Hall of the Rainbow Mage

[Messageboard Golem]

While investigating the disappearance of Londar Brightrain, known as the Rainbow Mage, the party comes across dark, twisted plans and deadly secrets. Will the characters discover the secret behind Horgrim's Pyramid and locate the forgotten temple that may hold the key to a terrible mystery? Designed for 4 to 6 characters of level 7 and higher. Includes new spells and new meta-magic feats!

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Insert your review here please!

Hall of the Rainbow Mage
By Patrick Lawinger
Necromancer Games/ Sword and Sorcery Studios
92 pages


Hall of the Rainbow Mage is an adventure for 4-6 PCs of level 7 or higher. A good mix of magical aid and combat prowess are going to be required. The use of 4th or possibly even 5th level spells will be quite helpful to the party, and a rogue with excellent Search ranks is imperative.
Hall is a multi-site based dungeon crawl, based on some detective work done by the PCs to discover the whereabouts of Londar Brightrain, the Rainbow Mage.
The interior is black and white, with the skull banner margins common to Necromancer products. Interior art is done by Brian LeBlanc, and I was quite surprised to see nude (but tastefully done, and appropriate) artwork inside. Cartography was done by Rob Lee and maps are provided for the wizard’s home, wilderness, and the temple of Horgrim.
The adventure itself is around 68 pages, with 23 pages of NPCs, new monsters and a new template, new items, spells, and a new feat as well. 2 new gods are outlined (Arn, lesser god of the Sun, and Horgrim, god of War and Magic) as well.
I found the tables and sidebars to be in logical and easy to use placement, and special items have there descriptions in sidebar-type boxes close to where they are needed

Spoilers contained below.

The Hall of the Rainbow Mage can be started in several different ways, and several hooks are given to get the PCs involved. What is the fixed situation is the disappearance of Londar Brightrain, and several individuals want to find him, for different reasons. Thus, the detective work by the PCs. Depending on who they work for, Londar is wanted for different reasons. The PCs will start out in the town of Hampton Hill, and discover clues as to what happened to Londar. From information gathered in town, the PCs will discover they must travel through a wilderness setting, to Londar’s home some distance away.
Londar’s tower is a standard “Wizard’s Tower” situation, and was not inspiring. The parties rogue will be important for the rest of this section. While there is the possibility of combat through Londar’s mansion, most can be avoided if the party really wants to. The mansion, tower, and caverns beneath are heavily laden with traps, and these simply must be dealt with. Beneath the mansion is where Patrick begins to show his creativity. With several caverns holding various beings, the PCs will not know what to expect, and the seemingly boring adventure takes a turn for the interesting. Towards the end of the catacombs, is where the PCs find Londar’s body. It is also where some of the relics needed to continue the adventure are stored.
If the PCs return the body of Londar to Hampton Hill, the adventure could be concluded right there. And that would truly be a shame, for the real excitement is about to come. Depending on the way the PCs start the adventure, they will be asked to find the murderer of Londar. It is also where the plans of Londar come to light. He needs certain relics (most of which he has) to complete a ritual. One relic is still in the temple at Arn’s Mountain. If the PCs decide to continue looking for the person who did this, they will eventually come to Arn’s Mountain, which holds Horgrim’s temple.
It is in Horgrim’s temple that the PCs find the inspired dungeon crawl that makes this adventure so worth getting. I likend this temple to a “mini Tomb of Horrors”, in that there is some combat, but the traps involved are the real security, in my opinion. I found this complex to be very well done, and quite creative in its multi-part defenses. It is in this temple that the adventurers must find the last piece of the puzzle Londar was looking for.
The conclusion of this module can be left open to the DM’s desires for how to incorporate it into the campaign. It is entirely possible (and likely) that Londar will be raised for the Dead, and he will be very unhappy about his plan being ruined by the PCs. Various other well-rounded NPCs have their own motivations for gaining the relic pieces, or stopping the PCs. This is a very flexible adventure, and can be molded to fit into an existing campaign quite easily.
I have to admit, when I started reading this adventure, I was lukewarm at best. I wasn’t all that impressed with the premise of a “Wizard’s Tower” situation. But, as the adventure progresses, it gets better and better. I would happily give this adventure 3.75 out of 5.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Hey Skeet! I see someone got a copy a little early!

Question: Wouldn't a 3.75 round up to a 4 out of 5? If so, then why is it rated 3/5?

