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Ring of Thieves
Publisher: The Game Mechanics by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]	Date Added: 07/01/2007 00:00:00

Ring of Thieves

Sometimes good luck just happens. I was doing a search for a Freeport module and somehow this module came up. It is not related to Freeport at all but was precisely what I was looking for. So, I bought the module and got a chance to run it. It went very well. I?m not one to just buy things site unseen especially PDFs. But this is a module stationed in Liberty, a great city setting Game Mechanics is slowly developing. They have two quarters of the city out (Thieves and Temple) and both are high quality products that I have been using. And the module is written by Rodney Thompson one of the brilliant minds behind the awesome Star Wars Saga RPG. This is a play test review based on the reading and the way it played out. I did alter a few things that I will make note of those. Ring of Thieves is a PDF adventure by Games Mechanci. It takes place in their city of Liberty but easily works in other city settings. I moved it to Sharn in the Eberron campaign setting. Even if one keeps it in Liberty the books for the city are not actually needed though they would add more detail to the adventure. All the places one needs is in the book and there are plenty of maps of the city and sections. The PDF has forty two pages. The description says it has book marks but the actual PDF does not. It is for characters of third level but there are some pretty tough potential encounters. For instance the characters have a chance to run into an eleventh level character that will want to kill them.

There will be spoilers of the module so if you may play in it do not read it and ruin the fun.

The adventure is a bit too linear. My players went with it so it did not cause us problems but I can see some groups just not like the feeling of being lead from clue to clue to clue. It is all city based. There are no dungeon crawls though there is section through sewers. But even that is really un complicated. It is not an adventure that needs a map and minis though it can benefit from them. There are also no monsters in the module. Okay, there is a chance of running into a shadow. But it?s in the sewers and one needs to roll a twenty and a twenty sided die to get that random encounter. I?ve done other city based adventures and they manage to find a way to slip in a few monsters as pets or just happen to be in that old abandoned building or whatever. I really like that ever encounter was an NPC and as a great added bonus it was a little difficult to know who the bad guys are. The adventure starts off with the group in the dock district and a guy finding them for work. I just had the PCs at their own place and have the people come to them. The module assumes the PCs are new in town and are looking for work. That did not work for me but it was a simple solution. The book expects the players to ask all sorts of questions and gives sample answers to the most common ones. Of course if your group is like mine they are happy with the low price they are being offered and haggling does not even seem to cross their mind at this point. And then they ask very few questions happy to help out. A more paranoid group should be asking more questions and the book is prepared for that. They are given few details at first. The guy and his thugs who hire them take them to the Blockhouse to talk to the local boss. It is basically a thieves guild and it seems a very important person has lost a magical ring and needs it back within a day or so. The race against time aspect can really be used to make the players rush a bit as what first seems like a simple ring recovery soon becomes a bit more then that. The ring was lost at the House of Orchids, a very high class brothel. My players had fun with it. The brothel is well detailed without too much detail. The group can enjoy the brothel or just use it gather some information and try to figure out where the ring is. The group does encounter some resistance and the will lead the group on the chase after a local thug. But the brothel is so well done that it can easily become a place of importance for the player characters in future adventures. And not just for the obvious reasons. This section is another good part that has lots of information if the players ask the right question and are willing to pay some gold. Nothing is free in the House of Orchids. From there the players are trying to track down who they believe has stolen the ring. This takes them to the docks again, to the mercenary quarter, and finally to a tavern/Inn called the Red Goose. There is plenty of potential for role playing in the encounters here and the players ask questions and learn a little bit about they guy they are tracking down. I also used this as an opportunity to allow the PCs to hear about things unrelated to the adventure. It is a nice place to just make the city seem like it is here for more then this one adventure. At the Red Goose is when things take a turn for the worse. There are two things going on at this place and both of them bad for the PCs. The PCs are going to be set up for the murder of the thug they are chasing. There are guards in disguise playing dice waiting for them to disturb the body in one of the rooms and then they will move in to arrest the group. If they get arrested adventure is basically over. The group should be able to eventually prove their innocence but by then the time frame the ring needed to be found in and the major events the PCs have no idea about yet should be successful. The other thing is the Red Goose has an assassin that works with the innkeeper. Anyone of wealth that stays there the innkeeper informs the assassin about and he kill them and robs them and they split the profits. The assassin is eleventh level and while he has very little magical equipment can still easily take out a third level party. Or they are going to gain a level in defeating him. The group doe not automatically run into him though. My group did and I made him just a tough sixth level character. It was still a tough battle. And then they found the dead thug and when the trap was sprung they choose to jump out the window. The group is now on the run. They have guards coming out of the inn after them and more guards coming up on horseback. They are obviously trapped and in need of a miracle. The module has a prostitute see the characters are in trouble and so see steals a pair of horses and wagon from some guy she knows on the street and offers to drive the players to safety for some gold coins. She is a very brave entrepreneur. I felt this just seemed a little too random so I had an NPC they group knew from an earlier adventure hear rumors of the sting operation and she knew the characters were being set up and showed up to help them. But we still got to do a great chase scene. There is great potential for a DM to really go all out and design some fun city streets and cool obstacles that the characters and NPCs will have to deal with. My own players were just equipped to stop horse bound riders so it was not a big production for us. They had some good abilities and good ideas so I did not want to just make it more difficult and punish them. Night is falling at on the city at this point and the PCs are wanted fugitives. They are hiding out in the prostitute?s place with her elven boyfriend. More information can be learned from them so the player characters can continue with their job. Hopefully, the player character will think that completing the job is the best way to clear their name. Before the players had a chance to question the NPC they decided their best source of information was going to be to go back to the Red Goose and talk to the inn keeper. I like that idea much better then just having the latest NPC they?ve run into have what the need. So, we had an additional scene of them sneaking through the city disguised and ambushing and questioning the inn keeper that had tried to have them killed and then arrested. I?m still unsure why they left the guy alive but they did. At this point the players are really not putting up with anything from the NPCs. They learn they need to go visit a lady and when they get there they are threatening the staff and barging into homes. It was really fun as this poor woman who is involved but does not have any idea of who the PCs are is reacting to them doing a home invasion around dawn.

Now they should have an idea of what is going on and they should have the ring. They sneak back to the Blockhouse and find out that a coup is planned in the thieves guild. There is a clever use of detect thoughts and a skull to signal what the PCs are telling the truth and lying about. And then the PCs are after the bad guys who are leading the guild leader to a trap and to be arrested by the local garrison. The player characters must navigate the sewers being lead by a raven familiar. And then they have to rescue the guild leader who does not realize he is in danger.

We had a lot of fun with the module. It did not take long for us to get through. We did it in one five hour session. There was not a lot of combat, some good role playing opportunities and the players got to think a bit. It had a good cast of NPCs that I thought were fun to portray. I did put my own little touches on the module and altered what I felt were some weak points. The module was very easy to do that with.

LIKED: It is completely city based with no dungeon crawl or monsters DISLIKED: A little too linear QUALITY: Very Good VALUE: Very Satisfied

Rating:

[4 of 5 Stars!]

Ring of Thieves
Publisher: The Game Mechanics by Peter I. [Featured Reviewer]	Date Added: 09/25/2006 00:00:00

Ring of Thieves is a 42 page d20 pdf urban adventure set in The Game Mechanics' City of Liberty. The adventure is suitable for four 3rd level characters and involves the shady elements of the city's Old Quarter. Details of the City of Liberty can be found in The Game Mechanics' other products, most notably Temple Quarter and Thieves' Quarter, although none of these products are required to successfully run this adventure.

The product comes as a single pdf file. Presentation is excellent - the maps are gorgeous, the writing and editing very good, and the layout very professional. No bookmarks are unfortunately included, although there is a hefty table of contents that allows some ease of navigation. Artwork is good as well, with some fitting pieces of quality art, although it's the full-color maps that steal the show in terms of art. The pdf also includes not only statistics blocks for all the encounters in the adventure, but also Initiative Cards - these are very useful for running combats at the table.

The adventure takes place in the Old Quarter of the City of Liberty. There PCs will get involved with the more dangerous and seedier elements of the city as they get involved in a plot involving some important members of the city's population and the Thieves' Guild. The product provides a complete and detailed adventure summary and background, enabling the DM to have a complete overview of the nature and scope of the adventure.

The adventure itself is divided into parts, and once PCs have completed a certain task, they can move on to the next aspect of the adventure. While there are many ways one would assume the adventure could be completed, the write-up assumes a more linear approach and this does not entirely do the good adventure justice. A more freeform approach would've been better, though naturally one would expect that to require more information on the Old Quarter and its people.

The PCs will get the opportunity to explore many parts of the city, and get involved with lots of NPCs in their investigations. These investigations will allow the PCs plenty of roleplaying opportunities, as well as the chance for strong-arm tactics. Player and DMs that like investigations or mysteries will enjoy what this adventure has to offer, and as the PCs close in on the truth, the adventure captures well the air of urgency and excitement that's evident in the final stages of the adventure. NPCs are extensively detailed, as are the various locations of the adventure, providing the DM with lots of useful roleplaying material.

Ring of Thieves is an exciting adventure with some thrilling elements and good scope for a mystery/investigation adventure. The adventure features interesting locations, NPCs and encounters, which combine to make a solid and enjoyable product. Here and there things seem a bit forced or linear, but for the most part the author does an excellent job of keeping the pace moving and allowing the PCs to work for the information they require. A very good adventure and an enjoyable product. LIKED: Ring of Thieves is a enjoyable and quality adventure featuring a good mystery, lots of intrigue and excitement. Presentation and maps are gorgeous, roleplaying opportunities plentiful, and good scope for PCs to use their skills and brains to unravel the mystery. A very good adventure with lots of attention to detail. DISLIKED: Slightly linear in places, and a more freeform approach would've made the adventure even better than it is. No bookmarks are included in the pdf. QUALITY: Very Good VALUE: Very Satisfied

Rating:

[4 of 5 Stars!]

Ring of Thieves
Publisher: The Game Mechanics by Nathan C. [Featured Reviewer]	Date Added: 08/20/2006 00:00:00

Ring of Thieves by the Game Mechanics features a intriguing though somewhat linear adventure that sprawls a massive city landscape in search of a thief, murder and mastermind. Though it uses the Game Mechanics award winning Thieves? Quarter book, the adventure is open enough to plop down into any campaign setting.

Ring of Thieves incorporates the PCs into intriguing thief politics. Sepris, the leader of the thieves guild has a hidden secret that a rival thief wants to reveal and oust him out of the guild. The adventure is long at 42 pages for this price range, which bolds well considering the A to B progression that this mystery takes. Because its an investigation, every clue leads to another clue which eventually reveals the plot. There is some openness within certain encounters, but for the most part one thing will lead the PCs to another. Its typical of an adventure, but considering you are dealing with a notorious thieves guild, I could easily see PCs

The cartography of this book is quite impressive. Though there are no actual maps, the full color and detailed diagrams of the various locations will prove quite useful for PCs and DMs. If your city does not have a thieves quarter inside of it, there is a well drawn map of the locations included. Best of all, fully NPC stats on Game Mechanics famous Initiative Cards are placed in the back of the book, which bolds very well if you already use the cards and encourages you to use them if you do not..

For the DM I found this adventure very, and more so, effective as an evil adventure as opposed to an heroic one. After all, there is little heroic about helping two rival thieves guild factions. DMs will also enjoy the prep material included in the PDF. Detailed map diagrams, statted NPCS and informative text instead of too much box text.

The Iron Word Ring of Thieves sidesteps other adventures with a seedy netural plot that would have pegged better if more text had been placed in to help out more heroic or evil campaigns. The detail of the DM material is quite nice as well. LIKED: - Great artwork all around

Seedy different adventure DISLIKED: - Linear at times QUALITY: Acceptable VALUE: Very Satisfied

Rating:

[4 of 5 Stars!]

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