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Overview
Introduction: In his "Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering", Robin D. Laws classifies players from Storytellers to Power Gamers. En Route III is best played with the Storyteller end of the spectrum. En Route III features twelve d20 encounters, ranging from EL 2 to 17 (although most can be modified by the GM to suit the players). Two of the adventures are written by famed RPG author, Keith Baker.
Art and Layout: Scott Reeve's wonderfully moody watercolor-like interior art compliments excellently the encounters of the book. I also enjoyed his layout. Instead of the standard artwork semi-interfering with text, the art serves more as a frontispiece to the encounter. An elegant header font and light grey page border of map symbols accent an archaic atmosphere to the book. Soft grey utilitarian "boxes" highlight sections of text. The layout does not demand attention, yet functions quite well when trying to find material in the middle of the game.
Indices: The book ends with an Index of d20 Material (Magic Items, Creatures, NPCs), Encounters by Location (Countryside, Water, Village / City), and Encounter Levels.
The Encounters
I have grouped the encounters first by my own recommendation, then by order of appearance. ELs are noted, but most of the encounters scale for higher and lower levels. All of the enounters provide the GM with a good amount of preparation, including stat blocks, personality descriptions, and detailed plots.
Recommended
15 Rounds of Fame EL 4. By Keith Baker. "What do you mean, Joe's going to be the hero?" An observer from the future (and another dimension) arrives to observe, chronicle, question, and otherwise drive crazy your party of heroes. While he knows what will happen in the future, he is prohibited from saying it now. The observer is very well developed, with suggestions how the GM can make him a reoccuring character, add his own touches, and only **seem** like just an observer. A token combat with a creature from another dimension is added to make things interesting. This adventure is scalable (by modifying the CR of the creature).
Between a Rock and a No Place EL 10. By Gareth Hanrahan. "Write one spell, and I can let you go. I'm sorry but those are the rules. What do you mean, you're a monk?" The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy meets Arthur C. Clarke. Essentially, a crystalline construct has been created to trap the occasional high-level mage when they teleport. Except that the creator has passed on, the last time the construct has trapped someone was **years** ago, and the construct is really, really, bored. Much like 15 Rounds, plenty of preparation is given to the GM for this crystalline NPC. This adventure is obviously not scalable -- although it may be amusing to have your players find a defective teleport scroll...
Hellcow: The Sacred Cow EL 10. By Author (?). Hellcow is one of my favorites, as it has a surrealistic fable-like quality. The party encounters a sad herder. "Do you see that white cow over there? It vexes me greatly," he says. It's also my favorite since the players know it's a trap -- but not necessarily how to get out of it. Although EL 10, the encounter should be scalable to lower and higher levels (especially since violence is **not** the answer) and the GM can modify this encounter on the fly ("Oh, did I say white? The cow's actually BLACK.")
Flotsam EL 11. By Chris Doyle. One peeve I've always had about monster manuals was how you'd get a stat block and only token additional description -- like what an encounter would be like. In Flotsam, the characters encounter a sea hag and her dragon turtle. Well, it's not exactly "her" sea turtle. Okay, let's just say you can't form a close alliance with a neutral dragon, and dragons **like to sleep**. In any case, it's a fully fleshed out encounter that's a little different, without screaming "I'M UNIQUE" in uppercase letters.
The Haunting Place EL 10. By Eric Jensen. Cleric finds Evil. Cleric summons Outsider to destroy Evil. Cleric and Outsider destroy Evil but Cleric gets killed in the process. Outsider awaits payment. Players enter the scene. Outsider tries to get the player's attention by animating everything in sight. Although EL 10, this encounter should be scalable by making the animated items less deadly.
One More Marionette EL 6. By Jon Thompson. You may have heard of the dark Puppetland RPG, or seen an "I am a toy" episode from the Twilight Zone. As written, the players know they've become puppets, and the plot centers around them finding a cure. However, enough mechanics have been added (eg. a living puppet template and a tempermental moody cat) for other puppet ideas. If players don't mind failing their saving rolls to become puppets (and driving each other crazy with squeaky Punch and Judy noises), this should be an enjoyable adventure.
A Quick Demonstration EL 3. By John Seavey. Arafael the Apprentice has discovered a better and cheaper way of mixing potions. And if **that** doesn't cause your adventurers to flee, I don't know what will. Still, if you can find a hook (one that's better than just cheaper potions, IMO), this side trek leads to an alchemical logic puzzle. This encounter is scalable and the potions by themselves should make novel "cursed" items.
