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Warning: This review reveals many of the secrets of The Apocalypse Stone and should not be read by players planning to participate in the adventure.

Trick your D&D players into destroying the world - or, at the last minute, smile and say, "Not! Gotcha that time! Okay, so who is taking first watch this time?"

Appearance and Layout:

The Apocalypse Stone is a 96 page perfect bound book. It has a two column, one page table of contents, but no index. The layout and graphics of the book are nice and easy to follow.

The cover art by Todd Lockwood is moody and appropriate. The interior ink drawings by Dennis Cramer range from uninteresting to functional to average quality.

The adventure booklet is broken up into an introduction, six chapters, and an appendix. The introduction contains information about ending the campaign world and background notes for the adventure. The first five chapters divide the plot into discrete units and the last chapter provides post-adventure advice to the DM. The appendix contains information about running the player characters as death knights (see below) and the artifacts presented in The Apocalypse Stone.

The Plot:

When the world was formed, a lynchpin or keystone was created along with it in the shape of a head-sized stone. A magical, ever-moving castle was built to protect the stone, and both were given into the care of a family of guardians.

When Prince Garloth, the eldest family member, is passed over for the throne and control of the castle in favor of his younger brother, Alain, he seethes with anger and decides to take the stone, called the Stone of Corbinet, for himself. Because of an oath he swore as a child, Garloth needs to find a party of dupes to steal the Stone for him. These dupes are, of course, the player characters.

Garloth's first act is to transform the inhabitants of the castle into monsters with foul spells. They become all manner of beasts, including dragons (which the DM might wish to change if the adventure is to be run with the upcoming Third Edition rules).

Next he uses a bard to "accidentally" let the party discover the existence of the stone and its castle. Instead of revealing their true history, however, both are portrayed as a kind of test of divine favor. After the player characters decide to take the test, Garloth appears to them in the form of a heavenly messenger and helps them locate the castle.

After the party has defeated the now monstrous guardians and won the Stone, Garloth appears again in his messenger guise and asks for it back. When the player characters hand it over, Garloth tells them that they should be watchful for one more heaven-sent test, one of character.

At this point, the DM is encouraged to run an unrelated adventure. During this time, the world begins to fall apart. It is cut off from the planes, social unrest develops, and all manner of nastiness (such as plagues and insect swarms) try the land.

But the player characters have bigger problems. They have unwittingly trapped Grand Duke Moloch, an archdevil, in the campaign world, where he has been recuperating from his battles and is planning to launch a new offensive. Whoops. Moloch learns who caused him to be trapped. Moloch takes revenge. He is to be, of course, eventually defeated by the player characters.

Fortunately for the party, they have also trapped a true agent of heaven in the campaign world. In an ironic twist, this agent arranges to for the player characters to undergo five tests of character in order to determine their mettle.

If the player characters pass three of the tests, they prove they are worthy of a chance to set right their catastrophic mistake and save the world from destruction. They are provided an opportunity to heal the insane heir, Alain. Alain knows the whereabouts of his brother's castle and leads the group to it.

Garloth has minions which must be defeated before the party can reach the evil wizard himself. The player characters then engage Garloth, who is a 20th level wizard, in a hopefully titanic battle.

Three different endings are offered up for the DM's perusal. Option one: The world is doomed no matter who wins the final battle because things are just too far gone to be repaired. Option two: It's a close, close call, but the world is saved. It's a worse for wear, but still around. Or option three: The world is saved - kind of. Things are drastically altered. Upheaval abounds - as do potential plots and storylines.

Materials Which Can Be Used Elsewhere:

The Apocalypse Stone's appendix contains information about two artifacts. The first is the Stone of Corbinet. It has appropriately godly powers and would be difficult to place in another campaign because of them. The second item, Garloth's Armor of Lies, is also quite powerful, allowing the wearer to Polymorph Self at will (among other things). It is a rule-breaker (see below) and should only be used with extreme caution - if at all.

The adventure contains three maps. The first is of the island on which the guardians' castle currently rests. It's black and white, and most likely not worth the bother of using in another game. The castle itself, the second map, is pitifully small and not well detailed. The last map is a layout of Garloth's hideaway, which is even smaller and more pathetic than the castle.

The best resource in The Apocalypse Stone is Garloth. A full page has been devoted to the details of his character and he could be used as a foil in some other high level campaign without much trouble. (Take away his Armor, however.)

