|
A fantastic example of what a fantasy adventure module should look like.
A great stand-alone 3.5E Dragonlance module, or a detailed and flavourful expansion of the content of the original DL module series for 1E or 2E.
I bought this as a companion to a 2E Dragonlance War of the Lance campaign and am deeply impressed by the content. The flow and key encounters of the original modules are retained, but fringe areas are expanded, providing new paths linking the key milestones and minimising the "railroad" effect of some sections. Areas that are suggested as important in the original modules are expanded.
For example, there is better support for players to reach Xak Tsaroth by ship, or to visit Haven, or to take a path out of Solace that passes through Darken Wood. Random encounter tables are largely replaced by detailed, relevant events. Where random encounters remain, they're much better suited to the areas they occur in - the Xak Tsaroth table, for example, is now suitably swampy. A timeline of world-level events allows you to let players feel time pressure if they're dawdling, but can be ignored if it's unhelpful. Scales on the original DL1 maps are fixed to provide more believable travel times, with specific examples given of journey length between key locations. NPCs mentioned in passing in the original modules now have names, and in many instances can be recruited. The politics of powers in the region, such as Haven, are better explained, giving the DM more freedom to deal with "what if" scenarios and therefore giving players more agency.
There's better DM guidance as to which encounters are expected to be trivial, meaningful, or nigh-unbeatable. Introductions to key areas of the campaign remind you of 3.5E rule systems that may be relevant and direct you to where in the core books to find them. There's explicit effort to let player-created characters replace and take the role of key NPCs like Goldmoon rather than just let you be their sidekicks. Ideas that don't sit well with later canon are removed - gone, for example, are the generic baby black dragons in the Xak Tsaroth swamps.
I could go on, but the theme is clear - this is a loving, exceptionally detailed, and well-designed reworking of the DL modules, with an eye to keeping all their original quirks and diversions but benefiting from the decades of worldbuilding and game design that have occurred since. Absolutely a must for anyone running a War of the Lance campaign, in any edition.
Minor issues: Monsters are not statted; you will need the 3.5E Monster Manual and 3.5 Dragonlance core books to use them. Illustrations throughout the PDF are exceptionally low resolution, almost to the point of illegibility. Higher resolution maps have been added to the end of the PDF, which is welcome, but there's no such treatment of the art. As far as the illustrations go, few are new, being mostly re-uses of existing Dragonlance artwork. Finally, despite many welcome improvements, PC motivation to take part in the early parts of the quest is mostly limited to "the gods told you to", and those not on board with Christian theology may find the religious elements, and the general themes of faith, awkwardly preachy.
|
