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The adventure is a lot of fun with the character's moral and intellectual decisions making a big difference to the course of the plot. A group who swing first and ask questions later will find the adventure more difficult and may die to one or two of the more dangerous traps. A group that enjoys a fair amount of thinking and roleplaying should enjoy this scenario.
Content
The scenario is broken down as follows:
1. Introduction This section includes a brief summary of the adventure and gives the GM the backstory to the ruin the PCs will be exploring. The background material is interesting and gives an insight into the history of the Lands of Legend.
2. The Adventure Begins The adventure opens in the city-state of Ferromaine and gives a host of ideas as to how or why the PCs might come to be there. The characters are approached by agents of a merchant-noble who is launching an expedition to loot a recently rediscovered Emphidian temple on a distant island. The merchant and his companions are wonderfully written NPCs and the GM should have a lot of fun playing with the interactions between them and the PCs. Given the "Greek" feel to the adventure moving it to another area might be difficult but not impossible...after all the Island is sacred to the God of the sea and might have been "moved" by him to anywhere in the world.
3. The Voyage Out This section includes a number of interesting encounters, most of them non-combat, for the PCs to have fun with. Some encounters are interesting and puzzling (playing to the theme of exploration) where others set the tone aboard ship as tense and volatile. The PCs should arrive at the island with a good sense of kind of man their employer is. I can see this section lasting between one and three sessions depending on how much your group like to roleplay.
4. The Temple of Xathos This section covers the bulk of the adventure and is a pretty standard dungeon crawl with some really fun elements. The start of this section allows the PCs to interact with some of the Islands human inhabitants to learn the history of the place. One or two nice touches like a "lost breed" of horses make the island really "live".
The dungeon proper is made interesting by the presence of collapsing sections. Overall, the dungeon has fewer "monsters per room" and more puzzles than recent adventures I've read. Most of the fights are avoidable if the PCs are cleaver and the monsters themselves are often quite interesting takes on existing creatures. The PCs can carry away some amazing treasures here if they are careful.
5. The Water Trap This is the second stage the adventure and is fast and furious with the party running/swimming for their lives. The encounters here reveal more of the backstory to the PCs employer and may result in an encounter with some very powerful and capricious beings. All in all this section requires quite a bit of atmosphere building but can be very rewarding.
6. The wrecking of the Artiglio A short section detailing a number of possible endings depending on the character's earlier actions. There is the possibility for a lot of role-playing in this section and a very powerful ending.
7. Beyond Xathoas A very interesting post-script to the adventure which gives numerous possibilities for what happens next. An adventuring party used to a standard "exit the dungeon and sell the stuff" approach are in for a bit of a surprise. A host of plot hooks (some involving the next Dragon Warriors book "In from the Cold") offer the GM a range of ideas for where to go next.
Style
Fury of the Deep sports a cover by new Dragon Warriors artist Carolyn Laplante. The art is impressive and gives a hint of the adventure without spoiling anything for the players. This is also the only piece of art in the pdf apart from the excellent maps and a few simple recurring pieces used to break the text. The publisher notes this absence of art as a means to keep costs down and the low price point of $9.95 seems to bear this out. I was a fan of previous Dragon Warriors interior art, and miss it, but can understand the rationale.
The supplement has the same clear and clutter free layout as earlier Dragon Warriors supplements making it easy to read and pretty easy on printer ink. (The lack of art being a bonus in that respect) The maps are mostly nice and clear, though one or two were a little dark.
Overall
Style 4: Lacks art but the layout, cover, and maps are superb. The whole thing as a very nice look and feel.
Substance 4: Like most Dragon Warriors adventures I've read in the past I finished reading with enough ideas for an entire campaign and not just a single scenario. The adventure is challenging and a lot of fun to play.
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