Messageboard Golem
First Post
More maps, more challenges! This d20 mapped sourcebook contains countless adventure ideas surrounding locations of the dead -- and the dead themselves!
Enchanted Locations: Crypts and Tombs
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- Start date
JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Crypts & Tombs is similar to the first Enchanted Locations product. It presents a group of treasures, maps, and the monsters to go with it.
Unlike the first book however, this one tries to do things a little differently.
See, the treasures are broken up into groups of magic items based on either class or race. Take for example the Elf Artifacts. There is a one page map of the ‘Elf Lands’ with twenty numbered and named areas. The artifacts are named, The Ring of the Dark Forest, the Bow of Adrian the Mighty, the Longsword of Avoral the High King, and the Elf Sphere of Ardolwasanth the Life Giver. The good thing here is that unlike the various books of Power, the items are not given pages of background, but a paragraph or two, meaning we get a lot of items. The legends are laid out and presented with information given on first use, reactions from friends, and strangers, and what happens when the same user has more than one of the items.
Now that last bit is an interesting twist, reminding me a little of some of the properties from the Dark Nebula book, Materia Magica where combinations of magic items are greater than their individual components. The items are then laid out with their initial power, reaction of the user, the effects it has, how to activate, and what the hidden powers are, and what additional powers are gained when the user has more than one item.
Note, these additional powers are different than what happens when the user has more than one item. For example, for the Elf artifacts, if he has two, plants grow faster. If he has three, treants begin reproducing in the forests and if he has four, the elves themselves reproduce faster. Now right away, I’m seeing some potential uses for this type of device. Imagine using something like this in the Scarred Lands where the elves are in dire need of some type of miracle.
The bad news is that if you’re campaign levels don’t have a lot of high magic for you, much of this book is lost. With the combination of core class items, fighter, cleric, rogue, and wizard, and racial combinations, elf, dwarf, orc artifacts, there is a lot of space taken up by items that may not be for your campaign. One or two of these items may make its way into your campaign and if you’re looking for ideas on how to give extra powers to items when they’re brought together, this can act as a good blueprint for that but if you have a low powered campaign, this probably isn’t the book for you.
After the stats are broken down with their powers, the maps start. Unfortunately, these are the same types of maps that FFE has used all along, grayscale computer generated maps where the scale is sometimes difficult to determine. I wish that this company would take a look at Necromancer’s Book of Taverns or the Foul Locals series from Mystic Eye Games to see how some of these maps could be done.
The maps have twenty locations with some of the inhabitants written up. The strange thing is that there are creatures drawn from the Monster Manual II here. You’ve got Dragonflesh Golems, Gravecrawlers, Pulverizers and other creatures reproduced with a reference of MMII to indicate that it came from that book. One of the things that prevents this book from being more than just a collection of lairs is that the material isn’t laid out in any real order. It’s just map, monster. This isn’t an ideal combination as almost anyone whose been behind the screen could whip out some type of map and lay out some encounters. If the pages could’ve been beefed up and each listing given some details, then the product would shine a little more than just a collection of artifacts and monster encounters.
The art in the book looks to be taken from old public sources ala Dover Publications or other achieved art depots. This is a shame since the cover art by Elmore is so visually striking. Layout is standard two columns and text use is fair. The price, $24.95 for 128 pages in a hardback is fair, but a little more expensive than other hardbacks that tend to have more pages.
Crypts & Tombs can provide the layout and source for many nights of adventuring but Game Masters should be ready for the high-powered items and either make changes before hand or accept the book for what it is and use it as such.
Unlike the first book however, this one tries to do things a little differently.
See, the treasures are broken up into groups of magic items based on either class or race. Take for example the Elf Artifacts. There is a one page map of the ‘Elf Lands’ with twenty numbered and named areas. The artifacts are named, The Ring of the Dark Forest, the Bow of Adrian the Mighty, the Longsword of Avoral the High King, and the Elf Sphere of Ardolwasanth the Life Giver. The good thing here is that unlike the various books of Power, the items are not given pages of background, but a paragraph or two, meaning we get a lot of items. The legends are laid out and presented with information given on first use, reactions from friends, and strangers, and what happens when the same user has more than one of the items.
