"I've tried to tell them! The well water is poisoned, corrupted by some terrible evil! But they won't listen to me... please help us!"
MetalMan's Review of "The Weeping Tree" by Brian Patterson
The Premise:
"The Weeping Tree" is the seventh book in the third series of Legends & Lairs mini-adventures from Fantasy Flight games for use with Dungeons & Dragons third edition. These reasonably priced adventures are intended to be used when the GM has had little time to prepare an adventure or is just stumped for ideas. It is recommended for four to six characters of levels four to six.
PERSONAL NOTE: I will be discussing the plot of this adventure in this review. If you suspect that you will be playing in a game with a GM using this adventure, I recommend that you stop reading now. Most people don't like having their fun spoiled.
What Ya Get:
"The Weeping Tree" is a small pamplet-sized booklet that clocks in at sixteen pages.
Cost:
It, like all the other Legends & Lairs mini-adventures, will cost you $3.95 USD
Appearance:
"The Weeping Tree" continues Fantasy Flight's excellent trend for making their products look good. There are small pseudo-mystical decorative borders at the top and bottom of each page that look good but don't intrude any and doesn't seem like padding. There is a map for the adventure in the center of the book that is keyed and very legible. It also includes four illustrations of vampires and the dark treant by Ramon Perez and Kieran Yanner. There is also an advertisment for Dragonstar included in the back.
The Adventure:
The book starts off with a brief overview of recent history and a setup of the powers that are involved. The adventure centers around the small woodlands town of Blackbrook. One month ago, the town had been terrorized by a group of vampires until another adventuring party drove them off. Malik Dreadwood was a local druid who the people looked up to for protection but he was ambushed and left for dead in the woods by the vampires. When he didn't appear to help the town in its time of need, the people assumed that he had deserted them. He rose two days later as a vampire and is now bent on extracting vengence on the town for their rapid condemnation of him. To do this he is slowly poisoning the city's water supply from his underground lair beneath the town's cemetary. He has also enlisted the aid of a treant that resided in the cemetary who had been cursed and poisoned by the previous vampire attack. Lana, a cleric in Blackbrook pleads for the characters to help and the town's mayor will offer monetary compensation. Several people have disappeared around the cemetary and there is a large hole in the middle of the graveyard. The PCs should investigate and see what they can do to help.
The first two things that I noticed about "The Weeping Tree" is that there is considerably more art than is typical in the Legends & Lairs mini-adventures. The other thing is that this is a pretty straightforward adventure. Go to the hole in the graveyard and kill the vampires there. It seems like the additional art was put in there to pad it. The adventure itself is nothing spectacular although there are some nice undercurrents running in the backstory. With that said, there are two very difficult encounters in the book - one with Malik and the other with the twisted treant, Willowus, once they have defeated Malik. Malik is tough but Willowus could be what I call a "meat grinder." Willowus is Challenge Rating 9! The biggest problem with the adventure is that it suggests the best way to deal with Willowus is to remove the curse and disease on him. This could be a problem if you don't have a druid or cleric in the party. No stats are given for Lana the cleric so the PCs could run back to town to get her to help but it specifically says that Willowus will pursue destroying everything in his path. Good characters would probably balk at drawing a rampaging treant into town. There is also an inference of necrophilia and possibly pediophilia depending on how you interpret it with Malik that could be offensive to some. I'm sure that the purpose was to underscore how evil Malik had become but I think poisoning the entire town might have been evidence enough. Your milage may vary and its a simple thing to just remove it as it serves absolutely no importance to the adventure itself.
Overall Impression:
"The Weeping Tree" is a mediocre adventure. It does fit the criteria of providing a quick adventure on short notice but don't expect anything spectacular either. It has some nice themes and the underlying backstory could be expanded upon for future adventures. Its functional but don't expect anything groundbreaking. It's worth your purchase if you use these mini-adventures on a frequent basis but otherwise it's not going to offer much unless you're a completist.
MetalMan signing off.
Go to forum!
(Due to spamming, old forum discussions are no linked.)