The Root of All Evil

A Kingdoms of Kalamar Adventure

BIO

Being that this is my first attempt at a review, I hope you'll indulge me while I wade through a bit of autobiographical nonsense.

I started roleplaying more than 20 years ago. D&D was not my first RPG, but it became necessary to play it as it was always easier to find D&D games than just about any other system. In time, it and Warhammer FRP were my two mainstays and I played and/or GMed weekly for a period of over 5 years. Even though I dabbled from time to time in other systems such as Traveler, CoC, Rolemaster, Vampire, and others, I never considered myself a hard-core RPGer and there are many games that have come and gone over the years that I've never tried. I collected quite an inventory of modules for D&D and 1st ed AD&D. By the time AD&D 2nd ed came out, I was a player in several games, but was limiting my GMing to WFRP. Consequently, I never built much of a library of "newer" material, but I held on to all my old material, thinking one day I'd pull it out and run it for my kids and their friends once they became old enough.

My association with WFRP led me to tabletop wargamming. After a move, it seemed easier to find players to wargame with than to roleplay. The folks that hung out at the local gaming store just couldn't be relied upon to commit to a regular weekly game. Wargamming was easier since you only needed one other person to show and it didn't have to be the same person every week. I, like many others, got sucked into the CCG craze early on and very shortly most of my disposable income was being spent on cards.

Another move and my gaming nearly dried up entirely. Between the demands of work and kids activities, it seems as though I didn't have time to seek out gamers, let alone actually game. I still played wargames from time to time as it didn't require a lot of prep or advanced planning. I gave up on the CCGs once I realized that I was spending far too much money on the cards and never actually playing anymore. Meanwhile, the RPG stuff continued to sit on the shelf.

My oldest turned 14 earlier this year and he and a few friends at school started playing D&D during lunch. Rather than break out the old material and blow the dust off, I went out and bought the 3E rules and started acquiring adventures from a number of d20 publishers, largely based on reviews I found here on RPG.net. Most of that material is one-off adventures, but I'm a sucker for game worlds and epic campaigns, so I looked forward to the Kingdoms of Kalamar (KoK) release. Meanwhile, I started running Trinity for them to give them exposure to something other than D&D. Enough with the bio, on with the review proper.

Spoiler alert! [BTW, are these things really necessary?] I assume that DMs are the target market for this material and therefore they are the target audience for this review as well. Although I don't go into nitty-gritty details, the general plot and flow of the adventure are discussed. Players that don't want to have any knowledge of an adventure shouldn't be reading adventure reviews in the first place as far as I'm concerned. You have been duly warned. Now then, with that out of the way…

Review Introduction

The Root of All Evil (ROAE) is designed to take 4 to 6 1st-level characters to 3rd level by its completion. Although it doesn't specifically say so, it's obvious that the adventure is also geared for less experienced or even first time DMs as well. As with any published adventure, ROAE states that DMs will need a copy of the Player's Handbook. Unlike many published adventures, ROAE clearly states that they will also require the Dungeon Master's Guide, the Monster Manual and the KoK Campaign Sourcebook.

Production Quality

The 64-page black-and-white booklet has a full-color cardboard cover and is stapled in two places along the spine. At $12.99 US it is a bit more expensive than other adventures published so far, but at 64 pages, it has the highest page count so far as well. Page count isn't everything however, so I quickly flipped through the book to get a sense of the volume of material contained within. The insides of the cover contain black-and-white maps and there is very little white space throughout. The interior breaks down as follows: 48 pages of adventure proper and another 16 pages of what Kenzer and Co. calls ImageQUEST^TM (IQ) Adventure Illustrator. These pages contain a combination of pictures, player handouts, and additional DM maps.

The introduction claims that the IQ stuff is located in the center of the booklet for easy removal. Someone at Kenzer and Co. must have decided against the center section as the pages actually appear at the end of the book. The pages are perforated, but I cannot comment on either their ease of removal or how the book holds up once removed, as I haven't tried to take mine out yet. This apparent editing oversight isn't the only one however. Throughout the adventure the DM is instructed to show the players a picture, give them one of the handouts, or refer to a DM map. Unfortunately, the references are sometimes mislabeled. For example, the text says distribute player aid 4 on IQ14, when there is no player aid 4. It is relatively easy to figure out that they mean player aid 2 on IQ14, but this kind of sloppy editing oversight mars an otherwise quality product and keeps it from earning a perfect score.

