ASC3 Review - Save vs Sarnoth

-

Adventure Site Contest 3 review

This adventure was submitted for consideration in Adventure Site Contest 3 being run by Ben Gibson at Coldlight Press. This is an unofficial review, which was written prior to reading (or watching) any of the official judges’ reviews. Links to the official reviews are at the bottom of the review. 

Five-star rating scale, based on both playability and interest:
*          Failing grade. The adventure doesn’t meet minimum standards of playability.
**         I could see running this, but it fails to inspire me or has significant playability issues.
***       I would consider running this.
****     I am considering running this.
*****   I want to run this. Now.

Save vs Sarnoth
By Riley
For Swords & Wizardry
Levels 4-5 (4-6 characters)

Time to grok the adventure: 10 minutes

Set-up:

There is a temple of Phogesmos (new god of sputtering flames and patron to lamplighters) in an enchanted grove deep in the wilderness. The grove is populated by woodland creatures: a dryad, a group of nixies, and a clan of centaurs. The temple is abandoned, but its guardian remains in a partially underground: it’s a gorgon.

No rumours or other adventure hooks are provided. The only wandering monsters are centaurs, and they are corrupted and so will probably kill you if they can. 

Things I liked: 

If the gorgon is burned on a pyre, its spine will fuse into an intelligent magic sword named Sarnoth. That’s awesome.

Things to note:

None of the adventure ties together for me. I had so many questions—frankly, too many to make this worth playing, even though technically-speaking the adventure seems runnable. Here is my list:

  • What kind of world would include a deity to sputtering flames patroned by lamplighters (which is a 16th century profession, mind you)?
  • Why is there a temple to lamplighters in the middle of the wilderness?
  • What is the connection between all these woodland creatures and this temple?
  • Who placed the writing on the standing stones? Is it magical?
  • There is some powerful magic surrounding the grove. Who placed it? It seems more appropriated fey than associated with a small temple of a minor deity.
  • Why does a dryad have a magic bow (and other sweet magic armour and weapons of which she has no use)?
  • Why are the centaurs corrupted?
  • Why would there be tapestries and a wooden desk in a temple in the middle of the wilderness?
  • Why does the priest have a magic-user scroll?
  • The gorgon’s pit is 100’ deep. That’s a very long staircase, yet no mention of its length in the room 13 description.
  • Why are there bellows and a pyre if this is a god of sputtering flames and lamplighters?
  • Wouldn’t the leather on the bellows have degraded by now (as the tapestries are)?
  • How did a gorgon come to be the temple’s guardian? How did the clerics of the temple avoid it?
  • Wouldn’t the magic items carried by the three “statutes” have been turned to stone?
  • Who piled the offerings of wine, spices and silk at the back of the grotto?

Rating:

*1/2  An adventure who thematic issues make it unplayable for this GM.

NB: The official judges seemed to like this adventure, so take my review with a grain of salt!

Links to official judges’ reviews:

Comments

Post a Comment