Close
Close
Advanced Search

RM1 Roots of Evil (2e)Click to magnify
Quick Preview
/gs_flipbook/flip.php?xml=/demo_xml/17498.xml&w=500&h=332
Full‑size Preview
https://watermark.dmsguild.com/pdf_previews/17498-sample.pdf

RM1 Roots of Evil (2e)

ADD TO WISHLIST >

The Grand Conjunction has come to pass!

As a result, the lords of Ravenloft have broken through the Mists and escaped into the Prime Material Plane. Bit by bit, monsters of the demiplane of dread are following behind. And in the midst of all, Azalin the Lich and Strahd von Zarovich a power game - a game with deadly stakes, most notably the player characters' lives. Unless the adventurers act quickly, death will be the least of their troubles!

This is the second of two adventures that feature Azalin and Strahd von Zarovich in their endless conflict. As a sequel to From the Shadows, this module gives the player characters an oppurtunity to atone for the evil they unwittingly caused as pawns of Azalin. The culmination of a six-part series of adventures dealing with the Grand Conjunction, Roots of Evil gives the player characters an oppurtunity to literally save the universe (as well as themselves!).

Until the dark powers recapture the lords of Ravenloft, no place is safe....

Product History

RM1: "Roots of Evil" (1993), by Eric Haddock and David Wise, is the seventh Ravenloft adventure. It was published in April 1993.

Continuing the Ravenloft Adventures. In the early '90s, TSR didn't like to publish supplement with high-numbered module codes because they thought it hurt sales. Thus in 1993 they rebooted their Ravenloft adventure numbering for the second time, replacing the "RA" and "RQ" codes of previous years with "RM" — which could have stood for "Ravenloft Missions" or "Ravenloft Modules". This was especially confusing because "RM1", the first adventure for the new code, is also the sixth adventure in the Grand Conjunction metaplot!

Plotting Along. "Roots of Evil" is the final adventure in a six-part metaplot. The previous adventures, in level order, are: RQ1: "Night of the Walking Dead" (1992), RA3: "Touch of Death" (1991), RA1: "Feast of Goblyns" (1990), RA2: "Ship of Horror" (1992), and RQ3: "From the Shadows" (1992).

The metaplot only got serious with the fifth part, RQ3: "From the Shadows", which detailed how the lich Azalin was bringing about the Grand Conjunction to free himself from Ravenloft. With the Grand Conjunction in full ascension as "Roots of Evil" begins, the many domains of Ravenloft have been scattered to the winds.

There's one twist to all of this. The fifth couplet of Hyskosa's Hexad, which predicted the Conjunction, was never fulfilled:

Inajira will his fortunes reverse,
And all shall live with dreaded curse.

The completion of this couplet is a focus of this new adventure, though there's disagreement whether accomplishing it after the fact will strengthen the Conjunction or end it.

The metaplot comes to a conclusion over the course of "Roots of Evil": Ravenloft is briefly destroyed, but then knitted back together, with all the lords back in their prisons. It seems that there are no lasting repercussions … but Ravenloft Campaign Setting (1994) would use the Grand Conjunction as the explanation for a number of changes to the demiplane of Ravenloft.

Adventuring Tropes. Like many second edition (1989-2000) adventures, "Roots of Evil" is a heavily plotted scenario. It also uses one of the favorite plot tropes of the time: a battle between multiple powerful entities, with the PCs caught in the middle. To be precise, "Roots of Evil" is about the fight between the lich Azalin, the vampire Strahd, and the daemon Inajira. Though this sort of plot has the potential to sideline PCs, "Roots of Evil" does its best to make the players front and center by leaving the crucial tasks to them while the NPCs pointlessly fight and bicker.

The first half of "Roots of Evil" is an event-based scenario where players jump from encounter to encounter — including a trip back through time, though with less agency than the similar journey in RQ3: "From the Shadows" (1992). Despite that, there's opportunity for player choice — particularly in interactions with NPCs, which in a few cases are cleverly laid out with long lists of questions that the NPCs might answer.