The quality of the artwork in the IQ section is pretty good and breaks down as follows: 15 half-page pictures, 5 full-page pictures, 3 half-page player aids (two maps and the handbill that gets them involved in the adventure in the first place), and four half-page DM maps. One of these is a catchall map that contains tiny layouts of two houses, 1 temple, and two ships. Personally, I like player handouts, but I could have done without all the pictures in favor of a lower price tag (or more room to spread out the miscellaneous maps and make them a bit larger). The idea is that at the appropriate point in the story, the DM shows the players a picture. Many of these are location shots and prevent the DM from having to describe the scene in much detail. In the past, my players always preferred evocative descriptions, but this is another indication that the adventure was designed with novice DMs in mind. However, even the novice DM doesn't need a picture of an NPC writing, reading, or answering the door, so I maintain that some of the IQ stuff is just plain unnecessary. Also, I personally don't like the idea of players getting into the habit of assuming that if they aren't shown a picture of something it isn't that important. Other than "thumbnails" of the pictures at the proper points in the adventure, there are no illustrations in the "main" body of the adventure. I suppose that if you are going to use them, having the pictures in a separate section that can be removed and cut up is better than having to show the players an illustration in the middle of the text while trying to cover up stuff they shouldn't be looking at. On the other hand, having the DM maps on separate pages so you don't have to flip back-and-forth between the keyed encounter text and the map itself is a great idea. You'll still have to flip back-and-forth between the text and the maps on the inside of the cover unless you remove it first, however.

Even discounting the IQ stuff, the main booklet clocks in at 48 chock-full pages. The outside margins contain a marble-like pattern taking up approx. one half-inch, then there is approx. three quarters of an inch of white space. The inner margins are a mere half-inch. The text is in the standard two-column layout, with a less than a half-inch margin between columns. The top of the pages has another pattern filling much of the approx. 1-inch margin, while the bottom half-inch margin is blank. Those familiar with the KoK book will recognize the page layout, they are the same. All pages are white with black text in an ordinary looking serif font. Text intended to be read to players appears with a gray shaded background. Even though the text is small (smaller than text in the KoK book), it is still quite legible. Headings appear in a different and slightly larger font, but don't take up an inordinate amount of room. All in all, there is very little white space (much less than is found in most other published adventures), so the pages are quite dense. The thumbnails of the IQ pictures and occasionally other information appears in one-and-three-quarter inch wide call-out boxes that straddle the outer margin and the outer of the two columns, crowding in even more information into an already dense page layout.

Content

Okay, it's a dense packed 48 pages, but what about content? Is the material any good? In my opinion, yes but... The first page has a pretty decent table of contents. The adventure proper is contained on pages 2 - 34. An Appendix with a variety of additional information begins on page 34 and takes us to page 47. Page 48 is a full page DM map, one that apparently couldn't be accommodated in the IQ section due to the nature of book printing.

Adventure

After what is apparently an in-character background section, a DM background section, and an Adventure Synopsis, the adventure itself begins in the small fishing town of Haanex. There is a brief overview of Haanex as well as a call-out with the town's stats. The DM must decide whether the PCs already know each other or are meeting for the first time and assemble them accordingly. Once the party is together and in Haanex, they see a handbill (player aid 1) which basically states "wizard seeks adventurers for dangerous quest, survivors to be paid 100 gp each." Not the most original, but if that isn't sufficient motivation, five alternate means of getting the PCs involved are suggested ranging from "The PCs are in a tavern and overhear…" to the PCs being hired by an NPC from the KoK book.

Assuming the PCs take the job, they have to retrieve some mithral from the site of a meteor crash. Unfortunately, the only map to the meteor's location was buried with its owner. This forms the basis for the first side quest. The map is keyed in the traditional numbered fashion. Each numbered area has an entry in the text. An area that contains an encounter has an encounter level listed in parentheses to the right of its title. Creatures have an abbreviated entry with the key information and a parenthetical reference to the appropriate page of the Monster Manual. To satisfy curiosity, I looked up the first such reference and found it to be correct, but I did not check all of these. One can only hope the editors did a better job with their external references than they did with their own internal ones. Again, text to be read to the PCs appears on a gray background, and thumbnails of the pictures to be shown to them appear in a call-out. This format is followed throughout the adventure. This first side quest is quite brief, not very challenging, and is clearly designed to ease new DMs and players into the whole D&D combat thing.

