The Inside Scoop on Gaming

When I first laid eyes on Fool’s Errand I was impressed. I opened and started reading, was further impressed, and my hopes for a great product were raised high. As I continued reading I was slowly let down. Ultimately the problems I have with this product outweighed the good points and left me not really wanting to run the adventure.

One’s first impression is of course the “cover” of this PDF. I am fortunate enough to work with some of the best artists in the games industry, so I have learned what good game art is when I see it. The cover art is good, and very reminiscent of a certain British tabletop miniatures game I like. In fact, seven of the eight pieces of art in the product were quite good. The art is black and white, so it was easy on my color printer. In general the product was not very toner intensive.

Turning a couple pages, I was presented with the Background for the DM. It explains that the adventure is meant for 3rd to 5th level characters set in the city of Corvis, a city in the Iron Kindgoms campaign setting. Two things caught my attention at this point. The first was the captivating introduction. The second was the claim the product could easily be used in any game setting. The adventure did end up having a captivating story, but it’s far from suitable for any location other than Corvis.

The background story was great. The author has a British writing style and vernacular that reminded me of a favored module set in Saltmarsh of the Greyhawk world. The story was very twisted and political. As a short story, the events depicted in this adventure would be quite good. But this is an adventure, not just a short story. Much of the product seems geared to please the DM more than the players.

In several places throughout the adventure the author mentions “if the PCs have played TLN then…” Now I had not seen any Iron Kingdoms products before this so it took me a while to figure out TLN meant The Longest Night, another of their adventures. As it turns out, Fool’s Errand is basically what I call a “one off” –- a single combat encounter with a little setup encounter at the beginning. The main NPCs seem to be a few baddies that apparently play a major role in Corvis politics, and also seem to have played a role in TLN. The adventure centers around a steamjack (as described on their website). The steamjack, intricate political situation, and continuation of the Longest Night’s storyline all make Fool’s Errand relatively unportable to other D20 systems. One would seem to need the Iron Kingdoms campaign setting as well as the precursor adventure TLN before Fool’s Errand would be worthwhile without major effort on the DM’s part to convert it.

This alone was not enough to turn me off to the adventure. The mission is divided into acts. In Act I we meet the employer. In Act II we head to and infiltrate the mission site. Act III dumps us (through events beyond our control) into the Undercity below the mission site. The mission ends there and finishes with an Epilogue back where is started. Where do you suppose the adventure started? In a tavern, of course!

Once again, Act I relies heavily on this being a continuation of the TLN adventure. The party gets railroaded into the mission while stopped off at a tavern. The locale of the mission objective in Act II is very creepy and interesting, but passes by quickly. One major beef I have with the adventure is the lack of Encounter Level references. From my calculations, the one and only encounter of Act II at the mission site is EL 13. Keep in mind this is an adventure for 3rd to 5th level PCs! Obviously the party is not meant to fight, so the author gives the PCs a means to escape the encounter. This takes us into Act III and the deus ex machina creature that helps the PCs survive the EL 13 mission objective.

If I had gone to the movies to view the scenes and events described in this adventure, I would have been pleased. It’s full of colorful descriptions, intriguing characters, excellent scenery, and plenty of chase-style action. However, as a player, I would not want to get railroaded into the mission. I would not want to have DM-controlled creatures doing most of the fighting to save my neck. I would not want to spend the entire session running from the bad guys with my tail between my legs. I would not want the high risk of something going wrong and killing my whole party, and with an EL 13 for 5th level characters that’s what you risk. As a DM I don’t want the adventure so tightly tied to the precursor module TLN unless I am a big Iron Kingdoms fan and just finished running TLN. I want there to be ELs on the encounters. I want it to be balanced.

For the right DM and the right group, and if you’ve just completed the TLN adventure and live in the Iron Kingdoms, this might be a good buy just because the story is good. If you just want something interesting to read, but don’t plan on playing it, by all means pick this up. If you are a DM like me with players like mine, they want to control their own destinies. They want balanced encounters they have a chance to survive. They want to do the fighting, not listen to me describe how they are running in fear as my NPCs fight it out behind their retreat. If you are like that, then pass on this adventure.

