The Inside Scoop on Gaming

========THE FOLLOWING REVIEW IS WALL TO WALL SPOILERS========

The Forge of Fury is the second of eight stand-alone adventures from Wizards of the Coast and will take a party from 3rd to 5th level. Like The Sunless Citadel that came before it, The Forge of Fury is a dungeon, or rather an exploration of an underground stronghold. It consists of 5 seperate levels each with it's own feel and each can be completed in a single session. This gives the players a sense of accomplishment when they need it most, eliminating the fatigue that can set in when exploring more vast underground settings such as those found in The Ruins of Undermountain, The Temple of Elemental Evil, Night Below, etc. This is a good design decision, since even the more enthusiastic spelunkers will begin to long for the surface after about six sessions in the same dungeon.

The first level is "The Mountain Door" and consists of orcs defending the entry level of a dwarven underhold. Our group finished it in about four hours of play and frequently cursed the dwarves for their efficient design. This area feels like it sounds - an underground running battle against organized enemies who have the advantage and know how to use it. My players loved it, even though one of them was killed, and as a DM I had only a few minor complaints. The map scale is 5' per square, which is obvious from a close reading by someone with that very question in mind, but this isn't noted on the maps. The levels connect to each other in various ways and there are uppercase letters to indicate where these connections occur, but again, no explanation is given and the prepared DM is left to figure this out on her own.

The second level is "The Glitterhame" and it's a natural cave complex that the dwarves left as unworked as possible. Occupied by some troglodytes who just want to be left alone, a few natural hazards, and a handful of creatures native to the environment, this level feels very different from the one above. It totals about 12 elements and from here the party can go up to "The Foundry", or down to "The Sinkhole." My party moved through here briskly, not even encountering the main Troglodyte force, so we only spent about three hours of play time here.

The Foundry is where the dwarven presence is felt once again as it's almost all worked stone and was used ages ago as both a foundry and main living area. There are Duergar here who my party found easier to defeat than the orcs in the Mountain Door, a succubus in disguise provides some roleplaying and a warning of what's below in "The Black Lake", and the main dwarven living area is now the resting place of some unquiet spirits and some animated furniture. There are 14 elements here, but one of them (room 44) is repeated no fewer than 10 times! Do yourself a favor and leave 8 of them out, your players won't miss them. Our party spent four hours of play time here and had a good time of it, though it just wasn't as compelling as The Mountain Door or The Glitterhame. From here the party can go down to "The Black Lake."

The Sinkhole was skipped entirely by our group, but there's not much here. Apparently used as a storage area by the dwarves it's a mix of natural caves and worked stone. A portion of it is flooded and it has only 6 elements, so most groups won't be here long - at least not while they're alive. There are only two creatures down here, but one of them is so nasty it could easily kill the entire party. The text even suggests not including it if the party is one that's not likely to retreat from a fight, but a Roper is one CR10 monster that a 4th level party is unlikely to get a chance to run away from. These are just impressions though, as mentioned earlier, our party didn't even go down here.

The Black Lake is the climax of the whole adventure and it feels like it. A long descent to an underground lake, tracks left behind by a good sized reptilian creature, the strange pitting on the stone bridge, and being told that a dragon lives down here - all contribute to the players absolute certainty that the entire party is about to die screaming. My players absolutely loved it. I loved running it, but I did have one complaint: the Encounter Level given (EL4) is wrong. This encounter will tax a 5th level party to the limit, so EL7 is more like it.

The bottom line: if you're looking for a character driven story-arc, look somewhere else. This is a treasure hunt, and a memorable one at that.

screenmonkey

The Forge of Fury
Item type: RPG Product Name: The Forge of Fury Author: Richard Baker Company/Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Line: Dungeons & Dragons (3rd ed) SKU: Cost: $9.95 Page count: 32 ISBN: 0-7869-1644-3 Genres: Ratings: Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty) Review type: Playtest Review Genre tags:	========THE FOLLOWING REVIEW IS WALL TO WALL SPOILERS======== The Forge of Fury is the second of eight stand-alone adventures from Wizards of the Coast and will take a party from 3rd to 5th level. Like The Sunless Citadel that came before it, The Forge of Fury is a dungeon, or rather an exploration of an underground stronghold. It consists of 5 seperate levels each with it's own feel and each can be completed in a single session. This gives the players a sense of accomplishment when they need it most, eliminating the fatigue that can set in when exploring more vast underground settings such as those found in The Ruins of Undermountain, The Temple of Elemental Evil, Night Below, etc. This is a good design decision, since even the more enthusiastic spelunkers will begin to long for the surface after about six sessions in the same dungeon. The first level is "The Mountain Door" and consists of orcs defending the entry level of a dwarven underhold. Our group finished it in about four hours of play and frequently cursed the dwarves for their efficient design. This area feels like it sounds - an underground running battle against organized enemies who have the advantage and know how to use it. My players loved it, even though one of them was killed, and as a DM I had only a few minor complaints. The map scale is 5' per square, which is obvious from a close reading by someone with that very question in mind, but this isn't noted on the maps. The levels connect to each other in various ways and there are uppercase letters to indicate where these connections occur, but again, no explanation is given and the prepared DM is left to figure this out on her own. The second level is "The Glitterhame" and it's a natural cave complex that the dwarves left as unworked as possible. Occupied by some troglodytes who just want to be left alone, a few natural hazards, and a handful of creatures native to the environment, this level feels very different from the one above. It totals about 12 elements and from here the party can go up to "The Foundry", or down to "The Sinkhole." My party moved through here briskly, not even encountering the main Troglodyte force, so we only spent about three hours of play time here. The Foundry is where the dwarven presence is felt once again as it's almost all worked stone and was used ages ago as both a foundry and main living area. There are Duergar here who my party found easier to defeat than the orcs in the Mountain Door, a succubus in disguise provides some roleplaying and a warning of what's below in "The Black Lake", and the main dwarven living area is now the resting place of some unquiet spirits and some animated furniture. There are 14 elements here, but one of them (room 44) is repeated no fewer than 10 times! Do yourself a favor and leave 8 of them out, your players won't miss them. Our party spent four hours of play time here and had a good time of it, though it just wasn't as compelling as The Mountain Door or The Glitterhame. From here the party can go down to "The Black Lake." The Sinkhole was skipped entirely by our group, but there's not much here. Apparently used as a storage area by the dwarves it's a mix of natural caves and worked stone. A portion of it is flooded and it has only 6 elements, so most groups won't be here long - at least not while they're alive. There are only two creatures down here, but one of them is so nasty it could easily kill the entire party. The text even suggests not including it if the party is one that's not likely to retreat from a fight, but a Roper is one CR10 monster that a 4th level party is unlikely to get a chance to run away from. These are just impressions though, as mentioned earlier, our party didn't even go down here. The Black Lake is the climax of the whole adventure and it feels like it. A long descent to an underground lake, tracks left behind by a good sized reptilian creature, the strange pitting on the stone bridge, and being told that a dragon lives down here - all contribute to the players absolute certainty that the entire party is about to die screaming. My players absolutely loved it. I loved running it, but I did have one complaint: the Encounter Level given (EL4) is wrong. This encounter will tax a 5th level party to the limit, so EL7 is more like it. The bottom line: if you're looking for a character driven story-arc, look somewhere else. This is a treasure hunt, and a memorable one at that. screenmonkey