Upon recovering the map, the PCs can go off to the crater. There is a both a DM and a player version of the map noting the crater's location. Some notes on the other areas on the map are given, but if the PCs stray from the direct path to the crater, the DM must develop any encounters. Once the PCs arrive at the crater, they discover that someone has beaten them to it. Some goblins have taken up residence in a network of caves in the side of the crater. The goblins have been made slaves of an evil wizard that is forcing an alchemist to use the mithral to forge an artifact known as the Coin of Power. The meteor at the center of the crater cannot be approached without being spotted by the goblins on watch. Whether or not the PCs deal with the goblins, the real action takes place in the alchemist's shack on the side of the crater. The PCs arrive with just enough time for the alchemist (an associate of the wizard that hired them actually) to clue the PCs in on what is going on before the evil wizard arrives, takes the coin, mortally wounds the alchemist, and teleports away. Before dying, the alchemist tells the PCs that another Coin must be made to counter the first. The only person who knows how is Halaan, not seen in years. The alchemist implores the PCs to tell Veoden (the wizard that hired them) what happened and ask him for help, then he dies. There's no more mithral to be had by the way, so PCs who were only in it for the money up to this point are going to be depressed.

There is one planned encounter on the trek back to Haanex that was lifted straight out of Tolkien. Yes, the PCs get to rescue a dwarf from some Ogres who plan to eat him after they quit arguing about whose turn it is to cook. Once back in Haanex, and assuming they report to Veoden, he will send them on a quest to Zoa, a city on the far southern end of the Reanaarian Bay, to seek out another wizard/sage Geolain. Veoden doesn't know who Halaan is or where he might be found, but is sure Geolain will. No mention is made of money or other compensation, so it is assumed that the PCs will accept this quest out of a desire to do the right thing and just generally be heroic.

The text mentions that it would take the PCs 20 days or more to travel overland to Zoa and assumes they will make the journey by sea. Veoden not only suggests it; he will even charter a ship on their behalf. If you (or the PCs) opt for the overland route, you are on your own (but see the Appendix) for encounters to liven up the trip. Next comes a series of encounters at sea that the DM is free to include or omit as he or she sees fit. Two of these can result in the PCs gaining control of their own ship, assuming you want them to have one and they have the requisite skills to pilot one. Encounters not used now can be used later in the adventure. Since the sea voyage will take 17 days (more or less) weather permitting, the PCs don't really save much time versus an overland journey.

Eventually the PCs will arrive in Zoa. Unlike Haanex, Zoa gets major treatment. Several sites of interest are described. The entry on the Market includes 5 "scams" that are run there by various con artists and rogues. These are quite good and can easily be employed in any city setting. The DM is free to conduct other city encounters as desired and the author notes that any business can be found in Zoa at the DM's discretion.

Once the PCs track down Geolain, he tells them they must do him a favor before he helps them. This involves rescuing some books from some overzealous book burners. This forms the next side quest, which the PCs must accept to progress any further. Assuming success, Geolain gives them a map to Halaan's location in the Reelio Jungle, further south. Again, the best means of travel is by ship, giving the DM an opportunity to run any sea encounters not used earlier.

The PCs discover the remains of a large stone castle near the spot marked "X" on their map. This is the largest encounter area or "dungeon" so far. Not every room is populated by creatures and most of the denizens are wild animals that have taken up residence rather than a hodge-podge of "monsters". One encounter though could be especially deadly if the PCs insist on being foolish. There is a treasure room guarded by a Guardian Familiar. This creature starts out as a 1-foot long black cat with 6 hp, but has nine lives and increases in size and power for each life lost. The CR is 9 and the text recommends that wise PCs should realize that they should leave well enough alone and possibly return when they are stronger or better equipped to deal with this particular foe. Although it does allow that sneaky PCs may be able to devise a plan to bypass the guardian, one treasure chest is trapped, while the other is arcane locked (10th level), so the guardian isn't their only problem. The rewards listed may be worth the effort for experienced PCs, but clueless players that can't take a hint will probably end up dead. Hopefully, after a couple of the guardian's death and rebirth cycles, they'll figure it out. It does give the PCs a reason to return at some later point and this is about the only such encounter in the entire adventure.

Eventually the PCs will make their way to keyed area 50 on the seventh floor, deal with some undead, and discover a scroll of divination left by Halaan to allow those who discover it to follow him. The PCs don't have time to use the scroll, however, as they are immediately attacked by headhunters. Regardless of whether the PCs try to stay and defend the castle or flee into the jungle in hopes of escape; they will be aided by members of a rival tribe, who will take the PCs to their village. Halaan had previously been brought here and the PCs now join him. He has been tasked by the Belosa tribe to figure out the answer to the riddle on the chest of an inactive stone golem. The PCs are free to assist him as he hasn't had any luck on his own. If the PCs solve the riddle, the Belosa will use it to defend their village from the headhunters (and eventually destroy the rival tribe), so we are told. If the PCs cannot solve the riddle, the Belosa offer other means for the PCs to repay their "debt" and free themselves and Halaan.

