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The Huntsman's Isle (Novice)
Publisher: Schwalb Entertainment
by Thomas V. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/26/2017 08:16:55

This adventure has the issues commonly found in the SoTDL line : not enough amibtion, too little story. The plot is anemic : there are haunted ruins on an island and beastmen are making camp next to them. That's it. There is a half page of backstory here explaining how things came to be this way but there's no reason for the players to learn anything about it since it doesn't impact the adventure in any significant way. So it's get there, kill beastmen, kill ghosts, end of adventure. It's pure pest control, which I guess is OK... in a computer game. For a tabletop rpg game, there's just not enough here to make for an interesting session.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
The Huntsman's Isle (Novice)
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With My Last Scream (Master)
Publisher: Schwalb Entertainment
by Thomas V. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/24/2017 07:50:55

An adventure that could have been good, being a ghost story about domestic abuse, by totally fails due to lazy design. The structure here is pure railroad : enter room, get attacked by the ghost for 1-3 rounds, get a piece of the story, go to next room. And this cycle repeats seven times. No alternative path, no reward for clever thinking, no stepping out of the train before arrival, you're just there to listen while the DM tells the story. Of course, given the fact that the hook is very suspiscious, clever players might avoid the whole thing by refusing to step into the house or setting it on fire, ending the adventure on a win after less than 10 minutes of play.

Besides, the reasons for making this Master level elude me. Aren't Master adventures supposed to deal with world-changing events ? The whole point here is to end the hanting of a single house...

This thing needs a complete overhaul of its structure and a scaling down to Novice level (easily done since there is a single opponent). As it is, it's next to useless.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
With My Last Scream (Master)
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A Measure of Faith (Expert)
Publisher: Schwalb Entertainment
by Thomas V. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/24/2017 02:56:28

One of the best if not the best SoTDL adventure so far. Located on the edge of the Desolation, A Measure of Faith offers a nice mix of investigation and combat, with some memorable gory moments. There are relatively few NPCs present but they're all interesting, the two Inquisitors in particular. There are also a lot of things to do in the provided locations, the fortress and village, their description short but evocative. The dungeon ending the adventure is of the short but intense kind, which is my favourite (be aware that the encounters there could deplete the party's resources very fast leading to a possible TPK).

So a vey good buy if you're not afraid of gore.

The sourcebook Tombs of the Desolation, while not necessary, would certainly be useful as background material.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
A Measure of Faith (Expert)
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Wretched (Expert)
Publisher: Schwalb Entertainment
by Thomas V. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/24/2017 02:18:00

This adventure is kind of a mixed bag. On one hand it offer great imagery based on classic "witch in the bog" tropes and doesn't suffer from the scarcity of details that plagues other SotDL adventures. On the other hand, it is quite railroady and the twist ending appears to be some sort of an Aesop (weird given the complete amorality of the game's setting).



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Wretched (Expert)
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The Apple of Her Eye (Novice)
Publisher: Schwalb Entertainment
by Thomas V. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/20/2016 01:44:08

WARNING : MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

Along with the spectacular SoTDL rulebook and sourcebooks, Schwalb Entertainment released a ton of short adventures to support the game, their level of quality varying wildly from good to truly embarrassing. Finally, I get to review a good one !

The Apple of Her Eye plays into the Village with A Dark Secret trope and does it well. First of all, it avoids trying to convince the players that everything is normal there (that never works). Even before arriving in the village the PCs will know something is wrong wit this community and yet the true nature and extent of the situation will probably suprise them. Also, the adventure provides flavourful, believable NPCs and gives enough details so the DM will have to trouble presenting the village as a living community (before things inevitably descend into murder and mayhem). The minor NPCs table is a very nice touch, along with the recurring apple theme.

So, well worth the price.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
The Apple of Her Eye (Novice)
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The Slaver's Lash (Starting)
Publisher: Schwalb Entertainment
by BPOST B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/19/2016 08:47:57

Warning : May contain spoilers

Along with the spectacular SoTDL rulebook and sourcebooks, Schwalb Entertainment released a ton of short adventures to support the game, their level of quality varying wildly from good to truly embarrassing. The Slavers' Lash is... not one of the good ones.

Have the PCs start the campaign in chains is a respected trope of fantasy gaming, because it works : it puts the PCs in a situation where they face hardship together and have to work together to escape. It's the perefect setup to build a team.

In The Slavers' Lash, the PCs start in chains as part of a slave caravan and have to escape and... that's it. The generic plot you already started to build in your mind from reading the previous sentence is the exact plot of this adventure. There is nothing specific about it, no twist, no memorable NPCs, no flavour whatsoever, no suprise. It's basically the default adventure that came with the frame.

So, re-read that premise, spend two minutes thinking about and write down what came to mind. You just saved yourself two bucks.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
The Slaver's Lash (Starting)
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The Last Train to Darksville (Master)
Publisher: Schwalb Entertainment
by Thomas V. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/18/2016 08:32:38

WARNING : MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

Along with the spectacular SoTDL rulebook and sourcebooks, Schwalb Entertainment released a ton of short adventures to support the game, their level of quality varying wildly from good to truly embarrassing. The Last Train to Darksville (TLTtD) stands among the mediocre ones.

More of a side treck than a full-fledged adventure, TLTtD is pretty straightforward: something has made the last few trains disappear, take the last train and confront whatever that something is. There's a tiny bit more plot to it than that but not much so we end up basically with another pest control adventure. Not terrible but I would expect Master-level adventures to deal with more... significant issues.

But at least it has an impressive Boss fight with a 750 points monster, on a train.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
The Last Train to Darksville (Master)
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The Darkness in Shadowturrets (Master)
Publisher: Schwalb Entertainment
by Thomas V. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/18/2016 05:15:34

WARNING : MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

Along with the spectacular SoTDL rulebook and sourcebooks, Schwalb Entertainment released a ton of short adventures to support the game, their level of quality varying wildly from good to truly embarrassing.

Since I'm an asshole, I'm going to start with one of the bad ones.

The Darkness in Shadowturrets' (TDiS) core plot isn't all bad. There's this abandonned keep that has been taken over by invaders from another dimension and their necromantic creations are now running amok in the country. Of course, the local potentate wants the PCs to go and check it out, which doesn't score high for originality but it works. Along the way, they cross a couple of destroyed villages and fights some monsters. This brings us 3 pages in the document and then things take a turn for the worse.

The last 5 pages describe what is quite probably the worst professionnal attempt at a dungeon I've come across in more than twenty years of gaming. Every room as ONE way in and ONE way out. This is basically a corridor intersected with doors in order to create separate locations and thus separate encounters or, I should say, separate combat scenes since there is little else to see or do in Shadowturrets but to slaughter whatever is in Room A, stare at the gore for a moment, roll for loot, go to Room B and repeat. This is like the Final Fantasy XIII of dungeons and I don't mean it as a compliment. There's very little ambition here, only glorified pest control until all the monsters are dead. The room setups and monsters vary a bit but the basic structure of the adventure is beyond helping.

Ironically, the Aftermath section is maybe five paragraphs long and contains more plot ideas than there is in all the rest of the adventure. Maybe it should have started there...

So, that's TDiS. The core idea is serviceable but nothing you couldn't come with by exerting your brain for two minutes and skipping through the Bestiary in the SoTDL corebook. The adventure itself is pretty useless: there's very little to DO here and it contains nothing that would make you want to try to repair it.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
The Darkness in Shadowturrets (Master)
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