Solo adventure with a time constraint: the final encounter is harder if soldiers reach the end cave before the character. Lacks meaningful choices: the end reward is the same whether your character opts to be honourable or mercenary. Would be improved by the addition of codewords, for example HONOURABLE and MERCENARY, that may change according to character actions; some encounters should play differently according to which codeword, if any, is held. A potentially interesting encounter with a satyr may be missed. Otherwise variety in replays seems to depend on random encounters rolled. A good addition would be areas where profit is available at the expense of time.

Short adventure suitable for a regular company of low level adventurers, or a larger group of zero level types. Quick rules are included for the latter (funnel). Familiar themes of cannibal cultists and necromancy, but carried off with some style, supported by a nice clear map. Good clue to a pit trap. Variety in the encounters as some will start with dialogue; good use of horror. Could be clearer about who has keys to which door: who holds keys for the locked door to area 6?

Recommended.

Given its brevity, there are a surprising number of different possible approaches (and hence replay value) to this thieving mission (which becomes an assassination). Would be improved by a persuasion/talking option in the climactic encounter, given Pyra's motivation for the original theft.

Recommended.

An infiltrate and investigate mission, with stealth needed as there is an army of foes. A good scenario for assassins.

Some well crafted encounters. Recommended.

A different from the norm, fun scenario. Essentially a treasure hunt the whole city is excited about, with clues to the ultimate location to be found on certain statues. Combats may happen, but they are not the focus. Creative thinking will be rewarded, and the PCs should select a strategy that best fits their abilities. They might pretend to be city maintenance officials, for example, in one case. The challenges are nicely varied. Groups should pick up as much gossip as possible. There is welcome continuity as rivals (possibly short term partners) can be met multiple times. Gaining the loot isn't the end: there are restless dead to be appeased, and prospective buyers to be found. For the latter, some choices will work much better than others. To feed some necessary information, I had a funeral procession pass by the PCs, with people in the crowd muttering "That is the third rival of X to have an accident in the last month. Bet no one trusts him twice", answered with "They don't get the chance".

Highly recommended.

Classic rescue the prisoner scenario. Strengths: (i) Organic mixture of combat, sneaking, trap avoidance and dealing/bargaining with NPC foes. (ii) There is more than one way to succeed, many more to fail. Action is far from linear. (iii) The notoriety system is an excellent game mechanic which rewards clever play and penalises sloppy play. (iv) Pregenerated characters are always welcome, for comparison if nothing else, but in this module players might not have characters with the right alignment or lack certain skills. A hand-picked mixture of regular PCs and pregens makes perfect sense in the context of the mission. (v) There is a political dimension to the mission, and it makes sense for the King not to risk his top advisors. (vi) Nice descriptions, evoking the atmosphere of a depraved nightmarish city of backstabbing and bullying. There is the mock courtroom of Judge Streichen and his black cap; the trophy room of the psychopath Mordlok; the noxious bodies in the sewers; the snivelling cowardice of a jail sub-commander Kerlenzen. (vii) Living dungeon: people do move in and out.

Cautions/Weaknesses: (i) This is a challenging module, both for players and the referee. Players will need their best game, and referees will have to adjudicate unexpected strategies. There are some helpful examples from playtesting. (ii) Maps are spread out. (iii) Merouac, an illusionist, has been assigned non-allowable spells; the pregen Carlenna has been given magic items she can't fully use.

Could be summarised as a "James Bond mission dungeon adventure": that captures the excitement level and required levels of derring do. Any party that succeeds will have a rousing tale to tell. Top notch, highly recommended.

Thieves seem to get the unglamorous roles in D&D games: scouts, lock pickers and trap detectors. Few scenarios seem to use their range of criminal skills. Some may remember the excellent Thieves' Guild materials by Kerry Lloyd and co-workers, which introduced modules suitable for Raffles style thefts, or carefully planned heists, Ebonclad follows in this tradition.

This review will concentrate on material directly related to adventures. There are a number of helpful tables to generate items of wealth to be pickpocketted, and residential items of value for robberies. The list of urban chase complications should enliven any foot race. Chaper 5, comprising 58 pages, contains seven missions. These are delightfully varied: some investigations with a final combat; a burglary to find an item; manipulating events to discredit an invention, or prevent a marriage. The last group are particularly enjoyable, as the PCs get a chance to dream up schemes. Outright brutality may draw unwelcome attention from the Kintallan Guard. Charm and Illusion magic will be an asset. The missions are fairly short, with plenty of guidance. There are helpful sidebar summaries with bullet points; in contrast, the PCs' Ebonclad boss tends to drone on for several paragraphs.

A solid collection of scenairos, with a couple very good. I would be interested in what the author could make of a longer, more involved adventure such as manipulating an election to high office, or a gang war. Recommended.

A human outpost (the Bleak Tower) is under siege by the Split Tongue orc tribe. Can the PCs defeat the source of the trouble in the Ironwood Gorge?

