Dear Readers, I have been truly blessed with several things while running this blog. I get some exposure on other blogs, I get to post articles from other blogs, and I sometimes get asked to review a product or, in this case, adventure for folks.
Now. I want to put a disclaimer on this today:
IF YOU ARE ONE OF MY PLAYERS OR ARE PLAYING THIS ADVENTURE, STOP READING IMMEDIATELY, AS THERE MAY BE SOME SPOILERS!!
Ahem. As I was saying.
Move over “The Haunt” series, and welcome “Fear the Reaper” by Ammon Hansen! This person emailed me and asked me to look over their adventure and help give an assessment. Flattered, I did.
And let me tell you: I was impressed. And I am not impressed easily, when it comes to new adventures, especially from community-published adventures on the DMs Guild website (www.dmsguild.com)! I’ve been burned too many times with community-published adventures. They have been railroad-y, poorly thought out, or otherwise just plain badly written. Don’t get me wrong! I’ve found a few gems here and there, but I pay CLOSE attention to the reviews now. I mean, I got “The Haunt” from there, as well as “The Lich Who Stole Christmas” among others. Those are the exceptions, not the rule.
But this person…this person was different. They were asking for feedback before publishing! They wanted some input to make their product better! I couldn’t possibly have been more excited. Oh, I had my share of trepidation when they emailed it to me, believe it. I, frankly, was half expecting the drivel that I normally see on the DMs Guild website.
But no…absolutely not. I had found yet another gem! Sure, it needed some polishing, but a gem nonetheless!
After some back and forth, with some recommendations from yours truly (and, I’m sure, other DMs), they sent out a final copy to me that blew my mind. Here’s the premise:
Traveling through a thick, dangerous forest, you find the road ahead blocked by fallen trees. A heavy thunderstorm begins as the party backtracks to find a mysterious hotel, only to quickly discover the great evil housed within.
I mean, if that doesn’t grab your attention, nothing will.
As for the adventure itself:
It has a wonderful premise. Granted, the whole “the way is blocked, oh look, a thunderstorm, oh look an inn!” shtick has been done before, it really works here.
Now, the NPCs: I found them interesting and engaging. Even moreso once you see/find out the twist regarding them.
The horror level goes from 1-100 very quickly. I wish there was a little more build up to it, but based on everything else in the adventure, I get why Ammon did things this way. It really gets the PC’s into the action without dilly-dallying around. I can appreciate it.
The final reveal as to who/what the badguy(s) is/are is more than a bit interesting. It relied on a modified version of a critter, but that’s more than okay, as it adds to the mystery of the adventure, and the horror that accompanies it.
The best part about the adventure is that, while originally made for a party of level 5 adventurers, there is a chart inside that shows how to scale it. This is super useful for running it for higher level parties, although I don’t think it would be okay to scale it past, say, level 10 or so. Beyond that, it would be too easy to bypass the cool parts of the adventure. Personally, I think level 9 is the highest I would run this adventure at, and the level that I intend on actually running it for one of my groups (the Ingrates), and somewhere between 5 and 9 for my monthly group.
In any case, this adventure is WELL worth the purchase, and, again, can be found on the DMs Guild website here. I cannot recommend it enough.
Let me know what you think about the adventure in the comment section below, either now, or after Halloween (when I, too, plan on running it!).
Until next time, Dear Readers…
The Daily Dungeon Master Blog 