tenfootpole.org

This is a Castles & Crusades adventure although it can easily be used with any pre-4E version of D&D.

This is an evil tower complex with an associated cave complex underneath. It does a fairly good job of recreating a sparsely populated evil tower, and has several trick/trap areas and a couple of nice weird elements. There’s a time limit associated with the adventure.

Do you recall the chapter/scene in The Return of the King where the hosts of Mordor empty the lands and pour out of the Black Gates to confront the armies of the west, the noble king, and the resplendent Gandalf the White? Do you know what my players would do when that happened? “Dude! No one is left to guard the treasure in the Black Tower! Let’s loot it!”

The fortress presented here was once a minor waypoint for a mighty evil empire. When the Dread Lord fell his minions were scattered. The current ruler of the tower has one claim to fame: When the Dark Lord fell he was still alive. He’s moved in to the tower and is gathering other forces to him. He intends to gather a great army and force his way south, reconquering the lands and paving the way for the Dread Lords return. Go Team Evil! As the party approaches the tower they notice a huge force of evil humanoids, a thousand at least,  pouring out of the gates, emptying the tower and it’s grounds.  It’s STRONGLY suggested that the party overhear a couple of the remaining guards mention something about the army coming back in 48 hours. “I’d like to do an appraise check on the master Palantir. How much?”

There’s a small wilderness adventure to get to the fortress. It’s quite heavy on humanoids, however this was the marshaling area for the dark lords troops. he encounters do have a little blurb associated with each one. They are not overly interesting however the effort is appreciated. For example, there’s a random number of goblins who can show up, however they only attack if they outnumber the party at least 3 to 1. There’s also a special encounter or two, like … The Flesh Pits. Oooo, that just sounds bad ass doesn’t it? Wandering hordes of flesh golems who kill things and dump the bodies in the pits they were created in. That’s pretty cool. There’s really not much to the encounter beyond that, although there is a great deal of text. That’s a good description for the entire adventure: interesting tidbits wrapped in a lot of text.

The maps for the tower complex remind me a lot of Dark Tower, by Judges Guild. I’m not sure why … maybe because the tower complex in this module is composed of multiple towers with internal connections between the the towers, with multiple stairs up and down. That’s really the only similarity, there are no ‘external dungeons’ like there are in Dark Tower. The maps also remind me a lot of those MERP supplements, Cirith Ungol or Camath Brin from Trollshaws. There are about 36 encounters in the towers and about eight more in the caverns underneath.

These towers have a lot more going on than those MERP supplements. Great flocks of ravens fly around. Giant bird statues do freaky things to PC’s who mess with them, and the souls of the dead all talking at once and driving players mad. Weird blood ink/ooze. There’s a lot of freaky stuff in this module and I. Love It. The tower is only sparsely populated, unlike many of the previous modules. I suspect this is primarily because of the limited time: with only 48 hours available the party is going to have to move it, and large numbers of creatures in the towers are not going to allow that. There’s a nice selection of freaky magic items present as well, and quite a bit of treasure for parties who can cart it off in 48 hours. Most of the encounters will deal with evil humanoids of one type or another, with not too many being powerful.  The bad guy is just a wizard of sixth level. He’s got some hefty magic items, but if the party find him without his orken guard then he’s probably going to go down fast. I believe “Kill the MU first, and fast.” is a universal piece of wisdom.

It’s an evil tower, full of evil humanoids. That’s not a recipe I generally fond on. The weird components, tricks, and freaky stuff, combined with the timed element, really work together. I suspect that the PC’s will talk for a long time to come about that tower with the freaky stuff they looted, just before the army returned.

This is available on DriveThru.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/59841/Castles–Crusades-A5-The-Shattered-Horn?affiliate_id=1892600

This is a Castles & Crusades adventure, although it can easily be used with any pre-4E version of D&D.

This is a rather generic city adventure. The various personalities are not fleshed out much, and there is a definite lack of subplots. The hooks provided are weak and the various NPC interactions are light as well. This is going to take some work to get some high-quality city play out of it.

