{"id":7429,"date":"2021-07-14T07:11:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-14T11:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=7429"},"modified":"2021-07-05T09:58:50","modified_gmt":"2021-07-05T13:58:50","slug":"medusa-and-the-cursed-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=7429","title":{"rendered":"Medusa and the Cursed Forest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Addison Short\nTorchlight Press\n5e\nLevels 10-11<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Once a faithful young acolyte to a goddess of war, Acantha tended to her god\u2019s temple diligently and without protest. One fateful evening a rival god appeared and wrought destruction on the temple. Rather than take pity on Acantha, her goddess cursed her with the powers she is now feared for: her petrifying gaze and the mass of writhing snakes that protrude from her head. Little known, however, is that the curse also bound her life to the broken temple; if she strays from it for too long, she grows weak and begins to die.In the millenia since she was cursed, her presence has imbued the surrounding forest with its own petrifying magic. Creatures that enter the depths of the forest risk being turned to stone by the latent magic and for each creature petrified, the forest grows further outward. Now, Acantha is known as the Lady of Sorrows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This 34 page adventure details a petrified forest and with a ten room temple at the center containing an ancient medusa. It has some good ideas for putting the medusa in to the context of the larger game world, but really doesn\u2019t know what it wants to be when it grows up, never going fully down any path. The results are a muddled mess that takes a great concept and comes off as generic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This thing has four different elements to it, and doesn\u2019t fully go down the path of any one of them, or, perhaps, use any one of them effectively, much less using all four effectively. You\u2019ve got \u201cthe medusa in the larger context of the region\u201d, \u201cthe medusa’s petrified forest\u201d, \u201cthe temple of the medusa at the center of the forest\u201d and \u201cthe medusa’s allies.\u201d Each of these, individually, has some interesting ideas (well, except maybe the temple) but they are just surface level concepts, not going far enough and not working together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What sucked me in to this product in the first place is the medusa in the larger context. Let\u2019s think of this as THE medusa, and, in fact, this medusa\u2019s origin is much like the mythical one, cursed by a god. The forest is a mythical place. This isn\u2019t just a medusa that shows up as a random encounter, one of many, inside of a cave complex. This is HER place in the world. The people know about her. They know about the forest. It\u2019s a thing for people. And, there;s notes on her actions in the wider world. Outlying farms getting visits from her, a kind of protection thing, which is either a racket or beneficial, depending on how youplay the medusa. Her showing up at some nobles party, all Sleeping Beauty style, to fuck with people. Longer plans, like her minions raiding a village to forcibly disasm the village. But it doesn\u2019t do anything with any of this. It\u2019s not a coherent narrative. Rather than picking one , or two, and going with it, instead it\u2019s just a couple of sentences thrown at the DM. \u201cDo what you want with this concept.\u201d This is a SEVERELY missed opportunity. A mythical creature in a mythical place with plots? That would be GOLD, but it\u2019s not handled well here at all, and given no life or room to grow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The forest. Petrified. Full of statues, etc. Slowly expanding as more and more animals and people get petrified. It\u2019s cut off a village awhile ago and now they are isolated from the rest of the kingdom. All super good. Nice concept. Terribly handled. The forest has two things going on. First, if you kick up a dust cloud you get to save to turn to stone in a few days. Also, dust storms randomly swirl around at times, especially during encounters. There\u2019s no way mentioned to cure the \u201cflesh to stone\u201d infection. During a dust squall it\u2019s noted that a cloth over the face keeps you from having to make a save \u2026 but not during general travel? There\u2019s an entire page devoted to the dust storms, inhaling the dist, etc, and these sorts of very basic are never mentioned. Further, it feels punitive to me. Much like heat and cold rules, it feels like torture to play in it. And, when you get to the temple, your \u201cmake a saving throw every day or the disease progresses\u201d changes to \u201cmake a saving throw every turn.\u201d Fuck me man. And then the encounters are \u2026 strange? Each takes about a column, for a VERY basic encounter in most cases. There are two tables, one of which I don\u2019t think is ever used and has ten entries on it and \u201croll a d4\u201d noted. Fuck if I know what this table is for. The other is athe \u201ctraveling through the forest\u201d table with the encounters getting a column each. There are no set encounter locations in the forest, just wander the fuck around in it having these random encounters and making saving throws to not die untli you reach the somewhat random hex with the medusa\u2019s temple in it. (Admitidadly, in the center of the zone, but the players don\u2019t know that and don\u2019t know how big the place is so they won\u2019t know which hex is the center.) This is all pretty fucking terrible design. Again, nice concept, but \u201cwander the death zone having random encounters\u201d is not an adventure. What this needed was some fixed locations, with the NPC\u2019s scattered about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And NPC\u2019s there are. A treant with no home forest to guard anymore because it was logged out. A hag with a bunch of orphan children. The invisible snake that likes silver tableware. Not bad. Maybe we can ever count a tribe of trolls that serve the medusa. But, as NPC\u2019s, they are all just stuffed in to the ten room temple. Any subplots or interesting encounters will have to happen there, perhaps in the context of a fight. They have no room to breathe and nothing interesting going on within the context of the adventure (more on their role in the larger context later.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the medusa\u2019s tempe is boring as all fuck. The descriptions are essentially non-existent. Which, I guess, makes sense in a way, maybe? I mean, It\u2019s not an exploratory location. You either talk to her or stab her. But I just can\u2019t get over the lack of any meaningful detail. \u201cAn alter devoted to the god of war cracked down the middle.\u201d Well, fuck, that\u2019s certainly a great description for the fucking thing that started the entire ordeqal of medusa in the first place, isn\u2019t it? And the cleaning closet is one of the ten rooms. What the fuck? Seriously? Along with the outhouse. With a bucket to put the excrement in to fertilize the garden. This is what you devote pages to in a ancient cursed medusa\u2019s temple? And the creatures\/allies just sit in their locations if you start stabbing her, I guess, since there\u2019s no notes on this outcome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And now we must deal with the elephant. There is an attempt to make the various major NPC\u2019s more well rounded. A ham-handed attempt that amounts to \u201cDRAGON GOOD. PRINCESS BAD. HUR HUR HUR.\u201d Let\u2019s be clear, I really like a complex social environment, including the \u201cmonsters.\u201d I think it offers much more rewarding play than just having everyone and everything attack outright when they see the party. But I\u2019ve got my limits. The medusa has grown increasingly impatient with the greed and cruelty of the humanoid kingdoms over the millenia.\u201d Uh huh. Says the chick you turns people to stone. Cue the South Park \u201cIt was coming right at me!\u201d schtick. The treant advisor\/friend whos forest was cut down by the human kingdom. The NE hag who doesn’t eat children and instead rescues orphans from the forest to raise them. Uh huh. Or hooks that involve rescuing the women children and elderty from a village that are in danger. Uh huh. There\u2019s a passing attempt to create \u201cwere allied with the medusa\u201d the medusa relationship to us is neutral\u201d and \u201cstabbing the medusa\u201d hooks, but, in reality, this is just stabbing the medusa. Otherwise there\u2019s not really an adventure here, it\u2019s just a patron. Ph, oh! The stabbing the medusa hook? You\u2019re hired by the Lord to go do it. And if you do he fucks you over by giving the worst hex in the petrified forest as your domain. This sort of ham-handed shit doesn\u2019t fly. It doesn\u2019t when the monsters are all psychos and it doesn\u2019t when we turn the tables and make them the good guys and the humans all evil. And it oesn\u2019t matter how many encounters there are like \u201cflocks of birds turn to stone midair and rain down\u201d there are. The inability to give the major NPC\u2019s more than a single dimension, either direction, destroys the ability to create a lager game context for the party to enjoy and\/or exploit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Discounting this ham-handedness though, the other parts of the adventure are extremely weak both as stand-along elements and in the way that they should be working together to create a larger context for adventuring. The surrounding area stuff is a throw-away. The wilderness has no depth. The NPC\u2019s have no room to experience them. And the temple is a disaster of \u201cNothing going on but boring.\u201d  But, in concept, each one of those is great! Yes, even the ham-handed shit. This are great ideas \u2026 that jts did NOT make it in to execution in any way shape or form beyond \u201cI have a good idea \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is $7 at DriveThru. The preview is the entire thing which is GREAT. I would suggest taking a look at the forest few tables. They will general the general vibe of the product, as well as the missed potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/356517\/Medusa-and-the-Cursed-Forest?1892600<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
This has been episode \u201cA pernod at 7:30am sounds like a good idea to me\u201d of Bryce reviews everything on his wishlist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Addison Short Torchlight Press 5e Levels 10-11 Once a faithful young acolyte to a goddess of war, Acantha tended to her god\u2019s temple diligently and without protest. One fateful evening a rival god appeared and wrought destruction on the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,29,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5e","category-dungeons-dragons-adventure-review","category-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/medusa.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7429","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=7429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7430,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7429\/revisions\/7430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}