Review of The Upside Down Tower

I had the great fortune of playtesting this module with it's writer (Noel Maddow) DMing it. For content, it is an outstanding low level adventure. Here's the basic story: A well known (at least in the region where the adventure takes place) adventurer/historian has located the long lost tower of an evil wizard, who was slain by a group of do-gooder adventurers to put an end to his sinning ways. I say 'long lost' because no one really knows if the adventurers were successful (none of them returned), only that the evil wizard was never heard from again, and his story disappears in the pages of time.

Fast forward 200 years to the historian who stumbles upon the hidden location of this tower. While trying to gain entry, he sets off some nasty traps, is unable to complete his mission of searching the tower to find out what really happened two centuries ago, so hires the PCs to take over for him. What follows is a classic dungeon crawl, with the focus on undead, plus a story for the PCs to piece together. But back to actual game content. I had a wonderful time playing this.

I've been into gaming since about '78, and rarely find low level adventures very challenging any more, but this one really made me think. There's lots for the players to keep their eyes peeled for, as some minor item/detail in one area can help greatly in another. But it isn't so restrictive that missing something keeps the adventure from progressing. Each additional thing the PCs can find/think up only enhances the adventure. The encounters are well selected I feel (a fair statement since my character had to face them), not overwhelming but never push overs either. It comes with both complete characters ready to play and NPCs to augment the party. While it's set right near a town called "Windward" (the guide book for which Noel is wrapping up currently), it doesn't rely on that town (actually gives little description at all) because the adventure simply doesn't involve the city. This way, it's very easy to set by any small city/town that you may want, as a DM. In short, it was a downright fun dungeon crawl to go on.

But now, the style. I listed the style as "classy and well done", but let me warn you that that is primarily because the module is very intelligently written. It's logical, flows well, and plays well. As for it's physical appearance, module goes in the opposite direction of most in it's layout. It has no pictures, no margin art, nothing. Bad? Well, some might say so, but in exchange for that, you get 24 pages of 100% game material (room descriptions, NPCs, etc...), no fluff, no flair. This helps to keep the price for printing down, to keep the adventures dirt cheap (I think they're $4.95 each, but I can't remember). The pages are full sized, not half book sized like are a bit the style right now with some companies (not a slam, I like them too, just different styles). The module is therefore plain to look at, but the trade off (low price) more than makes up for it in my mind.

In any event, Noel and I have been role playing together for years, and I'm glad to see him getting a chance to put out modules. He's already got the next module in this series done, so once I've playtested that, I'll drop a review on it too. I hope this review helps, and I'll be more than happy to answer any questions regarding it or other stuff Noel puts out. Thanks for reading.