There’s a city of about 200 souls. In it is a certain Baron who has come under the control of an evil cult/cabal. The players might want to do something about it. Or then again, maybe they don’t.

City adventures are tough. You need a lot of personality and subplots to make the place come alive, otherwise it’s just Yet Another City Hack Fest with the players treating your NPCs like target practice instead of real people. Cities are large and complex living things; I’m not sure I’ve EVER seen a good city supplement.

This module is in three parts. The first is the largest and describes the various locations within the city that may relate to the adventure hooks. The second section is a list of all of the NPC’s that were described in the first section, along with their motivations. The third section has stat blocks for all the NPC. Thus the second two sections are really only for reference, which I can fully appreciate. The NPCs could show up anywhere and having a generic location independent reference is a very good idea.

The city locations are not going to knock your socks off. A brief description of the barons keep. A couple of inns, A couple of guilds (silk & sheep), a marketplace, and so on. Only 12 places in all, including the Barons keep. There are a couple of mini-dungeons, lair-type, under the city that are connected to … The Sewers! Not only do the people of this fair town tolerate the presence of a sewer system, known to all as a universal breeding place for evil, but they are ignoring the members of the rat-catching guild complaining that the rats are all gone. As a potential town council member I want to recommend you not build sewers for your town AND you listen to your beggars and rat-catchers. It’s good insurance.

Lets talk hooks. “You’ve heard the Baron is unfair and the sheep guild is offering a reward for his head.” Seriously? “Find out why the silk guild is successful.” and “Just passing through when you get in a bar fight with the cult.” are little better. Maybe the party took part in A3 and found some clues that the evil base was working with people in town. Even that one is a kind of stretch. The “Whats in it for me?” factor is a little low on this one. “This is tonights adventure” might work as well. Seriously, the DMis going to have to put some work in to this to flesh out the city in a major way and get the players motivated to investigate.

The NPC’s are a little one-dimensional. They have some notes concerning the current plot, but not much else. There are some people that the players could use a co-conspirators to overthrow the Baron and start a coup, but it’s not clear how the PC’s are going to stumble upon this, especially in the short term. This sort of conspiracy/X-Files thing tends to work better from the sidelines, being revealed as subplot as the party does other things. Then, as they build trust and and come to know the city better they can explore the main plot. There’s just not enough detail in this product to do anything but the run the main plotline, everything else is going to have to come from the DM.

This is available on DriveThru.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/54409/Castles–Crusades-A4-Usurpers-of-the-Fell-Axe?affiliate_id=1892600

This is a Castles & Crusades adventure module, although it can easily be used with any pre-4E version of D&D.

This is a seven level fortress/dungeon set in a ziggurat. The entire place is populated by one army. There is a certain amount of interesting detail, however the writing is a little bland and verbose. A DM running will need to spend significant time prepping the module.

What we are presented with here is a very good example of a LE fortress. The forces of evil have an ancient ziggurat that they are conducting operations out of. From this regional base they send out spies, bribes, assassins, raiders, and generally scheme for the domination of the surrounding region. Leading this particular fortress is the Witch Queen (not related.) She’s running a working temple and bureaucratic base and trying to get a lot done. If the modules have been played in order then the players have a thrown a wrench in to some of her works in A2 and have followed up to find this base of evil. They have their work cut out for them.

The Ziggurat has seven levels and 78 keyed locations. That’s a lot of dungeon to epxlore. Since it’s a ziggurat, the levels get larger and larger and the characters descend in to the fortress. While the first level only has three rooms the final level has 25 or so locations. Despite many of the initial maps being small the level layouts are pretty nice. Most of the levels have alternate paths between locations, and each of the levels has multiple stairways up and down. There are many secret and concealed doors as well. I like this sort of map complexity because it allows for more player options. The party can decide to sneak around a different way, or even take the stairs down to the next level to come around the back way. It also allows for many more avenues of flight and for ambushes, something which should come up a lot in this module. There’s a nice wandering monster table provided for the wilderness that has some monster motivations ion it. This is just a word or two, but I like it when products do this. It helps bring the world to life. The ziggurat table is a little more boring, just a typical list with a couple of NPC’s thrown in.

