The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I was moved to write this review after reading another review of Madness in Freeport that completely glossed over the merits of the book in favor of (incorrectly) pointing out rules "flaws"

This review does contain a few spoilers, but I'll try to keep the blow-by-blow plot details to a minimum. The adventure is fun and it's not necessary to ruin that in order to review the book.

Madness in Freeport is a 48-page book, staple bound. The interior covers, front and back, are printed with maps of the Lighthouse "Milton's Folly. "

The book details the history and structure of the Captains' Council in Freeport, contains a bare-bones map of the Sea Lord's Palace, and includes 18 NPC descriptions of some of the movers and shakers from the Captains' Council in Part One. (The free Focus on Freeport at the Green Ronin website supplements this material: http://www.greenronin.com/files/focus04.pdf ) This part of the adventure is roleplaying intensive and gives players a chance to get deep into character if they like that kind of thing. In addition to interacting with the NPCs to gather information needed to advance the plot of the adventure, there are also ample opportunities to unravel the history and political factions of Freeport. This section of the adventure went over very well with my group and gave me a ton of plot hooks and NPC contacts for future encounters.

Part Two focuses on the legend of an old Freeport pirate named Black Dog, and the caves he used as his lair (a nice full-page map of the caves is included). This section gives rugged adventuring types a chance to use their abilities. Dexterity checks, Wisdom checks, Willpower saves, Search checks, Reflex saves, Swim checks, and Disable Device opportunities abound. The map has a section of waterway that leads off to an unmapped area that I used to detail the underground cave system even more.

The Sunken Temple of Yig section is where the plot really begins to advance. Another full-page map details the six levels of the Temple of Yig and as with the map of Black Dog's Caves, there is a passage left open for the GM to add on to the mapped area if they want to. There is some of background for the GM on the Valossan civilization, several minor artifacts, an opportunity to gain a powerful artifact (detailed in Focus on Freeport number seven, free download at: http://www.greenronin.com/files/focus07.pdf ), a riddle to solve, a curse to be lifted and several other items that again gave me plenty of plot hooks for the future.

Part Four takes the PCs to the lighthouse itself. The timing of this section is the trickiest part of running this adventure. The PCs have to have a sense of urgency that's built up for them throughout the previous encounters. They have to stop Drac and time is ticking. The most difficult part for me was trying to keep the PCs from running off to storm the lighthouse in broad daylight, they were so wound up and ready to take on Drac and his minions. The author warns about this in the adventure itself, and I should have paid more attention to his advice.

In another review of this book, the reviewer wrote about the "sloppy rules handling" in the adventure: "Simoni asserts that it takes a guardman two rounds to run to the top of a fifty foot stairway (this is crucial, because he's going to alert others to the PCs' presence). Unfortunately, Simoni is wrong--the guard can move 60 ft. per round while running. He'll reach the top of the staircase in the same round he starts running." Except that the REVIEWER is wrong, and author Simoni is RIGHT: Running up a spiral staircase the guard can only make a "double-move" which is correctly calculated in the adventure. In another part of the same review, the reviewer asserts that "the author attempts to claim that the PCs (having killed Drac) will not have their story of what happened believed" and that's bad in part because "...a huge crowd just saw the climax of the adventure." Except the climax of the adventure takes place INSIDE the lighthouse, which is on an island well away from the crowds in Freeport itself. What the people of Freeport see at the climax, from their vantage points across the water, is the lighthouse light going on, showing a giant yellow sign into the night sky, then going off again (or possibly including a huge magical explosion, or a 'calming green glow' depending on how the characters act).

The one part of the book that I didn't like, and it's a minor issue, is having the stats in an appendix in the back of the book. I like to have the stats for the NPCs and creatures listed in the part of the adventure where they appear. Flipping back and forth through the book is annoying. (I ended up photocopying the appendix so I could look at it separately.) In addition to the stats for the NPCs, there are three new creatures detailed in the Appendix, and two nice player handouts meant to be photocopied straight from the book. The last page is an ad for Legions of Hell and Hell in Freeport.

Anyway, bottom line is that this book has a lot of useful stuff in it. Besides wrapping up the trilogy that started with Death in Freeport and Terror in Freeport, Madness in Freeport has a lot of useful bits in the form of great maps (the maps in this book won the EN World award for cartography this year: http://www.d20reviews.com/ennies.htm#winners ), NPCs, political factions and city history, and adventure hooks. It's everything I like in an adventure and my group will be playing through the adventures spun off from these hooks for a long time.

