All the King's Men

[HalWhitewyrm]

Filled with bizarre characters, twisted plots, and a macabre sense of humor, All the Kings Men takes the PCs on a wild romp through the dark underbelly of Hamdon, a fantasy version of renaissance London. When the archbishop turns up dead at the production of the latest play, the acting troupe known as The Kings Men is accused of murder. It is up to the PCs to track down the killer and prove the actors innocence. But not everything is as it seems in the world of acts and actors. All the Kings Men is a d20 System adventure suitable for characters of 7th-9th level

 

[Simon Collins]

Beware! This review contains major spoilers.
This is not a playtest review.

All The King's Men is an adventure from MonkeyGod Enterprises for characters of 7th-9th level.

At $11.95 for 48 pages, this adventure is fairly expensive for its size and type compared to other products, in terms of content volume. Like most MonkeyGod products, use of space is fairly good except for the rather large graphic margin. However, this adventure uses the inside covers for maps, which are reasonably good for computer-generated ones. The art varies from poor to good, with most being average. Internal art is mono whilst the front cover portrays the scene which triggers the adventure, an archbishop found hanging from a beam in a theatre. The writing style is good (I liked the clever quips and tongue-in-cheek character names), whilst the editing is average, with occasional but regular mistakes.

The adventure, set in a fantasy version of Renaissance London, centres around a troupe of actors who are in fact peaceful doppelgangers - hence their success at impersonation, which has gained the favour of the king. Another entertainer (Theobold Quikclaim), who specialises in exotic animals, circus-type entertainers, and blood sports (such as cock-fighting and bear-baiting) has in turn lost the favour of the king and the interest of the public. After discovering the true identity of the troupe, Theobold attempts to blackmail them, hoping to regain the favour of the king. This fails, however, and Theobold looks to more extreme measures - the murder of one of the doppelgangers will prove irrefutably their nature to the public and the king. Theobold's minions get their chance when one of the doppelganger's is spotted transforming into an archbishop - the archbishop is set to vote against the performing arts at a Privy Council, which could spell the end of the theatre. The doppelganger transforms into the bishop, determined to cast a vote in favour of the theatre remaining in the Privy Council. However, a mix-up occurs, and Theobold's minions end up murdering the real archbishop instead of the doppelganger. Determined to turn the mistake around and load blame onto the doppelgangers, Theobold arranges for the body of the archbishop to turn up in the theatre. The troupe is indeed blamed for the murder and the PCs must solve the murder mystery.

A couple of possible hooks are given, including an amusing and clever setup where a scroll misfires and sends the PCs into the middle of a play in the theatre, via teleportation. Various clues are scattered throughout the adventure, each one given a Clue Rating - the type of skill check required, along with its DC. A new philosophically-based religion called Jurisprudenzia (similar to Puritanism) is also offered and a new poison, Urali. Also, in the appendix are a number of new magical items, some new psionics, and the psychic doppelganger (which transforms into a doppelganger from a human during the human's teenage years and retains a deep need to become other people due to emotional insecurity).

The adventure involves several eccentric NPCs (including a laughing gnome alchemist and a gauche coroner) and a number of interesting locations (the theatre itself (based on a historical London theatre where Shakespeare's plays were performed), the sewers (filled with noxious explosive gases), the Bear gardens (where Theobold's bearbaiting occurs), and the carnaria (a massive pit filled with offal, corpses, and nasty creatures and NPCs who prey on this gruesome feast). A number of standard NPCs such as beggars, drug dealers, madmen, prostitutes, street urchins, and watchmen are also statted out for random encounters in the city.

Conclusion:
An original, quirky, and mysterious adventure with a well-detailed pseudo-historical setting. Roleplaying, combat, traps, and mystery are well combined. Statistics seem sound (from a couple of random checks), NPCs are well detailed with rich roleplaying opportunities, and there is a nefarious villain at work behind the scenes who could easily escape to cause the PCs further problems (a number of potential follow-on adventures are detailed at the end of the adventure). There is useful advice as the adventure progresses, including reminders on rules for catching fire and suffocation, and an encounter level summary at the beginning of the adventure (covering ELs of 1-10, though mainly 8-9, suitable for the recommended character level).

