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Note: Myself, I haven't played Everquest Online. I'm the "second" target audience of EQ RPG, aka. The Roleplayer. In my opinion, the EQ RPG brings alternate, fun, ideas not present in D&D. I also believe its products need to constantly differentiate themselves from D&D -- Why play it, right? Of course, if you don't have a "Why can't we just play d20" player in your group, this review should still have enough information to help you make a purchasing decision.

Introduction

Befallen is a EQ RPG dungeoncrawl against a stronghold of undead and spellcasting NPCs. The PCs are given quests to retrieve various legendary items within the dungeon, cumulating in a ritual to cleanse the dungeon itself. Each of the three levels is for a different range of character levels, starting from 4th to 6th level, to 12th to 15th level. While an EQ RPG product, Befallen may be used, with some modification, in a d20 setting.

Art and Layout

The softcover comes as 60-page black and white adventure, with the same layout as the EQ RPG core books. Maps and illustrations are very professional. Art is infrequent, but used effectively by highlighting climactic moments and NPCs in the adventure. Being staple-bound, the pages open easily so the GM can make copies of player handouts.

Flavor: Quests and History

Adventures typically have a background explaining the party's motivation. It could be something as simple as following-up on some gold-laden rumors, or stealing an artifact for a mage from the local thieve's guild. Additionally, once the adventure is completed, some NPC party often benefits (eg. the mage), and another doesn't (eg. the thieve's guild).

In D&D, the background and consequences to NPCs are often "thrown away" and forgotten. However, EQ RPQ turns this background into a game mechanic, by calling it a Quest. A particular part I like about the Quest is how the NPC parties benefitting and adversely affected are "quantified" with the faction rank. The NPC party who benefits looks favorably towards the PCs, so, as a Quest Reward, the PCs will typically gain a +1 Faction Rank with the NPC party. As a Quest Consequence, the NPC who is negatively affected gives the PC a -1 Faction Rank.

The utility of a Faction Rank is that it helps GMs anticipate an NPC's reaction to the party -- including when they want something! ("You want to research spells as the local wizard's guild? Well, you're going to have to go on a Quest for them...") The Consequence is also useful in that it reminds the GM to think about adversarial factions he can use against the PCs in future stories.

Sadly, Befallen doesn't do much with the quest. (Why, yes, you have been reading all those words just for nothing...) Of the five quests, four are searching for a particular, legendary item in the dungeon. Stop me if you haven't clicked that one before. The Consequence is a -1 Faction Rank with the Befallen (!). It's a shame that the Befallen Quests aren't as interesting as those in the EQ RPG Game Master's Guide.

I should also mention the legendary items. Those of you familiar with AD&D's Wave, Whelm, and Blackthorne know that legendary items have to be unique enough to be, well, legendary. But they shouldn't be so powerful that the PCs decide to steal them! Befallen leans towards low-powered items. The penultimate Quest has the PC's retrieving the Daggar of Martak. Described as "the final key to (Martak's) transformation into a lich" the item is a +2 daggar which bestows +1 Intelligence to its owner. Big deal. As a GM, I don't mind low-powered legendary items, but, as a player, I'd be underwhelmed. (Thread about magic item power levels and D&D deleted.)

Finally, much like many a D&D adventure, the history of Befallen is unimportant to actual play. Some references to it are mention in various journal pages found by the PCs. But otherwise, it's your standard "lost unimportant knowledge to add flavor for the GM".

Adventuring: The Dungeon

The dungeon itself consists of three levels, with 12-20 encounters each level. The first level is for 4th-6th level characters, the second for 8th to 12th levels, and third for 12th to 15th. The book itself is 60 pages, selling for $11. Compare this to Necromancer Game's Tomb of Abysthor, which has ten levels, with 10-25 encounters per level, over 90 pages, and sells for $12. (Yes, it's crass to make "quantity, not quality" comparisons like this, but Tomb of Abyshtor has both quantity **and** quality.)

Furthermore, completing one level of Befallen doesn't provide enough experience to proceed to the next level. The text says this is intentional and gives suggestions to the GM how PCs can revisit the dungeon. "Static" dungeons are something of a pet irritation of mine -- doesn't anybody notice what's going on upstairs??

The dungeon itself mostly consists of undead. However, before your players decide to create Clerics with CHA 18, best to drop a few hints that these are Dark Undead. EQ uses variant, tougher, monsters, and the undead inhabiting Befallen are the Dark Undead. More intelligent than their counterparts, they can only be affected by Undead Empathy from spellcasters whose level is **twice** their CR! Most undead are variants of skeletons and the like, but the more creative undead include the Reanimated Hand and Ghost Skulls. The Reanimated Hand (seen in EQ RPG's Monsters of Norrah) is a spellcasting CR 10 large undead with 14d12 HD. Ghost Skulls (new monsters) are non-combative, but conversant CR 4 4d12 HD tiny (!) undead. (I **did** say tougher monsters, didn't I? (:

Other residents are spellcasters (necromancers, shadow knights, and clerics). While the planned encounters have tactics for spellcasters, the random ones do not. I would thus recommend GMs have some experience playing spellcasters in combat before running this adventure. You could also have a co-GM help you run these NPCs. Speaking of intelligent NPC's, some are willing to negotiate with the PCs in an uneasy alliance against other NPCs. However, unlike tactics, details of how they will do this are not provided. (A section of who's plotting against whom and how the PCs can help and hinder individual NPC goals would have helped.) Again, a co-GM may be useful here.

On the positive side, I appreciated the subtle touches of this adventure. The dungeon actually adds an explanation of why the weaker monsters are on the higher levels. For example, the first level is ruled by Sedrit Hague who "is given free rein to rule the level as he sees fit". Except that no one helps him, and if he complains, there are plenty of others ready to take his position. Apparently, middle management is not a recent invention. (:

Also, the dungeons themselves receive extra details. Almost every room has a furnishing, trap, or even door of interest, including stats and DC checks. Monsters receive descriptions, a paragraph of tactics, and a stat block reference. You probably won't refer to your Monsters of Norrah or Game Master's Guide much during play. Boxed text is, thankfully, no longer than a paragraph. Writers of published adventures might consider Befallen as part of their reference library.

d20 Conversion

On the off-chance you're using this adventure with d20 rules (perhaps you're running it a second time, with a d20 group), you'll have to make a few changes. Monsters shouldn't be a problem, especially since their stat block summaries are included in the adventure. Treasures come from the EQ Game Master's Guide, but EQ Treasure guarded by monsters (ie. not used by them) can easily be substituted by D&D treasure.

NPCs definitely require conversion. EQ spells, of course, are different from D&D spells, and Befallen NPCs are often equipped with EQ magical items. Also, not only are spellcasters the second-most common encounters in Befallen, but the Shadow Knight class is used. Spellcasters will need to be given new spells and re-equipped with D&D treasure. Shadow Knight NPCs will have to be redesigned as Blackguards or other anti-paladins.

Of course, you and your players may find amusing your using the EQ RPG spells and classes while the players play their d20 characters. "It's your world now", right?

Recommendation

If this were a typical d20 module, I'd say it was a good, playable dungeoncrawl. However, since this is EQ RPG, I was hoping for an adventure that highlighted the unique points of EQ RPG. More importantly, **your players**, particularly the ones you **had to convince** to play EQ RPG, will start asking you why you're making them play EQ RPG when d20 will do. Still, if your gaming group already enjoys the EQ RPG, Befallen should be an enjoyable adventure.