A Stone's Throw Away EL 14. By Chris Doyle. Remember how stone giants love throwing boulders? And how they pick on travellers to join them? This encounter develops this quite well, with the giants challenging them to Dodge Rock (and yes, it's as painful as it seems). With a bit of diplomacy, the party can negotiate them down to Rock Toss, a test of aiming skill. A fun quirk of the adventure is that a magic **intelligent** shield has been used as the target of Rock Toss. "The magic shield has been used for target practice for several months, and although it's not physically damaged, it is now emotionally scarred." And, yes, it talks. Being tailored to Stone Giants, I'm not sure if this encounter can be scaled much.
Some Reservations
Eye of the Opener EL 8. By Jeff Wikstrom. Probably the oldest cliche of the hooks is the NPC who approaches the PCs and offers them an adventure. This NPC, however, requires collateral and flees the first chance he gets. The text supplies a co-conspirator and details the scam well, but, well, you know how difficult it would be to pull this encounter off. One thought is add some sort of twist. Perhaps you're adding a new player to the party, and he's been forced by his co-conspirator to pull a scam on these adventurers...
Lady Luck EL 2. By Geoff Habiger. Coin instead of ring. Check. Wizard instead of Mount Doom. Check. Paladin instead of half naked hobbit. Check. Although I was disappointed with this adventure, the GM could use it to introduce a new member to the party (as the former owner of the coin), or allow a player to channel his inner Gollum. As three movies in New Zealand tell us, this encounter scales.
Tears of the Ice Queen EL 17. By Rick Neal. Yes, most of my adventures take place in frozen seas. Not. Besides its unusual location, it's another "ghost who needs to be laid to rest after the PCs finish his work" scenario. We already have this with the Haunting Place, and this encounter finishes up with 300 rounds of magically carving ice in freezing cold weather. That's fine for a Discover documentary, but may be hard to dramatize in a roleplaying session. Sorta scales.
Whisper EL 3. By Keith Baker. It knows your secrets. If your players are up for being blackmailed by an unseen entity, here's the encounter for it. The encounter provides quite a bit of preparation, including a suggested task given by the Whisperer. If your players don't like being manipulated, the encounter has a few suggestions for blackmailed NPCs who are forced to cause trouble for the party. Unfortunately, these NPCs are not as well-developed as the rest of the encounter. Still, if you or a co-GM enjoys playing a blackmailed NPC, you should have some fun with this. Scales.
Conclusion
En Route III contains twelve imaginative well-prepared encounters. En Route would be best played with players who favor Storytelling and "roleplaying" rather than Powergaming and "hack and slash". I have some reservations about how four of the encounters will play with your "average" D&D group, but the other eight should work just fine. Despite the EL's, most of the encounters should scale to your D&D party.
Appendix: Pen & Paper RPG Database Entries
Scott Reeves Scott Reeves is an artist, graphic designer, and cartographer on multiple Atlas / Penumbra books. http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showcreator&creatorid=1156
Keith Baker Keith Baker is the designer of Wizards of the Coast's Eberron campaign setting, the author of Atlas Game / Penumbra's The Ebon Mirror, and contributor to two Green Ronin Publishing Freeport books. http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showcreator&creatorid=2961
Gareth Hanrahan Gareth Hanrahan has written books for Mongoose Publishing, Relics and Guilds for Alderac Entertainment Group, and has the credit of "Ritualist" for Unknown Arimes. http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showcreator&creatorid=1473
Jeff Wikstrom Jeff Wikstrom is a contributing author for Atlas Games / Penumbra's Uncommon Character, a sourcebook of NPCs. http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showcreator&creatorid=9621
Chris Doyle Chris Doyle is also the designer of two Star Wars RPG supplements. http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showcreator&creatorid=3252
Eric Jensen (No entry in Pen and Paper)
Geoff Habiger Geoff Habiger is a contributing author for Atlas Games / Penumbra's Fantasy Bestiary. http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showcreator&creatorid=9626
Jon Thompson Jon Thompson is a contributor to books by Privateer Press. http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showcreator&creatorid=8601
John Seavey John Seavey is also an author for three Feng Shui supplements. http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showcreator&creatorid=2959
Rick Neal Rick Neal is also an author for seveal Unknown Armies supplements. http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showcreator&creatorid=4615
