Video Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7SQwtzSzI4 So, this is a good adventure, but takes a little bit of work, mostly a series of set encounters, not much sandboxing, which usually isnt my thing, But this is a great way to introduce your players to inluential organizations in a city, even if all you really do is change some names around to fit your setting.

4/5 Mainly because some things arent exactly clear, but still great.

This is the best aventure I've read. It takes a while to piece it together though so read it through a few times. I has a strong story that doesn't feel rail-roady and I can't wait to run it.

POD production quality is great. Another project awaits for me to print out and assemble the buildings!

Adventure is clever but may require some helper DM city environment supplement to keep the players engaged between plotline events.

Still IMO the best first city module from the early days.
I rember playing this when i was a kid around 12 or so with the red BECMI rules. The artwork is crisp in the scan, as are the text and maps. as of now there is no POD and that is a shame. This short 16 page adventure has a ton of ideas for running a city adventure, and for the POD version its a steal. I was hooked with the first flavor txt.

So this adventure is rich with promise and excitement, and short on coherent connection and reason for the players to be involved. The events detailed are amazingly dramatic and make for great centerpieces, but they are disjointed in presentation. The scenario does not address much in the way of the PCs choosing to do things differently beyond Cook's direction to essentially "make some stuff up and tell your players to write it down to use later". Sadly, the problem is unlikely to be the fault of the writer, as Cook's ideas and flavor text are fantastic. The problem is likely due to space limitations, as so much of the page count is eaten up by cut-out buildings you're supposed to use as adventure terrain. With some extra work on the DMs part to build this into a coherent story (and it isn't a lot of work, but there will be some), the dynamite packed in here can launch an entire campaign just on the ethnic powderkeg that is Specularum. Will definitely use this soon.

spoiler alert This short adventure takes place in the City of Specularum in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Of course, it can be set in any other campaigns where there is a city big enough to host three influencial families deeply involved in politics. The adventure starts with the characters entering Specularum and witnessing an argument during a parade that could lead to a violent conclusion. The characters can then be hired by one of the factions (families) to hinder the other two. However, one the families is secretly leading an organization called The Veiled Society: masters extortionist and sometimes murderers. Different events are provided to get the characters involved into the adventure and depending on their choices, they may end up helping the veiled society or destroying then and the Radu family leading them. The background for the events is the murder of a girl from another family.

The adventure is not bad per se and offers quite a change compared to the other adventures so far which were mostly about dungeon crawling. The events are varied and enough content is presented to expand the adventure beyond its low page count.

However, there are some flaws that would require a bit of work on the GM's part. First is the incentive for the characters to get involved. Besides getting paid, they do not have a lot to hook them in. Secondly, the duke and his soldiers seem not only inefficient, but they are barely present. The characters get a chance to oppose the soldiers, but not to collaborate with them. Considering a rather important noble was murdered it seems weird not to have a chance to investigate on behalf of the law rather than being hired privately.

Again a good GM can fix this, but to provide what I think is a fair review of that module such as it is, I would say it is an ok module.

I purchased this item because I wanted to print and then cut out the houses and walls from the module to use for an adventure of my own devising. I was happy because the scan of the module was complete and clear. The houses and walls were able to be printed then cut out. There are some nice cardboard figures to print out too.

Written for Basic D&D, but easily adaptable to nearly any version of D&D (used it with 2nd Ed. AD&D). It features a murder mystery, which leads into a lot of role-playing with some political intrigue. It can easily be adapted to any city the GM cares to plant it in. I really enjoyed it, but as usual, the players took it in a direction not really scripted in the module -- not a complaint, just a note that this is not a particularly linear adventure. Make sure you understand the groups involved, before you start running it, as well as their intrigues. Fun adventure, glad I purchased it, really enjoyed playing it with my group. Cheers!

I'd never come across this before, a D&D city adventure. Nicely done, and the cuttouts could make for an interesting game. Good quality scan.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

This module has a special place in my RPG memories. For all its shortcomings my fond memories made me download it, and I'm now working it into a campaign (with some major re-writes and additions). No complaints on the scan. All components are included. <br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Decent intrigue and suspense. It's always fun for the plays to go up against an evil cult/gang in a metro setting. The cut out buildings also help to pull the players further into the game. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Painfully light on city info and family details. City map is almost totally blank, so you might as well come up with your own. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>