 

[Simon Collins]

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

The Hall Of The Rainbow Mage is a Necromancer Games adventure designed for 4 to 6 characters of 7th to 9th level or higher.

At $15.95 for 96 pages, this is a fairly standard price for a book of this type and size. 4 pages of advertising and large chunks of white space at the end of each chapter diminish its value in terms of content amount but font size and margins are reasonably good. Despite only one internal artist, the moody mono art ranges from poor to good. The front cover makes good use of colour and retains a very 1st Edition feel to it. Maps are clear and functional but use different scales for different indoor locations and some are lacking a compass direction. Writing quality and editing is average.

Three adventure hooks are offered to encourage the PCs to search the mansion of a well-known mage several miles outside the scheming village of Hampton Hill. The mage has disappeared and several people want to find him. The mansion is warded and trapped and the NPCs have been looking for a group of foolhardy (sorry, brave) adventurers to investigate the mansion to ascertain if the mage is still alive.

The village and NPCs of Hampton Hill are well detailed and a sidebar includes a new deity - Arn (Lesser God of the Sun). The intigue already begins here as several secret agendas are discussed. The PCs travel to the mage's mansion in the forest, with a few encounters along the way. The PCs must infiltrate the mage's mansion, where they discover the body of the mage and clues that the mage was not the harmless figure he portrayed. Instead, he is in league with a powerful baron to use a magical artifact to dominate the local area and eventually forge a new nation of his own. The mansion includes an interesting underground jungle cavern and the backstory gives a sense of realism to the proceedings.

When the PCs return to the village, they find that one of the NPCs has been tortured and left for dead by the baron. Information from this NPC leads them to attempt to find and destroy the evil artifact. They discover the artifact is hidden in an ancient temple to Horgrim, lawful evil God of War and Magic (with sidebar on the deity), which has been sealed in the past by lawful good clerics.

Once inside the temple, the PCs must once again battle various creatures, avoid deadly traps, and collect treasure along the way, in true 1st Edition style, through 4 levels of ancient temple, in order to reach the artifact.

There are several appendices at the back of the book. The first gives some detailed descriptions of the major NPCs, and some stat blocks for lesser NPCs such as guards and merchants. The second offers 3 new monsters - Chrystone (a crystal construct), Wood Golem, and Lead Skeleton (a metal-encased skeletal construct). There is also a new monster template - Dark Warden - a powerful undead with a sonic attack, created by a ritual designed to create guardians for Horgrim's temples. There are also stat blocks for randomly encountered monsters. The third appendix details 13 new magic items and relics, including books that add bonuses to skill checks once read, and the evil artifact that is the centre of the plot of the adventure. The final appendix offers four new spells - etch stone, rainbow spear, rainbow staff, and teleport other - and a new feat - Colorize Magic (which enables spellcasters to define the colour of visible spell effects, giving bonuses to skill checks such as Intimidate or Bluff).

The last few pages are dedicated to maps of the various locations throughout the adventure.

Conclusion:
The Hall Of The Rainbow Mage definitely exemplifies the 1st Edition feel that has become the trademark of Necromancer Games adventures and is bound to please those who enjoy this style. However, it also has a decent plot, well detailed NPCs, and a clever explanation for the locations and creatures within the adventure. The creatures and treasures are varied and appropriate to the locations with background explanation as to their presence. As a pleasant change to some other products I have reviewed recently, the stats also seem to be in order.

On the negative side, there are a few minor holes with some of these explanations. I also would have liked to see ELs for all the locations, not just some (the ELs are pretty tough for the designated character levels but not outrageous). I personally don't like stat blocks, maps, NPCs, etc. at the back of a module - I like them on the page where they enter the adventure, so I was not impressed with the organisation of information but this is more a personal taste thing. There was also this years winner of the longest descriptive title for a monster, with a "female half-celestial/half-elf vampire fighter/sorcerer"!!

This adventure will appeal to those who like 1st Edition style, but it also offers a quality adventure for those who enjoy plot twists and good characterisation, despite the few minor irritations with layout and EL designation.

