The execution of the concept is less than stellar. Nice concept, especially the ‘blood stream’ aspect. It’s inhabited by cultists who channel the spilt blood in to a special room to reawaken their reaver god. This map details the holding pens, cells, etc under an arena. Now what happens when they fail? Fix this and it would be Highly Recommended. It’s great that you made them do 8 DC 30 checks to swing over the lava. One fall, maybe two, could create some tense play with hiding and getting back on top, etc. Failure indicated 4d6 damage from a fall and then having to deal with the mob/guards. Everyone has to make multiple rolls and has to be successful every time. That is the issue with most of these sorts of skill challenge things. The concept is a nice one though, it just needs a little more to handle the core issue: someone fails. The DC checks range from 5-25, and are probably 5 too high in most places unless everyone ranked all the time in jumping. This is actually a pretty nice little idea for a game that could be used pretty much as is. It consist mostly of jumping and balancing DC checks, with some weird things like some clandestine meetings to spice things up. You start on the rooftops of one corner and have to get to the other far corner to escape, while the streets are full of guards and a mob looking for you. The map represents the rooftop/overhead view of several blocks of a town. This is a cute little “flee across the rooftops” mini-game sort of thing. Also, no more “you fell unconscious and wake up in a cell” bullshit and no more “you seek shelter from a storm” bullshit. Not long descriptions but EVOCATIVE descriptions. Some recurring themes in my commentary this year: you need good descriptions in these things to bring them to life. This 2013 collection also include the winning entries from 20, which I’m not reviewing because OH MY GOD this is a lot of work. They are an excellent collection of adventures and idea seeds to riff off of and steal from, if not use outright. I buy a lot but I keep almost none of it. The others are of various qualities, however this is, without a doubt, one of my must-keeps every year. The winning entries this year are all pretty strong, with many of them usable & interesting right off the page.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |