The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Let me start this review by saying that I am definitely in the D20 product producers' corner when in comes to creating modules and games using the D20 rules. I want to see the Open Game License succeed, and I ultimately want to join the ranks of the D20 product producers. Thus, I am reading the D20 adventures not only as a Game Master and/or player, but as a creator as well (and you'll probably see a great many reviews of D20 items from me in the future).

That being said, I wanted to like Nightshift Games' first D20 adventure, THE HORROR BENEATH, a great deal. While I ultimately do not dislike the adventure, I cannot wholeheartedly say that I recommend it--especially if you have very little money to spend on games anyway. At any rate, I will start by summarizing the plot of the adventure (i.e., spoiler heading your way), and then I will explain my likes and dislikes in regard to the module in hopes of aiding in your decision to purchase or not.

Summary

The back of the module states: "Something sinister is happening in the village of Scarborough, and you've been hired to find out what. But what you'll find is even worse than you can imagine." So, yes, the characters are hired out to find out what has become of Scarborough. It seems the mining village has not been sending out the iron that it is known to mine, nor has it responded to messages sent. The characters leave the village of Ravendale and seek out the trouble in Scarborough. They encounter some zombies on the way before coming to the desolate village. Most of its inhabitants are gone, only the Tendermore family has managed to escape the onslaught of the undead--at least until nightfall, when the creatures capture two of the Tendermore women.

The characters track the "zombies" to a mine, where they uncover the truth that the zombies are not really undead creatures, but mere hosts for other creatures known as brooders. Of course, the villagers have been turned into these things, so there isn't much to do but kill them all. They also have to fight a necromancer, a former member of the Scarborough community who was kicked out; he now serves the Brooder Queen.

Likes

My likes are relatively few, but they are enough to keep me from condemning the module outright.

Basically, I like that the adventure was created for 3rd to 5th level characters as these are levels in which they are more likely to spend a great deal of time, and several other D20 companies have already done the 1st-3rd level thing. In addition, the module's plot is very straightforward (though a bit short), and the author provides a few different ways to get characters introduced to the plot.

I a very much liked the brooders and the grub hosts they make of the villagers. It's a cool idea to have a creature that appears to be a zombie, but isn't. Imagine the shock on your players' faces when their attempts to turn the creatures fail--especially if their rolls were sufficiently high enough to succeed against the real thing! Now, that's rich!

The final saving attribute of the module in my mind is that it provides some useful setting information. You get information on the County of Leona, including its Count, Milicience, and a breakdown of its population by race and information on its defensive units. You also get information on the village of Ravendale, which is part of the County of Leona. It includes a description of its ruler, Baron Trobriand, and descriptions of several places to visit, including temples that provide healing…for a cost. There are definitely things here that--excuse the pun--a Game Master could mine from the adventure.

So ends its highlights, however.

Dislikes

While, as I said above, I like the setting information, part of me feels that it is only present in the adventure to be used as filler to complete the module's 32 pages. I say this because none of it is essential to the plot. For example, as the adventure does not take place in Ravendale, the places to visit are not of great importance. They could possibly provide some role-playing points, but most players, when offered a job, just want to get their supplies and go; and as the adventure takes place in another village, I'm sure they'll want to be off to Scarborough immediately. Nor is the information on the County of Leona essential, though I can see that it is more necessary than that of Ravendale. Basically, I would have preferred that some of the space be spent on setting be used to further develop the plot or extend the adventure site.

The two worst aspects of the adventure were the abysmal maps Leona, Scarborough, and Ravendale. I say the maps are abysmal because they are so dark; I can barely tell structures from roads or general terrain. The map provided for the cave does not suffer from this problem. As to the structure of the adventure, there really isn't any. For instance, after the attack on the Tendermore house (and the clichéd abduction of the female members of the household), the next section is entitled Mine Twelve. Right out of nowhere, you jump from reading about an abduction, which the characters are not even allowed to prevent apparently, to reading about the history of Mine Twelve and the possible cave-ins that might result if the characters travel there. It is several paragraphs into that before you are told that the PCs can track the "zombies" to this particular mine. Things like this happen several times in the adventure. And the mine itself is not marked with numbered descriptions. Instead, the numbers on the mine map represent pit traps and the like. Needless to say, it is very confusing.

