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Nature's Fury is a D20 product published by Fiery Dragon Publications through White Wolf Game Studio's "Sword & Sorcery" D20 imprint. There are two adventure modules bundled together in this product; the first is Swords Through the Ice Gate by Mike Mearls, and the second is The Crystal Tower by James Bell. As this is a Gold Medallion product, there is some color artwork on the inside; this would be the sheet of full-color counters in the middle, which is a boon to folks like me who want to make use of the D20 rules without paying for miniatures or saying "This marble is an ogre." every five minutes.

The layout is the same as with previous Fiery Dragon products: simple, easy to read, easy to reference, and intuitive. The interior artwork is sparse, but the few pieces present truly serve to illustrate the nearby text and get the point across to the reader. The smaller ones that sit at the head and foot of the page are good reminders to the GM as to the feel and atmosphere of the adventure, and they also make the product that much easier to use. Important terms and concepts are in bold type so the GM can catch them at a glance, which greatly speeds their use during gameplay. Read-aloud text is in the familiar gray shaded boxes, and notes are put right where they're needed. In terms of layout, Nature's Fury is a damned fine example of how to do it right by keeping it simple.

And now, on to the adventures.

Swords Through the Ice Gate

The premise of this adventure is that the PCs arrive at the hamlet of Owen's Point. No one is there, there's three inches of new snow on the ground, it's just past midsummer, and it looks like someone raided the hamlet recently. It's also really cold, and it's not getting any warmer. It's obvious that a ranger, druid, or other character with Wilderness Lore (or some other cold weather survival skills) will get a chance to shine during this adventure.

Swords Through the Ice Gate doesn't spend much time setting the stage. The first two keyed encounters--Owen's Point & Environs; Cave of the Gate--are deliberately left somewhat vague. Only key bits are addressed, and the locations of both encounters are left to the GM to set. The notes are short, get to the point of likely actions, and serve to hook the PCs into chasing the raiders back to the cave and on to the adventure proper.

The adventure starts in Owen's Point and the surrounding area. The PCs ought to catch on rather quick that something is very wrong; the temperature drops swiftly from summer norms down to 28*F, which should catch the PCs off-guard as they aren't suppossed to have any winter clothing. The clues are easy to find and easy to interpret; my playtest crew had no problem piecing together the clues of the ransacked town, the trashed wizard's tower, the pile of corpses, and the bugbear tracks into the likely course of events. (Which are: the bugbears arrive, kill all resistance, sack the place, dump the corpses in a single place, trash all that they can't use, and force the captives to march off with all of the tools, food, and winter gear.)

The second encounter is the Cave of the Gate, which is where the PCs find out that the bugbear raiders are from another world that's stuck in an eternal winter. Getting there is as long as as difficult as the GM desires; the distance between the cave and Owen's Point is at the GM's discretion, as are the degree and amount of encounters. The PCs have a shot at discerning that the cave is not natural, but hewn with tools or magic instead. Once the PCs find and traverse the gate to the other world, that is when the adventure proper actually begins. Everything up to that point is just a means to get the PCs to the adventure site and get the PCs invested in the adventure; this sentiment is one shared by my playtest crew.

The PCs emerge on another cave that's identical until the PCs exit the cave and discover that they're on an alien world. From this point, the PCs are on the adventure site: a valley of ice wherein the bugbear tribe works, through their slaves, to free an ancient white dragon from its tomb. Soon after arriving, the PCs find out all of this information from an encounter with the outcast former shaman of the bugbear tribe; if pressed, the ex-shaman claims that he wants to use the PCs to wrest control of the tribe from his enemies, take revenge against the current shaman, take the tribe far away from the valley and the gate.

For the PCs, dealing with tribal politics is just a means to finding out where the captives are. This is likely to entail a confrontation with the current leadership, one that isn't going to be a clean or a fair fight, but if successful for the PCs it will result in their ally getting out of the way (so long as the PCs hold up their end). From there, they get a helpful hand (as it were) toward the dragon's lair and no more.