 

[olshanski]

The criteria I use to evaluate a d20 adventure includes the following:

1. Interesting and varied encounters: I look for unique encounters, allowing for a variety of role and roll playing.
2. Motivations for NPCs and Monsters: or some detail of how they interact with their environment or neighbors.
3. Logical: the adventure should obey a sense of logic that clever players can use to their advantage.
4. Writing Quality: this includes foreshadowing, mystery, and descriptions that bring locations and NPCs to life.
5. Ease of DMing: Clear maps, friendly stat blocks, skill check numbers, player handouts and illustrations.

I don't give much weight to text density and cost per page... I'd rather pay a lot for a small clever mystery than pay a little for a huge repetitive monster bash.
I don't give much weight to new monsters, prestige classes, and magic items... they can add a little variety to an adventure, but to me they are minor decoration.

THE BASICS: (not exactly spoilers)
The adventure is 96 pages long, cover price of $15.95 American.
6 pages of credits/legal/advertising
5 pages of adventure overview and plot development
7 pages of NPC motivation/description
5 pages of city adventure
9 pages of wilderness adventure
48 pages of site-based adventure, some of which is in wilderness setting

The adventure is designed for 4-6 characters of levels 7-9. The adventure contains a huge number of encounters, and depending on how thoroughly your party explores or how mission oriented they are, some encounters will be bypassed. In my estimation, they breakdown as follows:
Approximately 30 combat encounters
Approximately 20 non-combat, negotiable, or avoidable combat encounters.
Approximately 30 environment encounters (traps, trick doors, things to examine)
The encounters range from very easy to the incredibly difficult, with most at the midpoint. It appears that the difficulty levels closely match what is outlined in the Dungeon Master's Guide for suggested encounter variety.

The adventure is fairly setting neutral and could be easily dropped into any world, though it may require a some DM adjusting for some of the NPC motivations to jive if your game has a detailed political structure. The basic plot is a missing person investigation which leads to a site exploration, with clues pointing to a second site exploration.
There are references to monsters, items, and spells in the d20 books by Sword and Sorcery studios "Relics and Rituals", "Creature Collection", and "Creature Collection 2". For the most part, the adventure is playable without these books (more on this later).
The adventure takes place at two distinct sites, and seemed almost to have been designed as a two-part serial adventure. The two parts, while linked by theme and an evolving overall plot, do stand alone individually and could easily be used this way.
The adventure does not contain boxed text. The adventure is a series of site-based adventures (rather than event or timeline driven)


THE SPECIFICS: (Some Spoilers Follow)

1. Interesting and varied encounters: (4/5) The adventure contains a very wide variety of encounters in a variety of terrain types. There are opportunities for every class to shine, although a rogue would be almost a necessity, and the final 1/4 of the adventure has less available for druids. The combat and non combat encounters are intermingled, and even the combat encounters will often start with a little banter as the intelligent opponents attempt to get a feel for the party before attacking. There is almost no repetition in the encounters, which is very surprising for an adventure of this size. Your party will never sigh as they begin yet another encounter with the same monsters they dispatched in the previous encounter. There are a few encounters which seem like dangerous traps, yet turn out to be nothing-- (one cleverly hidden doorknob will cause your players to sweat before trying to turn the knob), but the false danger schtick gets done more than once and for me it loses its appeal. There are also a few more traps than I would generally prefer, which tends to slow down a party as they become over-cautious. I rate the adventure 4/5 for interesting encounters, there is a minor bit of repetition with some constructs and trapped doors.

2. Motivations for monsters and NPCs: (5/5) This is a place where the adventure truly shines. Careful detail has been given to almost every monster, providing motivation and explaining how the monsters interact with each other and the party. This attention to detail is an incredible help when I need to improvise as the players pursue an unexpected course of action. Even the wandering monsters are provided with detailed lairs and a definite purpose for being "out wandering" and contacting the party. The civilized encounters, while short, are well done and provide good opportunities for role playing. If your group especially likes city encounters, there may be some DM work necessary to work the local politics into your world or to provide some non-adventure related encounters such as at a shop or tavern. I rate the adventure 5/5 for highly detailed motivations of monsters and NPCs, as well as role playing suggestions for the DM.

3. Logical: (4/5) Everything in the adventure seems to follow logically based on the set-up. A place where nobody has been for many years would necessarily only have undead or constructs to be encountered... places that are open to the outside world tend to have animals and beasts. There are enough clues that clever players will be able to anticipate a few encounters, and they will feel good for having figured it out (or they will slap their foreheads and say "I should have known!") The adventure does contain a few high-magic elements, such as an artificially illuminated underground cavern populated by exotic fauna brought in by one-way teleporters. The adventure also contains a hollowed out mountain... again something that might be hard for players to swallow in a low-magic world.

