ASC2 - Tower of the Necromancer

-

ASC2 Review – Tower of the Necromancer

This adventure was submitted for consideration in Adventure Site Contest II, which was run by Ben Gibson at Coldlight Press (contest deadline was January 1, 2025). The official judges (listed in the page linked above) reviewed this adventure. It was not selected as one of the eight winning adventures. Links to official reviews are at the bottom of the review. 

This is an unofficial review, written well after the contest closed. I panned Riley's submission to ACS3 and thought I should take a look at this, his previous year's submission. 

I use a five-star 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.

Tower of the Necromancer
By Riley
For Swords & Wizardry
Levels 1-2 (3-4 characters)

Time to grok: 10 minutes

Set-up:

A light shines in an abandoned tower in the woods. Rumours hint that a necromancer is experimenting on townspeople 

Things I like: 

A low-level magic-user bad guy (as in Zenopus’ tower), but this one is more complicated because he is not evil and not necessarily hostile to the party.

The tower layout is straightforward, but there is a secret entrance. The tower inhabitants have some neat twists which are tied to the magical research being undertaken by the magic-user on blink dogs: ordinary guards that look like skeletons and an ogre who teleports randomly.

Good magical treasure, including a mirror of mental scrying (a book item in S&W) and a magic net (a new item) which prevents teleportation or phasing and which could be very useful in a future adventure.

Things to note:

I like a little more meat on the bones for a starter adventure (NPCs, town, etc.), but this could serve well as a second adventure. Level 2 seems appropriate.

Rating:

***  A solid low-level adventure which could bridge two more sizeable adventures 

Links to official judges’ reviews:

Comments

Post a Comment