To Stand on Hallowed Ground (The Ghost Machine / Swords Against Deception)
To Stand on Hallowed Ground is the third D20 System adventure "module" by Fiery Dragon Productions, and the first in their so called "Bronze Line." Their first two adveutres NeMoren's Vault and The Silver Summoning were part of their "Silver Line" adventures.
To Stand on Hallowed Ground is actually a "double adventure." The book contains two complete adventures: The Ghost Machine and Swords Against Deception (the later sounds like the title to a Fritz Leiber story.) Both sides of the book appear as a front cover, complete with the title of adventure and full color art specific to that adventure. If you are looking at the side with To Stand on Hallowed Ground – The Ghost Machine on the cover and flip the module over, you will be staring at a totally different cover picture with the title To Stand on Hallowed Ground – Swords Against Deception. This format is similar to some of the classic Traveller "Double Adventures" from the early days of RPGs.
To Stand on Hallowed Ground – A First Look
As mentioned above, the module is made to appear so that the module has no discernable "back", but two discernable fronts. The cover is black, and the cover art appears much better than that of FDP's adventure modules to date.
The interior is entirely black and white. Like previous FDP offerings, there are counters included for use with the adventures. But they are not on cardstock, not in color, and you will have to copy them to use them as they are on the back of one of the maps.
The interior of the module itself is 36 pages in length. The pages of Swords Against Deception are labeled A1 through A18 (the last page includes part of the map and the obligatory legal text.) The pages of The Ghost Machine are labeled B1 through B17. The last page of the Ghost Machine half of the book (which would have been "B18") includes the counters for both adventures.
The cartography for both adventures is straightforward and legible. Both adventures are sparsely decorated with black and white art. The inside covers contain encounter level summaries as well as an "alert level" chart for Swords Against Deception (c.f.)
To Stand On Hallowed Ground is priced at $8.95 US.
A Look Inside: The Ghost Machine
(Warning: The following paragraphs contain spoilers to the adventure.)
The Ghost Machine is written by James Bell and is designed for a party of 5th – 7th level characters.
The adventure is set in an ancient keep that a brotherhood of monks was restoring. Unfortunately for the monks this was no ordinary keep. The keep once housed the invention of a made gnome, a machine called the Ghost Machine. The Ghost Machine was a prototype for an even more powerful invention (the Doom Engine) that is part of the backstory described in the adventure.
The Ghost Machine was made to re-animate creatures as undead. When the monks restore this ancient keep to its former state, they unwittingly restore the ghost machine as well. When they do this, the dead are awakened and slaughter all but one of the inhabitants.
The PC's involvement in the adventure begins when this sole survivor, dying of an accelerated version of mummy rot, crosses the path of the players and beseeches them to investigate the keep and find the source of the horrors therein.
From this point on, the keep is a site-based adventure with strong combat and puzzle-solving components. The PCs must explore the keep and discover the nature of the ghost machine – picking up clues along the way as to what it is and how to dismantle it – while in the meantime they are fending off attacks from undead creatures that continue to be reanimated by the Ghost Machine.
The Ghost Machine and the Doom Engine are interesting concepts. The module should prove to be more of a puzzle challenge that than a combat challenge since the continually reanimating skeletons should be easily laid low by a party of the described levels. However, unless the players clue in to the fact that they should get on with the exploration and skirt encounters wherever possible, flurries of low level combats could prove quite tedious.
Overall, this is an interesting site based adventure. It could perhaps use more clarification as to how the reanimation of defeated undead can be defeated, because the players certainly will try.
A Look Inside: Swords Against Deception
(Warning: The following paragraphs contain spoilers to the adventure.)
Swords Against Deception is written by Mike Mearls for a party of 10th level D&D characters.
The backstory of Swords Against Deception is linked to that of the Ghost Machine, but the adventures are not directly tied together. The premise is that a new, generous cult has arisen that is throwing parties around the countryside and are whipping the local peasantry into a rebellious frenzy. The state of the backstory is such that the players may become peripherally involved before this time by experiencing the spread of this cult first hand. The local authorities contact the PCs to infiltrate one of the latest festivals sponsored by the cult.
As you might guess, the cult does not have the best interests of the peasants in mind. Rather, it is a ruse to draw potential sacrifices to the festival so they can be used to fuel the return of a powerful undead being named Vargos, who was the right hand man of an ancient troublemaker called the Shadow King.
Fortunately for DM, Mike Mearls includes in this adventure something that is sorely missing from so many other D20 System adventures: adaptation notes! Sit up and take notes, D20 vendors! If you are going to make an adventure with a specific campaign setting in mind, you need adaptation notes!
The module assumes that the players have a modicum of stealth about them and will be able to sneak into the festival. The adventure will be much more difficult if the party cannot be stealthy and merely "storms the castle." For this very purpose, the adventure introduces an "alert factor" system. If the party does anything to draw attention to the fact that something is amiss, the alert factor of the site goes up. Some keyed locations will include more defenders who will be prepared for trouble if the alert factor is high enough.
In the end, the party will be required to take on some formidable opposition in order to set things right. The final combat occurs in a testing ground that was once used by an ancient sorcerer king to squash competitors. This final area is an arena set up with spell reflecting mirrors that the villain's lackeys can take advantage of. The party can also take advantage of them if they are clever.
Summary and Conclusions
Both adventures are well written and embody some good ideas. They seem to be more adaptable to an ongoing campaign than earlier FDP modules, and will doubtless be the sorts of adventure that players reminisce about. Overall, both are solid adventures.
The only thing bad I can really say about the module is that I had expected color pull-outs like they had in NeMoren's Vault and The Silver Summoning. That's what you get for setting the bar so high!
Ratings
Ready to use material – 4. The adventures are well done site-based adventures. The module does not have nearly the same amount of useful bits that earlier FDP offering had (color counters and player handouts), but is still very good. The use of adaptation notes by Mike Mearls is helpful in fitting the material to one's own campaign.
Idea content – 4. The premises and settings are interesting, and provide some atypical challenges for the players.
Value for money – 3. The page count / dollar ratio is about average for a D20 System product.
Overall Substance Rating – 4.
Overall Style Rating – 4.
How I Rate D20 System Adventures
(standard blurb)
As far as I am concerned, canned adventures provide two primary points of value: ideas (adventure premises, interesting challenges, etc.) and ready to run game material (maps, useful and properly done encounter statistics, new creatures and items). The obvious third criteria is overall value for money, which includes page count for a given cost and use of space.
I use these three factors to holistically determine what "substance" rating I'll give the item on RPGnet. This is separate from the style consideration, which I use as stated on RPGnet.
-Alan D. Kohler
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