First, the good...
1) This adventure really gives different classes time to shine. I liked how it included a ship so any Buccaneers could show off their skills.
2) The adventure is nicely paced. Lots of action, but it is balanced with tons of role playing opportunties.
3) The adventures allows for clever heroes to avoid combat through using their disciplines.
4) I liked how the other passengers on the ship were notable NPC's in character classes. I just wish (see #3 below)...
5) This adventure does a nice job of "directing" the heroes without making it seem as if they don't have choices.
6) I also liked the options for the heroes to heal up in the middle of the adventure and do some shopping when they get to Seroa.
Finally, the bad...
1) The plot is a little obscure. There really is no way for the heroes to every truly understand the backstory of the Druid. Also, the threat seems to be a little great (killing all magic users in Magnamund) to send novice heroes on this adventure. Also, isn't there any easier way to capture a single magic user than this elaborate plot?
2) Simply put, if you run this adventure as it is written, you will kill your party. It is advertised for 4-6 players and says if you have more or less than that you will have to make adjustments. Having 5 players, I kept the numbers the same and I killed three player characters. Several things up the lethality considerably.
a)Shakara's wildfire - Doing DOUBLE a random number roll, this potent mixture could do anywhere from 2 - 18 damage to EVERY TARGET IN A TEN FOOT RADIUS. I believe I got a middle number (7x2=14) and this came directly after the brutal Storgh combat. Considering most heroes have somewhere around 25 HP TOTAL, this is WAY too much damage.
b) The ambush. At one point, there is an ambush of TEN Beastmen. In the first round of combat they attack with bows. This combat alone could be a TPK! What makes it worse is Shakara, if not previously discovered, chooses this moment to attack!
c) The Cener Druid in the final combat has eight beastmen AND a ranged attack that does double or triple damage. YIKES! Triple damage alone could kill a player character in a single round!
3) I wish that the NPCs were more fully fleshed out as far as disciplines. The adventure says Shakara is an assassin, but she looks like a buccaneer. Ulnic and Mulnic are Knights of Illion. Radak is a Cener Druid. But none of these characters are presented with the disciplines their classes should provide. What rank are they? The captain also seems to need a little bit more fleshing out. Sure, the DM can make this stuff up but it would be nice if it came with the adventure already.
Overall, I feel as if the problems with this adventure can be overcome with some advanced planning and work on the part of the DM.
1LR Review - 14 out of 20 - It's a Hit!
Hi there!
ReplyDeleteI wrote this adventure back in the day and am glad you had fun with it. :) I just stumbled across your webpage by accident and am glad i did.
Apologies if this was too tough, but it was mostly deliberate. First, Magnamund is a brutal place. There are any number of ways to die in the gamebooks, for both Lone Wolf as well as Grey Star and I felt like emulating this. Second, there are any number of party combinations available thanks to Heroes of Magnamund. If you have all melee oriented characters, yes this can be very difficult. But if you have ranged characters, such as Brothers of the Crystal Star in your party, the odds can swing in your favor quickly. Not only that, but certain characters can uncover Shakara and the ambush before they are sprung by clever/lucky use of abilities. Lastly, this was meant to be a one off, re-playable adventure for players, so I decided to make it brutally hard so the players who do survive have a feeling of accomplishment. The Murder At the Tourney adventure which I also wrote OTOH was supposed to be a campaign starter type of adventure, which is why it was not near as hard as this one and also gave the PCs a starting friendly base to which to return to during their adventures.
Oh and by the way I think Ulnic and Mulnic, Knights of Illion (Knight of the Sword ) already had the Knightly abilities figured into their stats as much as could be. Thing is, this game is rules light and I only wanted to Narrator to have to deal with the minimalist amount of technical things needed so they could have an easier time of running the game. I had not yet written the Cener Druid class yet, so yes this Druid differs from the other write up in Signs & Portents.
Best Regards!
p.s. I hope to read more about you & your gaming groups future adventures in Magnamund. :)