One way or the other, Halaan and the PCs will be free to go. Assuming the PCs tell Halaan about what has happened, he will not only agree to help, but insist on accompanying them back to Zoa to access Geolain's library for further research. At this point, the adventure is basically at an end, although I suppose the DM could play out the trip back to Zoa while waiting for the next adventure to be released. As a preview of the next installment, Forging Darkness, we are told that Halaan will send the PCs to find three essential ingredients necessary to make another Coin: a diamond touched by death, blue dragon's breath, and devil's blood spilled by a coward. The author assumes the DM and players will automatically continue on to the next part in the trilogy and no alternate endings are presented. Nor is there any suggestions for developing further adventures in the area and as the adventure itself left no real dangling subplots, there's not much else to do but follow the course set by Kenzer.

Appendix

Now we head into the Appendix. The first section covers the important NPCs, in order of appearance rather than alphabetical. This is pretty much standard fare with stats, skill, feats, spells, and possessions covered, along with some descriptive text on appearance or personality, if appropriate. The next section collects all of the Special Attacks and Special Qualities of every creature in the adventure in alphabetical order. Personally, I would have preferred that both of these sections appeared in the adventure proper at the appropriate points rather than necessitate flipping back-and-forth, but others obviously prefer having this info presented separately as it is a common enough practice. Next the Coin of Power is covered in detail. This info is probably going to be more important later in the series and it will be interesting to see if it is repeated or if this entry is referenced (meaning that DMs will require a copy of this adventure to be able to run the next part).

Now we get to the random encounter tables. The first is for Zoa. Instructions for the DM suggest that once per hour there is a 40% chance someone takes an interest in the party. DMs can choose the race or roll randomly and check the table. There is only a 4% chance of encountering each race other than human, so that collectively, it's only a 20% chance the encounter will be with a nonhuman. If you are familiar with the KoK book (or have read one of the reviews here), you will know that Tellene is a largely human-centric campaign world. However, there are six races of humans and each is represented by its own entry in the table. The probability varies and the odds of encountering a Fhokki are just one in a hundred.

Next follows entries in alphabetical order of the encounters beginning with Arcane Spellcaster, which has its own table to generate what type (Abjurer, Conjurer, etc.). As you scan the list, you will notice that some of the entries are not NPC encounters, such as cats and dogs. This is confusing only until you turn over the page and discover the actual encounter table. This table uses d1,000. Now the race table makes more sense. You roll on this table first then if the encounter is with NPCs (as opposed to animals or creatures), you can either select the race or roll for it on the previous table. This confusion could have been avoided by presenting the main encounter table first, but perhaps I'm being too picky.

The city encounters table contains 77 entries of varying probability. Each of the undead entries has just a 1 in 1,000 chance of being rolled and when you read the entries they all state that the undead in question will only be encountered at night, near a cemetary, charnel house, or ruins. Perhaps it would have been more effective to have a general city encounter table and a separate one for Undead if the PCs happen to be in an applicable location. On the other hand, I suppose the PCs are as likely to encounter a harlot, a mugger, or a stable hand near a cemetery as anywhere else in the city and if you randomly roll that 1 in 1,000 chance that results in a ghoul, I suppose you could assume one of the qualifying landmarks is somewhere nearby. Or re-roll. Following this is a glossary of terms. I'm not sure how useful this is. Example: Blash - ogre, brother of Grumm, p11. Geolain - male human wizard, p21. Grumm - orge, brother of Blash, p11. Many of the entries contain page references to appropriate sections of the KoK book, which I expect is another attempt to coerce the DM to buy KoK, if he hasn't already.

Last but not least is a general Random Encounter table. This sucker is just plain huge. It has 10 columns across the top covering the various areas from the Vrykarr Mountains to the Neebau Plains. The rows, 4 pages worth (spread over 5 pages), contain an alphabetical listing of probably any creature you could possibly encounter in Tellene. To use the table you select the appropriate column and roll d10,000. No, that is not a typo. You will need four d10s to determine the creature encountered. The table is exhaustive, but overkill. The entries on Men take up 28 rows and lists everything from Adventurers, to Miners, to Tribesmen. And that's just a small fraction of the rows. Numerous creatures, such as Criosphinx and Night Hag, can only be found in one location and then there is only a 1 in 10,000 chance of encountering one. With such a small chance, was it really necessary to include them on the table? Furthermore, the PCs don't spend much time traveling overland in general and never venture into such locations as the Vrykarr Mountains. Lastly, there is no column for the Reanaaria Bay, so other than the few encounters presented in the adventure itself, the Sea, where the PCs spend a lot of game time actually, is relatively quiet. This table is probably better viewed as a supplement to the Reanaaria chapter in KoK, but then that has me wondering why it wasn't included there?

