Author: Clark Peterson and Bill Webb
Category: game
Company/Publisher: >Necromancer Games
Line: d20
Cost: FREE
Page count: 18
ISBN: n/a
SKU: NCG1000
Capsule Review by James Landry on 10/31/00.
Genre tags: Fantasy

As I've said before, writing low-level modules is difficult. Even more difficult is writing interesting low-level modules that teach the basics of role-playing to new players and especially DMs. The old AD&D modules like Keep on the Borderlands were awful at this, containing essentially no information on running the adventure for novice DMs. Even the newest introductory D&D module The Sunless Citadel had minimal extra instructions for starting DMs.

Luckily, a d20 company, Necromancer Games, has appeared to fill this gap with a new mini-adventure, the Wizard's Amulet. This is an ideal product for those wishing to quickly try out the Third Edition rules. No prior experience is necessary, and the product contains copious notes to facilitate running the adventure. It comes with pregenerated characters and is designed to be run after about 15 minutes of preparation by both novice DMs and players. Every major scene is carefully discussed, with ample notes on how characters should interact or what tactics monsters will follow in the combat. It even includes notes on expanding or changing the heavily scripted nature of the adventure for DMs with more experience. Necromancer Games wanted this to be a quick-start adventure and they succeeded admirably.

In addition to these virtues, it is completely free. It is available for download along with pregenerated characters in files usable with the free character generator software available from Wizards of the Coast (WOTC). A partial PDF list of the characters is also available here along with a nice character sheet by the Mad Irishman.

The look is excellent and well-organized. The artwork is black-and-white and of good quality. It relates well to the contents. At one point, the authors even encourage the DM to show these pictures to the players to increase the atmosphere, some advice greatly useful to novice DMs and symptomatic of the whole adventure.

The module was laid out well with good use of side-bars, and notes with rule information were in a darker grey to set them off as Open Game Content, as required under the Open Gaming License (OGL). Unfortunately, when printed out using Acrobat 4.0 on a Linux system, all text had a light grey background, which I believe was unintentional. This in no way interfered with reading the text, but hopefully can be fixed in later versions.

The following more detailed analysis will contain some spoilers. You have been warned.

Spoilers

This product was clearly designed to be used with minimal start-up time by both the DM and the players. In this it succeeds admirably. However, this aim creates a product of a very specific nature. The module relies on pregenerated characters, though these could be modified with only a little trouble. In addition, the entire back-story of Corian's experiences with Feriblan the Mad, including his "borrowing" of the note and amulet, are just force-fed to Corian's player. This could easily be role-played, but if Corian does not take the amulet, the adventure is essentially over, and he would have to race to Fairhill after Vortigern. This is somewhat unavoidable in a quick-start adventure, but those with more preparation time might think of having Corian's player role-play more of this, after the discovery of the amulet.

In addition, the module is heavily focused on combat. This is both good and bad. The combats are incredibly detailed and give the DM an excellent idea of how to run them and cope with unexpected events. All of the assailants have real motivations and goals that come out in the combat. In addition, there are clear discussions of how to make the combats easier or harder, depending on the group, and in the climactic battle, several ideas for "escape hatches" are provided in case things go terribly wrong for the PCs. This is outstanding for novice DMs and useful even for very experienced ones, and something like this should be in all introductory modules.

It's clear why Petersen and Webb focused on combat. Combats are easier for newer characters and DMs to run, and teach the system to them in a way the players are not likely to forget. On the other hand, if the players aren't really prone to role-playing, this intro session might not let them get sufficiently into their characters.

The one substantial role-playing section is excellent. It involves one player, Corian, telling the others why he has hired them, once they are safely out of Reme. This role-playing among players should be heavily encouraged, and it is great to see it in the module. I would argue a little more of this could be added. Perhaps the hiring of the other players could be done in a one-to-one session between Corian's player and the other player, supervised by the DM and lasting only five minutes or so each. The Corian player might be tempted to reveal more, but the DM could pass a note to him where he sees the raven out of the corner of his eye, saving the juicy information for the later role-playing section. This kind of player interaction also encourages the players to get in character right from the get-go and learn something about each other in a non-combat situation.

Another nice feature of the module is that is fairly modular. The characters voyage from one place to another and have encounters along the way. Only the last one is absolutely critical, so any of the other combats or the skull on the hill could be left out. If the DM has other short encounters to spring, these can be put in. Encouraging this kind of modularity in an introductory adventure is good practice for novice DMs.

One disadvantage of the module is its length. There are only a few scenes, and the whole adventure could presumably be played in one three-hour session. There are ways to drag it out, but this is really only a mini-adventure. Considering that this is a free introductory product, that is not surprising, and some of the strengths of the product come from focusing on only a few scenes and covering all of their ramifications exhaustively. There are only three combat encounters, but each one is described in great detail, with clear description of rules and tactics, and ways to modify the adventure if the monster is too strong for the players. (For example, this is the best use of the leucrotta I have ever seen in an adventure, and just for that the module is worth getting.) This narrow focus served them well, but it does tend to make the module run quickly.

The most surprising aspect of this module is the excellent attention to detail throughout. For example, the adventure has a little outline of the entire adventure and how to tackle it as a beginning DM right at the beginning. Every introductory product should have an outline of this nature. The rules for sleeping in armor are presented in a side-bar in case the players decide to do it. Rules on surprise and initiative are also summarized. Tactics for monsters are also summarized for DMs. It even includes a summary sheet and a copy of Eralion's letter to quickly bring Corian's player up to speed. Almost every little element that could improve the adventure has been thoughtfully added, making the novice DMs job much easier.

Unfortunately, one thing was left out. The module advises you to draw a map of the farmhouse, but at least this reviewer can see no reason why this was not included in the module itself. Since this is a fairly complicated final battle, a map with the positions of the antagonists marked would have been very helpful. As it is, the description is so detailed that the DM won't really need it, but it would have helped.

The atmosphere and themes of the module are also good, though fairly creepy. The eavesdropping raven with glowing red eyes and an evil intelligence is not new, but still quite effective. The farm family hacked to bits is fairly graphic, and having them rise from the dead to attack the characters is prone to disturb some players. On the other hand, the main villain has sold his soul to the devil, so that kind of evil is to be expected of him and his minions.

The tone of the adventure seems to be something Necromancer Games focuses on. Their motto is "Third Edition Rules, First Edition Feel." A major component of this feel seems to be the active presence of demons and devils and their plots. In the Wizard's Amulet, not only is Orcus (a powerful demon) to blame for Eralion's downfall, but Dispater (an arch-devil) has dispatched an imp to aid Voltigern, the main villain of the adventure. In addition, Orcus is even the Necromancer Games mascot.

They seem to be reacting to the changes in cosmology and tone in Second Edition, where demons and devils became baatezu and tanar'ri and the Blood War kept them occupied. Though this did have its silliness, I hope they do not swing too far in the other direction. Demons and devils are fine, but they probably should not be one of the major antagonists in every adventure that Necromancer Games publishes. Not every campaign can involve the PCs constantly defeating the machinations of hellish overlords. Too much of anything can be stultifying, and the designers seem to have so many good skills in adventure design that I would hate to see them eventually get stuck in a rut.

Conclusion

This is an excellent introductory Third Edition D&D adventure for novice players and DMs, better than anything else available right now. It can easily be used to start a campaign by more experienced DMs as well. It would be worth paying for, but it is completely free, so everyone remotely interested in D&D should pick up a copy. Necromancer Games has made a great foray, and I look forward to their later products and wish them success.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)