A familiar set up, but with some interesting twists and features: (i) Intrigue amongst the residents of Bleak Tower; (ii) Travel to the 2 level dungeon via the Ironwood should be a memorable and creepy experience. A new monster, the Ironwood Dryad, is a nice variant on a classic, suitable for a Mirkwood-like forest; (iii) Geographical features come into play in the gorge; (iv) There are allies to find; displaced and downtrodden goblins have useful information; a good variety of combat encounters, including some new monsters; (v) The Split Tongue orc tribe is well described, with tension between the Warlord and the Priest; (vi) There are bonus areas to discover, and multiple routes to find and exploit.

My group needed three trips and an alliance with the dwarves to defeat the orcs. There are many "stop the humanoid raiders" adventures available, but this is a superior one. Highly recommended.

A superior product, oozing flavour, some fantastic imagery. I am reminded of Thulsa Doom's caves in the 1982 Conan the Barbarian movie; I fancy there is a reference to that film when acolytes staring into a reflecting pool claim to see "uh...infinity". Stealthy raids whilst wearing disguises look to be the best bet, and there is plenty of opportunity for sneaking and bluffing before the inevitable clash of swords. There are some well-crafted, distinctive magic items; memorable foes; well described locations, for example a gladiatorial arena with a floor that absorbs blood; monsters which are variants on the classics; interesting allies to free and recruit. I would prefer all the maps to be gathered together (or on the inside covers).

No difficulty in converting and running this in WFRP (2e): the Bull God can be an aspect of Khorne that permits spellcasting; bugbears and centaurs can become bestigor brutes and centigors; named distinctive magic items are an advantage in a low magic setting. "Conrad of Bavaria" led the attack (and claimed the horse).

Highly recommended. This is the Swords and Sorcery module TSR never wrote.

Serviceable solo adventure: a looting raid on a waterlogged ship. One or two more potential discoveries would spice things up: some sealed orders or a treasure map could lead to further adventures. Some suggested improvements: (i) A failed roll from 4f should lead to 10a with the snake having surprise; (ii) 11b is missing statistics for the Vine Blight; (iii) In 17d, the result of the die roll makes no difference, all roads lead to 13a. Possibly 11a should lead to a combat.

SPOILERS follow.

The classic tale of cultists duping people to go on an expedition, and then attempting to sacrifice them instead. In this case the party are dealing with the aftermath. Stylishly carried off, with enough clues for the PCs to work out what is going on. The referee will need to develop some of the details of relatives in town, but that is entirely reasonable for something that describes itself as a framework.

Recommended.

Beastmen and allies attack a fortified human settlement. Enough detail for the referee: (i) a clear map describing geographical features; (ii) sketches of the leaders on both sides; (iii) a battle plan for the beastmen; (iv) notes for resolving the conflict as it becomes a general melee, focussing on PC encounters; (v) a twist at the end as a third group attacks both sides. Easy to customise. Recommended.

I like the premise of this adventure: heists, kidnappings, jailbreaks, burglaries and manipulating events without slaughtering everything in sight seem underrepresented in modules. The materials have been edited down to the essentials; the minimalist key for the castle where most of the key action takes place is a particularly good feature. The section on possible plans and their potential flaws is helpful. What isn't clear is how the adventure teaches the PCs the tricks of stealth, bluffing and planning etc in a gradual way. A possible solution would be a notoriety system.

A very strong prisoner rescue scenario is WGR6 City of Skulls; it makes us of a notoriety system. Bascially the PCs pick up points for who they are (e.g. elves look out of place in an evil kingdom), but more importantly, what they do (e.g. leaving witnesses, corpses lying about, broken locks). Squads of increasing power are dispatched to locate and destroy the PCs as points accumulate. This could be adapted to Kidnap the Archpriest. Asking questions without subtlety e.g. "Where are the Archpriest's rooms, and when is he least guarded?" would gain points. The leader of the squad might have a written order stating "track down the foreign traders who were in the Market Square asking questions about the Archpriest". The PCs might realise they need to be more subtle, and change disguises. Tougher squads could comprise a couple of Black Endoguards.

Recommended.

A Tunnels and Trolls solo for novice characters. There are a number of short missions to complete. Considerable replay value: there are three different ships on which you can serve, and three (mostly) different strands depending on the identity of your immediate superior. A good variety of encounters, although it would have been nice to have some longer missions; perhaps there should be more choices, and less emphasis on saving rolls (skill checks). The port of Esperanto is fun. Accurately written: all the links seem to work. Very occasional typos: e.g. 205, "jib" not job.

Recommended.

A good solo. With 29 pages of adventure, there are a substantial number of encounters.

Good points: (i) A variety of encounters, not all combats. Careful reading of the text will give clues for avoiding some combats or hazards, or how to tip the scales in the PC's favour. (ii) Foreshadowing of the ultimate villain. (iii) Linear with branches. (iv) More than one ending, with different degrees of success possible.

Possible improvements: (i) For some entries, where "go to 22A" is written, "go to 12C" may be better. See 3A; 5A; 10A; 12D. (ii) Sometimes compass directions are used. It would be better to use these all the time, or not at all. Those drawing a map may get confused.

Recommended.