The Inside Scoop on Gaming

The Malady of Kings is a high level D20 Fantasy Game System adventure written by another company involved in the D20 Bandwagon. Written for 4-6 characters of levels 10-12, the adventure features an ancient forest and plane travel. It is also set in the World of Erde, Troll Lord Games' house world system.

WARNING!!! As always, spoilers abound below. If you are going to play in this adventure, turn back now or Bill Gates will come and make you stare at Windows ME all day until your brain turns to mush and you slobber "Bill Gates is my master" for the rest of your life . . .

The Adventure

The Adventure itself is chock full of material. Most of it is setting material that was peppered among the adventure itself. A confusing point at first, since other adventures present setting material first, apart from the adventure itself. This, to me, is very confusing.

The plot is simple: Adventurers explore forest to get into an ancient crypt, meets the ghost of the first queen of Kayomar, Ghost pleads for help, said adventurers meets and almost gets toasted by demi-god, then meets another demi-god, goes to the dream world, and frees a god from imprisonment in a dreamworld not of his own making.

Simple. If it wasn't that you need to fight dream creatures first and then navigate an island of ice to get to the Castle of Pain, where the god, St. Luther, is imprisoned. The high point of the adventure is a fight with a Blue Dragon (all drawn up in the Romantic Style!).

Art Presentation The art is very average. Nothing flashy, just black and white line art. Nothing awe inspiring about the art, except for that picture of the blue dragon attacking your PCs.

The cover, however, is the only thing about the adventure that really catches your eye. In full color, the front cover takes on a blue motif. A Blue Dragon with a castle in the background overlayed on Blue is something you don't see in many D20 products.

Overall

After the initial reading of trying to see where everything fits, I have come to the conclusion that this adventure is really a challenging adventure for a group of 6 10th level PCs. With dream horrors, an encounter with a blue dragon (EL 13), and that of demi-gods, plus the challenge of dispelling St. Luther's imprisonment, all makes for a very challenging adventure.

However, the adventure lacks an Encounter Level chart, a chart explaining an Experience Point Award Summary (like "The Tide of Years"), and the conseqences of the adventure and further adventures. It's a good adventure, but the layout and the lack of these features makes the adventure pale in comparison with other adventures that have a superior layout.

I give the adventure a 3 for style and a 4 for substance.

— Elton Robb

The Malady of Kings
The Malady of Kings Capsule Review by Elton Robb on 16/05/01 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty) A good adventure, but the layout did not impress me. Product: The Malady of Kings Author: Stephen Chenault Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Troll Lord Games Line: D20 Fantasy Game System Cost: 7.00 Page count: 40 Year published: 2001 ISBN: 0-9702397-8-5 SKU: TLG 1601 Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Elton Robb on 16/05/01 Genre tags: Fantasy	The Malady of Kings is a high level D20 Fantasy Game System adventure written by another company involved in the D20 Bandwagon. Written for 4-6 characters of levels 10-12, the adventure features an ancient forest and plane travel. It is also set in the World of Erde, Troll Lord Games' house world system. WARNING!!! As always, spoilers abound below. If you are going to play in this adventure, turn back now or Bill Gates will come and make you stare at Windows ME all day until your brain turns to mush and you slobber "Bill Gates is my master" for the rest of your life . . . The Adventure The Adventure itself is chock full of material. Most of it is setting material that was peppered among the adventure itself. A confusing point at first, since other adventures present setting material first, apart from the adventure itself. This, to me, is very confusing. The plot is simple: Adventurers explore forest to get into an ancient crypt, meets the ghost of the first queen of Kayomar, Ghost pleads for help, said adventurers meets and almost gets toasted by demi-god, then meets another demi-god, goes to the dream world, and frees a god from imprisonment in a dreamworld not of his own making. Simple. If it wasn't that you need to fight dream creatures first and then navigate an island of ice to get to the Castle of Pain, where the god, St. Luther, is imprisoned. The high point of the adventure is a fight with a Blue Dragon (all drawn up in the Romantic Style!). Art Presentation The art is very average. Nothing flashy, just black and white line art. Nothing awe inspiring about the art, except for that picture of the blue dragon attacking your PCs. The cover, however, is the only thing about the adventure that really catches your eye. In full color, the front cover takes on a blue motif. A Blue Dragon with a castle in the background overlayed on Blue is something you don't see in many D20 products. Overall After the initial reading of trying to see where everything fits, I have come to the conclusion that this adventure is really a challenging adventure for a group of 6 10th level PCs. With dream horrors, an encounter with a blue dragon (EL 13), and that of demi-gods, plus the challenge of dispelling St. Luther's imprisonment, all makes for a very challenging adventure. However, the adventure lacks an Encounter Level chart, a chart explaining an Experience Point Award Summary (like "The Tide of Years"), and the conseqences of the adventure and further adventures. It's a good adventure, but the layout and the lack of these features makes the adventure pale in comparison with other adventures that have a superior layout. I give the adventure a 3 for style and a 4 for substance. — Elton Robb