Chasing A Golden Buck

Written by Thomas Ralafski. This is a 23 page PDF including the cover. Additionally, I have seen a dead tree version out there, so I can vouch that it might be possible to snag one of them. This is a complimentary copy for review purposes.

MEAT & POTATOES:

The Golden Buck is the second adventure for Thomas Ralafski but this is his first foray into fantasy adventures using the HERO System. The adventure is site based rather than event driven. I tend to like site based adventures but only if the players can be cleanly hooked into visiting and in the case of this module — the hook is sweet. The Golden Buck uses The Valdorian Age (Sword & Sorcery) setting from Hero Games and exploits several unique facets of the setting. I don’t want to give away much of the plot because it is a bit of a fun read; however, I can say that while the players need not be magic users, the whole plot revolves around the negative karmaric accumulation of favors that is one of the more brilliant aspects of the system. [You can see my review for The Valdorain Age here on RPG net for more on the magic.]

So, what do you get for your $3.50? The adventure aspect is short and sweet. Other than the initial hook which can occur anywhere, there are only two additional locations needed for the adventure. The first and most significant is the compound of a new cult in Elweir. Like everything in this module, the cult is a logical and smart extension of the information within the main book. There are two maps provided of the main compound. The maps are done in Campaign Cartographer primarily.

The next section contains five ready to use NPCs. The characters are interesting but there wasn’t any cohesion or group identity, nor were they predisposed to run with the hook. This isn’t much of an issue but did diminish the overall “plug-n-play” theme.

APPERANCE:

The book is in a standard two column style without sidebars. It is open and clean with very high readability. In fact, I read it onscreen since it didn’t seem to be a strain. The cover is an interesting Poser/Maya style 3D piece. It depicts one of the key images within the book. There isn’t any internal art, which is better than bad art. Earlier, I mentioned the two maps that are provided at the end of the module. These are serviceable. The color images look fine on screen but a black & white version without any fill would be nicer on the toner cartridge.

Editing and layout are generally fine. There are a few quibbles here and there but nothing that detracts too much from the overall quality.

OVERALL:

Chasing A Golden Buck is not one the massive production mega-dungeons. It isn’t designed to be. It is a smart and simple module in the vein of “Three Days to Kill.” Characters have a location and a mission; most of the parameters rely on them rather than being hardwired into the module. It is an ideal module for nights when the DM is struggling to come up with something. It also deserves five stars for capturing the feel of the setting and the genre. Players may or may not discover the “whole truth” but the DM is rewarded with some fantastic tragic irony that makes the module stand out.