The low-point of the adventure's events is probably the tarokka reading. Oracular card readings had been used to great effect in previous adventures like I6: "Ravenloft" (1983) and RA3: "Touch of Death" (1991), which organically adjusted themselves based on the readings. "Roots of Evil" instead tells the GM to stack the deck!

The second half of the adventure returns to D&D's classic strengths, including a visit to a town and a large-scale dungeon crawl through Azalin's Crypt-Lair.

The Product Tie-In. "Roots of Evil" ties in to the Forbidden Lore (1992) boxed set, making use of both the rules for the Tarokka and Strahd's "Nova Arcanum".

Expanding Ravenloft. "Roots of Evil" doesn't actually take place in Ravenloft! Instead, it returns to the prime material land of Barovia, last seen in I6: "Ravenloft" (1983). Castle Ravenloft and the village of Vallaki are both detailed, and these details could be used for Strahd's domain in Ravenloft as well.

NPCs of Note. "Roots of Evil" is all about the NPCs Azalin, Inajira, and Strahd. It adds details to Strahd's background by returning him to his home and also by introducing Inajira, with whom he made a pact in far-gone times. The arcanaloth Inajira himself appears for the first time.

About the Creators. Haddock made his publishing debut with this adventure. He would also contribute to Elminster's Ecologies (1994), but most of his work has been editorial. Wise was a slightly more experienced Ravenloft writer, having authored RQ2: "Thoughts of Darkness" (1992) the previous year. He'd go on to write a few more supplements for TSR and Wizards of the Coast over the next several years.

About the Product Historian

The history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, the editor-in-chief of RPGnet and the author of Designers & Dragons - a history of the roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.

We (Wizards) recognize that some of the legacy content available on this website does not reflect the values of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise today. Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is a strength, and we strive to make our D&D products as welcoming and inclusive as possible. This part of our work will never end.

pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
 
 Customers Who Bought this Title also Purchased
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
Reviews (0)
Discussions (0)
Browse Categories
$ to $
 Follow Your Favorites!
NotificationsSign in to get custom notifications of new products!
 Recent History















Product Information
Electrum seller
Rules Edition(s)
Pages
102
Edition
1.0
Publisher Stock #
TSR 9413
File Size:
31.83 MB
Format
Scanned image Click for more information
Scanned image
These products were created by scanning an original printed edition. Most older books are in scanned image format because original digital layout files never existed or were no longer available from the publisher.

For PDF download editions, each page has been run through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to attempt to decipher the printed text. The result of this OCR process is placed invisibly behind the picture of each scanned page, to allow for text searching. However, any text in a given book set on a graphical background or in handwritten fonts would most likely not be picked up by the OCR software, and is therefore not searchable. Also, a few larger books may be resampled to fit into the system, and may not have this searchable text background.

For printed books, we have performed high-resolution scans of an original hardcopy of the book. We essentially digitally re-master the book. Unfortunately, the resulting quality of these books is not as high. It's the problem of making a copy of a copy. The text is fine for reading, but illustration work starts to run dark, pixellating and/or losing shades of grey. Moiré patterns may develop in photos. We mark clearly which print titles come from scanned image books so that you can make an informed purchase decision about the quality of what you will receive.
pixel_trans.gif
Original electronic format
These ebooks were created from the original electronic layout files, and therefore are fully text searchable. Also, their file size tends to be smaller than scanned image books. Most newer books are in the original electronic format. Both download and print editions of such books should be high quality.
File Information
Watermarked PDF Click for more information
Watermarked PDF

These PDF files are digitally watermarked to signify that you are the owner. A small message is added to the bottom of each page of the PDF containing your name and the order number of your purchase.

Warning: If any files bearing your information are found being distributed illegally, then your account will be suspended and legal action may be taken against you.

Here is a sample of a page from a watermarked title:

File Last Updated:
March 24, 2014
This title was added to our catalog on March 25, 2014.