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Allure of the Sea

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Average Rating:4.4 / 5
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Allure of the Sea
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Allure of the Sea
Publisher: Ronin Arts
by Tim C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/25/2005 00:00:00

Interesting encounter, well done and nicely illustrated.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Allure of the Sea
Publisher: Ronin Arts
by Colin E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/06/2004 00:00:00

Short and sweet with a couple of pieces of great art from you know who.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Allure of the Sea
Publisher: Ronin Arts
by James K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/14/2004 00:00:00

Released with no fanfare by Ronin Arts, ALLURE OF THE SEA is an interesting d20 adventure for characters of 4-6th level by F. Wesley Schneider. Christopher Shy provides illustration. ALLURE OF THE SEA is very much like many of Ronin Arts' releases of late: short, light on content and relatively simple in design. Gone are the days when even a slender monster summary like POSSESSORS: CHILDREN OF THE OUTER GODS got the million-dollar treatment. This 12-page PDF looks good, thanks to Shy's evocative cover, but doesn't hold up the old standard Ronin Arts used to set.

Thankfully the adventure itself is solid, a seaside variation on the classic "rescue the fair maiden" story. In ALLURE OF THE SEA a vicious sea hag, for purposes unknown to the heroes, holds the daughter of a triton noble captive. Rescue is the order of the day. Once the deed is done, the story ends. Schneider provides a random encounter table (shudder), and suggests various ways to hook the PCs in order to make the scenario seem less like a simple run-in with a rarely used creature from the MONSTER MANUAL, so ALLURE OF THE SEA needn't be as simplistic as this summary makes it sound.

Creative DMs will likely take their cue more from the cover art than from the text. The latter is necessarily slight, given the page count, but gains a sort of waterlogged spookiness when taken in concert with Schneider's writing. In fact, the scenario need not be as straightforward as most gaming groups will make it. With its hidden sea caves strewn with denuded bones, the strange pets of the sea hag, and fog-enshrouded locale, ALLURE OF THE SEA could easily be turned into an edge-of-the-seat ALIEN-style thriller with fantasy trappings.

One wishes, however, that Schneider had more room to bring out the specific feel of his story. The isolated nature of the scenario allows ALLURE OF THE SEA to be plugged into almost any setting, which is a boon for DMs running an ongoing game, but when a story is so heavily dependent upon atmosphere it almost needs greater attention to detail. Ronin Arts' recent shift toward very slim PDFs, however, works against this.

ALLURE OF THE SEA reads very much like an adventure from DUNGEON and its price (at this writing) of less than $2.50 makes it a reasonable expense. But how much better could it have been with even half again as many pages? There's some mention in the scenario of a nearby town, but that's one sentence among many. As mentioned, this sort of blank slate treatment makes the story of the sea hag and her imprisoned triton maiden easier to plug in, but it doesn't do much to play up the singular nature of the story. A decrepit, Lovecraftian fishing village, even sketched out in general terms, would have been a major boost to mood, even if individual DMs decided to pitch the information out. More options are always better than no options at all.

Even with the weaknesses forced upon ALLURE OF THE SEA by the condensed nature of the format, the scenario is still worth checking out. When d20 products venture to the sea, they generally plunge directly into the depths, or obsess over tall ships and pirates. Very few take note of the strange and threatening world that lies at the water's edge, where riptides and bizarre creatures wait to seize the unwary. Great danger and great reward await those who'll brave the allure of this sea.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Allure of the Sea
Publisher: Ronin Arts
by Jeff S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/25/2004 00:00:00

A good site based adventure suitable for almost any campaign. Has maps created by SkeletonKey Games and also contains a free tile for the Fungus Caves.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Allure of the Sea
Publisher: Ronin Arts
by Steve S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/06/2003 00:00:00

I love Ronin Art's stuff and this one does NOT disappoint!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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