For $14.95 this is one hell of a good package. First and foremost, you get a feature-length movie with great production values. Second, you get the core rulebook for the Midnight campaign setting, which at 400+ pages would have been a huge value at the price by itself. You also get the movie scripts and a free adventure module set in the town in which the movie is based. Wonderfully good value.
The movie: The film is really a long pilot for what I hope will become a tv series; the SyFy channel would go great with this. If youare not familiar with midnight you get a brief rundown in the film; thousands of years ago the god of evil was cast out of heaven onto the world of Aryth, but in so doing a Veil was raised that prevented the gods from interfering with the world in any way...but also cut off the dark god Izrador and everyone else on Aryth from leaving the world in any way, including through death. Three times Izrador rose up against the people of Aryth, and the third time he won the battle. It has been 100 years of a world in Shadow.
Though the plot is really about the rise of two diametrically opposed heroes -- one for good and one for evil -- most of the movies focus goes to the evil legate Mag Kiln. And it's great that it does, but it's one of the few movies that really shows things from the bad guy's perspective. Charles Hubbell is excellent as the dark priest destined for great power. His companion Kruce is an interesting and likeable character,despite being on Team Evil. Chuzara the young legate that goes to Blackweir with Mag Kiln is OK as a character, but she makes up for it in good looks. ;)
Anyone familiar with the campaign setting with enjoy all of the references to the gaming world. Being that the movie is made by the company that created the game system maybe that's obvious but worth pointing out. I just wish we had the chance to see more of the orcs and some of the Fell in action. There isn't a lot of combat or flashy magic in use, possibly because of budget constraints, but what we do see looks good.
Midnight 2nd Edition Core Rules: Midnight has become my favorite campaign setting over the years, to the point I've made the definite SRD for it (http://darknessfalls.leaderdesslok.com). Having this massive volume in PDF at a more-than-reasonable price is fantastic. Only down side is that at over 400 pages it really should have bookmarks.
The scripts are, well, scripts. I don't usually pay much attention to such things, but if you like that sort of thing it's all there for you.
The adventure: From a marketing standpoint, it was a pretty good idea to release the adventure in D&D 4E format. This allows curious gamers who enjoy 4E an opportunity to see what playing in the Midnight world is like. From a Midnight gamer's standpoint, it's a horrible slap in the face. FFG published one campaign adventure for Midnight, Crown of Shadows, but it was made for the 1st edition of the game (3.0 rules). They never released another adventure until now, and while it's great to have another one, it's ridiculous to me that they provide a 4e module for a game written for 3.5, even going so far as to include the 3.5 campaign core rules which are useless in playing the adventure! If this is a sign that FFG is planning on re-releasing Midnight for 4E I am disappointed, as I am not a fan of the system. I would much rather see them move into Pathfinder.
However, overall the Midnight Package is still a phenomenally good value. Excellent movie and great game!
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