Raid on Tonwell
Raid on Tonwell is the third in the Legends & Lairs Instant Adventures by Fantasy Flight Games. Raid on Tonwell is designed for 4-6 characters of levels5-7.
Raid on Tonwell: A Look Inside
(Warning: this section contains spoilers regarding the adventure.)
The adventure involves a village by the name of Tonwell. The village was sacked scant days before the events described in the adventure by the Uthluk Y'llan, a tribe of barbarians devoted to an evil goddess described in the Diskwars setting (which the Legends & Lairs adventures are based on.)
The PCs are contacted by one of the refugees of Tonwell, a priest who knows what the barbarians are after. The priest explains there is a powerful magical blade that must be retrieved from the church in Tonwell. What he doesn't explain (or know) is that the blade is also what the Uthluk Y'llan seek, as they believe it houses the soul of a great Uthluk warrior. Of course, they are correct.
When the players arrive, the adventure is basically a site-based adventure. If they seek out the sword in the church, they will not find it, but will find an undead priest - inflicted with this condition by his deity for losing the sword - who they will have to fight.
The sword lies in the dwelling of a merchant, who is about to be sacrificed to unleash the spirit in the blade. The players might be able to stop the sacrifice. If not, they players will have to defeat the spirit warrior, either by conventional means or by binding it in the blade again. Either way, they will have to defeat the barbarians (including some sorcerers and twisted yll'rath, a bestial creature created by their goddess.)
Summary and Conclusions
The adventure is fairly simple and straightforward. The idea isn't especially new, but is the fairly classic yarn of "retrieve the dingus / prevent it from falling into the wrong hands."
There are a few minor rules related flubs and other minor problems that didn't sit well with me. The sorcerers and the cleric/sorcerer in the last battle have the same HD as the barbarian warriors.
There were two new creatures, the Cursed of Utaavo and the Yll'rath The Cursed ofUtaavo didn't sit well with me on concept. Supposedly, they were created by their deity for transgressing against them, but their deity is supposedly a deity of mercy. The book tries to explain this away, but it still seemed contradictory.
The Yll'rath are bestial creatures that were said to once have been slaves of the barbarians who were twisted by their dark goddess. This is a minor quibble, but they were listed as aberrations, but their description made monstrous humanoid seem as a more appropriate categorization.
As is the norm for FFG instant adventures, the artwork is excellent and the cartography isas well. The town and church maps could be easily adapted to other adventures if you didn't care for this one.
Overall, the weaknesses of the adventure aren't overwhelming, but neither are the strengths.
The Fifth Sepulcher Ratings:
Idea content: 3. Simple but competent take on a tired but classic idea
Ready to use game content: 3. Okay creatures, good map and opposition NPCs except for the HD error.
Value for money: 2. Still has that high dollar / page count of FFG instant adventures.
RPGnet Substance rating: 2
RPGnet Style rating: 4
General Comments: Fantasy Flight's Legends & Lairs Instant Adventures
(standard blurb)
The Legends & Lairs adventures are similar in format to AEG's Adventure Boosters.They are small, cheap adventures for the D20 System, primarily targeted at D&D 3eplayers. The format is a single booklet, 4.25" x 11" (the size of standard US 8.5x11 paperfolded in half lengthwise.) There are 16 interior pages (i.e., four 8.5x11 sheets), staplebound to the cover. Legends & Lairs adventures are a bit pricier than AEG AdventureBoosters, at $3.95 US each.
The covers of the Legends & Lairs adventures are attractive, with a "metal bound book"motif and a handsome illustration, doubtlessly from the Diskwars game. As with AEGAdventure Boosters, the back cover contains a bit of exposition, which is often theintroduction to the adventure. The inside front cover has an introductory "how to usethis" note and an ad for other Legends & Lairs adventures. The last page contains a blurbabout who Fantasy Flight Games is and legalistic stuff. The inside back cover contains acopy of the Open Game License, obligatory for D20 System products.
Internally, the product is arranged similar to the AEG Adventure Boosters. Theadventures are set in the world of the Diskwars game but by changing names it can fit thetypical D&D campaign. The maps are of much higher quality than AEG's maps, or forthat matter, than most D20 System adventures: they are clearly illustrated with aprofessional look and an easily readable simple key. The adventures also typicallyinclude a new creature and a new magic item, but some deviate from this formula.
Contrasted with the Adventure Boosters, it appears that the adventures are generally more flexible and original, in addition to having nicer maps and covers. This may not be a good value, though, if you consider that you are paying nearly $1 US per sheet. Considering that for a few dollars more you could pick up an issue of Dungeon and have many times the material, perhaps Fantasy Flight Games' pricing/quality approach is somewhat ill considered. Overall, they aren't quite the value that AEG's Adventure Boosters are, you should probably spend a little more time seeing how good the adventure within rates before you buy than you would with the AEG Adventure Boosters. However, some of these adventures are very good and worth picking up.
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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