4. Writing Quality: (5/5) The quality of the writing is excellent. Creatures and locations come to life with evocative descriptions. Most encountered creatures are described as beings rather than simply stat blocks. Even without boxed text, the DM will have no problems describing locations, smells, and sounds to the players. The first half of the adventure is an explicit mystery, (where is the Rainbow Mage?) and an additional plot twist as the players discover that there is more to the Mage than they anticipated. The second half of the adventure is more of a straight find-the-MacGuffin as the players must explore an evil temple.

5. Ease of DMing: (4/5) The maps are located at the back of the book rather than at the beginning of each chapter. Some wandering monster stat blocks are located in the appendix which will require a small amount of page turning. There are good internal illustrations for the DM (which could be shown to the players), but there is not an illustration booklet and there are no player handouts. There are a few monster and magic spell references to non-core rulebooks, which may cause a bit of a pause to DMs who do not own them. There are enough stats provided that a DM can get by without the supplemental books (and people who own the books will enjoy getting to use them), but I would have preferred to see some advice on alternate spells or perhaps longer descriptions of monsters for people who don't own the Creature Collections or Relics and Rituals. The stat blocks are clear and concise, the keyed maps are aesthetic and easy to read, the errata corrects what few editing errors I could find. There is an obvious loose string at the end of the adventure which the DM may have to write themselves, depending on how doggedly the PCs wish to pursue a villain.


FINAL WORD:

Overall I am extremely pleased with the adventure and rate it a VERY high 4/5. This is the first adventure I've reviewed, and don't want to "use up" my 5s in case I should ever happen to find the holy grail of adventures. The 2nd half of the adventure, in which the players explore an evil temple is similar to Demon Gods Fane which was released at about the same time. I have not yet playtested the adventure, but I would estimate it would take about 10 sessions of 4-5 hours in length, based on the speed that we play.

Supplemental material is available.
Errata is also available online.

EDIT:
Since this review first appeared, I've read many more adventures with a very critical eye. Only one has approached Rainbow Mage in quality, and I feel that it is only fair to adjust my rating to reflect my appreciation for how good this adventure is. I've upgraded my rating to 5/5.

 

[JeffB]

Excellent review. I REALLY liked the breakdown into separate categories. JeffB

 

[DonAdam]

I agree- breakdowns into these categories definitely, more than the individual scores, gives me a better idea of whether this product is for me.

Since I like more traps and less monsters than most adventures have, the most useful thing in your review is that you break down how many encounters of each type there are.

The extra info also helps me see where your opinion came from, so that if we come at the same thing from a different perspective I can tell.

Bravo. The review gets 5/5

 

[JoeGKushner]

In need of a site based adventure where the characters are looking to solve a mystery? The Hall of the Rainbow Mage, a module for 7th to 9th level characters, may be right up your alley.

The module starts with the party traveling through the village of Hampton Hill when they discover that one of the locals of the town, Londar Brightrain, the Rainbow Mage, has missed his niece’s wedding and that locals of the Hill can’t get into his mansion. Can they party discover his fate? For most players, the chance to look around a mage’s manor are too great to resist.

After a brief stint through the wilderness, where there are several encounters that the GM can utilize to start laying the seeds that all is not what it seems. What did those empty vials contain? Why did these attackers need master work crossbow bolts? One of the more interesting encounters that can happen is Byorik, a druid troll whose origins are simple and who seeks peace with nature. Between him and Ilariak, a lammasu, the party can learn a little more, just enough to wet their appetite for mystery.

After those encounters, the party gets a chance to look into the mage’s manor. What they find inside however indicates that this particular mage wasn’t just a humble student of the arcane arts, but rather, a power mad mage whose alliances with other factions, including a local baron and the thieves guild, lead not only to his death, but perhaps to the unleashing of a force too powerful for mortal hands. Of course the characters aren’t the only ones interested in the mage’s secrets and they’ll have to battle a rival party as well as several tricks and traps within the manor itself.

Of course they don’t just stumble across this information in his desk journal. “Hey, would you look at this guy’s 401K!” No, instead, as the party moves through the manor, they discover that Londar’s office is an entrance into his real ‘manor’, a place where his darker studies are contained. These details are covered in another part of the module, Beneath the Mansion and pit the characters into a jungle terrain where they discover that Londar keeps dangerous creatures about like aboleths, chuuls, and even a djinni.

