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Name: The Gryphon's Legacy Author: Wolfgang Bauer Company: Gaslight Press Price: $12.95

The Gryphon's Legacy represents the first product for Gaslight Press' epic Sun and Scale setting. Designed for 1st level characters, it also represents an ambitious attempt to deviate from the norms of fantasy gaming. Sure, all the tried and true conventions that we have come to expect are well represented, but Gaslight Press attempts to bring us something more than simply aimless dungeon crawls performed by equally aimless PCs. Let's face it, unless the players bring something extra to the table or the GM creates a strong story-arc to link store bought scenarios together, most campaigns end up running like a bad episodic TV series: no character development, no recurring characters, no story being developed, no point.

Gaslight Press aims to fix this problem by creating a line of adventures that build upon one another to develop an epic story-arc. While much of this future storyline remains a secret, what we see in The Gryphons Legacy is enough to suggest that a Sun and Scale campaign offers something pleasantly different. You see, the principal idea behind the campaign is to reclaim lands once belonging to the Sun Empire that have long since been lost to monsters. The characters act as colonizers, attempting to carve fiefs out of the wilderness and restore civilization. It's a great concept that is handled differently, and more subtly, than it was in TSRs Birthright setting. Here, nation building is the backdrop, but it does not in any way detract from exploring dangerous dungeons, fighting horrific monsters, and engaging on exciting quests. A fine balance has been struck that seems to work.

Another innovation is the Roving Encounters system, utilized to give a location (in this case, the castle Gryphon Rock) a sense of realism by bringing it to life. Each room features a chart that shows it denizens based on time of day or state of alert. In other words, the encounters the PCs face is dependant upon how stealthy they are or what time of day they decide to infiltrate. This not only adds a sense of reality to the proceedings, but also makes the players take more responsibility for their actions because they have direct consequences on the adventure as a whole. Whereas in some adventures it makes no difference if the players are a bit trigger happy with their fireball spells, the same cannot be said here.

Veteran author Wolfgang Bauer acquits himself well with a fine story. The Sun Empire dispatches the PCs and a band of hardy settlers across the seas to the Western Continent. Their task is to carve out fiefs and restore a semblance of civilization to the wilderness that was once a rich province. Landing in Meriador, one of the last vestiges of the Sun Empires western holdings, they are quickly ushered across the frontier into the Valdan Wilds. Their first obstacle is the SnowReach Mountains, an imposing chain of mountains full of danger dissected by a single pass dominated on the north side by the ancient castle of Gryphon's Peak. As the title would lead you to expect, therein lies the heart of the adventure.

A brave knight named Harfell Vostark, known as the Gryphon of Valdan because of his chivalry and bravery, built the castle centuries ago. His family held the castle for some 435 years before forced to abandon it due to overwhelming pressure from barbarian hordes. Currently, it is held by a half-hobgoblin bandit lord and devotee of the dark goddess Mordet as the centre of his "kingdom". "King" Urrevor has had something a tragic life. His wife and children were slain by a mercenary band from Meriador, and he has therefore dedicated his existence to exacting revenge on the kingdom. To that end, he has struck a deal with a half-drow necromancer, Vistula. In exchange for bodies she can reanimate, Vistula offers Urrevor magical armour and undead mounts, giving the bandits a spectral appearance on their nightly rides. They have become known as The Ghost Riders and are greatly feared by the villages along the northern frontier of Meriador. If the settlers are to have any chance of success in their new home, the PCs will have to destroy the power of the Ghost Riders.

The castle is remarkably evocative, it runs extremely smooth, and Bauer clearly paid considerable effort into populating it in an intelligent way. Most importantly, it was a load of fun to play. You know the "dungeon" has caught the imagination of the players when they begin to look at the experience as more than an exercise in kicking in doors and slaying monsters, and in this case, my players were so enraptured that they were eagerly taking any opportunity to "look outside the box", if you will, in order experience the adventure in far more interactive way. That's suggests to me that Mr. Bauer got it right.

We aren't left hanging after the adventure ends, however. Several excellent adventure hooks are provided to keep you going for a while, ranging from taming griffons to rebuilding the castle as a stronghold for heroes to re-occupy. This all but guarantees the book will not sit on your shelf collecting dust after the PCs have emerged victoriously. Likewise, GMs will want to make use of the four new monsters (among them Ghost Horses and the vicious HookRavens) and the three new magic items.

The fine work by Wolfgang Bauer is mirrored by the adventure's equally impressive presentation. The cover art by Sam Wood is excellent and gives an idea of the fiendish tone of the adventure. Interior artwork, by Sam Wood again and Raven Mimura, is simply stunning, while the cartography by Todd Gamble is first rate as well. Layout and editing are both thoroughly professional, and Gaslight Press has gone with a slightly glossy paper that gives the book a quality feel. Visually, The Gryphon's Legacy would not feel out of place among the adventures in WotC's stable, which is about as high a compliment as can be paid a rpg product.

The Gryphon's Legacy is a well-designed and extremely intelligent adventure that provides a fin kick-off to a campaign. The folks at Gaslight Press demonstrate a willingness to take chances with their innovative "Roving Encounters" system and the epic nation-building story-arc. Therein lies the only rub, though. There is not enough information provided to guide any but an experienced GM though the trials and tribulations that will befall the heroes as they attempt to carve out their fiefs. This will surely have to be considered, in some capacity at any rate, in future products.

Still, it looks like Gaslight Press may be creating a solid legacy for themselves with this impressive new release that makes you itch for more.