The dragon's lair section is the dungeon aspect of the adventure, and it is a straightforward one. The PCs must defeat several groups of bugbear guards, elemental creatures, and a trap or two before they face the current shaman (actually a bard) and the white dragon he serves. While the bard isn't so tough, his ice mephit guards make him a potent foe; the dragon doesn't need any mimions to make herself a lethal killing machine. If the PCs aren't careful, one or more of them are going to die; careless or stupid parties that got this far are in for a Total Party Kill.

The rewards, beyond the experience points, is considerable. Most of it is portable, either in magic items or in coins, and the rest is in the form of information about the gate that got the PCs to where they are. (This includes the means to destroy the gate.) There is also the gratitude of the surviving captives, which will likely translate in free room and board for the PCs when they next pass through town.

Swords Through the Ice Gate has no questions about who's good and who's evil, what to do, what the objectives are, or anything like that. The fun is in the difficulties that must be surmounted to make the bad guys go down and get the innocents back to safety. I really dug this one, and so did the playtest crew.

The Crystal Tower

This is another straightfoward adventure. The PCs are hired by a local wizard to go to the titular location, which is mired in an iceberg that's nearby the port city where this adventure begins: Varloon. The PCs' payment can range from goods and coins worth no more than 1000 gp, sponsorship into the (magical) Academy, training for arcane magicians, and whatever else that the GM desires.

Again, the set-up is just to get the PCs to the adventure site. Once on the scene, it's a straight-up dungeon crawl. The PCs need to race a team of NPC mercenaries and their gnoll flunkies, as well as the unending melting of the iceberg, to the treasures that they're at the tower to retrieve. This is not a subtle operation; it's a commando raid into hostile territory with a like-sized opposition force of like capability.

There are plenty of traps about, so the rogue in the playtest crew got a workout. The combats are downright brutal in that if either side gets the jump on the other, then it's going to be one-sided. As the NPCs often have standing orders to fall back or send someone to get reinforcements, maintaining secrecy for the PCs will either take a good deal of time or a good deal of resources. (The playtest crew made liberal use of invisibility magics and stealth skills.) Levels below the top are very cold, and the rules for winter weather apply; this, in addition to the decaying iceberg, make the site unstable and adds to the danger of the adventure.

As said above, this is more of a raid than a crawl; after the initial encounters with the gnolls, the PCs face off against the NPCs that led the gnolls to the tower. Both groups also contend with the traps still in place and active, all of which require a rogue to disable (and most require a rogue or a detect magic spell to find). The adventure from this point felt more like an action movie than a dungeon crawl; this is a good thing, as it kept the playtest crew off of looting and on to putting down the NPCs and getting away with what they came for in time. (The crew split up once they realized the time crunch, which put a hurting on the fighter and the cleric as they neither found nor avoided some of the traps, put down all four NPC adventurers and escaped just in time.)

The tower, as a site, is a mean dungeon in its own right. Coupled with the dynamic element presented by the NPC mercenaries and their gnoll lackeys and you've got a battle zone instead of a dungeon crawl. The traps and guardians make the tower unpredictable, and the treasures are few outside of what's there for the PCs to retrieve from the tower or from the NPCs. This simple set-up allows the GM to put more effort into playing the NPCs, which makes the inevitable fights much more interesting and entertaining.

In conclusion, The Crystal Tower is a straight-forward module that allows the GM to put forth the NPCs to the utmost, making the experience memorable as the PCs cross swords and struggle to beat the NPCs to the MacGuffin.

Recap

Two solid adventures, both of which are straight-forward with fast-moving plots that allow the GM to focus upon playing the NPCs to the hilt, within one set of covers is a steal. These are two of the best adventures outside of Dungeon Magazine. Get a copy today.

