The Speaker in Dreams, an adventure for 5th level characters, is the third of eight stand-alone adventures from Wizards of the Coast designed to show off the nuances of the latest incarnation of Dungeon's & Dragons while taking a party from first through twentieth level. Unlike The Sunless Citadel and The Forge of Fury that came before it, The Speaker in Dreams takes place entirely above ground. Specifically, amidst the annual street fair of the large town of Brindonford.
The heroes quickly find that Brindonford has problems with extortion, disappearances, and a haunting. As time goes on, things go from bad to worse as the party discovers that someone wants them dead. Much like in a dungeon, the characters have a limited choice of things to do, making it manageable for the DM, but they may do them in any order they want, granting the freedom players of tabletop role-playing games demand. This feature is the adventure's strong point, the DM has wide latitude in how to keep things moving, in what direction, and at what pace - by what information he allows into the characters hands and when. There are numerous oppurtunities for both roleplaying and combat throughout the adventure and I found it easy to emphasize one or the other based on what the players were in the mood for.
If the above sounds confusing, it can be, but the adventure flowchart provided helps to keep things straight. The town is broken up into unmapped neighborhoods and just enough information is provided to give the feel of the area rather than a lot of detail the DM will never use, but be forced to wade through. The end result is a solid helping of meaty material that a DM can shape to fit both his needs and the players moods.
There are however, some things a DM should be aware of before diving in to this adventure:
Several scenes begin with the bad guys literally jumping out at the player characters - as if the heroes wouldn't be able to find them otherwise. In fact, this tactic is used five seperate times throughout the adventure and in almost every case clues could have done just as well to keep things moving and keep the heroes on the trail. In most situations there are clues provided, albeit sketchy ones, so it may be that the author intended the DM to pick the approach the players happen to be in the mood for. Either way, new DMs should be aware of this before one of the players says something like: "You know, if it weren't for these guys trying to kill us all the time, we wouldn't know who to blame for the trouble in this town."
Our group noticed an entire cult of NPCs who seemed to have a religious conviction about not possessing any coins whatsoever. After searching the bodies, and finding a handful of minor magic items on each, as well the living quarters, the heroes found not so much as a single copper piece.
There are a few typos (e.g. a Potion of Vision instead of Darkvision), but these aren't as disturbing as the lack of detail for key NPCs (e.g. The paladins from the shrine of Heironeous, the high priest and Sun's Champion from the temple) for when the heroes invariably search them out and/or ask them for help.
At one point in the adventure a cleric, who will be lucky to have achieved seventh level, will have to channel positive energy in the temple of Pelor. Most players still do not think of using a cleric's power for anything but turning undead and there is no clue in the adventure to indicate that they should do otherwise in the temple. Granted, something is certainly amiss, but the players rightfully think that dealing with the situation is out of their league. It is here that the party will want to find the high priest, but that individual has mysteriously disappeared. On the off chance that the party's cleric thinks to exert their god's power, the cleric will have to generate enough of it to turn a 10 HD undead - a feat that requires a roll of 19 on the turning check.
Lastly, the climactic battle to end the adventure occurs in a powerful aristocrat's home, but the home itself consists of six rooms packed so tightly together there aren't even any hallways. It looks and feels like a Hollywood movie set that one finds, upon closer inspection, to be constructed of painted canvas on a wood frame and whose sole purpose is to serve as the backdrop for a fight. Regardless of the fact that this is exactly what it is, be ready to improvise details for when the party's Rogue goes scouting.
All that being said, this is still a good adventure. Make provisions for the trouble spots and it will provide 20 hours of memorable gaming and best of all - the bad guy at the end is enough to make any DM cackle with glee.
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