An Endzeitgeist.com review

This module clocks in at 20 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page back cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 16 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This review was moved up in my reviewing queue at the request of my supporters.

Okay, so this module is intended for 5-7 characters level 4-7, though it should be noted that the module probably works better at the higher level ranges. A plus: The module actually has notes for suggested characters and their levels if created for this module. As for rules, this employs Swords & Wizardry (S&W); it features a very small map of the starting settlement (a large version would have been nice), and a hex-map of the surrounding area and a hand-drawn side-view of the complex – I liked that. The map is also hand-drawn, and this time around, the assigned numbers to the rooms make sense regarding their position on the map. The map comes with a grid, but doesn’t specify grid-size – I assume 10 x 10 feet, but having that noted on the map would have been nice. Speaking of which: It’d have been really neat if we got an actual player-friendly version of the map.

He module begins with a quote of the Heavy Metal movie, but if you expect some outré component, as in the previous modules by the author, you won’t find it here. This is very much a classic fantasy module. The adventure comes with a massive exposition dump-style read-aloud text. Pretty cool: We get handy dialogue snippets as readaloud text for the starting settlement/research there. The dungeon rooms and the like do not have readaloud text, though. Somewhat annoying: the module does not implement the rules-relevant formatting aspects of S&W in a concise manner. Indeed, this module requires whipping out your trusty markers to reliably run it at the table; it’s not particularly convenient, though monster stats are set apart by their stats using a different font.

All right, and this is far as I can go without diving into SPOILERS. Potential players should skip ahead to the conclusion.

… .. .

All right, only referees around? Great! So, this story is about the eponymous green orb, by name the Loknaar, which had two mighty known wielders explained in the exposition text – a dwarf, and it may also have been wielded by the priest-turned-sorcerer Dretchelich. (Also written as “Dredtchelich” sometimes…) I did not make up the latter name, by the way. Essentially, the PCs are to travel to Azul Rik and determine if the ominous green glow is due to the dreaded Loknaar. The little settlement of Piktown offers a surprising amount of depth for parties that actually bother doing their legwork, which is a plus.

However, the module does suffer from a couple of design decisions: Number one of these would be Kritus, a suspicious old NPC who wants to accompany the party, who can open the gates to the dwarven Azul Rik. The local populace, while offering inconsistent information, does provide warnings here – and indeed, taking the guy with them is a bad call: The module provides a whole array of sabotages that are about as subtle as Gollum whistling “I’m singing in the Rain” or “Row, row, row your boat…” while holding an ill-conceived knife. Essentially, this module assumes that the players take the fellow along, and works best if hey do, but that’s a TALL order. This, already, is a pretty big detriment to the integrity of the adventure, at least as far as I’m concerned.

It also puts this module in a sphere of direct comparison with Frog God Games’ “Cave of Iron” – which had serious issues.

Unfortunately, the same holds true here: Now, I’ll gladly state that the module does manage to evoke, at times, the sense of a dwarven hold – with massive 10K gold doors (no weight given), we have some cool, unconventional treasure ideas. (Just, for the love of all that’s holy, don’t use gold = XP with this module…) This culminates in massive doors of PLATINUM. Heavy PLATINUM doors. If the party doesn’t try to get these out of the complex, they are literally doing it WRONG. Oh, but guess what? The platinum doors do not sport notes on how much they’re actually worth. The module sports pretty significant wealth, though magic item design tends to be rather boring and lacks all formatting: One of the best treasures herein is a “returning axe (+2, 60ft range no penalty, add str bonuses)”[sic!] to give you an idea.

The book also features some seriously sucky mechanical components, worst of all being the TPK pit trap: Touching one particular gem will make the floor collapse into a 500-ft. deep pit, with everything falling down. Thieves and PCs with Dexterity 15+ have an 80% chance of grasping wires to avoid the fall. All other PCs have a 50% chance, and 50% chance to grasp another character. Usually, we’d see a saving throw here. Not a percentile chance. The text also specifically notes that only thieves can find it, when a dwarf should get the customary chance – that’s pretty much a textbook example of where the benefit should apply….and even if you don’t mind the weird execution of the mechanics here, we still have a save or suck, just minus the save. Which strikes me odd indeed.

