{"id":7714,"date":"2022-01-03T07:08:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T12:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=7714"},"modified":"2021-12-22T09:10:17","modified_gmt":"2021-12-22T14:10:17","slug":"city-of-bats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=7714","title":{"rendered":"City of Bats"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Number six(?) in an eight-part series. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a compilation of the best eight entries from Prince\u2019s recent No ArtPunk contest. Basically, you had to use published monsters, magic items, etc, with one unique allowance allowed in each category. Settle in, I\u2019m reviewing one adventure at a time. Also, I admit that an orgy of women, wine, bread, circuses, and self-absorbed loathing kept me from reading Prince\u2019s commentary earlier. So I\u2019m going in to this blind. Let\u2019s see what \u201cwinning\u201d entries look like, shall we?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City Of Bats\nDashwood\nLabyrinth Lord\nLevels 4-6<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
This eighteen page adventure details two levels of a dungeon with about fifty rooms. Excellent maps, a delightful interactivity, and a casual depth to the encounters makes this one a great thing to pull out at the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the kind of adventure you hope to run across. Some person sitting in their basement cranking out rocking good adventures with no effort. That\u2019s what this feels like. Like someone just sat down and said \u201cI\u2019m writing an adventure for tonight\u201d and just cranked it out in a hour or so. I don\u2019t know that it took an hour, but it feels that way. Not in a rushed way. But in a kind of naturalistic way. No pretension. Handwrought skills. Just gonna draw a map and then type out some keys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The maps. The maps are GREAT! They are just two, one for the upper level \u201cCave of Mists\u201d and then a second for the \u201cCity of Bats\u201d, that the cave of mists acts as the Door to the Mythic Underworld for. Just a piece of graph paper and a pencil and some person cranking it out. It feels \u2026 right? It feels like there\u2019s some room to breathe in here. I mean, it\u2019s still just a couple of small maps, with sixteen rooms on the first level, but the interconnecting hallways, secrets, branching rooms and loops make it all feel right. Level two continues the themes, with rivers, statues, pools, rooms withing rooms. These are excellent maps that looks like someone just sat down and cranked it out in a few minutes \u2026 cranked out an excellent map, that is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The dungeon keys are interesting.You get mossy floored caves, misty caves, bat guano and fluttering bats. Everything is going on swingingly. Keys are short and sweet, generally, with things like \u201cA group of nine man-sized wooden sculptures depicting twisted half-man half-animal hybrids stand in a circle. The sculptures are coated in bat guano and other filth.\u201d Ok, no problemo! I can get behind that! And then you reach the lizardmen. The first solid stake in the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFive Lizardmen stand guard in this cave. When first encountered they will be roasting skewered cave locusts over a small fire and gambling for jade beads. Light and noise coming down the tunnel will alert them, and one of their number will immediately go to warn the rest of the tribe at area 10.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They are doing something in their room. Theres an interesting scene being painted for the DM in the a few words, but a few words that paint a great image. There\u2019s a reaction \u2026 (and later an order of battle for the lizardmen.) The next room is their lair. \u201cThe cavern is illuminated by yellowish light cast by giant fireflies held in reed cages. It is home to a small tribe of Lizardmen who dwell in the side-caverns. The tribe\u2019s warriors, clad in crude hides and smeared with black warpaint, will swarm out of their holes and attempt to encircle the party, baring their fangs and hitting their weapons on the stones.\u201d Alright! Swarming out! Baring fangs! Hitting weapons! Primitive posturing! I can get behind that! That\u2019s what fucking lizardmen do! And then, maybe, you meet the idol they call their god. The one that booms at you for tribute. And then, if pushed, gives up and is like \u201cHey, alright man, chill. Yeah yeah, I\u2019m not an idol, I just pretend to be one cause it\u2019s an easy life.\u201d WTF?!?! It\u2019s fucking magnificent. It doesn\u2019t use the words I did, it makes sense in context. It\u2019s brilliant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that\u2019s what this adventure does. It just throws these simple little things at you. They seem simple. But they also seem RIGHT. They seem both classic and fresh all at the same time. It\u2019s got a basic D&D flair to it. Not the kiddie D&D basic, but the OD&D basic, the kind of weird, brought to life, without being gonzo. The cave behind the waterfall, symbolically, again and again and again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I could go on and on. Great treasure. Splashes of greatness there. A room with giant flies in it \u2026 big ones. And then a Chasme flies out. Fuck yeah man! Cause that\u2019s how an encounter like that goes down! It\u2019s all so very NATURAL. It FEELS right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I do have a complaint. It\u2019s in single column. If this were double column it would be less stressful on the eyes\/cognition to scan. I know, I know, that\u2019s the most trivial of things. But it\u2019s also true. Which doesn\u2019t mean you shouldn’t run it. You absofckinglootly should run this. It\u2019s awesome, in the same way as that first level of Darkness Beneath is awesome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s two great adventures in this volumen, so far, making this the buy of the year at $10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is Pay What You Want at DriveThru, with a suggested price of $10. Proceeds are going to the Autism Research Institute. A subtle dig?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/379533\/No-ArtPunk-Vol-1?1892600<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Number six(?) in an eight-part series.  This is a compilation of the best eight entries from Prince\u2019s recent No ArtPunk contest. Basically, you had to use published monsters, magic items, etc, with one unique allowance allowed in each category. Settle … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,3,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dungeons-dragons-adventure-review","category-reviews","category-the-best"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/noart.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7714","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=7714"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7744,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7714\/revisions\/7744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}