Also of interest are the brief notes about player character Death Knights. One option presented to the DM is the gods cursing the party with undeath because of their wee mistake. The appendix contains two pages of rules about what the player characters would gain and lose. They could be more in depth, but are still worth looking at.

General Commentary:

The Apocalypse Stone has a number of problems.

Chief among them is that, in order for the adventure to work, the player characters cannot discover the true nature of Garloth and the polymorphed guardians of the stone. To that end, the authors have allowed their villain to break the rules of the game: His illusions cannot be seen through via the usual means, such as a True Seeing spell. The Armor of Lies is also proof against this kind of detection. These immunities are due to Garloth's special nature (the family which guards the Stone of Corbinet has some divine blood in their veins) and the fact that some of that blood was used in the manufacture of the Armor.

It's a cheap shot. Game materials which ignore their own rules for convenience's sake only destroy the public's trust in the game and designers. Players often resent this kind of manipulation - and rightly so.

But that aside, the Apocalypse Stone fails to provide an adventure worthy of the end of the world. Instead of a sweeping drama on a global scale, the player characters are presented with a series of personal quests. The Apocalypse Stone feels like just an ordinary adventure. Where's the blood and guts and glory?

Moreover, there are moderately detailed options for DM about not ending the world using this adventure. However, isn't ending the world its raison d'etre? Why run the Apocalypse Stone if you're not going to end things when you could run some other run-of-the-mill module instead?

There is one element in the plot which feels contrived - well, as contrived as Garloth's illusions - and out of place: Grand Duke Moloch. His role is to clue the player characters in to the fact that their actions have brought about the end of the world. But the archdevil doesn't fit with the flavor of the rest what happens in the adventure. The Apocalypse Stone is all about one world's plight, not planar visitors. Its focus is inward. His role could easily be filled by some other NPC functionary such as a high level priest or wandering gypsy.

In short, The Apocalypse Stone is the type of adventure DMs gut and tinker with before running because the author has not gotten quite close enough to the ideal.