Anyhow, the complex can’t really field the claim that it makes internal sense or adheres to a kind of realism, but I don’t expect that – I can have fun with a good funhouse dungeon that makes no sense. The thing is that none of the challenges per se that the module offers are actually…well…interesting. This sounds jaded, but it’s all so paint-by-the-numbers. Dre(d)tchelich is trapped in the Loknaar, some lizardmen found it, and now they want to enslave a green dragon (aren’t these usually hanging in forests? Granted S&W Complete doesn’t state as such, but it’s kinda the convention…). The Loknaar is the true villain. There are a few lizardmen rebels (5!), and everything feels so…petty. Paltry. The only good scene herein was a troll head in a chest, sprouting tiny legs to run away and regenerate. Why didn’t it regenerate and burst the chest before? No clue. There are demons and undead and some aberrations left – all very standard, remains of Der(d)tchelich’s experiments, I guess. No, there is no clear baseline of power.

Not that there’s much to do beyond combat here. And sure, if your players are so dumb/naïve that they trust Kritus, there’s a bit of challenge here, and that may theoretically be interesting.

But what party’ll do that? Heck, “Cave of Iron” had issues re map missing etc. – but guess what? It did a better job managing to get the party to take a mushroom person along for the ride than this module does to take the obviously insane, dangerous hermit along, who may well be a legendary evil in disguise. I mean. Seriously.

For newbies, this is too hard, unforgiving and dickish; for veterans, this is too boring. The previous modules by the author had serious issues in some regards; but each at least had this glimmer of potential, of something interesting – of a world that I’d like to know more about! Not so here.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are neither on a formal, nor rules-language level, up to par. Layout adheres to a no-frills two-column b/w-standard, with tiny hand-drawn b/w-artworks-. The hand-drawn b/w-cartography is somewhat charming, but the lack of player-friendly versions is one big strike; the second strike would be that the village map is teeny-tiny – we’d have needed a one-page version here. The module comes with bookmarks, at least.

Extildepo’s third module is by FAR their weakest; while the previous ones had weaknesses, they also used to have one or two nice ideas, hinting at unique visions and potential that never really made it into the modules themselves. This can’t be claimed to be true here. This module, to me, was aggravating; it felt phoned-in, and I literally have improvised superior, more concise, and unique scenarios on the fly, without prep-work, while hungover and suffering from a splitting migraine. I scoured these pages, time and again, trying to find redeeming graces – and came up blank.

The dialogues are decent; the head got a chuckle out of me; that’s it. That’s all the positivity I can muster here. Know how “Cave of Iron” got a sound beating from yours truly for its shortcomings? Well, at least it wasn’t boring. I can’t recommend this to anyone. It’s not even funny-bad. My final verdict can’t exceed 1.5 stars…and since I rounded up for Cave of iron, I am left with but one recourse. Rounded down.

Endzeitgeist out.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This module clocks in at 24 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page back cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page advertisement, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 19 pages, so let’s take a look!

This review was moved up in my reviewing queue at the request of my patreon supporters.

This module is intended for characters level 3 – 5, and while no numbers are given, I’d recommend around 6 players for it. The module uses the Swords & Wizardry rules, and adaptation to other OSR- rules is pretty simple; there are a few deviations regarding formatting S&W’s conventions. Magic items, for example, are not properly depicted and are sometimes in the regular text sans highlighting, which makes parsing for information a hassle. The referee will also need to fill quite a few of the treasures – scrolls and magic items are not fixed, and spellbooks are also not fully depicted, with only spells prepared noted.

The module’s final 3 pages are devoted to sidetreks, which include a full map of temple crypts, but only two of the rooms noted on the map are actually provided – the rest is up to the referee. Stats for a local goblin tribe’s warriors and their chief are provided. The presence of the bonus map is welcome, though it does bring me to an issue you might encounter: None of the maps are provided in player-friendly versions, and while there are charming in being obviously hand-drawn, they are missing a grid, and thus don’t support VTT-play particularly well, with secret door “S”-indicators obvious, and the grid’s lack making the tracking of individuals tactically rather difficult. Also something to note: The way in which the rooms of the dungeon re numbered threw me in for a loop; it may be only a personal idiosyncrasy here, but from the numbers alone, you won’t be able to discern the approximate place where the room is in the dungeon unless you have the map ready. Room #18 of the dungeon, for example, is in the lower right section; room #20 is in the upper left section.