Madness in Freeport
Madness in Freeport Playtest Review by Beth B. on 10/10/01 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!) This book has a lot of useful stuff in it. Maps, NPCs, political factions, adventure hooks. It's everything I like in an adventure and my group will be playing through the adventures spun off from these hooks for a long time. Product: Madness in Freeport Author: William Simoni Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Green Ronin Publishing Line: d20 Cost: 10.95 Page count: 48 Year published: 2001 ISBN: 0-9701048-3-9 SKU: GRR1004 Comp copy?: no Playtest Review by Beth B. on 10/10/01 Genre tags: Fantasy	I was moved to write this review after reading another review of Madness in Freeport that completely glossed over the merits of the book in favor of (incorrectly) pointing out rules "flaws" This review does contain a few spoilers, but I'll try to keep the blow-by-blow plot details to a minimum. The adventure is fun and it's not necessary to ruin that in order to review the book. Madness in Freeport is a 48-page book, staple bound. The interior covers, front and back, are printed with maps of the Lighthouse "Milton's Folly. " The book details the history and structure of the Captains' Council in Freeport, contains a bare-bones map of the Sea Lord's Palace, and includes 18 NPC descriptions of some of the movers and shakers from the Captains' Council in Part One. (The free Focus on Freeport at the Green Ronin website supplements this material: http://www.greenronin.com/files/focus04.pdf ) This part of the adventure is roleplaying intensive and gives players a chance to get deep into character if they like that kind of thing. In addition to interacting with the NPCs to gather information needed to advance the plot of the adventure, there are also ample opportunities to unravel the history and political factions of Freeport. This section of the adventure went over very well with my group and gave me a ton of plot hooks and NPC contacts for future encounters. Part Two focuses on the legend of an old Freeport pirate named Black Dog, and the caves he used as his lair (a nice full-page map of the caves is included). This section gives rugged adventuring types a chance to use their abilities. Dexterity checks, Wisdom checks, Willpower saves, Search checks, Reflex saves, Swim checks, and Disable Device opportunities abound. The map has a section of waterway that leads off to an unmapped area that I used to detail the underground cave system even more. The Sunken Temple of Yig section is where the plot really begins to advance. Another full-page map details the six levels of the Temple of Yig and as with the map of Black Dog's Caves, there is a passage left open for the GM to add on to the mapped area if they want to. There is some of background for the GM on the Valossan civilization, several minor artifacts, an opportunity to gain a powerful artifact (detailed in Focus on Freeport number seven, free download at: http://www.greenronin.com/files/focus07.pdf ), a riddle to solve, a curse to be lifted and several other items that again gave me plenty of plot hooks for the future. Part Four takes the PCs to the lighthouse itself. The timing of this section is the trickiest part of running this adventure. The PCs have to have a sense of urgency that's built up for them throughout the previous encounters. They have to stop Drac and time is ticking. The most difficult part for me was trying to keep the PCs from running off to storm the lighthouse in broad daylight, they were so wound up and ready to take on Drac and his minions. The author warns about this in the adventure itself, and I should have paid more attention to his advice. In another review of this book, the reviewer wrote about the "sloppy rules handling" in the adventure: "Simoni asserts that it takes a guardman two rounds to run to the top of a fifty foot stairway (this is crucial, because he's going to alert others to the PCs' presence). Unfortunately, Simoni is wrong--the guard can move 60 ft. per round while running. He'll reach the top of the staircase in the same round he starts running." Except that the REVIEWER is wrong, and author Simoni is RIGHT: Running up a spiral staircase the guard can only make a "double-move" which is correctly calculated in the adventure. In another part of the same review, the reviewer asserts that "the author attempts to claim that the PCs (having killed Drac) will not have their story of what happened believed" and that's bad in part because "...a huge crowd just saw the climax of the adventure." Except the climax of the adventure takes place INSIDE the lighthouse, which is on an island well away from the crowds in Freeport itself. What the people of Freeport see at the climax, from their vantage points across the water, is the lighthouse light going on, showing a giant yellow sign into the night sky, then going off again (or possibly including a huge magical explosion, or a 'calming green glow' depending on how the characters act). The one part of the book that I didn't like, and it's a minor issue, is having the stats in an appendix in the back of the book. I like to have the stats for the NPCs and creatures listed in the part of the adventure where they appear. Flipping back and forth through the book is annoying. (I ended up photocopying the appendix so I could look at it separately.) In addition to the stats for the NPCs, there are three new creatures detailed in the Appendix, and two nice player handouts meant to be photocopied straight from the book. The last page is an ad for Legions of Hell and Hell in Freeport. Anyway, bottom line is that this book has a lot of useful stuff in it. Besides wrapping up the trilogy that started with Death in Freeport and Terror in Freeport, Madness in Freeport has a lot of useful bits in the form of great maps (the maps in this book won the EN World award for cartography this year: http://www.d20reviews.com/ennies.htm#winners ), NPCs, political factions and city history, and adventure hooks. It's everything I like in an adventure and my group will be playing through the adventures spun off from these hooks for a long time.