Evaluation

I realize this review is running rather long, but there was a lot of material to cover. So, what's my evaluation?

The adventure is pretty much a linear affair. The side treks only provide the illusion that the path isn't straight, when in reality the PCs merely progress from point A to B to C. On the other hand, the side treks cannot be considered optional as the PCs aren't given any choice about undertaking them. Furthermore, there isn't a whole bunch of originality in steering the PCs. It's basically you do something for me to get something from me you need. Experienced players may not appreciate the railroad approach. However, a novice DM may like the fact that the characters aren't free to wander all over Tellene (yet). Hopefully, the next installment will at least allow the PCs some flexibility in determining the order in which they obtain each of the three key ingredients. Still, the encounters are fair (guardian familiar excepted) and should provide the appropriate level of challenge for a group of PCs just starting their adventuring career. Most of the book is laid out well and the DM should be able to quickly locate what she needs without a lot of page flipping.

The adventure clearly states that it is set in KoK and makes no pretense at being adaptable. To that end, there are references to other places on Tellene, KoK dieties, and various organizations, not to mention the general lack of non-human races. While not totally useless to the non-KoK DM, excising the KoK references may be more trouble than its worth to some. To paraphrase an old cigarette ad (there I go dating myself again), you can take ROAE out of the KoK, but you can't take the KoK out of ROAE. On the other hand, while the KoK book would help the DM's understanding of Tellene, the adventure is really self-sufficient and I'd feel quite comfortable running it without KoK handy. As the opening salvo in a three part series, it's not too bad and does an adequate job of getting the PCs involved. A $40 boxed set or hardback containing the entire adventure probably wouldn't sell. For 13 bucks they get you hooked and committed to spending the rest if you want to see how it turns out. From a marketing standpoint, I can't fault the approach. The adventure doesn't really work as a stand-alone though. While I'll have to reserve judgement on the series as a whole for obvious reasons, by itself the adventure just doesn't hold up. There is no real resolution, nowhere to go but on to the next installment in the series, and no loose ends to tie up or subplots to be developed. The series looks like it is shaping up to be an excuse to have the PCs travel a good chunk of Tellene, affording the DM numerous opportunities to show off those gorgeous wall maps included in the KoK book. Furthermore, I'm betting they put little effort into advising DMs on how to get PCs who haven't played through this first adventure involved.

Ratings

As for ratings, I can't give it a 5 for either Style or Substance. The minor editing snafus combined with some layout issues keeps it to a 4, but I'd be willing to go as high as 4.5 if we were doing decimals here.

For Substance, it depends on what you're after. A new DM interested in running a campaign set in KoK really doesn't have any other choice at the moment. There is certainly more material here than you'll find in most d20 adventures. For them I'd give it a strong 4. For experience DMs, especially those not interested in KoK and merely looking for ideas to plunder, the rating probably drops to a 3. The Castle is worthwhile for the layout, even if you end up excising the Halaan references and restocking it. Much of the info on Zoa can be adapted for any city. The Coin of Power is an interesting artifact, but not worth buying the adventure for. The encounter tables could be tweaked to provide you a usable one for your campaign world. Beyond that, you really have to start stretching. Most of the IQ stuff is next to useless already (IMO) and totally worthless if you aren't running the adventure. As for running the adventure in your own world, as previously stated, you've got more work to do than most other adventures, but it's not impossible. Nothing really original in terms of plot ideas or advancement here, just solid, balanced adventure material for low level PCs. On average I guess that'd make it a solid 3.5, but since I have to go with a whole number, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and give it the 4 it deserves for its intended audience.

Final Thoughts

I've tried to give a fair review and accurate ratings, but I'll close by saying that I'm quite pleased with ROAE actually and look forward to running it. I certainly feel it was worth the money and a better value for its cost than other adventures I've bought. Of course I have KoK and plan to run it for 14 year olds. There aren't into subtle, political, social, or more cerebral roleplaying yet. Furthermore, they are quite used to being lead around by the nose through linear plots by video games, so they won't mind the railroad treatment at all. Accept it for what it is and you may be quite pleased too.

Kingdoms of Kalamar: The Root of All Evil