Now that last bit is an interesting twist, reminding me a little of some of the properties from the Dark Nebula book, Materia Magica where combinations of magic items are greater than their individual components. The items are then laid out with their initial power, reaction of the user, the effects it has, how to activate, and what the hidden powers are, and what additional powers are gained when the user has more than one item.
Note, these additional powers are different than what happens when the user has more than one item. For example, for the Elf artifacts, if he has two, plants grow faster. If he has three, treants begin reproducing in the forests and if he has four, the elves themselves reproduce faster. Now right away, I’m seeing some potential uses for this type of device. Imagine using something like this in the Scarred Lands where the elves are in dire need of some type of miracle.
The bad news is that if you’re campaign levels don’t have a lot of high magic for you, much of this book is lost. With the combination of core class items, fighter, cleric, rogue, and wizard, and racial combinations, elf, dwarf, orc artifacts, there is a lot of space taken up by items that may not be for your campaign. One or two of these items may make its way into your campaign and if you’re looking for ideas on how to give extra powers to items when they’re brought together, this can act as a good blueprint for that but if you have a low powered campaign, this probably isn’t the book for you.
After the stats are broken down with their powers, the maps start. Unfortunately, these are the same types of maps that FFE has used all along, grayscale computer generated maps where the scale is sometimes difficult to determine. I wish that this company would take a look at Necromancer’s Book of Taverns or the Foul Locals series from Mystic Eye Games to see how some of these maps could be done.
The maps have twenty locations with some of the inhabitants written up. The strange thing is that there are creatures drawn from the Monster Manual II here. You’ve got Dragonflesh Golems, Gravecrawlers, Pulverizers and other creatures reproduced with a reference of MMII to indicate that it came from that book. One of the things that prevents this book from being more than just a collection of lairs is that the material isn’t laid out in any real order. It’s just map, monster. This isn’t an ideal combination as almost anyone whose been behind the screen could whip out some type of map and lay out some encounters. If the pages could’ve been beefed up and each listing given some details, then the product would shine a little more than just a collection of artifacts and monster encounters.
The art in the book looks to be taken from old public sources ala Dover Publications or other achieved art depots. This is a shame since the cover art by Elmore is so visually striking. Layout is standard two columns and text use is fair. The price, $24.95 for 128 pages in a hardback is fair, but a little more expensive than other hardbacks that tend to have more pages.
Crypts & Tombs can provide the layout and source for many nights of adventuring but Game Masters should be ready for the high-powered items and either make changes before hand or accept the book for what it is and use it as such.
Psion
Adventurer
Enchanted Locations: Crypts & Tombs
Enchanted Locations: Crypts & Tombs is a collection of maps, encounters, and artifacts to be used as the basis for adventures in the d20 System game. Enchanted Locations: Crypts & Tombs is written by James M. Ward and published by Fast Forward Entertainment.
A First Look
Enchanted Locations: Crypts & Tombs is a 128-page hardbound book priced at $24.99. This is slender for a hardbound of this price.
The cover of the book has the grainy red background common to all FFE books. The cover art is an attractive piece by Larry Elmore depicting a man kneeling next to corpse on a slab.
The interior art is black-and-white. No interior artist is named, and many of the interior illustrations appear to be woodcuts. The maps are similar to that of other FFE products, with textured beveled shapes representing various sites and terrain features.
The interior body text font varies in size. Location keys use a large stylized font. Body text varies from moderate to dense depending on how much text is on the page; pages with more or more extensive stat blocks use smaller text.
A Deeper Look
The basic concept behind Enchanted Locations: Crypts & Tombs is somewhat similar to the original Enchanted Locations book: a variety of maps with keyed locations and a few statistics blocks of some residents of the locations that the players might run into.
However, this book varies in a few significant ways. First off, while the first book was a collection of unassociated maps of different scales and types, Enchanted Locations: Crypts & Tombs actually is has full page region maps with four smaller scale half-page maps depicting specific locales in the region.
