{"id":7260,"date":"2021-04-10T07:28:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-10T11:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=7260"},"modified":"2021-03-29T08:30:18","modified_gmt":"2021-03-29T12:30:18","slug":"the-darness-beneath-brightwell-manor-adventure-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=7260","title":{"rendered":"The Darness Beneath Brightwell Manor, adventure review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Tim Bannock\nSelf Published\nB\/X or 1e\nLevels 10-14!!!<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
The reclusive Brightwell family has been corrupted by the whispers of a vengeful sorceress-turned-fiend. When this newfound master suddenly grows silent, the madness infecting the household is no longer focused, and cannot be contained. Mayhem spills across the countryside. Meanwhile, deep below the Brightwell estate, the family\u2019s patriarch Eldon Brightwell inflicts horrifying experiments on both servants and family…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This 53 page adventure uses about thirteen pages to describe about sixty rooms in a manor home with a couple of basement levels. It\u2019s minimally keyed, bland, and a 5e conversion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s got clean and clear maps that are easily read, and uses a landscape format to provide easy to read three-column text. It doesn\u2019t mess around with too much backstory, and puts most things like that in an appendix, which also has a reference for NPC\u2019s to be found in the manor. It\u2019s extensively hyperlinked. The first of the map pages also describes the general features of the house, like windows and doors, which is useful to have on a map so that they are \u201calways on\u201d for the DM to reference duringplay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now that the good is over with \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, it\u2019s a 5e conversion, it looks like. It calls for rolls with advantage, making perception checks, and so on. I get it, 5e sells more than anything else so make the adventure for that. And, of course, just like with Roll to Continue, this kind of stuff can be easily ignored by a DM and\/or converted on the fly. But it shows a lack of caring. If you\u2019re converting to another system shouldn\u2019t you actually convert it to that system? Especially if you claim in the the introduction that \u201cThis adventure uses 1E and B\/X style OSR mechanics \u2026\u201d Uh. No. It uses 5e mechanics. Anyway, that\u2019s me being petty. As I said, just as with a lopsided page count of adventure to supporting material, which this has, I think it tends to be indicative of those things that don\u2019t bode well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You are a 14th level adventuring party in 1e\/B\/X. In both cases you\u2019ve all probably got your own keeps, etc. In B\/X, in particular, I think you\u2019re walking godlings, based on my experiences with my players. So one of the hook is that the village hires you to look in to the goings-on at the manor. *sigh* By giving us each new land holdings? There\u2019s one hook that makes sense, as you visit looking for lore\/alchemical components. Again, who cares? But, again, it shows a general lack of level awareness in the conversion. Time and again adventures are produced for high levels that should be lower level adventures, and their strain to make them high level shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRoom 2: Foyer – Unwatched and unguarded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRoom 1: Porch – Three scarecrows nailed to the porch columns (actually corpses!). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c2-1. Stairway & Hall – Signs of carnage, blood trails leading to Area 2-2\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This then is a minimally keyed adventure. Take the 1e DMG and roll for \u201cdungeon dressing.\u201d Ideally, this would serve as inspiration, the designer riffing off of the rolls and their imagination coming up with something to put in the room. Or, you could just put \u201cSigns of carnage\u201d as the description. It’s an abstracted description. No specifics. \u201cDried foodstuffs, but supplies are getting low.\u201d You could do so much more with that. Replace that sentence. Add another one. Done! But you\u2019d have something much livelier, something that danced in the DMs head. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Traps? \u201cOne of the steps is creaky. Roll a save or the next monsters are alerted.\u201d The alerting is good, and a creaky step is a classic, but the traps in this tend to be of the \u201cGotcha!\u201d variety. There\u2019s little to no warning. Thus they are just punishments for not min\/maxing your save rather than a dose of interactivity that you can explore and play around with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In general you need between about 200k and 400k xp to gain a new level at levels 13-14. Let\u2019s say 200k. With a party of four that\u2019s 800k experience to gain a level. Let\u2019s say you\u2019re leveling every \u2026 6 sessions? You need 133,000 xp. Do you think that there\u2019s 133,000 gold in this adventure? Do you think this adventure is a true 1e conversion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Creature descriptions are boring. Magic items descriptions are boring. Treasure descriptions are boring. Everything is abstracted descriptions. \u201cZombies are mindless creatures.\u201d 1d6 gemstones with 500gp each. A potion usable by all classes. At one point there are two gibbering mouthers in a room. I THINK they are supposed to be the wife of the manor lord? It doesn\u2019t say, but might imply it if I squint. No personalization. No touches like \u201cwearing his wife’s dress\u201d or  \u201ccombing its hair.\u201d Just two gibbering mouthers in a room. Why two? I don\u2019t know, that would require effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The focus here is misplaced. It\u2019s not overwritten, to be sure, and I appreciate that. It\u2019s clear that some care was taken in trying to do a few design related things. But the room descriptions and encounters are so bland. Abstracted descriptions. Mundane interactivity. No focus on the wonder that is D&D.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is $5 at DriveThru. The preview is all nineteen pages of the encounters\/dungeon. This is good. You can tell exactly what you are buying beforehand. Nice clean layout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/351315\/DD02-The-Darkness-Beneath-Brightwell-Manor-for-1st-Edition-and-BX?1892600<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tim Bannock Self Published B\/X or 1e Levels 10-14!!! The reclusive Brightwell family has been corrupted by the whispers of a vengeful sorceress-turned-fiend. When this newfound master suddenly grows silent, the madness infecting the household is no longer focused, and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dungeons-dragons-adventure-review","category-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/mano.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7261,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7260\/revisions\/7261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}