ASC3 Review - The Crawling Maw of Malakor

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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.

The Crawling Maw of Malakor
By Frédéric Roelandts aka DangerIsReal
For AD&D
Levels 3-5 (5-7 characters)

Time to grok the adventure: 15 minutes
(25 minutes counting time to read and understand those terrible Fiend Folio and Monster Manual II entries)

Set-up:

A mad sorcerer has a laboratory in the swamp. He is killed by his creation, a stegocentipede, which ends up being worshipped by a band of goblins. 

Things I like: 

The set-up is great. It gives credence to a bizarre Monster Manual II monster. In fact, I was impressed by how the author used a number of Fiend Folio and Monster Manual II creatures in intelligent and plausible ways.

I love the inclusion of a Luck Blade. Adventures need more wishes. 

Having two separate locales to explore (laboratory and goblin lair) makes this adventure site quite rich.

Things to note:

There is a stone bed with silk sheets. Does the bed have a mattress?

Both guardian familiars (FF#49) and stegocentipedes (MM2#114) are over-complicated AD&D monsters. For instance, the AC 3/6 for the stegocentipede means that it has AC 3 75% of the time and AC 6 25% of the time. No indication given to which part of the creature has the higher AC. How dumb is that? The GM should be warned to read their book entries BEFORE running this adventure.

A dwarf-crafted wooden wardrobe feels off to me. It is also worth 10,000 gp. That’s a lot. Actually, there is safe access to quite a bit of treasure if the party simply enters the front door, goes directly to the bedroom, loots it and leaves. 

The 5th level goblin shaman is given 7 HD. Unlike in newer editions of the game, “classed” goblins don’t get more HD. I don’t think a goblin can have more than 2 HD by the book (a goblin chief and his bodyguards “fight as gnolls”: MM#47).

A goblin shaman has access to detect magic. It seems odd that Grubnak has not found the magical treasure in the stegocentipede’s lair or explored the magic-user’s tower. If I were running this, I might move the stegocentipede’s treasure to the rear of the pool, where it might have been missed by detect magic, and put a couple dead goblins in Malakor’s laboratory to show that they started to explore but chickened out when they found it guarded.

Rating:

****  An adventure which delivers on a great set-up

Links to official judges’ reviews:

 

 

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