Nature's Fury
Nature's Fury Playtest Review by Bradford C. Walker on 22/08/01 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty) This product has two of the best adventures that you'll find outside of Dungeon Magazine. Product: Nature's Fury Author: Mike Mearls & James Bell Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Fiery Dragon Productions Line: Gold Medallion Cost: $9.95 (US) Page count: 40 pages Year published: 2001 ISBN: 1-58846-171-8 SKU: WW16000 Comp copy?: no Playtest Review by Bradford C. Walker on 22/08/01 Genre tags: Fantasy	Nature's Fury is a D20 product published by Fiery Dragon Publications through White Wolf Game Studio's "Sword & Sorcery" D20 imprint. There are two adventure modules bundled together in this product; the first is Swords Through the Ice Gate by Mike Mearls, and the second is The Crystal Tower by James Bell. As this is a Gold Medallion product, there is some color artwork on the inside; this would be the sheet of full-color counters in the middle, which is a boon to folks like me who want to make use of the D20 rules without paying for miniatures or saying "This marble is an ogre." every five minutes. The layout is the same as with previous Fiery Dragon products: simple, easy to read, easy to reference, and intuitive. The interior artwork is sparse, but the few pieces present truly serve to illustrate the nearby text and get the point across to the reader. The smaller ones that sit at the head and foot of the page are good reminders to the GM as to the feel and atmosphere of the adventure, and they also make the product that much easier to use. Important terms and concepts are in bold type so the GM can catch them at a glance, which greatly speeds their use during gameplay. Read-aloud text is in the familiar gray shaded boxes, and notes are put right where they're needed. In terms of layout, Nature's Fury is a damned fine example of how to do it right by keeping it simple. And now, on to the adventures. *Swords Through the Ice Gate* The premise of this adventure is that the PCs arrive at the hamlet of Owen's Point. No one is there, there's three inches of new snow on the ground, it's just past midsummer, and it looks like someone raided the hamlet recently. It's also really cold, and it's not getting any warmer. It's obvious that a ranger, druid, or other character with Wilderness Lore (or some other cold weather survival skills) will get a chance to shine during this adventure. Swords Through the Ice Gate doesn't spend much time setting the stage. The first two keyed encounters--Owen's Point & Environs; Cave of the Gate--are deliberately left somewhat vague. Only key bits are addressed, and the locations of both encounters are left to the GM to set. The notes are short, get to the point of likely actions, and serve to hook the PCs into chasing the raiders back to the cave and on to the adventure proper. The adventure starts in Owen's Point and the surrounding area. The PCs ought to catch on rather quick that something is very wrong; the temperature drops swiftly from summer norms down to 28F, which should catch the PCs off-guard as they aren't suppossed to have any winter clothing. The clues are easy to find and easy to interpret; my playtest crew had no problem piecing together the clues of the ransacked town, the trashed wizard's tower, the pile of corpses, and the bugbear tracks into the likely course of events. (Which are: the bugbears arrive, kill all resistance, sack the place, dump the corpses in a single place, trash all that they can't use, and force the captives to march off with all of the tools, food, and winter gear.) The second encounter is the Cave of the Gate, which is where the PCs find out that the bugbear raiders are from another world that's stuck in an eternal winter. Getting there is as long as as difficult as the GM desires; the distance between the cave and Owen's Point is at the GM's discretion, as are the degree and amount of encounters. The PCs have a shot at discerning that the cave is not natural, but hewn with tools or magic instead. Once the PCs find and traverse the gate to the other world, that is when the adventure proper actually begins. Everything up to that point is just a means to get the PCs to the adventure site and get the PCs invested in the adventure; this sentiment is one shared by my playtest crew. The PCs emerge on another cave that's identical until the PCs exit the cave and discover that they're on an alien world. From this point, the PCs are on the adventure site: a valley of ice wherein the bugbear tribe works, through their slaves, to free an ancient white dragon from its tomb. Soon after arriving, the PCs find out all of this information from an encounter with the outcast former shaman of the bugbear tribe; if pressed, the ex-shaman claims that he wants to use the PCs to wrest control of the tribe from his enemies, take revenge against the current shaman, take the tribe far away from the valley and the gate. For