There are some tombs & crypts in the maps, but it certainly isn't the theme of the book. The theme of the book seems to be associated artifacts. Each region is associated with a set of four artifacts; the smaller maps are all locations that contain one of the associated artifacts. In that, the book bears some resemblance to the earlier Items of Power series of book as well as the previous Enchanted Locations book.
Each set of artifacts is associated with a specific class or race, and are only usable to full effect by a character of that class or race. The artifact sets are the wizard, clerical, rogue, fighter, elf, orc, and dwarf artifacts. Each set of artifacts consists of four items. Each item has its own powers, and each can gain additional powers if the user possesses more than one item. The items also have goals and many are intelligent; pursuing the goals of the item can unleash more powers.
As is the case with many FFE items, the artifacts are somewhat vaguely defined. In some cases there are missing details that the GM will have to make up like caster levels and DCs. In other cases, fine mechanical details would have been overkill, such as with the rogue items that describe effects on society that happen when a someone begins to collects items.
The fact that the basic concept is applied formulaically is a bit of a drawback. Just how many times can you run the "collect four artifiacts" plot or a variant of it? That said, there are some interesting plot elements weaved into the background of the items. For example, any rogue who ever touched one of the rogue artifacts never ages again. That little tidbit set my mind in motion, imagining a campaign where the PCs are seeking an artifact, and find that to uncover the path to the artifacts, they have to seek out one of the former owners who is still alive.
Each of the specific locations listed in the book have a number of pre-statted creatures or characters defined for them, providing further ideas to wrap an adventure around. However, one oddity struck me immediately: there are several creatures in this book that are not open content from the Monster Manual II, such as the nimblewright, jovoc, teratomorph, hellfire wyrm, emerald dragon, dragonflesh golem, and so forth, and I see no statement that they received special permission from WotC to use these creatures. I imagine that FFE will be getting a letter from WotC and that you won't see a reprint of this book as-is.
That said, their loss is your gain, as some of the creatures are developed in interesting ways. For example, one of the locations is the nimblewright shrine, a strange monastery populated by constructs, which would be an interesting locale in the game.
FFE products are historically plagued by inconsistencies with d20 System rules. Though their later books are better, this book does not escape unscathed. For example, there is a lich sorcerer that has an hp bonus (but no con from which to derive it) and has a high intelligence and low charisma, but whose casting DC seems to be derived from intelligence.
Conclusion
I liked this book a better than the previous Enchanted Locations book. There were a lot more usable campaign ideas embedded in the locations and artifacts, and the balance of material seemed a little more useful. Further, the interior text is less bloated and the use of space is much better. Moreso than even the prior book, the ideas in here would make great adventure-starters for GMs who don't want full-blown adventures, but could use a few ideas.
However, FFE continues to have problems with consistency with the d20 System rules and the terms of the OGL and d20 System and trademark licenses. Further, the fact that the central idea of the artifacts is rather forumulaic will limit the reusability of the book.
Overall grade: C+
-Alan D. Kohler
Enchanted Locations: Crypts & Tombs is a collection of maps, encounters, and artifacts to be used as the basis for adventures in the d20 System game. Enchanted Locations: Crypts & Tombs is written by James M. Ward and published by Fast Forward Entertainment.
A First Look
Enchanted Locations: Crypts & Tombs is a 128-page hardbound book priced at $24.99. This is slender for a hardbound of this price.
The cover of the book has the grainy red background common to all FFE books. The cover art is an attractive piece by Larry Elmore depicting a man kneeling next to corpse on a slab.
The interior art is black-and-white. No interior artist is named, and many of the interior illustrations appear to be woodcuts. The maps are similar to that of other FFE products, with textured beveled shapes representing various sites and terrain features.
The interior body text font varies in size. Location keys use a large stylized font. Body text varies from moderate to dense depending on how much text is on the page; pages with more or more extensive stat blocks use smaller text.
A Deeper Look
The basic concept behind Enchanted Locations: Crypts & Tombs is somewhat similar to the original Enchanted Locations book: a variety of maps with keyed locations and a few statistics blocks of some residents of the locations that the players might run into.