The fortress has quite a few goblinoid servants, who are mostly cowardly, as well as lots of humanoid guards ranging from orcs through ogres to trolls. In addition there are a smattering of priests around, as well as the witch queen proper and a few of her guests and visitors. The party MAY have the opportunity to bluff their way in, however once combat starts things are going to get hairy. My reading of the module is that folks are packed in pretty tight and a combat is going to bring guards to investigate. That _should_ quickly lead to a coordinated response to the interlopers. This is probably the biggest fault of the product;with a large and organized band of opponents the DM could use some help. A brief chart or map entires noting nearby guards and their responses would be VERY helpful in running this. Without it the DM is going to need to spend some serious time making map notations and charts to help coordinate the inevitable response to the parties incursion. Hopefully the party is smart and runs easily; a group of 3rd and 4th levels characters are going to have trouble with a well-coordinted response from large numbers of multi-HD creatures. Remember all those alternate paths and stairs? They work for the monsters also …

The fortress is populated with an assortment of folk. A party bluffing their way in, it is a working temple after all, should get to interact with both guards and other humans and the like. While they generally do have some background motivations presented it does end up being mostly a moot point. They are all evil and no one is going to change their ways. At best they betray the party later to get in good with the boss lady. This lack of factions in the module is disappointing. With so many evil people running around you’d think SOMEONE wants to be in power besides the Witch Queen. They are all good little drones though, so no factions.

There’s a decent assortment of traps and strange new magic items presented. While the traps tend to be of the ‘trapped chest’ variety, he magic items are more interesting. Many of them are atypical. I’m looking at adventure modules because I’m an unimaginative git who needs help getting things going, so new magic items with unusual powers are exactly the sort of thing I’m looking for. In addition, many of the rooms have some unusual features. There’s a sad lack of “pools of water” or “trees with strange fruit” to experiment with, however this is an evil temple. That means a large assortment of “you feel strange ” rooms, rooms with negative modifiers, and strange idol type things. I generally like these sorts of things. In this case though, the writing is a little … bland. Maybe it’s because it’s also a bit verbose, but the entire module just feels a little flat to me, in terms of atmosphere. I wish I could be more explicit in my analysis but I don’t think I can be. The product just didn’t fire my imagination. The overall atmosphere of a LE humanoid base just wasn’t interesting and there were no strong weird elements or atmospheric elements to kick it up a bit.

This is available on DriveThru.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/24506/Castles–Crusades-A3-Wicked-Cauldron?affiliate_id=1892600

This is a Castles & Crusades adventure module, although it can easily be used with and pre-4E version of D&D.

This is a small village area with a couple of cave complex dungeons and a few wilderness encounters. The various areas are a bit disconnected, and presented more as ideas for the DM to use, as opposed to a well-connected series of adventurers.

The various encounter areas in this adventure module are strangely disconnected. We’re presented with a village, several wilderness encounters, and a couple of dungeon complexes. These are strangely disconnected. The wilderness encounters don’t show up on any map, they are presented more in a way that the DM can force the PC’s to stumble across them. I suspect this is more like how many DM’s run their actual games: you go someplace (the village) to get an objective then stumble around the wilderness looking for your goal while meeting various encounters the DM has dreamed up. Finally the DM drops a hint in a wilderness encounter that leads you to the core dungeon. I understand that this is the essence of every town/wilderness/dungeon adventure, however the degree of … vagueness? in the various encounters means that this is essentially a story based adventure until you get to the main dungeon. Or perhaps it’s more like a sandbox or design kit, with many options provided to the DM in order to get the party doing something. In any event, it left me feeling a bit uneasy … even though I’ve railroaded my players many times in the past.

