{"id":7453,"date":"2021-07-31T07:11:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-31T11:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=7453"},"modified":"2021-07-20T15:24:48","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T19:24:48","slug":"the-dream-cloud-of-elok-thir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=7453","title":{"rendered":"The Dream Cloud of E\u2019lok Thir"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
By Fiona Geist, David McGrogan, Zedeck Siew, Adam Koebel\nFree League Publishing\nForbidden Lands<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
This eighty page booklet has four adventures from four well known designers. I\u2019m going to review this one differently, doing one review post per adventure, in an attempt to give their fair due, something that I think is missing in my previous anthology reviews. This is this fourth and final installment, and the general comments from the first, regarding publisher style, still apply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Dream Cloud of E\u2019lok Thir (Koebel)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This seventeen page of emptiness is another one of those dream bullshitty things. Not an adventure, maybe a toolkit to build one, and too high concept and lacking support for the DM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I went to a Disney costume party over the weekend. I painstakingly researched The Absent Minded Professor and put together a costume, complete with \u201cleather\u201d chemistry apron. In a room full of pirates and animation characters I don\u2019t think my outfit worked; I was just a guy in a tweed suit and hat. This adventure is me at that party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think, what was it?, part of Raggi\u2019s Gran Quest adventures, there was one \u201cAdventure\u201d that was just a bunch of tables. \u201cWhat color is the wizard’s eyes?\u201d was one I remember. I think I mocked it by noting my own adventure, and linked to the Unabridged Oxford English Dictionary. This is that, with the typical dream bullshit layered on top of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You know the dream bullshit deal. No map, and going back the way you came leads to somewhere else because \u201cDream.\u201d And a whole lot of asking the party \u201cWhat is something you regret?\u201d and then having the DM work that in to the room on the fly. Woooo \u2026 classy! And totally not something that has been in about a hundred \u201cadventures\u201d before this one. And don\u2019t give me any of that Jusir-my-dick-tpion shit either. Yeah, I get what it\u2019s trying to do. And, thanks to my generations bullshit my cynicism detector IS quite twitchy. But if you\u2019re going to for this high concept Absent Minded Professor shit, in a room full of Disney characters, then you better fucking bring the goods. And the usual throwaway comments about \u201cdoors don\u2019t lead back to where you came\u201d ain\u2019t gonna cut it. No half measures. You want to bring the Dream then you better sweet your ass off delivering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRoll a d66 on the 18 entry tables five times and pick one entry from each column to determine the wizards background.\u201d Again, I will flog the horse, RPG designers don\u2019t seem to know how to use a random fucking table. This is NOT OSR design. This is some kind of adventure toolkit stuff. It you\u2019re writing an adventure, which this professes to be, then you, the designer, pick something. And then you integrate that background in to the entire adventure and theme shit and put things together in to a whole. \u201cThese entries should inform the dungeon in ways both vague and specific.\u201d Uh huh. On the fucking fly. OR \u2026 and now this is a novel idea, YOU, the designer, could do the fucking work. You could spend a few weeks sweeting over it and put together something better than a bunch of randos can put together on the fly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo map, no room description, no paths to follow.\u201d Right. Got it. Typical bad dream adventure nonsense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe foyer might take on the qualities of anything just beginning – the foundations of a home, the empty stage just before a play begins, the first day of school.\u201d Uh huh. Or \u2026 [repeat after me] the designer could put this in, based the wizard they designed, to make something more cohesive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen the characters spend time in this chamber, choose one and ask \u201cwhat is some- thing you regret?\u201d then weave the answer into your description of the room.\u201d *sigh*<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Treasure? Oh no. How about \u201cTreasures found here will shy away from violent expression, but otherwise any magical treasure could be appropriate.\u201d That\u2019s content worth paying for, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There;s I don\u2019t know, twelve rooms? The description of the trophy room, the read-aloud, says its quiet like a library. The DM text says the wizard \u201cwas an accomplished student of the magical arts who uncovered mysteries, bent reality and endured the very special sort of hubris only sorcerers can suffer. The Trophy Hall is a reflection of accomplishments real and imagined.\u201d That\u2019s it! That\u2019s your fucking guidance for running the trophy room. No notes. No ideas for the DM. That\u2019s the fucking help that the designer has included to help the DM create this room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, not an adventure but rather an adventure toolkit. And a pretty shitty one at that, with almost no assist provided to the DM in creating something. Just some vague ideas about a room called Regret Made Manifest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t know, in retrospect I might buy it for the Geist adventure, but that\u2019s about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And FUCK YOU, gentle reader. There is room in my life for high concept shit. But not high concept shit that makes a half-assed effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is $10 at DriveThru.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/310243\/Forbidden-Lands-Crypt-of-the-Mellified-Mage?1892600<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, onward and upward, to the next thing on my wishlist that I haven’ reviewed yet because it was too big\/expensive\/I knew it would suck, etc<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Fiona Geist, David McGrogan, Zedeck Siew, Adam Koebel Free League Publishing Forbidden Lands This eighty page booklet has four adventures from four well known designers. I\u2019m going to review this one differently, doing one review post per adventure, in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/mage.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7453","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=7453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7454,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7453\/revisions\/7454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}