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White Plume Mountain is a novelization of the classic AD&D module of the same name (S2, White Plume Mountain). A few details of the module have been changed to better suit a roving adventure, but the story kernel remains intact—go to the mountain, get the three magic weapons, though details shift from the city of Greyhawk to the County of Urnst.
The story follows the ranger “the Justicar,” his pet hell hound pelt and a “faerie.” If that weren’t enough, we get to watch (and empathize) with Justicar’s dealing with Polk, a teamster and guide that is gratingly under thumb. The novel begins by following the Justicar as he guards a caravan and showcases his fighting abilities. The story adds the faerie and we see the two bond out of circumstance and we’re hooked enough to read through the novel, even though most of us have played the old adventure.
Kidd makes this novel fit the Greyhawk setting, and adds in little details that would have otherwise been missed (the two moons, certain knighthoods, etc.). Though the pacing is good, the level of humor (well, perceived humor) was not what I expected to have in the book. The idea of the faerie tossing the vampire’s head to Polk had me laughing.
The novel holds to the module closely, though several sections are skipped as the novel’s main focus was getting the characters to White Plume Mountain rather then exploring it. As this was one of my favorite adventure modules, seeing the small crew defeat the dungeon was heartwarming.
Overall, this novel is a good read for those wanting to see how a dungeon crawl can go as well as a good book to see great character interactions. I don’t see much wrong with the novel except the title is somewhat misleading, I wanted more White Plume Mountain in the book that was titled after it, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book in spite of that.
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