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

The Apocalypse Stone
Author: Jason Carl and Chris Pramas Category: game Company/Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Line: Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Cost: $16.95 Page count: 96 ISBN: 0-7869-1614-1 Capsule Review by John "Seanchai" Grose on 07/11/00. Genre tags: Fantasy	Warning: This review reveals many of the secrets of The Apocalypse Stone and should not be read by players planning to participate in the adventure. Trick your D&D players into destroying the world - or, at the last minute, smile and say, "Not! Gotcha that time! Okay, so who is taking first watch this time?" Appearance and Layout: The Apocalypse Stone is a 96 page perfect bound book. It has a two column, one page table of contents, but no index. The layout and graphics of the book are nice and easy to follow. The cover art by Todd Lockwood is moody and appropriate. The interior ink drawings by Dennis Cramer range from uninteresting to functional to average quality. The adventure booklet is broken up into an introduction, six chapters, and an appendix. The introduction contains information about ending the campaign world and background notes for the adventure. The first five chapters divide the plot into discrete units and the last chapter provides post-adventure advice to the DM. The appendix contains information about running the player characters as death knights (see below) and the artifacts presented in The Apocalypse Stone. The Plot: When the world was formed, a lynchpin or keystone was created along with it in the shape of a head-sized stone. A magical, ever-moving castle was built to protect the stone, and both were given into the care of a family of guardians. When Prince Garloth, the eldest family member, is passed over for the throne and control of the castle in favor of his younger brother, Alain, he seethes with anger and decides to take the stone, called the Stone of Corbinet, for himself. Because of an oath he swore as a child, Garloth needs to find a party of dupes to steal the Stone for him. These dupes are, of course, the player characters. Garloth's first act is to transform the inhabitants of the castle into monsters with foul spells. They become all manner of beasts, including dragons (which the DM might wish to change if the adventure is to be run with the upcoming Third Edition rules). Next he uses a bard to "accidentally" let the party discover the existence of the stone and its castle. Instead of revealing their true history, however, both are portrayed as a kind of test of divine favor. After the player characters decide to take the test, Garloth appears to them in the form of a heavenly messenger and helps them locate the castle. After the party has defeated the now monstrous guardians and won the Stone, Garloth appears again in his messenger guise and asks for it back. When the player characters hand it over, Garloth tells them that they should be watchful for one more heaven-sent test, one of character. At this point, the DM is encouraged to run an unrelated adventure. During this time, the world begins to fall apart. It is cut off from the planes, social unrest develops, and all manner of nastiness (such as plagues and insect swarms) try the land. But the player characters have bigger problems. They have unwittingly trapped Grand Duke Moloch, an archdevil, in the campaign world, where he has been recuperating from his battles and is planning to launch a new offensive. Whoops. Moloch learns who caused him to be trapped. Moloch takes revenge. He is to be, of course, eventually defeated by the player characters. Fortunately for the party, they have also trapped a true agent of heaven in the campaign world. In an ironic twist, this agent arranges to for the player characters to undergo five tests of character in order to determine their mettle. If the player characters pass three of the tests, they prove they are worthy of a chance to set right their catastrophic mistake and save the world from destruction. They are provided an opportunity to heal the insane heir, Alain. Alain knows the whereabouts of his brother's castle and leads the group to it. Garloth has minions which must be defeated before the party can reach the evil wizard himself. The player characters then engage Garloth, who is a 20th level wizard, in a hopefully titanic battle. Three different endings are offered up for the DM's perusal. Option one: The world is doomed no matter who wins the final battle because things are just too far gone to be repaired. Option two: It's a close, close call, but the world is saved. It's a worse for wear, but still around. Or option three: The world is saved - kind of. Things are drastically altered. Upheaval abounds - as do potential plots and storylines. Materials Which Can Be Used Elsewhere: The Apocalypse Stone's appendix contains information about two artifacts. The first is the Stone of Corbinet. It has appropriately godly powers and would be difficult to place in another campaign because of them. The second item, Garloth's Armor of Lies, is also quite powerful, allowing the wearer to Polymorph Self at will (among other things). It is a rule-breaker (see below) and should only be used with extreme caution - if at all. The adventure contains three maps. The first is of the island on which the guardians' castle currently rests. It's black and white, and most likely not worth the bother of using in another game. The castle itself, the second map, is pitifully small and not well detailed. The last map is a layout of Garloth's hideaway, which is even smaller and more pathetic than the castle. The best resource in The Apocalypse Stone is Garloth. A full page has been devoted to the details of his character and he could be used as a foil in some other high level campaign without much trouble. (Take away his Armor, however.) Also of interest are the brief notes about player character Death Knights. One option presented to the DM is the gods cursing the party with undeath because of their wee mistake. The appendix contains two pages of rules about what the player characters would gain and lose. They could be more in depth, but are still worth looking at. General Commentary: The Apocalypse Stone has a number of problems. Chief among them is that, in order for the adventure to work, the player characters cannot discover the true nature of Garloth and the polymorphed guardians of the stone. To that end, the authors have allowed their villain to break the rules of the game: His illusions cannot be seen through via the usual means, such as a True Seeing spell. The Armor of Lies is also proof against this kind of detection. These immunities are due to Garloth's special nature (the family which guards the Stone of Corbinet has some divine blood in their veins) and the fact that some of that blood was used in the manufacture of the Armor. It's a cheap shot. Game materials which ignore their own rules for convenience's sake only destroy the public's trust in the game and designers. Players often resent this kind of manipulation - and rightly so. But that aside, the Apocalypse Stone fails to provide an adventure worthy of the end of the world. Instead of a sweeping drama on a global scale, the player characters are presented with a series of personal quests. The Apocalypse Stone feels like just an ordinary adventure. Where's the blood and guts and glory? Moreover, there are moderately detailed options for DM about not ending the world using this adventure. However, isn't ending the world its raison d'etre? Why run the Apocalypse Stone if you're not going to end things when you could run some other run-of-the-mill module instead? There is one element in the plot which feels contrived - well, as contrived as Garloth's illusions - and out of place: Grand Duke Moloch. His role is to clue the player characters in to the fact that their actions have brought about the end of the world. But the archdevil doesn't fit with the flavor of the rest what happens in the adventure. The Apocalypse Stone is all about one world's plight, not planar visitors. Its focus is inward. His role could easily be filled by some other NPC functionary such as a high level priest or wandering gypsy. In short, The Apocalypse Stone is the type of adventure DMs gut and tinker with before running because the author has not gotten quite close enough to the ideal. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average)