DriveThruRPG.com
Browse Categories
$ to $
 Publisher















Back
pixel_trans.gif
Tale of the Wizard's Eye $6.00
Average Rating:4.5 / 5
Ratings Reviews Total
5 1
1 0
0 0
1 0
0 0
Tale of the Wizard\'s Eye
Click to view
You must be logged in to rate this
pixel_trans.gif
Tale of the Wizard's Eye
Publisher: Sinopa Publishing LLC
by John B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/07/2017 15:41:55

This review is primarily for the print version of this product which I received as part of the Kickstarter from the summer of 2017. I did get the PDF also but to be honest I haven't actually looked at that yet, assuming that it is the same as the print except for possibly minor fixes possibly depending on when you are reading this. This was the author's first Kickstarter and presumably first published RPG product, but I'm not absolutely certain about that. However, do not be discouraged, seasoned 5e dungeon master! This product is EXACTLY what you need to fill in between levels 6 up to 9 (iffy, more on that later) for your campaign.

PLAYERS STOP READING THIS NOW, THE REST IS SPOILERY. I assume if you keep reading, you play to DM this.

PROS:

  • Locally very specific setting information and interesting world details and NPCs, yet unspecific enough to fit into ANY mid-to-high fantasy setting. For example, when there is a shrine to an evil god, you fill in which one.
  • Important speaking NPCs have "sample dialogue" to give you a feel for how they talk, so you can breath life into them, without feeling like a "wall of text" monologue.
  • Most of the creatures and characters in the game have a history and motivations that make sense, and since you know their motivations, even if the "as expected" plot derails, you can "predict" how they would react to the changing conditions.
  • While there is a basic plot, the players can go about it in lots of different ways, so it does not railroad them down a central linear story, its more like branching story lines that can come together for a similar final scene.
  • The non-linear, almost "sandbox" story lends itself well for this to be expanded by the DM by adding more encounters, especially around the ruins of the drowned town.
  • The nature of the "monsters" to be encountered lends themselves well to adding depth and expanding the PC's interactions with them. There are various factions of creatures at conflict with each other. A smart group of players can use that to their advantage, and a prepared DM should encourage and expand as needed to support that effort.
  • Solid unique artwork evocative of a flavor that feels a bit like the old D&D or fantasy cartoons (Western ones).
  • Vampires vs. Werewolves. NUFF SAID!

CONS:

  • I feel like if you're going to allow for a party of 6th to 9th level characters, you should have some scaling options on how to scale up encounters. Some advice is actually given for this, actually, but I feel like swapping out some of the encounters with beefier critters could have been better for the upper end of the range. YMMV. This may be cause of concern from a new DM. If your party is level 6 or 7 you can run this without modification.
  • While I do appreciate the monster statistics blocked right there in the page they are encountered, rather than having to flip to an appendix in the back, the downside to this is that it feels like "duplicate" pages at some point. But since I feel that you get a decent length adventure from this regardless of page count, that isn't enough to take off "stars" from my rating.
  • I wish all the cartography was all color, with more details, but it's not that big of a deal. The main map is and that's the important thing.

This is your basic "treasure hunt" quest expanded out with some interesting creatures that are at odds with each other (and probably the PC's) and in some ways competing for similar goals. The author does a great job of making NPC characters feel unique and interesting. This includes intelligent "monster" characters. One core aspect of the adventure is that a bunch of vampires are at war with a bunch of werewolves. There is this other little role playing game series called World of Darkness which has among other things Vampires and Werewolves that mostly don't like each other. Introducing elements of WoD into this adventure would work very well and could be advisable especially if you're planning to run this as a mini-campaign instead of a one-or-two-night single adventure. The end of the adventure happens in a flooded village or small city that got flooded when a river came out of its bed and ended up splitting, sending some of the river permanently through the town and the main path of the river still where it had been before. There are no real details given for the town, except for a wizard's tower where the main "treasure" of this adventure rests. However, this means that there's a whole town of ruins that the DM could create if they wish to expand the module. Not only that, but there's room for expansion with the giants in the "shallows" section and of course adding more details, rooms, and vampires in their lair, or detailing a lair for the werewolves or other woodland lair encounters.

So in a nutshell what I really liked best about this adventure is that 1. if you want a quick level 6 or 7 adventure that can be completed in an evening, you can use this as such. 2. If you like the map and the characters, you can easily expand this single adventure into a little "mini-campaign" that could take the characters from level 5 or 6 to level 9. There are places that a level 5 party will get party wiped unless you put something in there to warn them or help level them a bit. You could just downgrade some of the encounters a bit or play them un-optimally, but it is also pretty open as far as how things are layed out so you could just add a few more lower level encounters as needed to get them up to 6th.

Enjoy, and most of all, have fun!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Creator Reply:
John, Thank you for you review. I for one, am very grateful for the pros and cons in this review. The cons tell me areas I can look to improve in future books, and the pros give me a good feel for what people liked in the book itself. For those of your reading this, yes I did also thank John on the KickStarter page. I wanted to post this here for everyone considering buying this book or others I release. I do genuinely want people to enjoy the books I produce. I'm glad I've done that with Tale of the Wizard's Eye, and I hope to continue with my coming projects. I invite all of you who have experienced this adventure to add your own review as well. Thanks again John for providing this review. I look forward to your opinion of future releases. W.S. Quinton Author Founder, Sinopa Publishing LLC Frankfort Kentucky
pixel_trans.gif
Displaying 1 to 1 (of 1 reviews) Result Pages:  1 
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif Back pixel_trans.gif
0 items
 Gift Certificates