A D20 System adventure from
Fiery Dragon Productions
Rating:
(4 out of 5 hearts)
by Jean-Michel
This review should be read only by DMs, and certainly
not by people who think that they are going to play the module described here.
Otherwise, when time comes to play the game, everybody will face extreme disappointment.
Fiery Dragon Productions have been printing interesting d20 modules for a
while now. They often include special hand-outs and they always package cardboard
counters of PCs and opponents that can be used as miniatures on a battle map.
While the plot(s) of this double module are pretty straightforward, a few
remarkable elements shine a favourable light on it. The most significant one
is that players will be involved in two different ways.
The module provides ogre characters that are ready to be played. These ogres
all have 5 levels in a character class, except for one ogre mage character
that has one wizard level. Each player will choose and play one of these ogres
and raid a frontier human fortress to recover an artifact, the Giant's Skull,
which will help them free their tribe from the dominion of neighbouring hill
giants.
This gives the players an opportunity to play evil monsters and go on a destructive
rampage. The raid on the frontier fortress is well presented. The concept
of Alert Factor that other adventure publishers have been toying with is offered
here in the clearest way. Actions that the ogre characters take increase the
Alert Factor in the fortress if they are noisy or obvious. Most encounter
locations have specific guidelines depending on the Alert Factor that will
affect the number of opponents that will be present as well as their state
of combat readiness.
Once the first part of the adventure is concluded, preferably with a successful
raid by the ogre PCs, the players resume play with their usual PCs. The second
half of the adventure should involve 10th level characters. They will be brought
to the ravaged frontier fortress and witness the actions of their ogre characters.
Their mission is to take back the Giant's Skull from the ogres. They will
presumably raid the ogres' lair and face their former PCs in combat. The raid
on the ogres' lair is pretty much a dungeon crawl, the PCs literally crawl
into old caves to reach the ogres' lair from behind. Each ogre is individually
faced in his private quarters. The idea that the author is working with is
that if the players have played the ogre PCs, their attitude might differ
from the usual "destroy the monsters!" tactics and encourage role
play.
A lot of background material is provided for both parts of the adventure,
and the module can easily be integrated into any campaign with minor changes.
Suggestions for further development are included depending on the success
or failure of each part and the order in which the adventures are played.
Although the order as presented here is the obvious one, the author includes
guidelines for DMs who will prefer to play the regular PCs' adventure first
and the ogres' second. The design is efficient and the module will be easy
to run. The presentation includes clear maps and handy charts to keep track
of the Alert Factor and its effects as well combat tracking charts.