However, this book varies in a few significant ways. First off, while the first book was a collection of unassociated maps of different scales and types, Enchanted Locations: Crypts & Tombs actually is has full page region maps with four smaller scale half-page maps depicting specific locales in the region.
There are some tombs & crypts in the maps, but it certainly isn't the theme of the book. The theme of the book seems to be associated artifacts. Each region is associated with a set of four artifacts; the smaller maps are all locations that contain one of the associated artifacts. In that, the book bears some resemblance to the earlier Items of Power series of book as well as the previous Enchanted Locations book.
Each set of artifacts is associated with a specific class or race, and are only usable to full effect by a character of that class or race. The artifact sets are the wizard, clerical, rogue, fighter, elf, orc, and dwarf artifacts. Each set of artifacts consists of four items. Each item has its own powers, and each can gain additional powers if the user possesses more than one item. The items also have goals and many are intelligent; pursuing the goals of the item can unleash more powers.
As is the case with many FFE items, the artifacts are somewhat vaguely defined. In some cases there are missing details that the GM will have to make up like caster levels and DCs. In other cases, fine mechanical details would have been overkill, such as with the rogue items that describe effects on society that happen when a someone begins to collects items.
The fact that the basic concept is applied formulaically is a bit of a drawback. Just how many times can you run the "collect four artifiacts" plot or a variant of it? That said, there are some interesting plot elements weaved into the background of the items. For example, any rogue who ever touched one of the rogue artifacts never ages again. That little tidbit set my mind in motion, imagining a campaign where the PCs are seeking an artifact, and find that to uncover the path to the artifacts, they have to seek out one of the former owners who is still alive.
Each of the specific locations listed in the book have a number of pre-statted creatures or characters defined for them, providing further ideas to wrap an adventure around. However, one oddity struck me immediately: there are several creatures in this book that are not open content from the Monster Manual II, such as the nimblewright, jovoc, teratomorph, hellfire wyrm, emerald dragon, dragonflesh golem, and so forth, and I see no statement that they received special permission from WotC to use these creatures. I imagine that FFE will be getting a letter from WotC and that you won't see a reprint of this book as-is.
That said, their loss is your gain, as some of the creatures are developed in interesting ways. For example, one of the locations is the nimblewright shrine, a strange monastery populated by constructs, which would be an interesting locale in the game.
FFE products are historically plagued by inconsistencies with d20 System rules. Though their later books are better, this book does not escape unscathed. For example, there is a lich sorcerer that has an hp bonus (but no con from which to derive it) and has a high intelligence and low charisma, but whose casting DC seems to be derived from intelligence.
Conclusion
I liked this book a better than the previous Enchanted Locations book. There were a lot more usable campaign ideas embedded in the locations and artifacts, and the balance of material seemed a little more useful. Further, the interior text is less bloated and the use of space is much better. Moreso than even the prior book, the ideas in here would make great adventure-starters for GMs who don't want full-blown adventures, but could use a few ideas.
However, FFE continues to have problems with consistency with the d20 System rules and the terms of the OGL and d20 System and trademark licenses. Further, the fact that the central idea of the artifacts is rather forumulaic will limit the reusability of the book.
Overall grade: C+
-Alan D. Kohler
Simon Collins
Explorer
Enchanted Locations: Crypts & Tombs is the second in the Enchanted Location series from Fast Forward Entertainment.
Crypts & Tombs is a 128-page mono hardback product costing $24.99. The space between paragraphs in the product is quite large and most pages contain an inch or two of white space at the bottom of the final column - this provides an airy feel making for easy reading but may disappoint those who like to see a product packed to the gills with text. There are also three pages of ads at the back. Since no internal art is ascribed to anyone, it appears to be public domain art, and comes in a variety of historical styles from Greek to Victorian. Though it seems to match the text reasonably well, it lacks the verve of a more modern style and seems a waste of the artistic talent available to publishers from freelancers. The internal art suffers the more compared to the superb Larry Elmore cover art, depicting an adventurer approaching a skeletal warrior laid out on a sarcophagus. The maps are rather gloomy and basic, but provide compass direction and scale.
