Note: This product does not include credits, and the author is unknown.
Knights of the Black Cross is a free PDF adventure designed to introduce new players to White Wolf's Dark Ages: Vampire game. It consists of two files: a 4 page storyteller's introduction, and the adventure, which comes to 37 pages. Both files can be downloaded from http://www.white-wolf.com/darkagessite/dafiles.html
The storyteller's introduction is a brief overview of the rules required to run the adventure: what's on the character sheets, how to roll the dice, blood, frenzy and combat. The rules aren't complicated, and they're explained clearly.
The adventure file has full page black and white cover art (unrelated to the contents, but pretty nonetheless), a one-page introduction, a page of plot summary and background briefing, the adventure itself, and five pregenerated characters. The layout is clear and attractive, though the marble-pattern side margins don't print too well and take some time to render on my PC, making reading off the screen tiresome.
The character sheets take up most of the space - four pages each - as they contain all the information on the character's disciplines and road. They also include the background briefing, saving the storyteller from having to mumble through a large block of expository text. Again, the information is well laid-out and clearly explained; the worst I can say about it is that some beginners may find the amount of text intimidating.
Which leaves the actual adventure, which is where this product falls on its face. Again, I cannot fault the author's attempts to make things easy for a beginning storyteller - there are clear instructions on when to roll the dice, how to interpret the results, and what to do next. There are chunks of boxed (or rather, italicised) text for them to read to convey the right atmosphere. But the plot!
The PCs are a group of vampire knights working for a Big Elder in Transylvania. They are given the task of escorting a spy from the enemy's camp, through the woods, and back to their home castle. So they set off through the woods [roll to see if you get lost; roll to see if you make noise; if you make noise fight some monsters] to meet him. When they meet him, he betrays them by leading them into a volley of flaming arrows [roll to hit, roll for damage, check for rotschreck] before running off. The PCs are now left with the choice of returning to the castle to tell their boss of the spy's treachery [roll to see if you remember the way; roll to see if you make noise; if you make noise fight some monsters] or tracking him down [roll to see if you can follow him] and getting some revenge. If they manage to find the spy, he conveniently falls out of a tree, reveals the evil master plan, then falls into torpor [a helpless vampire - roll to see if you lose road for not eating him] - the PCs must then journey back to the castle to warn their lord [roll to... oh bugger it, I'm sure you get it by now]. Regardless of what they do, the outcome is the same - the boss promises great rewards for getting ambushed in the forest, and thwarts the evil master plan (even if the PCs haven't discovered it).
Quite apart from being an Idiot Plot (making no sense from the antagonists point of view), this is an exceedingly poor introduction to the world of Dark Ages: Vampire. Sure, it's a good introduction to the _rules_, but there's nothing in here about vampires (or about the middle ages, for that matter). This sort of introductory adventure should showcase a game, clearly display what it's all about and why it's different from every other game on the market - but from this, I'd think that DA:V was about wandering round the forest getting lost and beating things up.
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