The Gryphon's Legacy
The Gryphon's Legacy Playtest Review by Andrew Hind on 25/01/02 Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 4 (Meaty) A dynamic inaugural release from an exciting nex company that puts a fresh spin on aventuring. Product: The Gryphon's Legacy Author: Wolfgang Bauer Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Gaslight Press Line: Sun and Scale Cost: $12.95 Page count: 48 Year published: 2002 ISBN: 0-9713526-0-7 SKU: GLT 1051 Comp copy?: yes Playtest Review by Andrew Hind on 25/01/02 Genre tags: Fantasy	Name: The Gryphon's Legacy Author: Wolfgang Bauer Company: Gaslight Press Price: $12.95 The Gryphon's Legacy represents the first product for Gaslight Press' epic Sun and Scale setting. Designed for 1st level characters, it also represents an ambitious attempt to deviate from the norms of fantasy gaming. Sure, all the tried and true conventions that we have come to expect are well represented, but Gaslight Press attempts to bring us something more than simply aimless dungeon crawls performed by equally aimless PCs. Let's face it, unless the players bring something extra to the table or the GM creates a strong story-arc to link store bought scenarios together, most campaigns end up running like a bad episodic TV series: no character development, no recurring characters, no story being developed, no point. Gaslight Press aims to fix this problem by creating a line of adventures that build upon one another to develop an epic story-arc. While much of this future storyline remains a secret, what we see in The Gryphons Legacy is enough to suggest that a Sun and Scale campaign offers something pleasantly different. You see, the principal idea behind the campaign is to reclaim lands once belonging to the Sun Empire that have long since been lost to monsters. The characters act as colonizers, attempting to carve fiefs out of the wilderness and restore civilization. It's a great concept that is handled differently, and more subtly, than it was in TSRs Birthright setting. Here, nation building is the backdrop, but it does not in any way detract from exploring dangerous dungeons, fighting horrific monsters, and engaging on exciting quests. A fine balance has been struck that seems to work. Another innovation is the Roving Encounters system, utilized to give a location (in this case, the castle Gryphon Rock) a sense of realism by bringing it to life. Each room features a chart that shows it denizens based on time of day or state of alert. In other words, the encounters the PCs face is dependant upon how stealthy they are or what time of day they decide to infiltrate. This not only adds a sense of reality to the proceedings, but also makes the players take more responsibility for their actions because they have direct consequences on the adventure as a whole. Whereas in some adventures it makes no difference if the players are a bit trigger happy with their fireball spells, the same cannot be said here. Veteran author Wolfgang Bauer acquits himself well with a fine story. The Sun Empire dispatches the PCs and a band of hardy settlers across the seas to the Western Continent. Their task is to carve out fiefs and restore a semblance of civilization to the wilderness that was once a rich province. Landing in Meriador, one of the last vestiges of the Sun Empires western holdings, they are quickly ushered across the frontier into the Valdan Wilds. Their first obstacle is the SnowReach Mountains, an imposing chain of mountains full of danger dissected by a single pass dominated on the north side by the ancient castle of Gryphon's Peak. As the title would lead you to expect, therein lies the heart of the adventure. A brave knight named Harfell Vostark, known as the Gryphon of Valdan because of his chivalry and bravery, built the castle centuries ago. His family held the castle for some 435 years before forced to abandon it due to overwhelming pressure from barbarian hordes. Currently, it is held by a half-hobgoblin bandit lord and devotee of the dark goddess Mordet as the centre of his "kingdom". "King" Urrevor has had something a tragic life. His wife and children were slain by a mercenary band from Meriador, and he has therefore dedicated his existence to exacting revenge on the kingdom. To that end, he has struck a deal with a half-drow necromancer, Vistula. In exchange for bodies she can reanimate, Vistula offers Urrevor magical armour and undead mounts, giving the bandits a spectral appearance on their nightly rides. They have become known as The Ghost Riders and are greatly feared by the villages along the northern frontier of Meriador. If the settlers are to have any chance of success in their new home, the PCs will have to destroy the power of the Ghost Riders. The castle is remarkably evocative, it runs extremely smooth, and Bauer clearly paid considerable effort into populating it in an intelligent way. Most importantly, it was a load of fun to play. You know the "dungeon" has caught the imagination of the players when they begin to look at the experience as more than an exercise in kicking in doors and slaying monsters, and in this case, my players were so enraptured that they were eagerly taking any opportunity to "look outside the box", if you will, in order experience the adventure in far more interactive way. That's suggests to me that Mr. Bauer got it right. We aren't left hanging after the adventure ends, however. Several excellent adventure hooks are provided to keep you going for a while, ranging from taming griffons to rebuilding the castle as a stronghold for heroes to re-occupy. This all but guarantees the book will not sit on your shelf collecting dust after the PCs have emerged victoriously. Likewise, GMs will want to make use of the four new monsters (among them Ghost Horses and the vicious HookRavens) and the three new magic items. The fine work by Wolfgang Bauer is mirrored by the adventure's equally impressive presentation. The cover art by Sam Wood is excellent and gives an idea of the fiendish tone of the adventure. Interior artwork, by Sam Wood again and Raven Mimura, is simply stunning, while the cartography by Todd Gamble is first rate as well. Layout and editing are both thoroughly professional, and Gaslight Press has gone with a slightly glossy paper that gives the book a quality feel. Visually, The Gryphon's Legacy would not feel out of place among the adventures in WotC's stable, which is about as high a compliment as can be paid a rpg product. The Gryphon's Legacy is a well-designed and extremely intelligent adventure that provides a fin kick-off to a campaign. The folks at Gaslight Press demonstrate a willingness to take chances with their innovative "Roving Encounters" system and the epic nation-building story-arc. Therein lies the only rub, though. There is not enough information provided to guide any but an experienced GM though the trials and tribulations that will befall the heroes as they attempt to carve out their fiefs. This will surely have to be considered, in some capacity at any rate, in future products. Still, it looks like Gaslight Press may be creating a solid legacy for themselves with this impressive new release that makes you itch for more.