The writing style is too simplistic and nebulous for my tastes, and repeatedly uses too many words to get across ideas - for example: "...they have an uneasy feeling that forces them to hide the symbol in a place of safety where others can't find it." If you hide something, it's not necessary to say that it's in a place of safety, and that that place should be somewhere others can't find it. I found editing to be generally average, containing some silly mistakes such as one of the early section headings reading "Motovations", and elsewhere repeatedly abbreviating Initiative in the same manner as Intelligence.
The book starts off with a one-page introduction, giving an overview of the chapters and some advice on how to use the book. Unfortunately, this information is given in a tone of matey self-adulation. Phrases such as "I really like the first Enchanted Locations product we at Fast Forward produced", "what you've got in your hand here is the accumulation of more years of gaming than I even want to contemplate" and "...we're working to give your players the best experience they can have. And, really, that's what it's all about - the gaming _experience_, right?" raise the reader's expectations way beyond what any product can provide. Most sales people are taught to deliver more than they promise and the tone of the introduction and the marketing on the back of the book seems to set up Fast Forward for some of the criticism that has been aimed at their products.
The back of the book states "Tired of another evening of the same-old, same-old? Are your players? Enchanted Locations gives you something different - quests!" I was under the impression that the backbone of RPG adventures was the Quest, and I hardly feel that quests are something different. But heck, I like quests, and following the introduction is a discussion of the quest sub-genre. Unfortunately, Fast Forward fall into the over-marketing trap again by stating they provide a worksheet to develop quests, then actually providing a (rather clichéd IMO) example of development of the elements of a specific quest (involving the search for an artifact in a flying castle) instead. The section moves on to better things by taking a look at challenges and motivations such as providing seemingly insurmountable problems and slowly offering clues to the solution, and a limited time scale to egg the players on.
The next section looks at the nature of artifacts, as they are often central to the quest concept. The section looks at developing legends around the artifact(s) used for the quest (both true and untrue) and the consequences of owning a powerful item, since powerful beings are attracted to the artifact and desire to own it - there are some quite evil ideas for making the PC artifact-owner's life hell in this regard, both here and in the rest of the book. This section is useful for those with little experience in developing the role of artifacts in quest-based campaigns or adventures.
The rest of the book uses a certain formula to present important artifacts, and the locations to which a quest for the artifact(s) might lead. Each section begins with a set of class and race-orientated artifacts - wizard, clerical, rogue, fighter, elf, orc, and dwarf. Legends surrounding each artifact are described. Each artifact has an initial power, and initial reaction from others to the wielder of the artifact, on first becoming the owner. The artifacts also have an effect on the owner, and these are not always pleasant. In addition, the artifact also has hidden powers that develop when the owner performs certain actions associated with the artifact's effects on the owner (see below for an example of this). Finally, the interactions between each of the artifacts in the set are also described (i.e. new powers become available when more than one artifact is owned). After each artifact section, several locations are presented with a map and key on the left hand page and stats for the denizens on the right-hand page, along with some brief roleplaying information.
The final section in the book contains Jim Ward's personal view on why giving out a lot of treasure is a Good Thing - he is a proponent of the Monty Haul school of thought and provides an argument in favour of providing heaps of treasure. Essentially he believes that gaining treasure (and particularly hugely powerful magic items) is most of the reason why people enjoy roleplaying, so giving them out freely makes the game more fun. I happen to totally disagree with Mr. Ward's philosophy as I feel players get blasé about treasure if they get too much of it and it can unbalance a campaign, but the section does contain some interesting thoughts on the consequences of owning 'obvious' magic items such as ioun stones.
The section also provides three different options of mixes of treasure for ELs of 1-20 from basic coinage to a mix of coinage, magic, and gems, or some more obscure treasure such as wondrous items or more detailed personal items. These should provide a useful reference for those developing the adventure tools provided in the book.
As far as the content of the artifacts provided, it is important to remember that these are extremely powerful items that can seriously unbalance your campaign setting and GMs would be well-advised to carefully assess the possible impact the item's powers would have, and plan the progression of access to their hidden powers in line with the character's level.
