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Review Summary. ‘The Lash of Malloc’ is a nicely written mini-module with potential. Mistakes in editing though and a bad map reduce its value.
What you get: For your US$2.99 you get a soft cover 16-page d20 adventure for 3rd to 5th level characters, authored by Travis Heermann and published by Alderac Entertainment Group. ‘The Lash’ is the fourth adventure of the second run of AEG’s instant adventures (numbered 8324) that can be played in a session. It is in the weird format of a folded A4 paper that became the standard for mini-modules published both by AEG and by Fantasy Flight Games. The artwork is sparse and average in every sense, while the map in the middle is (aesthetically) fair.
Spoiler warning: stop reading here.
The story: The Desert Beetle Inn is the only inn in the middle of a scorching wasteland, therefore the only choice for merchants and travelers crossing the desert. Small items go missing from time to time, strange sounds upset the still of the desert night and twisted footprints appear near the water whole the inn is situated, without this bothering the travelers or the innkeeper. The disappearance of the teen daughter of a wealthy merchant though is the reason of the characters getting involved and shedding some light in the mysteries of the oasis.
The strong points: This is a location-based adventure. An inn in the middle of the desert is the right place to evoke uncertainty and fear and ‘The Lash’ manages to deliver.
The new monster described is an old friend with a twist: the desert goblin. Players will be surprised to see this one around, especially with its new description and powers. A living being looking like a mummified goblin? Fantastic!
The lash, Malloc’s magical item, is fair. Somehow I expected the whip to have a strong shocking grasp attack (as it does, thus being predictable), but this doesn’t reduce its value as a solidly created magical item. In fact, it is just the kind of weapon one would expect Malloc to wield in the first place.
The weak points: GMs should not let their players see the title of the adventure. Not only is the lash the magical item of the adventure, but also it evidently points to that Malloc is the bad guy. The characters would suspect Malloc, that's normal, but this is just too much.
‘This adventure is designed to be easily dropped into your existing...’-not. Unless your characters are already in a desert or intended to travel in a desert, this adventure cannot be easily played. To send them in the desert just to sort this one out... well, it depends what kind of things your players put up with; mine wouldn’t. The inn can’t really change position because of the desert goblins and I wouldn’t want to remove these critters from the story; they are an asset.
But let’s get to the main problem of the adventure, the map. ‘The entire building is a walled compound with heavy wooden gates facing the east and the west’. On the map there are doors facing the east only. ‘(…) The roofs of some interior buildings just visible over the wall’; the map depicts only one building inside the wall, the inn. There are no other buildings within the compound. Is the text right or is it the map?
The situation inside the inn is no better. The logic behind the placement of the rooms and doors is not that solid. The cells are on the first floor making it easy for the captive girl to state her presence by just shouting or jumping on the floor. There is only a very small flight of stairs going upstairs through the kitchen (!) downstairs. A typographical mistake replaced F with H so that area H appears twice while F is nowhere on the map. Granted, is it easy to sort out but...
Finally, as I already said, ‘The Lash of Malloc’ has typos both in the map and in the text. This is the third AEG instant adventure I read that manages to do it.
Conclusion: Initially ‘The Lash’ surprised me very pleasantly with a story that, although not pioneering, can be pleasantly played. After the second reading though the lack of attention AEG showed to its own product was so obvious it actually frustrated me. I don’t know whose fault this is, the writer’s, the cartographer’s, the company’s… The result is that an idea with good potential is rated lower than its worth. ----------------------------------------------------------
The 2011 re-examination: Not much has changed in the last ten years. Interesting and fun, if reworked. Thinking of the value of these in the secondary market, buying a dozen of the better ones shouldn't set you back more than US$5.
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