the PCs, dealing with tribal politics is just a means to finding out where the captives are. This is likely to entail a confrontation with the current leadership, one that isn't going to be a clean or a fair fight, but if successful for the PCs it will result in their ally getting out of the way (so long as the PCs hold up their end). From there, they get a helpful hand (as it were) toward the dragon's lair and no more. The dragon's lair section is the dungeon aspect of the adventure, and it is a straightforward one. The PCs must defeat several groups of bugbear guards, elemental creatures, and a trap or two before they face the current shaman (actually a bard) and the white dragon he serves. While the bard isn't so tough, his ice mephit guards make him a potent foe; the dragon doesn't need any mimions to make herself a lethal killing machine. If the PCs aren't careful, one or more of them are going to die; careless or stupid parties that got this far are in for a Total Party Kill. The rewards, beyond the experience points, is considerable. Most of it is portable, either in magic items or in coins, and the rest is in the form of information about the gate that got the PCs to where they are. (This includes the means to destroy the gate.) There is also the gratitude of the surviving captives, which will likely translate in free room and board for the PCs when they next pass through town. Swords Through the Ice Gate* has no questions about who's good and who's evil, what to do, what the objectives are, or anything like that. The fun is in the difficulties that must be surmounted to make the bad guys go down and get the innocents back to safety. I really dug this one, and so did the playtest crew. *The Crystal Tower* This is another straightfoward adventure. The PCs are hired by a local wizard to go to the titular location, which is mired in an iceberg that's nearby the port city where this adventure begins: Varloon. The PCs' payment can range from goods and coins worth no more than 1000 gp, sponsorship into the (magical) Academy, training for arcane magicians, and whatever else that the GM desires. Again, the set-up is just to get the PCs to the adventure site. Once on the scene, it's a straight-up dungeon crawl. The PCs need to race a team of NPC mercenaries and their gnoll flunkies, as well as the unending melting of the iceberg, to the treasures that they're at the tower to retrieve. This is not a subtle operation; it's a commando raid into hostile territory with a like-sized opposition force of like capability. There are plenty of traps about, so the rogue in the playtest crew got a workout. The combats are downright brutal in that if either side gets the jump on the other, then it's going to be one-sided. As the NPCs often have standing orders to fall back or send someone to get reinforcements, maintaining secrecy for the PCs will either take a good deal of time or a good deal of resources. (The playtest crew made liberal use of invisibility magics and stealth skills.) Levels below the top are very cold, and the rules for winter weather apply; this, in addition to the decaying iceberg, make the site unstable and adds to the danger of the adventure. As said above, this is more of a raid than a crawl; after the initial encounters with the gnolls, the PCs face off against the NPCs that led the gnolls to the tower. Both groups also contend with the traps still in place and active, all of which require a rogue to disable (and most require a rogue or a detect magic spell to find). The adventure from this point felt more like an action movie than a dungeon crawl; this is a good thing, as it kept the playtest crew off of looting and on to putting down the NPCs and getting away with what they came for in time. (The crew split up once they realized the time crunch, which put a hurting on the fighter and the cleric as they neither found nor avoided some of the traps, put down all four NPC adventurers and escaped just in time.) The tower, as a site, is a mean dungeon in its own right. Coupled with the dynamic element presented by the NPC mercenaries and their gnoll lackeys and you've got a battle zone instead of a dungeon crawl. The traps and guardians make the tower unpredictable, and the treasures are few outside of what's there for the PCs to retrieve from the tower or from the NPCs. This simple set-up allows the GM to put more effort into playing the NPCs, which makes the inevitable fights much more interesting and entertaining. In conclusion, The Crystal Tower is a straight-forward module that allows the GM to put forth the NPCs to the utmost, making the experience memorable as the PCs cross swords and struggle to beat the NPCs to the MacGuffin. Recap Two solid adventures, both of which are straight-forward with fast-moving plots that allow the GM to focus upon playing the NPCs to the hilt, within one set of covers is a steal. These are two of the best adventures outside of Dungeon Magazine. Get a copy today.