As an example, the Shield of the Gods' initial power is to turn undead creatures to dust unless they make a DC 25 Fort save modified by their HD, and give +20 to the wielder's AC. Further powers can be gained as the wielder gains more powerful weapons (this aspect is undefined) and kills Outsiders with more hit points than the wielder. These powers include turning animals into dire animals who obey the wielder's commands, immunity to divine spells of levels 1-3, gaining a +3 cumulative bonus to a weapon, immunity to dragon breath weapons, elemental summoning, and allowing the wielder the benefits of a continuous haste spell with no ill effects. Mixed with other artifacts, the wielder also gains a number of paladin, and monk, abilities. There are also other more general effects of collecting this item with the other three items in the series - as the person collects these artifacts, major effects on the game world come into place like affecting the weather in the general area, spontaneous hit point regeneration in the local area, and even re-aligning of planets and moons. Be afraid, be very afraid...
The locations themselves are presented purely as keyed maps with no descriptions of any of the elements of each location, purely the stat blocks for some of the creatures and NPCs to be found in these locations. Speaking of NPCs, a perusal of the stats for Adravar, a 10th-level Sorcerer, gives the NPC:
* An AC of 17 (with a +4 ring of protection, a Dex of 10, and no armour, this should be 14).
* An initiative of +3 (with a Dex of 10 this should be +0).
* An Atk of +5 (which does not account for his Strength of 9 - his Atk should be +4 (or +7 considering his +3 shortspear), and damage should be at 1d8-1, not 1d8, for the same reason).
* A Will save of +9 (should be +8 with his 13 Wisdom).
* Move Silently +11 (impossible for this cross-class skill, with a Dex of 10), and also has massively underused his skill points.
* Only two feats (one of which, Spell Focus, is not defined).
* Not enough spells, since his spells do not reflect the bonus spells gained from his high Charisma.
Other stats show a similar disregard for the d20 rules. The roleplaying information for the NPCs is extremely limited, giving no physical description, and no background. I also found some of the NPC names rather anachronistic, such as Big Mike the Brass Golem and Sally the Flesh Jelly.
Conclusion:
Crypts & Tombs contains a number of ideas that on their own are inspirational and provocative - weapons that will not harm the same race as their creator, the various unpleasant consequences of owning a powerful item, and artifacts that require certain actions from their owner before they release hidden powers. The basic ideas behind the locations and artifacts are often engaging; though not original, the quest for the series artifact has a fine tradition and an enduring appeal. I also liked the concept of map, key and stats on the two-page spread, though these sections would have benefited from some extrapolation in location and creature descriptions.
Overall, the application of the d20 rules is poor, and will require a lot of work on the GMs part to set straight. Stats will need to be completely revised and some aspects of the artifacts require serious rules clarification before use. The high-level powers must be matched with PC level to avoid unbalancing the campaign - perhaps the best use of these artifacts is for high-level adventure, probably levels 15 to 20 or even epic-level play, though the NPCs presented seem designed for mid-level play so would need bumping up in power. Unless you are running an extremely high magic campaign, Crypts & Tombs might best be used as an idea mine for inspiration.
Of course, getting hold of a copy since Wizards clamped down on the non-OGC content from MM2 in this product may be a tad difficult.
Crypts & Tombs is a 128-page mono hardback product costing $24.99. The space between paragraphs in the product is quite large and most pages contain an inch or two of white space at the bottom of the final column - this provides an airy feel making for easy reading but may disappoint those who like to see a product packed to the gills with text. There are also three pages of ads at the back. Since no internal art is ascribed to anyone, it appears to be public domain art, and comes in a variety of historical styles from Greek to Victorian. Though it seems to match the text reasonably well, it lacks the verve of a more modern style and seems a waste of the artistic talent available to publishers from freelancers. The internal art suffers the more compared to the superb Larry Elmore cover art, depicting an adventurer approaching a skeletal warrior laid out on a sarcophagus. The maps are rather gloomy and basic, but provide compass direction and scale.
