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My group just finished a truncated version of Heart of Nightfang Spire by Bruce Cordell, the reason it was truncated is this: The dungeon, while having a traditional feel, was very long, and simply a constant fight, with little or no storyline encountered. But before I get to that, a quick synopsis.
Plot: Basically the plot is this: Gulthias, insane vampire wizard (and botanist) cult leader has made his lair in a tower known as “Nightfang Spire”. The PCs, being honorable heroes, (or in our case, greedy) decide to rid the world of this menace. They travel to the spire itself, seeking to end the unlife of the Vampire Gulthias, and prevent the return of his master, Ashardalon, a very scary Dragon who was banished to another plain for being just too evil for the prime material. So this sets the scene, on to the playtest review.
Playtest Review: Our party, consisting of a dwarven paladin, a human fighter (or killer, if you prefer accuracy), and twin half-elves, an arcane archer and duelist, respectively (balance? what‘s that?), decide to undertake the quest presented to them, and head out to “Nightfang Spire”, once there we encountered a Mooncalf (a what?) which we promptly dispatched back to the dark side of the moon or whatever (A cool monster, but why was it there?, also where do I get one of those flying carpets on the cover?). Then we began our long journey into the heart of the spire, or towards the heart, a play on words that I enjoy... Our first encounter left us level drained, and wary. The pace was set for our exploration (looting) of the spire. This module was especially distressing for the Duelist in our party, the most damaging of his special abilities based on the fact that his opponents contain functioning organs. Fight after fight ensued, with very little in the way of actual role-playing, out fighter greatly enjoyed himself, (but he would be happy sitting in a room and slaughtering everything that came by) but after awhile the players began to complain The main complaint was this, the dungeon was very long, and the monotony of it began to create a dull atmosphere. While the NPCs in the book had interesting backgrounds, particularly Redbone, the Wight assassin, as players, we didn't know this, as she failed to recount her life story to us before we destroyed her utterly. The Vampire Gibbering Mouther was another surprise, (the image of Gulthias sucking on a ‘Mouther is very interesting, and I wish it was pictured) but one that also did not last long. In the end, we found ourselves frustrated, and bored. This dungeon, while not without merits, was very, very, long, and in the end our GM decided playing the truncated version would be better. He eliminated much of the dungeon, (which I hear actually HAS storyline) and we ended the threat. I write this review for all of those out their whose party consists of those who favor roleplaying over slaughter, I would recommend that you look at Nightfang Spire before you run it and ask yourself this: Will I find myself shortening this, just to stop the complaints? This is important, as I do believe that every group I have ever played with (which runs the gamut from pure role-playing, to hack-and-slash) might find this module a bit tedious. It is our collective belief that this module was intended to be more “dungeony” because the last one: The Standing Stone was more on the side of the role players (it has it’s problems as well, but let’s not start on that). Overall, I think this module may not be good for every party. I have never played in what I would call an “average” party, which would in all actuality find this adventure not so bad, this review is to address the GMs of parties like I have played in since I began roleplaying, parties of the extremes... either Overboard Role-players, who like to “be” their character over actually getting anything done, to Giant swords with purses and sex drives, who are here to do one thing: kill and profit from it.... If your party is one of these I urge you to consider another adventure in place of Heart of Nightfang Spire
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