Fool's Errand
Fool's Errand Capsule Review by Bob Fitch on 11/10/01 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average) This adventure would have been great as a short story, but isn't so good if you plan to play it. Product: Fool's Errand Author: J. Michael Kilmartin Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Privateer Press Line: D20 Cost: 3.50 Page count: 27 Year published: 2001 ISBN: SKU: Comp copy?: yes Capsule Review by Bob Fitch on 11/10/01 Genre tags: Fantasy	When I first laid eyes on Fool’s Errand I was impressed. I opened and started reading, was further impressed, and my hopes for a great product were raised high. As I continued reading I was slowly let down. Ultimately the problems I have with this product outweighed the good points and left me not really wanting to run the adventure. One’s first impression is of course the “cover” of this PDF. I am fortunate enough to work with some of the best artists in the games industry, so I have learned what good game art is when I see it. The cover art is good, and very reminiscent of a certain British tabletop miniatures game I like. In fact, seven of the eight pieces of art in the product were quite good. The art is black and white, so it was easy on my color printer. In general the product was not very toner intensive. Turning a couple pages, I was presented with the Background for the DM. It explains that the adventure is meant for 3rd to 5th level characters set in the city of Corvis, a city in the Iron Kindgoms campaign setting. Two things caught my attention at this point. The first was the captivating introduction. The second was the claim the product could easily be used in any game setting. The adventure did end up having a captivating story, but it’s far from suitable for any location other than Corvis. The background story was great. The author has a British writing style and vernacular that reminded me of a favored module set in Saltmarsh of the Greyhawk world. The story was very twisted and political. As a short story, the events depicted in this adventure would be quite good. But this is an adventure, not just a short story. Much of the product seems geared to please the DM more than the players. In several places throughout the adventure the author mentions “if the PCs have played TLN then…” Now I had not seen any Iron Kingdoms products before this so it took me a while to figure out TLN meant The Longest Night, another of their adventures. As it turns out, Fool’s Errand is basically what I call a “one off” –- a single combat encounter with a little setup encounter at the beginning. The main NPCs seem to be a few baddies that apparently play a major role in Corvis politics, and also seem to have played a role in TLN. The adventure centers around a steamjack (as described on their website). The steamjack, intricate political situation, and continuation of the Longest Night’s storyline all make Fool’s Errand relatively unportable to other D20 systems. One would seem to need the Iron Kingdoms campaign setting as well as the precursor adventure TLN before Fool’s Errand would be worthwhile without major effort on the DM’s part to convert it. This alone was not enough to turn me off to the adventure. The mission is divided into acts. In Act I we meet the employer. In Act II we head to and infiltrate the mission site. Act III dumps us (through events beyond our control) into the Undercity below the mission site. The mission ends there and finishes with an Epilogue back where is started. Where do you suppose the adventure started? In a tavern, of course! Once again, Act I relies heavily on this being a continuation of the TLN adventure. The party gets railroaded into the mission while stopped off at a tavern. The locale of the mission objective in Act II is very creepy and interesting, but passes by quickly. One major beef I have with the adventure is the lack of Encounter Level references. From my calculations, the one and only encounter of Act II at the mission site is EL 13. Keep in mind this is an adventure for 3rd to 5th level PCs! Obviously the party is not meant to fight, so the author gives the PCs a means to escape the encounter. This takes us into Act III and the deus ex machina creature that helps the PCs survive the EL 13 mission objective. If I had gone to the movies to view the scenes and events described in this adventure, I would have been pleased. It’s full of colorful descriptions, intriguing characters, excellent scenery, and plenty of chase-style action. However, as a player, I would not want to get railroaded into the mission. I would not want to have DM-controlled creatures doing most of the fighting to save my neck. I would not want to spend the entire session running from the bad guys with my tail between my legs. I would not want the high risk of something going wrong and killing my whole party, and with an EL 13 for 5th level characters that’s what you risk. As a DM I don’t want the adventure so tightly tied to the precursor module TLN unless I am a big Iron Kingdoms fan and just finished running TLN. I want there to be ELs on the encounters. I want it to be balanced. For the right DM and the right group, and if you’ve just completed the TLN adventure and live in the Iron Kingdoms, this might be a good buy just because the story is good. If you just want something interesting to read, but don’t plan on playing it, by all means pick this up. If you are a DM like me with players like mine, they want to control their own destinies. They want balanced encounters they have a chance to survive. They want to do the fighting, not listen to me describe how they are running in fear as my NPCs fight it out behind their retreat. If you are like that, then pass on this adventure.

Fool's Errand