Some other general things that I disliked were that stats were not included for the NPCs that were introduced early on. As a Game Master, I would have appreciated having stat information on them; it would have made it easier to use the character on a continuing basis. I also do not like the fact that NPCs are interspersed throughout the beginning text in boxes of their own. It breaks up the flow of the adventure. It would have made more sense to refer to them in the text and place them all in an appendix. I also had some problems with the editing. In a few places, there is mention of a forgotten dwarven city, but the author cannot decide if it is named Valkorol or Valkor. I have yet to figure out which it is. There was also this interesting sentence under the description of the Order of Scarlet in Ravendale: "The Order of Scarlet is a monastic order on the eastern border of Leona that contains the undead from Cezari." Really? A monastic order with undead members? Uh…cool. Not. Upon further inspection, it meant to say that it contains in the sense of stemming or holding back the undead. A better word choice would have been nice.

One last BIG issue is the necromancer. At the beginning of the adventure, the Game Master is told that this fellow is a youth who "discovered he had sorcerous powers"and attempted to control the villagers with them. Ultimately, he failed and was run off. This same youth is listed as a 5th level wizard? And he has in his possession a Mask of Death ? I find this VERY hard to believe. I might buy him being a sorcerer, but being a wizard would imply that he had initially had some master teach him the art of magic, and thus didn't have a natural ability to discover as is stated in the text. At any rate, I wouldn't expect him to be 5th level, especially as a "youth."

Conclusion In spite of the problems that I had with this module, I will purchase Nightshift's next D20 adventure. I even intend to buy their FOUNDATION: A WORLD IN BLACK & WHITE. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt because I saw glimpses of something unique and worthwhile in this module. I'm hoping that the desire to rush this product to market made the company overlook some things in this module that they wouldn't normally. I'm hoping, anyway. As I said, I really want to see these D20 products and their parent companies succeed.

Now, whether you want to spend your money on this adventure, that's for you to decide. As I said, there were glimpses of something good in here, and the monsters are interesting; they would be good additions to your campaign. But do you want to pay $8.95 for them? It's your choice. I did, and I don't really regret it. I'm not bouncing with joy either, though.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)

The Horror Beneath
Author: Eric Metcalf Category: game Company/Publisher: Nightshift Games Line: D20 Cost: 8.95 Page count: 32 ISBN: 192933229-9 SKU: CFE4001 Capsule Review by Christina Stiles on 12/26/00. Genre tags: Fantasy	Let me start this review by saying that I am definitely in the D20 product producers' corner when in comes to creating modules and games using the D20 rules. I want to see the Open Game License succeed, and I ultimately want to join the ranks of the D20 product producers. Thus, I am reading the D20 adventures not only as a Game Master and/or player, but as a creator as well (and you'll probably see a great many reviews of D20 items from me in the future). That being said, I wanted to like Nightshift Games' first D20 adventure, THE HORROR BENEATH, a great deal. While I ultimately do not dislike the adventure, I cannot wholeheartedly say that I recommend it--especially if you have very little money to spend on games anyway. At any rate, I will start by summarizing the plot of the adventure (i.e., spoiler heading your way), and then I will explain my likes and dislikes in regard to the module in hopes of aiding in your decision to purchase or not. Summary The back of the module states: "Something sinister is happening in the village of Scarborough, and you've been hired to find out what. But what you'll find is even worse than you can imagine." So, yes, the characters are hired out to find out what has become of Scarborough. It seems the mining village has not been sending out the iron that it is known to mine, nor has it responded to messages sent. The characters leave the village of Ravendale and seek out the trouble in Scarborough. They encounter some zombies on the way before coming to the desolate village. Most of its inhabitants are gone, only the Tendermore family has managed to escape the onslaught of the undead--at least until nightfall, when the creatures capture two of the Tendermore women. The characters track the "zombies" to a mine, where they uncover the truth that the zombies are not really undead creatures, but mere hosts for other creatures known as brooders. Of course, the villagers have been turned into these things, so there isn't much to do but kill them all. They also have to fight a necromancer, a former member of the Scarborough community who was kicked out; he now serves the Brooder Queen. Likes My likes are relatively few, but they are enough to keep me from condemning the module outright. Basically, I like that the adventure was created for 3rd to 5th level characters as these are levels in which they are more likely to spend a great deal of time, and several other D20 companies have already done the 1st-3rd level thing. In addition, the module's plot is very straightforward (though a bit short), and the author provides a few different ways to get characters introduced to the plot. I a very much liked the brooders and the grub hosts they make of the villagers. It's a cool idea to have a creature that appears to be a zombie, but isn't. Imagine the shock on your players' faces when their attempts to turn the creatures fail--especially if their rolls were sufficiently high enough to succeed against the real thing! Now, that's rich! The final saving attribute of the module in my mind is that it provides some useful setting information. You get information on the County of Leona, including its Count, Milicience, and a breakdown of its population by race and information on its defensive units. You also get information on the village of Ravendale, which is part of the County of Leona. It includes a description of its ruler, Baron Trobriand, and descriptions of several places to visit, including temples that provide healing…for a cost. There are definitely things here that--excuse the pun--a Game Master could mine from the adventure. So ends its highlights, however. Dislikes While, as I said above, I like the setting information, part of me feels that it is only present in the adventure to be used as filler to complete the module's 32 pages. I say this because none of it is essential to the plot. For example, as the adventure does not take place in Ravendale, the places to visit are not of great importance. They could possibly provide some role-playing points, but most players, when offered a job, just want to get their supplies and go; and as the adventure takes place in another village, I'm sure they'll want to be off to Scarborough immediately. Nor is the information on the County of Leona essential, though I can see that it is more necessary than that of Ravendale. Basically, I would have preferred that some of the space be spent on setting be used to further develop the plot or extend the adventure site. The two worst aspects of the adventure were the abysmal maps Leona, Scarborough, and Ravendale. I say the maps are abysmal because they are so dark; I can barely tell structures from roads or general terrain. The map provided for the cave does not suffer from this problem. As to the structure of the adventure, there really isn't any. For instance, after the attack on the Tendermore house (and the clichéd abduction of the female members of the household), the next section is entitled Mine Twelve. Right out of nowhere, you jump from reading about an abduction, which the characters are not even allowed to prevent apparently, to reading about the history of Mine Twelve and the possible cave-ins that might result if the characters travel there. It is several paragraphs into that before you are told that the PCs can track the "zombies" to this particular mine. Things like this happen several times in the adventure. And the mine itself is not marked with numbered descriptions. Instead, the numbers on the mine map represent pit traps and the like. Needless to say, it is very confusing. Some other general things that I disliked were that stats were not included for the NPCs that were introduced early on. As a Game Master, I would have appreciated having stat information on them; it would have made it easier to use the character on a continuing basis. I also do not like the fact that NPCs are interspersed throughout the beginning text in boxes of their own. It breaks up the flow of the adventure. It would have made more sense to refer to them in the text and place them all in an appendix. I also had some problems with the editing. In a few places, there is mention of a forgotten dwarven city, but the author cannot decide if it is named Valkorol or Valkor. I have yet to figure out which it is. There was also this interesting sentence under the description of the Order of Scarlet in Ravendale: "The Order of Scarlet is a monastic order on the eastern border of Leona that contains the undead from Cezari." Really? A monastic order with undead members? Uh…cool. Not. Upon further inspection, it meant to say that it contains in the sense of stemming or holding back the undead. A better word choice would have been nice. One last BIG issue is the necromancer. At the beginning of the adventure, the Game Master is told that this fellow is a youth who "discovered he had sorcerous powers"and attempted to control the villagers with them. Ultimately, he failed and was run off. This same youth is listed as a 5th level wizard? And he has in his possession a Mask of Death ? I find this VERY hard to believe. I might buy him being a sorcerer, but being a wizard would imply that he had initially had some master teach him the art of magic, and thus didn't have a natural ability to discover as is stated in the text. At any rate, I wouldn't expect him to be 5th level, especially as a "youth." Conclusion In spite of the problems that I had with this module, I will purchase Nightshift's next D20 adventure. I even intend to buy their FOUNDATION: A WORLD IN BLACK & WHITE. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt because I saw glimpses of something unique and worthwhile in this module. I'm hoping that the desire to rush this product to market made the company overlook some things in this module that they wouldn't normally. I'm hoping, anyway. As I said, I really want to see these D20 products and their parent companies succeed. Now, whether you want to spend your money on this adventure, that's for you to decide. As I said, there were glimpses of something good in here, and the monsters are interesting; they would be good additions to your campaign. But do you want to pay $8.95 for them? It's your choice. I did, and I don't really regret it. I'm not bouncing with joy either, though. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 2 (Sparse)

The Horror Beneath