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Last Days
of Constantinople is a d20 system adventure designed to kill-er, challenge,
a party of 1st to 3rd level adventurers. High on historical detail,
Last Days of Constantinople channels some of the d20 system effectively
into the historical world but fails to capture the heroic elements that
make the engine run. It's hard to be a hero, while feeling that your
created character is about to be doused with Greek fire.
Last Days
of Constantinople is set before the fall of the great city in 1453,
and uses the historical record of Pope Nicholas V sending supplies and
reinforcements (at the last moment) to the city as the basis of the
adventure. This sets up a futile struggle for the characters as the
fight their way in, and most will never live to see beyond the city
walls againshould the adventure go as planned.
As it
lacks both an index and adventure synopsis to help the referee wade
through the historical morass, Last Days of Constantinople is a difficult
adventure to follow; I felt lost in detail as I was reading through
the adventure's "segments," not knowing what was the intended
overarching goal of the adventure. While the adventure's detail was
good at invoking a sense of place, the wonder and splendor of the setting
gives way to forced actions and nihilism.
The adventure
is more war-gaming missions and scenarios than an attempt at a fun D&D-style
city-based romp. As the adventure wears on, the characters are expected
(even commanded) like common troops, and are expected to see the siege
through to the last. Events within the city may allow the opportunity
for disserting, but the character's fleeing within sight of the wall
gets arrowed in the back-by the defenders of the city.
Last Days
of Constantinople's structure offers little in the way of hope of continuing
the adventure. The plotting of the story aspect is rough, and seems
to just be ticking off a scorecard as the miniatures move around the
battle board.
Also,
there are no details on how to move this scenario into a more fantastical
realm, one that would feature elves, dwarves, and etc. This isn't bad
for those wanting to keep the adventure's setting intact, but as the
weight of impending doom is occurring, I'd rather have my players playing
characters they'd like too, as opposed to just being rendered into cannon
fodder as they try to heroically defend Constantinople's walls.
Overall,
Last Days of Constantinople is a difficult adventure to play, let alone
read. I feel that the missing heroic aspects greatly weakened a strong
setting that would have been excellent to adventure in.
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