The only disappointment for me was the epilogue (also the climactic scene), which feels somewhat railroaded. Whilst the action makes for a good story, the scene involving PCs watching a play in the Orb does not give allowance for PCs taking combat actions - they could easily use spells or ranged attacks to interfere with the happenings described in the text boxes in this scene. Some thought will need to be given by the GM in this regard in order to run the adventure smoothly, planning an alternative ending if the PCs are successful in foiling the villain's plans at this stage. I would have liked to have seen more discussion on alternative endings in this regard, though discussion of the villains' plans if they escape is given. 9th-level PCs may also use spells to cause problems with the plotline, such as Raise Dead, Teleport, True Seeing, and Ethereal Jaunt - again, GMs will have to be on their toes to deal with this and some pre-planning on this account is advised.

Note: I should make it clear to those reading this review that I worked on a joint project in the past with the author Michael Tresca. However, I have made every effort to be as unbiased as possible in my review.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

All The King's Men is a D20 adventure for a party of 7-9th level characters. You'd think at this point, the characters would be saving the world, defeated a major evil, opening a gate to a really nasty plane. But no! It's a whodunnit adventure with a lot of humor, and written with a Shakespearean bent. This review will avoid any spoilers about the plot, other than telling you that the Butler did not do it.

The module:
The Prologue and inside covers give the background information and maps necessary to run the module. The map of Hamdon, the city in which the mystery takes place, lists the 6 locations important for the module. Other locales are left up to the DM, allowing the adventure to be run in any campaign. Of specific interest are the 2 performance halls, each of which has its own map. Unfortunately, you could almost exchange the legends and not notice. I'm surprised that these structures in different parts of the city are basically identical, even if they are used for similar purposes. If they were different, it would have enhanced the reality of the two stages. As it is, players may not get a feel for the scenery when the DM tells them it's a circular structure with 3 floors and the stairs and offices at one end, since that covers both the Orb and the Bear Gardens.

Next are the Episodes, the various encounters covering what the PCs can do to solve the mystery. Other than the very first one, they can be run in any order, determined only by what the PCs want to do. To get the PCs involved, there are 2 different Opening Acts. Each is full of text to be read to the PCs as this is one of the few scripted events in the story. The scripting does a great job of setting the tone and the mood. Both do a good job of enticing the PCs into becoming detectives. The rest of the episodes describe the various clues and things the PCs can investigate. These clues will lead the PCs to the culprit, however, fruitless avenues of investigation are missing. It would be nice if there were dead ends and red herrings. I expect PCs will try to do things not covered, because there is no clue available for trying that.

Finally, the Epilogue occurs when the PCs have collected enough clues to determine the murderer. It has the classics: a confrontation, an escape, a chase, and the reward. It's a very exciting ending, which won't be given away here. The PCs will be kept whirling, excited to the point that they forget to eat their chips and drink their soda. And there are plot hooks left for future adventures of the DM's own devising

The quality of the artwork varies from Why? to poor to really very good. The sketches of NPCs stand out the most. The tables are easy to read, useful references that are interspersed through the module. My personal preference would be to have them all at the end for easy referencing. The maps have been discussed previously.

Reading the module as a DM is just plain fun. The episode titles are humorous. The writing is light and airy. And many of the jokes may only be seen by the DM. A module can be good, but that doesn't mean it's a pleasure to read. This one is.

The good:
The plot is excellent.
The NPCs are well designed and interesting. The PCs will want to meet as many of them as possible.
It's a whodunnit! There's a little bit of Sherlock Holmes in everyone.

The bad:
This is not a module for a DM who cannot roleplay or improvise.

The twist:
This module could easily be converted into an evening LARP. The characters are well designed and interesting. It's just a matter of making some characters for the detectives. Then let everyone at it, and see who gets blamed!

The conclusion:
If you're a DM who can roleplay and who can think on your feet, this is a great module to play. It's a very refreshing change of pace from any ongoing story. And it can be inserted into any game world. On top of that, it's worth the read.