Some GMs who enjoy role playing strange situations, will enjoy the chrystone, a race created by Londar where some serve and some seek freedom. Players may find themselves in a strange moral dilemma. Can these creatures be trusted?

All of this leads the players to discover the final fate of Londar in his laboratory. One of the more interesting aspects is that Necromancer Games has provided a way for the players to interact with the mage, despite his present condition.

Even with the knowledge of the wizard’s fate though, things aren’t over. Seems that back in Hampton Hill, events have been progressing while the player’s were busy. Worse, seems that someone in town is willing to kill the characters to get ahold of Londar’s spellbook. These events lead the players on the hunt for Londar’s ally, Baron Kurell. Seems that Kurell is a demon worshipper (give you three guesses which Demon Lord) and is seeking an artifact, the White Eye. With the help of one of the townsfolk, the players learn where the item is. Now all they have to do is find and deal with the White eye least the Baron get hold of it.

This leads the party to the second ‘dungeon’ in Arn’s Mountain, guarded by three powerful couatl who allow adventurers entrance provided they don’t seek to bring evil out to the world. The couatl figure that as long as the characters are killing evil within the Horgrim’s Temple, that everything is good in the world. The temple itself consists of numerous encounters that’ll test the party’s endurance as they must endure not only traps and monsters, but intelligent adversaries, some of whom the party is better off bartering with then actually attacking. The book makes excellent use of outsider sources from the Swrod & Sorcery Creature Collection line, as well as introducing several new monsters.

In the end, the party should be able to turn the White Eye over to the guardians for destruction. They’ll have friends in the town, and may have unfinished business with Londar who is raised by his niece. The plot lines allow the GM to easily expand one adventure into several.

Outside of the adventure, the module introduces several new monsters, spells, and a new feat. Stats are included for the race, chrystone, the wood golems, and the lead skeletons. The Dark Warden template uses the soul of the creature to provide more power for its attacks. The new magic items included several magical books, Rainbow based items like bracers, crossbow, and ring, as well as The White Eye itself. This intelligent item is a master of numerous spells and is quite potent. The new spells include Rainbow Spear and Rainbow Staff, both of which create weapons of rainbow energy whose damage inflicted depends on what color the staff is when the attack hits. Targets may get touched by Indigo and be stunned for 1d4 rounds or by Blue and take electrical damage.

Art is all done by Brian LeBlanc and is solid. Because it’s all one artist, it has an excellent consistency. I particularly enjoyed the cavern scene on page 25. LeBlanc’s art tends to be better, in my opinion, when he goes for the charcoal look as opposed to the pen and ink look. Editing is good but needs just to be done one more pass. There is a tendency to repeat the same information a paragraph or two after it was just introduced like at the start with it being unusual that Londar would miss his niece’s wedding, and with the djinni’s tactics.

Is there anything I’d like to see change in future Necromancer products? Yes. I’d like to see some new borders. The skulls are getting boring and don’t have the flair that Necromancer games is capable of. I’d also like to see better layout at the ends of the chapters. It’s not that there is a problem with white space, but to my eyes, too much white space is indeed wasteful. I’d also like to see the interior covers used all the time. Lastly, I’d like to see less advertising. I know that White Wolf is the parent over the Necromancer line, but 4 pages? At least it’s not five this time around as it has been in other products.

The Hall of the Rainbow Mage provides the party with a romp through an evil mage’s manor and his hidden caverns, as well as a crack at a fallen evil god’s temple and does so in the 1st edition style that Necromancer Games is famous for, while providing the GM just enough goods to keep the players guessing.

 

[Corporal_Cupcake]

I'm currently using this module with my party who just graduated to 8th level. There are several nice opportunities for role-playing, as well as nicely-detailed locations and encounters. But DMs take note: unless your party is highly-powered, don't spring it on them at 7th level! Except for a few early fights, all battles are at ELs _above_ the level of the party. Battles average EL9 by the time the first third of the module is completed. By the end, you're looking at EL11-14 on a regular basis.

One other nitpick: NPC stats are all grouped together at the end of the module, not in the section of the module in which they appear. Additionally, the NPC lists are not alphabetical, so there's a lot of page-flipping, which tended to slow things down in my particular running of the module.