The town of Botkinburg is presented. It really only has a tavern/inn and a manor home. Everyone else is a farmer of some sort or another. About 25 areas in the town and nearby halfling village are described. The townsfolk are not particularly memorable, although they do each have some quirks. I wish there were more subplots going on than just the current crisis. Quite a few of the townsfolk may accompany the party if they try to recruit them. i appreciate that sort of detail in a town description, especially when it’s meant to be a home base. The potential recruits are of varying quality and have various motivations, which is a nice touch. There are some issues with the text in places. For example, a few of the townsfolk visit a witch in the woods. The witch lives 6 days in to the woods. That’s 12 days away from home. SOMEONE is going to notice that. Overall the village is not very impressive; Just Another Fantasy Village With A Problem. In this case, some humanoid raids and some missing/kidnapped children.

The wilderness encounters are more interesting. Rather, taken as a whole they are more interesting. The individual encounters lack atmosphere however when taken together they provide the campaign environment an interesting flair. Ruins in the wilderness. Strange magical animals, witches in the forest … it’s almost a lighter magical game, more realistic, and with the elements of the fantastic grounded in a more fairy-tale element. There’s an elder witch deep in the forest. She’s not necessarily hostile. There’s a giant magical intelligent otter that’s been captured and is being interrogated by bugbears. There’s an ogre living in an abandoned cliffside fort. These and more give the lands an interesting feel, although none of the individual encounters are very  atmospheric. One of the encounters is fairly large, a kobold cave complex with an old tomb at the end. The cave is interesting, with ledges, tunnels, and so on. The tomb portion, while small, is interesting as well, with walls to tunnel through and treasure presented in an interesting way. I actually preferred this small complex to the main dungeon, even though it has kobolds and is fairly linear. I should also note the wandering monster table is nicer than average. All of the entries on the table, humanoid and animal, are doing something. “After a raid, encamped” or “searching for new home” or “eating.” I like those sorts of elements. It helps bring a game world to life.

The main dungeon is in two parts, with a single connection between the two. The upper portion is occupied by humanoids while the lower section is more of an unused portion of a military complex from deep in the past. That portion has some treasure and and a nice spooky guardian. The upper portion basically just has humanoids. There’s about 30 keyed locations between the two locations, with most being on the upper portion. With one notable exception, there’s not much going on in the upper portion other than ‘room with goblinoid raiders.’ The lower portion, being abandoned, is more interesting from an exploration standpoint, but is far too small to be a major play area. I wish the upper portion had a more organized response to incursions and there were more weird and fantastic elements in the dungeon.

The village is realistic, which means boring. The wilderness encounters border on the fantastic, which is wonderful, although there is no wilderness map and it must therefore be a bit of DM railroad to get those encounters in to use. The core dungeon is really just a humanoid lair while the supplemental kobold dungeon is more interesting from an exploration standpoint.

This is available on DriveThru.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/19422/Castles–Crusades-A1-Assault-on-Blacktooth-Ridge?affiliate_id=1892600

This is a Castles & Crusades adventure module, although it can be easily used with an pre-4E version of D&D.

My copy of A0 is a part of Umbrage Saga boxed set. Your milage may vary.

This is a solid introductory adventure for a group of beginning characters. It touches on all the important points: an interesting base, a wilderness adventure, a dungeon crawl, some unusual/weird elements, and an ancient evil. It does a decent job in all of those areas but does not excel in any.

Life is hard out on the borderlands. You think that in moving your family away the heart of the kingdom that you are getting away from the wars, strife, and land disputes that a part of everyday life. You find a nice patch of bottom land next to some other folks and lay in to the hard life of a farmer. Things are rough but looking up when … a batch of monsters show up. Maybe life back in civilization wasn’t so bad after all …

A village on the borderlands is being threatened by some marauding humanoids. After a couple of raids they are now just outright extorting tribute from the villagers. The local rulers are too busy with their own troubles to send troops, so instead they offer a bounty on the humanoid bandit leaders head. That’s where the party comes in.

