Deathright is an official
Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition adventure module. Kenzer & Company for use with its
Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign setting, but that product is not necessary to make use of this module. The module is meant for a group of four 8th or 9th level characters, and it is recommended that at least one of the player-characters be a rogue. The adventure takes place in Principality of Pekal, wherein the player-characters must content with being trapped in a quarantined realm held in fear by a rising tide of disease as the undead rise up to wreck havoc.
Deathright also functions as a local gazetteer that details the Principality of Pekal and its environs, which cuts down on the need to use the Kingdoms of Kalamar sourcebook. All of the necessary history, geographic, political and esoteric knowledge that a GM needs to make this adventure work is included. This means that a cunning or daring GM can use this module’s setting in any campaign where he could make it fit; this is a boon for all D&D fans, as it does reduce the need to buy into the Kingdoms of Kalamar to make good use of it.
The module’s artwork and maps are much higher in average quality than others that I am familiar with. The artwork, save for the front and back cover, is all in black-and-white but it is equal to anything seen in any D&D product from Wizards of the Coast. The art doesn’t dominate the product at all; rather, the converse is true and one needs to keep an eye out to see it within the greater body of the text. Instead, most of the art in the book is in the props section in the back; these pieces are used as handouts to show the players what it is that their player-characters seen when they come upon certain encounters. All together, I am quite pleased with this module’s style in artwork.
The maps are obviously black-and-white versions of color pieces. They are equal to any of the maps published in the Adventure Path series, or to those published in the official D&D splatbook series, so the quality is high indeed. What bugged me most applies only to the site maps, and that is forgivable due to constraits of size and space: some of them do scale at 5’=1 square, so using them in gameplay may well require that the GM redraw them to scale beforehand. This runs counter to the point of including detailed site maps in a module, so I would like to see such maps included as a web enhancement. Together with the artwork handouts, these comprise the “ImageQUEST Adventure Illustrator”; I am not impressed by a bunch of glorified handouts. This sounds like a piece of software, not a silly brand name for a company’s handout package. The pretension mars otherwise good maps and artwork.
Okay, so the module is pretty and the layout is well done. Content is what makes for a good module in the long run, and this adventure does deliver the fantasy adventuring fun that one would expect out of such a thick and expensive adventure module. As said at the beginning, Deathright puts the player-characters in the middle of a quarantined land that simultaneously suffers the deprivations of an outbreak of the undead. It falls to the player-characters to make the connection between both events and thwarting the forces behind them because no one else is either willing or able to do so. As always, it will serve the GM very well to spend some quality time with the module before employing it; this will allow him to find the places where he will need to adapt the contents to fit his needs and make appropriate changes.
Unless this module is part of an ongoing campaign set in the Kingdoms of Kalamar, the GM will need to spend some time beforehand adapting the setting to fit into whatever setting he employs. Just the same, most of the NPCs in the module should be useable as presented. (An evil god of death is an evil god of death no matter what you call him, and such it is with the clerics; only the specific powers change.) Rather, much of the Kalamar-specific context (gods, politics, etc.) will likely need replacement before becoming useful. Fortunately, all the essential information is in this module: there is a new spell, two new prestige classes, a new item, a new disease, two new monsters and plenty of crunchy goodiness in the back of the adventure module’s text—just prior to the handouts—that take care of all of this quite handedly. Damn, but this is one very thoroughly produced module.
Getting started is the worst part. The GM must, somehow, arrange for the player-characters to be in Pekal after it comes under quarantine. It is suggested that they come to deal with the local bandit problem or with the undead incursion, but other reliable options include placing a friendly NPC in the area that one or more character must see and then wrapping them up in the events of this module. The GM is not berift of aid, as the module provides plenty of entry points for him to peruse and employ as he sees fit, but it is left to him to discern a way to hook the player-characters into the plot. I don’t mind this approach, but it certainly isn’t for everyone.
The point is that the player-characters must investigate the legends surrounding the long dead Queen Simura, connect the legend to recent events involve an evil cult of a god of death and the upsurge in undead activity. Once those connections are made, then the player-characters need to travel to the dead queen’s tomb and infiltrate it in order to get at the source of the problem. The group confronts the lich-queen Simura, the cultists that tried to get a dangerous tome—the Darklight Codex—from her, and thwarts both sets of plans before things get out of hand. This involves crawling through the remains of the royal palace, and then through the catacombs beneath them, which means that there is a dungeon crawl at the heart of this module.
The other major set piece of the module is adjacent to the palace, and that is the stronghold run by an order of anti-undead warrior/priests. These are the Kalental and they’re not what they seem; the specifics are a spoiler, so I won’t go into that here. It’s sufficient to say that they aren’t likely to be friendly to the player-characters, and as such this place will be filled with intrigue and action as much as anything else. This is also the place where the group will likely begin putting all of the puzzle pieces together, and so doing discover the truth behind the events that they’ve had to cope with to date. The group will also stand a good chance of learning the truth behind the legend that propels all of these plots, and in so doing stumble upon a non-violent solution to the problem.
This non-violent solution is what sold me on the module. It is entirely possible to end the threat posed by the lich-queen without ever casting a spell or touching a sword, but it will require a great deal of social acumen of the honest and dishonest sort to see this through. Some combat and action is inevitable, but this is hardly an endless hackfest unless either the GM or the players wish it to be so. I find this to be a great strength, as it allows for a wide range of approaches to the problems presented and thus can challenge a far greater variety of characters than would otherwise be the case.
The end of the module, by whatever means, puts to rest all or almost all of the dangers. Some of them will require mopping up after dealing with the lich-queen, especially the cultists—why this is so is also a spoiler, and so won’t be elaborated upon here—and the plague. However, the group will likely acquire the resources by this point to deal with all of these concerns and thus seal their victory and cement themselves a good reputation with the locals. This, in my opinion, is a good thing to include in a module and I am glad to see it.
In conclusion, I suggest that all Dungeons & Dragons GMs consider Deathright. If you liked the value-added content of modules like The Cruicible of Freya, NeMorden’s Vault or Green Ronin’s Freeport series then you should take a good, long look at Deathright. As always, your mileage will vary, but I doubt that you will be disappointed. Check out a copy upon your next visit to the game store.
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