Speaking of which: The module is potentially pretty deadly and has a few potential “Gotcha”-moments, though the module does not revel in those; so yeah – deadly, but can be managed by skilled players. Unlike the first module released by Verisimilitude Society Press, this one is not as reliant on global lore to fully enjoy, working pretty seamlessly as a stand-alone offering. As far as read-aloud text is concerned, we do not get read-aloud text for rooms, but do get sentences that paraphrase what NPCs mention.

All right, and this is as far as I can go without diving into SPOILERS. Potential players should jump ahead to the conclusion.

… .. .

All right, only referees around? Great! The module takes place in the fully mapped village of Sacrabad, which once prospered under the goodly wizard Thonilly Bibotrob, who watched over them from his black tower. …I actually like this twist, as usual, black towers are pretty much an indicator of evil wizards, but yeah. Good, powerful magic-user + black tower – nice. Though it should be noted that we have more of a fort or keep than a tower here – the place has only 2 levels + an observation deck. Anyhow, the town’s steward and beloved knight, Nim Sheog the Elder, alas, passed away, only to be replaced by Nim the Son, who is nothing like his father. Bibotrob has not been seen in over 50 years, and Nim the Son has established an iron-clad rule of tyranny on the village, lording over the populace from the occupied black tower.

The true story is pretty obvious: Nim the Son started studying magic under Thonilly Bibotrob, stretching to forces beyond his ken and ability to control; duly alarmed, father and archmage conversed, and Nim the Younger listened, ultimately eliminating his own father and managing to trap the kindly archmage. In recent times, Nim the Younger has ordered allied goblins to help clear the still dangerous rooms housing Thonilly Bibotrob’s experiments, being more or less subtle with that.

The module begins with a pretty solid first section that introduces the PCs to the realities in Sacrabad, and has them ultimately unearth the fact that there’s a resistance movement going on; it is via roleplaying and proper interaction that the PCs can learn more here – and they should, for Nim the Son and his guards are no pushovers. The section also provides some solid red herrings, which I appreciated.

Ultimately, the module can be roughly divided in two sections: The first, which consists of the legwork and investigation, and the second, which is about venturing into the keep’s dungeon to rescue Bibotrob in a dungeon-crawl section. The goal, obviously, is to overthrow Nim the Son, which the powerful archmage will handle. The dungeon has no less than 4 means of egress, which is something I genuinely found myself enjoying – kudos there!

Also a plus: The dungeon does feel like a wizard’s containment lab: We have, for example, a unique monster, the Night Sky Horror, which has super-long tentacles (seen on the cover) – this’d work better if the rooms/maps actually had a grid to determine precise reach of the tentacles. As written, the module for example notes that the thing can reach down a pit trap, but determining precise length? Difficult to always determine. The “Rat King, a telepathic amalgamation of fused rats with 8 attacks that sports a save or die disease (ouch!) also is cool: It is slow, and such can be avoided. However, its confusion-causing telepathy would require a range. There also is a basilisk at one point, but there are statues warning the players. From a smoking parlor to a section sporting hallucinatory terrain, the complex has some cool angles.

There are a few issues with the module’s structure: The adventure sets up a pretty cool investigation and infiltration, which I genuinely like seeing. However, with no scale or grid, the maps of the tower remain a bit more opaque than I like. Moreover, there are no patrolling schedules provided, which seems odd, considering Nim the Son does have notes on a schedule of sorts. So, while the schedule’s here, the heavy lifting is left to the GM to undertake. The finale is also a problem – a good module shouldn’t necessarily reduce the PCs to sidekicks, but that’s probably what they’ll be in the conflict between the powerful wizards. The archmage is btw. imprisoned in one of the complex’s two mirrors of imprisonment, which obviously can also be one of the gotcha-moments mentioned before. Traps generally are not always sensible – there is, for example, a corridor that houses a pit trap without a convenient way to disable it – another pit trap states that it takes a minimum number of people to trigger it (makes sense), but yeah..

This is in as far all puzzling, as the module obviously had pages to fill – the “bonus content”, while okay, could have been better spent to actually flesh out the module’s finale, potential actions by the resistance to draw away guards – anything to make running the module smoother.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are decent, if certainly not impressive on both formal and rules-language level. Particularly jarring was Nim The Son being referenced as “Jian” suddenly out of left field, in what I assume to be a remnant of a name-change that threw me in for a loop. I noticed internal inconsistencies in formal criteria, deviations from established standards, etc. Layout adheres to a two-column b/w-standard, and the hand-drawn maps are charming, but not as useful as they should be. The lack of player-friendly maps is a comfort detriment. On the plus-side, the module is properly bookmarked.