The writing style is too simplistic and nebulous for my tastes, and repeatedly uses too many words to get across ideas - for example: "...they have an uneasy feeling that forces them to hide the symbol in a place of safety where others can't find it." If you hide something, it's not necessary to say that it's in a place of safety, and that that place should be somewhere others can't find it. I found editing to be generally average, containing some silly mistakes such as one of the early section headings reading "Motovations", and elsewhere repeatedly abbreviating Initiative in the same manner as Intelligence.
The book starts off with a one-page introduction, giving an overview of the chapters and some advice on how to use the book. Unfortunately, this information is given in a tone of matey self-adulation. Phrases such as "I really like the first Enchanted Locations product we at Fast Forward produced", "what you've got in your hand here is the accumulation of more years of gaming than I even want to contemplate" and "...we're working to give your players the best experience they can have. And, really, that's what it's all about - the gaming _experience_, right?" raise the reader's expectations way beyond what any product can provide. Most sales people are taught to deliver more than they promise and the tone of the introduction and the marketing on the back of the book seems to set up Fast Forward for some of the criticism that has been aimed at their products.
The back of the book states "Tired of another evening of the same-old, same-old? Are your players? Enchanted Locations gives you something different - quests!" I was under the impression that the backbone of RPG adventures was the Quest, and I hardly feel that quests are something different. But heck, I like quests, and following the introduction is a discussion of the quest sub-genre. Unfortunately, Fast Forward fall into the over-marketing trap again by stating they provide a worksheet to develop quests, then actually providing a (rather clichéd IMO) example of development of the elements of a specific quest (involving the search for an artifact in a flying castle) instead. The section moves on to better things by taking a look at challenges and motivations such as providing seemingly insurmountable problems and slowly offering clues to the solution, and a limited time scale to egg the players on.
The next section looks at the nature of artifacts, as they are often central to the quest concept. The section looks at developing legends around the artifact(s) used for the quest (both true and untrue) and the consequences of owning a powerful item, since powerful beings are attracted to the artifact and desire to own it - there are some quite evil ideas for making the PC artifact-owner's life hell in this regard, both here and in the rest of the book. This section is useful for those with little experience in developing the role of artifacts in quest-based campaigns or adventures.
The rest of the book uses a certain formula to present important artifacts, and the locations to which a quest for the artifact(s) might lead. Each section begins with a set of class and race-orientated artifacts - wizard, clerical, rogue, fighter, elf, orc, and dwarf. Legends surrounding each artifact are described. Each artifact has an initial power, and initial reaction from others to the wielder of the artifact, on first becoming the owner. The artifacts also have an effect on the owner, and these are not always pleasant. In addition, the artifact also has hidden powers that develop when the owner performs certain actions associated with the artifact's effects on the owner (see below for an example of this). Finally, the interactions between each of the artifacts in the set are also described (i.e. new powers become available when more than one artifact is owned). After each artifact section, several locations are presented with a map and key on the left hand page and stats for the denizens on the right-hand page, along with some brief roleplaying information.
The final section in the book contains Jim Ward's personal view on why giving out a lot of treasure is a Good Thing - he is a proponent of the Monty Haul school of thought and provides an argument in favour of providing heaps of treasure. Essentially he believes that gaining treasure (and particularly hugely powerful magic items) is most of the reason why people enjoy roleplaying, so giving them out freely makes the game more fun. I happen to totally disagree with Mr. Ward's philosophy as I feel players get blasé about treasure if they get too much of it and it can unbalance a campaign, but the section does contain some interesting thoughts on the consequences of owning 'obvious' magic items such as ioun stones.
The section also provides three different options of mixes of treasure for ELs of 1-20 from basic coinage to a mix of coinage, magic, and gems, or some more obscure treasure such as wondrous items or more detailed personal items. These should provide a useful reference for those developing the adventure tools provided in the book.
As far as the content of the artifacts provided, it is important to remember that these are extremely powerful items that can seriously unbalance your campaign setting and GMs would be well-advised to carefully assess the possible impact the item's powers would have, and plan the progression of access to their hidden powers in line with the character's level.