The small village of Mallforten is the one having the trouble. It’s a small village on the borderlands, primarily agrarian. There’s really only two shops: a tavern and a supplies shop. A tinker comes through once a month, most trade is in barter and lend/lease. The local gaol has a hanging tree out back with a rotted rope attached and hangmans mushrooms that grow underneath on nights of the full moon. There are twelve figures of note described in the village. Some may be allied to the players cause, some neutral, and some opposed … they are now spying for the raiders! The village description is a good one for a realistic portrayal of a small village on the borderlands. Townfolk gather at the tavern early in the morning after the cows are milked, and then the place clears out during the day while everyone works, filling up again in the evenings. That’s the sort of realistic touch that I appreciate. The townfolk described are likewise interesting in that they each have different reactions to the current crisis. It gives the impression that these are real people responding the way real people do: hurt feelings, pride, cowardice, greed, and so on. The kind of apathy of action and lack of clarity that dominates everyday life for most people. There’s a rumor table for the village and for the travelers on the road, as well as a short and uninteresting wandering monster table for getting to the village. There’s also a touch of fantasy thrown in, such as the poison mushrooms that grow under the hanging tree on nights with a full moon. I really like that light touch of the fantastic, especially in this product. The real world for most people is boring but just beyond the edges is the fantastic. Even to the extent of the party being bounty hunters … that’s not usually a role I suspect that most people see themselves in when they adventure, but it’s a realistic one and one that the villagers are going to appreciate, even if they are a bit apprehensive about armed strangers. Seven guys with Katanas walking in to town could spell trouble, even if they are there to ‘help.’ The major problem, and I use that term lightly, with the village is that it’s focused on the adventure. The subplots and feelings and interactions of the villagers are not detailed outside of the current troubles. Life goes on, even in times of trouble, so a couple of love subplots, or other interesting facts outside of the adventure goal, could have catapulted the village from being single use to being a classic location, such as Hommlet or Pembrooktonshire.

There’s a short wilderness journey, a few days, to get to the raiders. There’s some generic wandering monster tables and six opportunities for fixed encounters. These fixed encounters are not located on a map, just described. Most, if not all, of them are going to be missed without some serious intervention from the DM. A nymph that only comes out during a full moon. A haunted ridge line in the wilderness that only occurs during a crescent moon. Secretive fairies. The civilized world needs to imply that the fantastic is just around the corner and the wilderness should be  good place to encounter the fantastic. The encounters have a light, airy, fairy tale feel, which I throughly enjoy, it’s just not clear that they are going to be enjoyed by anyone except the DM reading them. This usually means the DM needs to force them on the party, which leaves a bad taste in my mouth. With some work the encounters could be re-rigged a bit so they occur near places the party might camp at night, or might travel past.

The raiders are hanging out at a ruined evil temple. A SENTIENT evil temple, which is trying to raise the last high priest. It just needs ONE more sacrifice and the EHP will be back in action. As such, the gnoll leader is mostly waiting in the sacrifice chamber for the party to show up, with the temple helping things around through the use of an illusion here or there to channel the party to the gnoll. The ruined temple has two dungeon levels. The entrance outside is realistic; multiple trails in the ruins all leading back to one point. The maps for the two levels are small, with just six of so keys for each levels. They are composed of a couple of large loops with some branching hallways. This isn’t enough for true explorative play however it’s ok for the ‘lure the pcs to the center’ type play. Most of the chambers are occupied by humanoid raiders, kobolds and goblins mostly, and a large number have ‘something else’ going on. A weak wall that can bashed through. A blood offering that should be made. A well, noisy dogs, and a scriptorium.  Lots for the party to investigate, mess around with, get in to trouble with, and things that don’t necessarily make sense from a rules standpoint. I love that sort of thing in my adventures. Screw your game mechanics! Weird & whimsical rule! The final fight should be fairly interesting, as the humanoids attempt to capture a pc and sacrifice them while the battle rages. The poor EHP adds a bit of flavor as well.

This is a solid little adventure. It doesn’t really excel in any area, other than it touching on nearly element of classic game play. It would make a fine introductory adventure, but I don’t see it as being a classic.

This is available on DriveThru.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/84040/Castles–Crusades-A0-The-Rising-Knight?affiliate_id=1892600