Extildepo’s “Tyranny of the Black Tower” has a very promising set up and some genuinely cool ideas in the dungeon, but doesn’t properly develop them; the investigation/infiltration/revolution-angle, with a few more pages, could have made this a rough gem, even with its other issues, but as provided, the module falls rather short of its potential.

Oh, and in case you were having déjà-vu while I was describing this: Well, James Thomas’ Mystery at Ravenrock has pretty much the same angle, but does EVERYTHING better; higher production values, better maps, better executed infiltration, more rewarding exploration, etc. (And it has an entire module, Menace at Ravenreach, which sets up the incident, making it more immediate and personal!) The existence of these two modules makes it VERY hard to recommend this one, which is why, after much deliberation, my final verdict can’t exceed 2.5 stars, rounded down.

Endzeitgeist out.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This adventure clocks in at 20 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page back cover, 1 page editorial, 1/3 of a page editorial, 1 page SRD, leaving us with 15 2/3 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This module was penned for the Swords & Wizardry-rules, which means that we get ascending and descending AC, one save, standard movement of 9, morale, etc. HD are provided, and sometimes, but not always, we also get specific HP-values for the entities within. The module, unfortunately, does not consistently implement the formatting-conventions of Swords & Wizardry, and instead sometimes uses bolding to highlight e.g. entities and monsters in the massive text-blocks, but does so inconsistently. The dungeon does not sport a random monster table, and the module has no read-aloud text for rooms, but does spell dialogue out for you. Cool: For those using Option 2 combat rules, Dexterity scores are provided for enemies. Conversion to other OSR-games is pretty painless.

The adventure is intended for a group of level 1 – 3 characters, but no number is given; after testing this, I’d recommend 5-6 characters, which should be able to cover all roles of the traditional adventuring group. The module is relatively average regarding its difficulty-levels for an old-school adventure. You can very well die if you don’t take care, but it’s no meat-grinder and should not result in a TPK if tackled by an experienced group.

The adventure is set in the world of Messoria, which is at once the greatest strength, and greatest weakness of the adventure: The module starts in Mersey Town, which is fully mapped (alas, sans player-friendly, key-less version), and hints at several things I very much like: There is a rich lore underlying everything, though one that is not required and can be easily ignored, if so desired; there is a sense that non-divine magic is eyed with, at best, suspicion, while divine magic operates in its stigmatizing of others in a way reminiscent of Christianity. From titles featured like “Atar” for priests to other small tidbits, these details bring the place to life and make it feel like a setting on the verge of, or currently in the process of emergence from the traditional fantasy pseudo-medieval backdrop, which is also further emphasized by the presence of Du Sharid Manor. In a way, this reminded me a bit of a cross of old timey New England aesthetics and the traditional fantasy tropes, particularly due to another component of the story: The module’s rich mystic backdrop and underlying magical logic hinges in part on there being two moons that sometimes sport specific constellations. While you can ignore that aspect and run the module just fine, as you can ignore the aesthetics of the world, doing so deprives the module of a lot of its charm.

And this is as far as I can go without diving into serious SPOILERS. Potential players should jump ahead to the conclusion.

… .. .

All right, only referees around? Great! So, it all began when Ol’ Ed Butterbot found a strange item entangled in the petrified roots of one old tree: The local priest Atar Lobe Du Sharid took the item off the man, and fascination grew with experimentation – the Atar and a few of his men had become a cult, one that would take their experiments to the Wild Hills, High Crescent Hill, to be precise. In spite of attempts at secrecy, small towns are as they have always been, and just as a mob with the traditional pitchfork and flame-implements was about to arrive at the cult’s site, aforementioned constellation of the twin moons happened, opening a rift and swallowing the cultists; a massive rift remained, and the cultists were presumed dead. Non-corrupted individuals were instated, but ever since, the villagers have been rather afraid of the area and the rift. Time to clear up that mess!