As an example, the Shield of the Gods' initial power is to turn undead creatures to dust unless they make a DC 25 Fort save modified by their HD, and give +20 to the wielder's AC. Further powers can be gained as the wielder gains more powerful weapons (this aspect is undefined) and kills Outsiders with more hit points than the wielder. These powers include turning animals into dire animals who obey the wielder's commands, immunity to divine spells of levels 1-3, gaining a +3 cumulative bonus to a weapon, immunity to dragon breath weapons, elemental summoning, and allowing the wielder the benefits of a continuous haste spell with no ill effects. Mixed with other artifacts, the wielder also gains a number of paladin, and monk, abilities. There are also other more general effects of collecting this item with the other three items in the series - as the person collects these artifacts, major effects on the game world come into place like affecting the weather in the general area, spontaneous hit point regeneration in the local area, and even re-aligning of planets and moons. Be afraid, be very afraid...
The locations themselves are presented purely as keyed maps with no descriptions of any of the elements of each location, purely the stat blocks for some of the creatures and NPCs to be found in these locations. Speaking of NPCs, a perusal of the stats for Adravar, a 10th-level Sorcerer, gives the NPC:
* An AC of 17 (with a +4 ring of protection, a Dex of 10, and no armour, this should be 14).
* An initiative of +3 (with a Dex of 10 this should be +0).
* An Atk of +5 (which does not account for his Strength of 9 - his Atk should be +4 (or +7 considering his +3 shortspear), and damage should be at 1d8-1, not 1d8, for the same reason).
* A Will save of +9 (should be +8 with his 13 Wisdom).
* Move Silently +11 (impossible for this cross-class skill, with a Dex of 10), and also has massively underused his skill points.
* Only two feats (one of which, Spell Focus, is not defined).
* Not enough spells, since his spells do not reflect the bonus spells gained from his high Charisma.
Other stats show a similar disregard for the d20 rules. The roleplaying information for the NPCs is extremely limited, giving no physical description, and no background. I also found some of the NPC names rather anachronistic, such as Big Mike the Brass Golem and Sally the Flesh Jelly.
Conclusion:
Crypts & Tombs contains a number of ideas that on their own are inspirational and provocative - weapons that will not harm the same race as their creator, the various unpleasant consequences of owning a powerful item, and artifacts that require certain actions from their owner before they release hidden powers. The basic ideas behind the locations and artifacts are often engaging; though not original, the quest for the series artifact has a fine tradition and an enduring appeal. I also liked the concept of map, key and stats on the two-page spread, though these sections would have benefited from some extrapolation in location and creature descriptions.
Overall, the application of the d20 rules is poor, and will require a lot of work on the GMs part to set straight. Stats will need to be completely revised and some aspects of the artifacts require serious rules clarification before use. The high-level powers must be matched with PC level to avoid unbalancing the campaign - perhaps the best use of these artifacts is for high-level adventure, probably levels 15 to 20 or even epic-level play, though the NPCs presented seem designed for mid-level play so would need bumping up in power. Unless you are running an extremely high magic campaign, Crypts & Tombs might best be used as an idea mine for inspiration.
Of course, getting hold of a copy since Wizards clamped down on the non-OGC content from MM2 in this product may be a tad difficult.
JustaPlayer
First Post
I have to say I agree whole heartedly with this review. The bottom line is Fast Forward cares nothing for the d20 rules. They shouldn’t be putting the logo on their product. What’s more, they don’t like to hear what’s wrong with the products they put out, so there is very little or no improvement in said products.
I thought that the addition of Skip Williams to their house might be able to alleviate some of the major d20 issues that appear in every single product. I guess that was too much to expect.
I dread that R.A. Salvatore (one of my favorite authors) has singed a deal to have his Demon Wars world converted to a RPG by these people.
I thought that the addition of Skip Williams to their house might be able to alleviate some of the major d20 issues that appear in every single product. I guess that was too much to expect.
I dread that R.A. Salvatore (one of my favorite authors) has singed a deal to have his Demon Wars world converted to a RPG by these people.
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