ASC Review: Sanctuary Of The Black Buddha

The Sanctuary of the Black Buddha (Seb Howell)

AD&D adventure seven to nine PCs of levels 5th-7th

I am reviewing these in the order they were submitted. For my review criteria, please check out this post. All reviews will (probably) contain *SPOILERS*; you have been warned! Because these are short (two page) adventures, it is my intention to keep the reviews brief.

The TL;DR: an ambitious adventure site that’s a bit of a mess.

The first submission by a new author (i.e. one who didn’t participate in last year’s ASC), Seb creates a bona fide adventure site in the form of a Buddhist temple in abox canyon currently housing a group of bandits.

Written for AD&D (with a definite Oriental Adventures feel) the thing, for me, falls apart due to the scope it sets for itself: Seb creates an entire setting-derived situation concerning a rogue Imperial general-turned-bandit who provides an objective of either justice or straightforward robbing of his hoard.

Likewise, the temple itself is good (i.e well-imagined and well-themed by the author) as is the treasure hoard: appropriate both for the site of the theme, and for the expected level range.

But the adventure lacks challenge. There are only a handful of the bandits on hand (plus a chained-up hill giant) and the remaining 150 bandits and leaders of the bandit camp (including the aforementioned General and his magic-using henchmen) are left un-detailed “due to space considerations.” Despite the fact they are key to the order of battle presented in the write-up.

Sorry..this one is lacking and needs a LOT of work to make it playable. Telling the DM to just “use page 66 of the Monster Manual to generate” the appropriate opponents is NOT acceptable for a module.

Two stars (**). However, you get a “+” for having a decent concept and good amount of treasure.

ASC Review: The Caverns of Despair

The Caverns of Despair (Kurt)

AD&D (Oriental Adventures) for 6+ players of 4th-7th level

All right...now we're talking!

For my review criteria, you may check out this post. All reviews will (probably) contain *SPOILERS*; you have been warned! Because these are short (three page) adventures, it is my intention to keep the reviews short.

Despite this being an "oriental AD&D adventure site," there's really only one specific reference to OA in the thing. However, there is a LOT of Asian (specifically Chinese) flavor to the adventure. I am even less familiar with Chinese language and folklore than I am with OSE, so I'm not going to try authenticating all the non-English terms/names used in this, but there's more than a few.

[okay, I did bother to google translate "yaoguai," which came out as "monster." Troll proper has a different term, per Google]

Both the theming and concept here are good: a group of bandits have made alliance with some fairytale monsters in exchange for the worship of a bloody-handed deity. They've taken refuge in a cave complex that is (in my opinion) well-done and well-stocked.  The local village has been harassed mercilessly and they're offering 12K plus the chief's three daughters hands (in marriage, I presume). Great hook, great reward.

Another dozen encounters puts this at the right size for the contest parameters. Treasure is ON-POINT...a bit more than 41K, including the villager's reward, which magnanimous PCs could return and still be ahead of the game by selling magic items (max reward estimated at 81K). Since, I peg this as a 36K adventure, I've got no issue.

Danger level is decent. A large cavern full of some 80-odd bandits makes for a nice tactical challenge (though you'd think such a horde would have already demolished the locals' food supply...), especially after the "warm-up" battle with a couple dozen goblins (probably ate a bunch of party resources, natch). Trolls, su-monsters, wights, bugbears, an ogre-mage...all appropriate (and well-used) critters for the theme presented. It really does feel like a "domain of warlords and ancient sorcerers."

Well done, Kurt! Could probably use a random encounter table (to apply pressure to PC explorers),  But this is a nice little adventure site. 

Oh...one more nitpick: "You will need to pre-generate evil player types ahead of time." I don't see how that's even an issue...your NPCs work as written without extensive stats. However, if you want more developed NPCs, that's the job of the adventure designer (i.e. YOU), not the guy purchasing the module.

Three and a half stars (out of five).

***+