The Inside Scoop on Gaming

The second of WotC's Adventure Path series again follows in the mold of the great classics of the first edition, and I believe that it will take a place amongst them in due time.

Again, the cover evokes the adventure found within the covers. Our foursome of adventurers are now facing a nasty black dragon, and all looks bad for them. You can count on the cover giving you quite the accurate showing of the climax of the adventure, so be warned that it might spoil things for the players if they see the cover before they play through it- your mileage will vary. The layout sticks to the style used in The Sunless Citade, so you can count on the notes to be in the sidebars while the read-aloud text is in shaded boxes and the main text is keyed to locations within the dungeon.

This one is a big ol' ruined dwarf stronghold. The PCs are here to recover weapons that once belonged to the lord of the hold, to map it, or to seek and destroy a marauding orc tribe who's trail leads back here. (Of course you can come up with your own reasons for being here, but these are the three hooks provided.) There are five areas, each of which is a small dungeon unto itself, and each area holds at least two big encounters. The first is the aforementioned orc tribe's lair, one is nearly bare (but what is there is very dangerous), the connecting area can be dangerous for its monsters as well as its ideal ambush location, the stronghold's keep relies on the PCs being idiots for the monsters to be dangerous, and the lair at the end is where I have a quibble.

Of the many monsters to conquer, traps to defeat, etc. there are two encounters that are quite beyond the means of the parties intended for this adventure. Unless your players are brilliant or luckier than the gods themselves, both them (a roper and a succubus) will eat the PCs whole. Yes, there's a black dragon at the end. Yes, he's mean. Yes, he's going to wipe out the party unless they're acting like a team and in a intelligent, rational manner. There's also a colony of duergar that's not as mean as they seem unless they get the jump on the group, a bunch of undead that aren't so hard to cope with, some animated bits that vary in threat level, troglodytes, gricks, and that damned tribe of orcs.

Aside: the lair at the end is very disadvantageous to the PCs, because the dragon is in its element and the conditions for alerting it are easy to trip. Furthermore, the place where the encounter begins is ideal for an ambush--something that the dragon is certain to do--and the strip of land will be wholly covered by the dragon's breath weapon. Unless the PCs are paranoid, work as a team, and are not given to act rashly or stupidly, there is a good chance of having a Total Party Wipeout. (It almost happenned to my group, and they're still complaining.) This is not to say that it's unwinnable, but that the odds are against the PCs from the get-go; the Challenge Rating for the encounter should be higher than what is printed.

If the PCs take their time, act cautiously, act intelligently, and act as a team they will overcome this dungeon. They'll also level up at least once and come away with a king's ransom in treasure. This is the ideal case, of course, so the average group will limp away with a lot less than this. If they're a unruly warband, then encounters that are matched for them will smack them hard when their luck runs out. (I found this out the hard way.)

If there's anything I didn't like in this adventure, it is the static feel to it. Outside of encounter-specific notes, there doesn't seem to be any hints--this would've been a great sidebar thing--on making the monsters react to PC actions that aren't immediate to the scene. Since this does serve to get folks new to the Art of the Game Master (even in a secondary way) used to taking care of the details, I say that this would've helped. Otherwise, I don't much of a problem.

Give it a chance. Since it's a generic module, it's easy to work it into something good for your campaign. Go take a look at it when you next go to your friendly local game store. Bradford C. Walker

The Forge of Fury
Item type: game Review by: Bradford C. Walker Product Name: The Forge of Fury Author: Richard Baker Company/Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Line: Dungeons and Dragons SKU: TSR11644 Cost: $9.95 (US) Page count: 32 pages ISBN: 0-7869-1644-3 Ratings: Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average) Review type: Playtest Review Genre tags: Fantasy	The second of WotC's Adventure Path series again follows in the mold of the great classics of the first edition, and I believe that it will take a place amongst them in due time. Again, the cover evokes the adventure found within the covers. Our foursome of adventurers are now facing a nasty black dragon, and all looks bad for them. You can count on the cover giving you quite the accurate showing of the climax of the adventure, so be warned that it might spoil things for the players if they see the cover before they play through it- your mileage will vary. The layout sticks to the style used in The Sunless Citade, so you can count on the notes to be in the sidebars while the read-aloud text is in shaded boxes and the main text is keyed to locations within the dungeon. This one is a big ol' ruined dwarf stronghold. The PCs are here to recover weapons that once belonged to the lord of the hold, to map it, or to seek and destroy a marauding orc tribe who's trail leads back here. (Of course you can come up with your own reasons for being here, but these are the three hooks provided.) There are five areas, each of which is a small dungeon unto itself, and each area holds at least two big encounters. The first is the aforementioned orc tribe's lair, one is nearly bare (but what is there is very dangerous), the connecting area can be dangerous for its monsters as well as its ideal ambush location, the stronghold's keep relies on the PCs being idiots for the monsters to be dangerous, and the lair at the end is where I have a quibble. Of the many monsters to conquer, traps to defeat, etc. there are two encounters that are quite beyond the means of the parties intended for this adventure. Unless your players are brilliant or luckier than the gods themselves, both them (a roper and a succubus) will eat the PCs whole. Yes, there's a black dragon at the end. Yes, he's mean. Yes, he's going to wipe out the party unless they're acting like a team and in a intelligent, rational manner. There's also a colony of duergar that's not as mean as they seem unless they get the jump on the group, a bunch of undead that aren't so hard to cope with, some animated bits that vary in threat level, troglodytes, gricks, and that damned tribe of orcs. Aside: the lair at the end is very disadvantageous to the PCs, because the dragon is in its element and the conditions for alerting it are easy to trip. Furthermore, the place where the encounter begins is ideal for an ambush--something that the dragon is certain to do--and the strip of land will be wholly covered by the dragon's breath weapon. Unless the PCs are paranoid, work as a team, and are not given to act rashly or stupidly, there is a good chance of having a Total Party Wipeout. (It almost happenned to my group, and they're still complaining.) This is not to say that it's unwinnable, but that the odds are against the PCs from the get-go; the Challenge Rating for the encounter should be higher than what is printed. If the PCs take their time, act cautiously, act intelligently, and act as a team they will overcome this dungeon. They'll also level up at least once and come away with a king's ransom in treasure. This is the ideal case, of course, so the average group will limp away with a lot less than this. If they're a unruly warband, then encounters that are matched for them will smack them hard when their luck runs out. (I found this out the hard way.) If there's anything I didn't like in this adventure, it is the static feel to it. Outside of encounter-specific notes, there doesn't seem to be any hints--this would've been a great sidebar thing--on making the monsters react to PC actions that aren't immediate to the scene. Since this does serve to get folks new to the Art of the Game Master (even in a secondary way) used to taking care of the details, I say that this would've helped. Otherwise, I don't much of a problem. Give it a chance. Since it's a generic module, it's easy to work it into something good for your campaign. Go take a look at it when you next go to your friendly local game store. Bradford C. Walker

The Forge of Fury