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"Tragedy in the House of Brodeln" is an adventure for low-level characters, set in the world of Tellene. The world is found in the Kenzer product "Kingdoms of Kalamar".

The book has a decent cover, depicting the villain (a werefox) sitting with some white foxes. It's ok, nothing spectacular.

The inside cover is a map of the village of Yelden, where the adventure begins. Then is the title page. Next is the introduction, which provides the tale of the main protagonists. Sondra (the werefox) was the sister of a previous Duke in the region. She was banished by her sons after killing her brother, and has been haunting the family ever since. New murders which she has recently committed, including the current Duke, have caused an uproar in the community. She also infected the Duke's brother. It's an interesting story, and provides some interesting ideas for adventures.

The characters begin as strangers in Yelden, and can pick up a variety of rumors. Then they get pulled into a fight and are arrested. This is my biggest gripe about the module, as some railroading is expected, even encouraged, which is a big no-no for me.

The characters meet Mordeln, an NPC related to the dukes family, and is hired to break into the village prison and rescue a friend of his. Once this is done, they are then sent to break into the Duke's castle and retrieve some documents from the missing Prince's room (the prince with lycanthropy actually killed the duke when in weretiger form).

They find a map to the surrounding area, with many clues about what is going on written on it. They are expected to explore the area on the map, where they encounter a variety of creatures (I like the Rascal Gang, a group of leprechauns and sprites who rob travellers). There are number of encounters (and three pages of random encounters!).

A goblin tribe living in an abandoned mine must be defeated if the characters want any help from the local nymph (who can cure the Prince). This encounter is pretty standard, though the goblins have some interesting tactics planned when defending their lair.

The PC's eventually will discover that a group of orcs is selling the Prince to some slavers from the neighboring country (Pel Brolenon, which is quite evil). They come upon the slavers just as the trade is being made, upon which both groups, assuming the other has betrayed them, begin fighting each other and the PC's. Lots of potential, here.

Once the Prince is rescued, the group is supposed to take him to the nymph, who will spend a month curing him. The group is expected to wait the month, helping out with the cure. Not very likely, knowing most players. Eventually, Sondra the werefox will attack with the aid of some bandits. The encounter is fairly anti-climactic, given the previous situations.

A list of first level sample characters is provided. They are ok, nothing too original. There are a large number of hand-outs, with incomplete maps and a variety of pictures depicting various encounters. I like this! The more hand-outs, the better.

Overall, the module is pretty good. I don't like the railroading expected by the DM, but otherwise it is ok. I plan on spicing up the final encounter with Sondra, because it's fairly boring as written. There are a large number of encounters which can be described. You could easily just use the encounters separately, dropping them in your own campaign, if this particular adventure seems a bit too linear.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Tragedy in the House of Brodeln
Author: Brian Jelke and others Category: game Company/Publisher: Kenzer and Company Line: AD&D generic Cost: ???? Page count: 29 maps SKU: KEN101 Capsule Review by Dan Buterbaugh on 05/27/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Generic	"Tragedy in the House of Brodeln" is an adventure for low-level characters, set in the world of Tellene. The world is found in the Kenzer product "Kingdoms of Kalamar". The book has a decent cover, depicting the villain (a werefox) sitting with some white foxes. It's ok, nothing spectacular. The inside cover is a map of the village of Yelden, where the adventure begins. Then is the title page. Next is the introduction, which provides the tale of the main protagonists. Sondra (the werefox) was the sister of a previous Duke in the region. She was banished by her sons after killing her brother, and has been haunting the family ever since. New murders which she has recently committed, including the current Duke, have caused an uproar in the community. She also infected the Duke's brother. It's an interesting story, and provides some interesting ideas for adventures. The characters begin as strangers in Yelden, and can pick up a variety of rumors. Then they get pulled into a fight and are arrested. This is my biggest gripe about the module, as some railroading is expected, even encouraged, which is a big no-no for me. The characters meet Mordeln, an NPC related to the dukes family, and is hired to break into the village prison and rescue a friend of his. Once this is done, they are then sent to break into the Duke's castle and retrieve some documents from the missing Prince's room (the prince with lycanthropy actually killed the duke when in weretiger form). They find a map to the surrounding area, with many clues about what is going on written on it. They are expected to explore the area on the map, where they encounter a variety of creatures (I like the Rascal Gang, a group of leprechauns and sprites who rob travellers). There are number of encounters (and three pages of random encounters!). A goblin tribe living in an abandoned mine must be defeated if the characters want any help from the local nymph (who can cure the Prince). This encounter is pretty standard, though the goblins have some interesting tactics planned when defending their lair. The PC's eventually will discover that a group of orcs is selling the Prince to some slavers from the neighboring country (Pel Brolenon, which is quite evil). They come upon the slavers just as the trade is being made, upon which both groups, assuming the other has betrayed them, begin fighting each other and the PC's. Lots of potential, here. Once the Prince is rescued, the group is supposed to take him to the nymph, who will spend a month curing him. The group is expected to wait the month, helping out with the cure. Not very likely, knowing most players. Eventually, Sondra the werefox will attack with the aid of some bandits. The encounter is fairly anti-climactic, given the previous situations. A list of first level sample characters is provided. They are ok, nothing too original. There are a large number of hand-outs, with incomplete maps and a variety of pictures depicting various encounters. I like this! The more hand-outs, the better. Overall, the module is pretty good. I don't like the railroading expected by the DM, but otherwise it is ok. I plan on spicing up the final encounter with Sondra, because it's fairly boring as written. There are a large number of encounters which can be described. You could easily just use the encounters separately, dropping them in your own campaign, if this particular adventure seems a bit too linear. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty)