samurguybri on The Horsemen of Reinhorn.Artem of Spades on The Draining Caverns of the Winged Beast.simontmn on The Forbidden Caverns of Archaia.Artifex on Bryce’s ToDo List of reviews.Anonymous on Bryce’s ToDo List of reviews.Those are all great examples of doing things well. It’s also got a classic set up or two like a giant spider guarding a gem. That’s something worth keeping, if you’re a player. There are more than a few unique magic items, and some of the items descriptions ARE decent, like a +1 dagger with an ivory handle in the shape of a serpentine dragon with red fringed silk tassels. Combined with several other rooms where the read aloud has the monster immediately attacking, it’ just doesn’t seem interesting. There’s also a large number of monsters, humans mostly, that come out of suspended animation to attack the party, another element that I’m predisposed to enjoy. That is, essentially, the dungeon and it is, essentially, a linear layout, with all the faults and lack of options that come with that sort of design. You must go into the rooms to walk the hallway. Imagine a long hallway that forms a circle, and bisecting the circular line are rooms. It’s symmetrical, and I’m not a fan of those, but the bigger issue is the ring nature of it. I am QUITE suspicious of the map as well. Murals and funerary are steam rooms are fine, but they need to contribute to the adventure … and these do not. It’s not a terrain effect for a challenge. This isn’t hinting at a volcano or steam later on. One of the early rooms in the dungeon has steam in it, that comes in through cracks, doesn’t go into the hallways, and dissipates, with the effect having a random chance each time the party enters. It’s presenting something that COULD be interesting but without any elements for the players to interact with or use the room. I’m not going to assert that every room has to be to fun and exciting, or that dungeons have no room for mysteries or empty rooms. There are some of the same sorts of rooms in this adventure, rooms in which there is trivia rather than something to interact with. They ignored the party and you could not interact with them in any way. The room had two ghostly players playing chess. Some of you may recall the chess-players room in the Dwimmermount draft. The room is permeated by the scent of lemon and myrh.” It’s an ok description. In each corner of the room, set on the floor, is an ornately-carved ebony incense holder featuring a seated figure. The walls are painted golden yellow, save for a large white symbol painted in the center of the west wall showing the symbol for the third/plexus chakra. It’s a little heavy on the number specificity (which I don’t think is appropriate in read-alaoud in particular) but that’s not really the problem: “48 straw mats are arranged in a 6×8 pattern in this 30’×40′ room. It’s technical, and the elements are all there, and it doesn’t necessarily fall in to the trap of describing the mundane, but it doesn’t really make me excited to run the rooms either. Is that the right way to say this? Not dynamic? Not inspiring? I don’t know. The descriptions are boring because the writing style is just not exciting. There’s something else going on with the writing though and I’m having trouble really putting words to what the issue is. This kind of genericism is the opposite of ecovative writing that inspires the DM and/or players. Rather than describe the dagger, or bow, and letting the player draw a conclusion that they are well taken care of (and therefore special) or of great craftsmanship, instead the read-aloud makes that conclusion for the party. I can cite a couple of examples of abstracted descriptions, like a bow that is described as “amazing craftsmanship” or a dagger that is described as “particularly well taken care of.” These descriptions are abstracted. The writing is … technical? It’s very straightforward. I’ll cite a couple of specific examples of it being non-specific, but there’s something else going on and I’m not sure how to describe it. The biggest problem with this adventure is probably the writing. Combined with a few other elements, I just can’t get into this. I’m also VERY suspicious of the ring hallway layout. It has a lot of the elements that I would expect to find in an old school dungeon, but it is … plain? Boring? The writing here just doesn’t grip one very strongly. This adventure is in a fifty-two room dungeon with a largely ring layout, symmetrical. Inside is a dungeon with some psionic properties, if you are so inclined to use them. Individually they come to the party to relate rumors of an evil temple in the jungle. A lot of the villagers think she abandoned it in the jungle or a tiger got it. In a jungle village a complains that her baby has been taken.
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