As you can see, this is pretty much traditional fantasy with a small dose of the weird and cosmicism strewn in, being generally something I enjoy. So, after some research in the relatively detailed town, it’s time to go down the rift, where the dungeon part happens…and the beginning of the dungeon is as lame as can be: We get a couple of goblins and some kinda-skeletons…though there are aspects here that rock: That strange thing on the cover? It’s a cave kraken, probably beyond the ability of the PCs to slay, and it is per slumbering; even if woken, it can be pushed back, and makes for the most interesting combat encounter. The most interesting social encounter happens upon subterranean shores, where the PCs may meet the Ants of Mixolodia. These ant-people come with a princess-egg, want to clear the goblins as well, and travelled here via natural diving bells generated by their lobotomized water spiders. This is pure awesome, and I want an adventure that takes place in the culture of those ants!

Since a massive goblin horde is approaching underground (noted in a throwaway line), making peace with the ants may be wise. Anyhow, it should also be noted that e.g. a pit trap’s placement makes sense. I also felt myself engrossed in the unearthed complex showing a variant history of the deeds of ostensibly noble people, but once more, the impact of all of that is lost when you strip the module of its flavor, and when the PCs and players are not familiar with these heroes and cultures. On the usability side of things, the hidden cultist base beneath the ancient catacombs unearthed suffers from its access, hidden by a secret door, not being noted by the actual text of the module. The second level, where it obviously turns out that the corrupted Atar is still alive and needs killing, is shorter and thoroughly unremarkable. It is not linear, I’ll give it that, but it’s one of the least interesting sub-levels I’ve seen in a dungeon in a while. The McGuffin, the White Heart, i.e. the artifact (sans precise powers) that opens those rifts, opens two more in the distant manor, which can lead to further adventures. Beyond the ant vs. goblin war. Beyond the conflict of orthodoxy vs. the information gleaned here below. Beyond the secret door that can only be opened via knock that leads to further adventures of the GM’s own devising.

And this is perhaps the worst thing about this: the entire module feels like a set-up of awesome things to come, but doesn’t itself deliver on them. It feels like one of those annoying teasers designed to make you get the full (and so much more awesome) product. Only that, well,a s per the writing of this review, none of these elaborations have materialized.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are decent, if not impressive. Formatting does not consistently adheres to S&W-standard. I noticed a couple of typos, and the information-design adheres to the “wall of text”-aesthetic; prepare to use your highlighter and annotate the text, for you won’t find the prudent information on the fly while running this. Layout adheres to a two-column b/w-standard with no frills. The module does come with extensive bookmarks, which is a plus. We get a nice, hand-drawn map of the village, and regular maps for the dungeon complex. All maps are per se functional, but all of them lack a scale. No player-friendly versions are included, which is a comfort-detriment, particularly considering the number of secret doors.

Extildepo’s freshman offering is exceedingly frustrating for me as a reviewer, mainly because it tries to be an adventure, but doesn’t do a good job there. The whole appeal of the adventure, its entirety, did lie in the lore for me; Messoria looks like a truly exciting campaign setting, and I’d have loved to know more about its religions, cultures, social mores, etc. Similarly, I wanted to know more about the ants. The module, though? It’s unfortunately neither particularly interesting, nor especially well-executed. Crucial information like the presence of secret doors that are required to progress is omitted and requires consulting the map, just to make room for more lore.

The lore is good and neat. It sinks the adventure. In a way, the module made me think that the author wanted to write a gazetteer or setting supplement, and went for a module out of some inscrutable reason. The result, unfortunately, is not compelling. Worse, it’s obviously not due to a lack of ideas! The module is LITTERED with better ideas, in throwaway paragraphs, in hints of things to come; the novel creatures used are exciting – so why do we deal with boring, cookie-cutter goblins throughout? There are so many hints of cool things to come, and none materialize herein. In a way, for the better or for worse, this reminded me of the old serialized pulp/Weird Tales stories, in that it constantly makes you crave more. Alas, it also reminded me of Lost, in that the module opens a metric ton of plot-points, but doesn’t close any of them.

And then there’s the fact that the background story loses its occult underpinnings when used in another setting; and that the potentially setting-changing challenge to church orthodoxy falls flat on its face in another setting. Essentially, all really cool ideas herein fall flat if divorced from a setting we know next to nothing about. Combine that with the actual dungeon not being that exciting, and we unfortunately have a book I can’t recommend.

There is loads of potential here; I genuinely hope the author continues writing, for the things hinted at? I want to play those modules. Which is more than what I can say about this one; apart from the lore and Lost-like suggestion of awesome things to come, the module delivers a cookie-cutter adventuring experience that is neither particularly interesting, nor compelling. My final verdict can’t exceed 2.5 stars, rounded down.

Endzeitgeist out.