I like this. It's to the point and short, with interesting encounters and a unique monster to spring on your players. I like that the area the adventure takes place in isn't some far out of the way place. It's compatible with just about any setting, published or homebrewed, and it looks easy to adapt to your rules of choice, even if it's not based on the usual dnd fare (I can see this being used for something like Torchbearer). It requires very little work from me and I think it will be easy to use at the table. It's well written, enjoyable, and while I haven't played it just yet I'm excited to run it. Good art and good layout. I'm going to keep my eye on this writer.

Sometimes you need a low level but well done party crawl adventure and the 'Howler' delivers exactly that. It strikes a nice balance between a nice evenings adventure and a full blown delve into darkness. The PC's are going to be challenged here and really rolled in with some neat little challenges. J.V. West strikes a nice balance with his maps, art, and writing. The nice part about this little adventure is the format, it comes with everything you need back written for OSRIC which means its easily adaptable to any AD&D 1st edition campaign. Coming in at just under twenty one pages this module offers some interesting challenges and some nicely written ideas to challenge a group of players. Everything is included in one concise and well put together package for easy digestion and a quick night's entertainment. The artwork is fun, the map is very well put together, and the ideas here very nicely thought out. I love the new monster type, and the challenges here mean that the players are going to have fun. The artwork throughout is very nicely thought out and goes with the author's tone for this adventure. I can't stress that this adventure is made to be a fun evening's romp through an old school dungeon. The download even comes in two consistent flavors 3.5 or the OSRIC style flavor. Can I see using this adventure with other retroclone systems? I sure can! This adventure could easily be ported over to either Fantastic Heroes and Witchery with no work at all for a low level sword and sorcery introduction adventure or for Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea where you don't need a total party killer but a solid adventure to introduce the concepts and conceits to a group of newer players. I would place 'The Howler' outside one of the various city states. The Howler could also be used with Labyrinth Lord Advanced or even as a science fantasy cross over adventure for the Mutant Future feature Mutants And Mazes. The potential here is really up to the DM. I love the art,the concise writing, and the potential for campaign expansion as well as using this adventure for introducing key old school elements to a campaign. Five out of five stars.

James V. West throws his hat into the adventure module writing arena with his first release, "Howler". There is a lot to like here. James’ writing is clear and direct. Throughout, he strikes a great balance in helping the DM run the adventure – he gives suggestions throughout for ways you might want to play out particular encounters, but never railroads the adventure into a particular direction. He often suggests possible avenues for things that could happen, and throws suggestions that will help the DM along. This really lends itself towards a DM who doesn’t have a ton of experience, since these sorts of suggestions would have been a huge help to me when I was first starting out. The flavor text is just right – snappy and brief, establishing the scene and letting the DM get to the action.

The adventure itself uses a number of very common monsters, but provides just enough variety to give each encounter some freshness, so you’re not just fighting a group of generic goblins again. Each time, the variation is simple and elegant, appropriate to low-level play, but sufficiently interesting.

The main monster itself is quite clever, and is a great threat for a low-level party. There’s also a new monster type introduced, which I quite like. Hill Mummies for the win.

However, my favorite element here is the map, which is simply too cool. My ONLY disappointment with the entire package was that there weren’t more maps – I would have loved a small regional map in the same style to go with the one we got. The entire package is quite professional, from the expertly-designed cover to the clean, lively art throughout. The tone of the art and design align well with the flavor of the adventure.

It’s a sharp little package, and I look forward to more of James’ work. Now all he needs to do is set this up as ‘pay what you want’ so that people can throw him a few dollars to support him!