is small and somewhat straining but it means that there is alot of information in it.

The Adventure

The adventure in question involves the city of Bronish. This city is smack dab next to a big hobgoblin (Kalamar's typical bad guy) kingdom. However, the city is protected by a Gold Dragon that the hobgoblins fear. One of these hobgoblins manages to get hold of an Arrow of Dragon Slaying and sets off to end the dragon's reign. You can probably guess from the title of the adventure what ends up happening. The party is hired by the city council of Bronish who have heard rumors of the arrow and send the players on a mission to check up on the dragon and, if necessary, to hold its treasure until the city can send an army to retrieve it. A good part of the text of the adventure is taken up by various plot hooks to get the party involved. Some of it even includes reasons for an evil party to participate. The adventure is for 4-8 players of 4-8th level but because of the subject matter there is a good chance that the party will end up either dead or really rich. The DM should be careful.

The City of Bronish

Despite the fact that this is billed as an adventure, most (ten of the sixteen pages) of the book is taken up by a description of the Free City of Bronish. The history of the city and its people are described in detail. The various sections, or Quarters, of the city are listed along with the types of buildings and inhabitants. There are lists of the various temples to Kalamarian gods and a rather extensive list of inns and taverns although only two are given details. The city has a utopian, sissy-town feel to it; there is no racism, no evil gods, the police are in no way corrupt, the nobles do not take advantage of their position, etc). You may want to play this up or down depending on how you want your players to feel about the inhabitants. A map is given for the city. It is on the lower half of the back inside cover and is only about three inches across. You almost need a magnifying glass to make out the building numbers.

The Ratings

Style

Since there is no art, I cannot really comment on it. The text is crammed onto the pages, and there is not much in the way of heading or section indicators. On the other hand, there is absolutely no white space; each page is filled top to bottom with words of some sort. For some reason, the descriptions of the city's two major inns are in the adventure section and not the city section. I would also rather have seen the overland map and the city map switch places as the overland map is fairly simple and the city map is WAY too small.

Substance

I'm going to give this book alot of leeway because of its cost. The adventure is ok. It could use some more places and some more descriptive text. As written it feels more like one of those Side Treks from Dungeon magazine. The city, on the other hand, is nice. If you are looking for a coastal city with a neat schtick, this one is it. The book could have been billed as The Free City of Bronish with the adventure tacked on at the end. If you need a city, this book is easily worth the four bucks. Besides, you can probably do without one extra Ultimate Cheeseburger. I hope Kenzer & Co. makes a few more of these (and I also wish that they would pump up the hack-factor).

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Unguarded Hoard
Author: Brian Jelke Category: game Company/Publisher: Kenzer and Company Line: Kalamar Cost: $4 Page count: 16 SKU: K&C103 Capsule Review by Aaron Day on 10/18/99. Genre tags: Fantasy	The Unguarded Hoard is an adventure supplement for AD&D based in Kenzer and Company's Kingdom of Kalamar campaign setting. I own the Kalamar boxed set but found the material to be too high level for my use. Since they only have a couple adventures that use the setting, I never considered using it. Anyway, when I saw this new adventure was only $4 I bought it. It looks to be the first in a series as it is labeled SV1. It is called a Kalamar Quest, so I'm not sure what the SV stands for. The Books The book is tiny. It is about the same size as those old Pulp Dundeons (do they still make those?). It is four 8.5" by 11" sheets folded in half with a card stock cover. The front cover is color and printed to look like an old book. The back shows a cut out from one of the maps from the Kingdom of Kalamar with the area of the adventure highlighted in a box. On the inside front and back covers are maps. The interior sheets are two-columned text with no art or charts at all. The font used is small and somewhat straining but it means that there is alot of information in it. The Adventure The adventure in question involves the city of Bronish. This city is smack dab next to a big hobgoblin (Kalamar's typical bad guy) kingdom. However, the city is protected by a Gold Dragon that the hobgoblins fear. One of these hobgoblins manages to get hold of an Arrow of Dragon Slaying and sets off to end the dragon's reign. You can probably guess from the title of the adventure what ends up happening. The party is hired by the city council of Bronish who have heard rumors of the arrow and send the players on a mission to check up on the dragon and, if necessary, to hold its treasure until the city can send an army to retrieve it. A good part of the text of the adventure is taken up by various plot hooks to get the party involved. Some of it even includes reasons for an evil party to participate. The adventure is for 4-8 players of 4-8th level but because of the subject matter there is a good chance that the party will end up either dead or really rich. The DM should be careful. The City of Bronish Despite the fact that this is billed as an adventure, most (ten of the sixteen pages) of the book is taken up by a description of the Free City of Bronish. The history of the city and its people are described in detail. The various sections, or Quarters, of the city are listed along with the types of buildings and inhabitants. There are lists of the various temples to Kalamarian gods and a rather extensive list of inns and taverns although only two are given details. The city has a utopian, sissy-town feel to it; there is no racism, no evil gods, the police are in no way corrupt, the nobles do not take advantage of their position, etc). You may want to play this up or down depending on how you want your players to feel about the inhabitants. A map is given for the city. It is on the lower half of the back inside cover and is only about three inches across. You almost need a magnifying glass to make out the building numbers. The Ratings Style Since there is no art, I cannot really comment on it. The text is crammed onto the pages, and there is not much in the way of heading or section indicators. On the other hand, there is absolutely no white space; each page is filled top to bottom with words of some sort. For some reason, the descriptions of the city's two major inns are in the adventure section and not the city section. I would also rather have seen the overland map and the city map switch places as the overland map is fairly simple and the city map is WAY too small. Substance I'm going to give this book alot of leeway because of its cost. The adventure is ok. It could use some more places and some more descriptive text. As written it feels more like one of those Side Treks from Dungeon magazine. The city, on the other hand, is nice. If you are looking for a coastal city with a neat schtick, this one is it. The book could have been billed as The Free City of Bronish with the adventure tacked on at the end. If you need a city, this book is easily worth the four bucks. Besides, you can probably do without one extra Ultimate Cheeseburger. I hope Kenzer & Co. makes a few more of these (and I also wish that they would pump up the hack-factor). Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average)