Old Rock Tower is a 20 page 4e pdf adventure that takes the characters on an intriguing journey through an old wizard's tower. This adventure was originally released under the OGL, but has since been released under the new 4e GSL. Old Rock Tower is a location based dungeon crawl adventure, suitable for characters of 6th level. The aim of the adventure, and indeed all Unicorn Rampant's products is to provide tantalizing adventures and stories that are challenging, fun and easy to play.

Old Rock Tower comes as a single pdf file, and includes presentable front and back covers, complete bookmarks, and some fair art by Christopher Hay and Dan Smith. The adventure is written by Adam A. Thompson. As far as presentation goes, the adventure is well crafted and designed, with a decent layout and overall look. The writing and editing is good, although not all the descriptions are particularly vivid or leap out of the page. Nevertheless, some effort has gone into making this product look professional and presentable, and for that Unicorn Rampant Publishing are to be commended. A complete set of maps for all seven levels and the exterior of the tower is provided. This is probably my biggest gripe with the pdf - the maps are far too small and dark, making it really hard to discern details, encounter numbers and other features of the maps. In general the maps could've been a lot crisper but as they are, while still usable, they're fairly disappointing and unclear.

The adventure takes place in an old wizard's tower. Here the PCs are able to explore its many levels and uncover some of its magical secrets while dealing with the remnants of the wizard's legacy and some new occupants in various sections of the tower. The adventure provides a detailed background and a brief synopsis to assist the DM in running it, and provides a number of plausible plot hooks, in the form of a quest, to get the players to the old tower to start exploring it. The overall background story is fair, and the players should have an enjoyable romp through the tower, which provided both interesting special features and some challenging encounters. As they do, the adventure explores the tower's background well with the PCs, allowing them to learn the details and history of the structure and its previous occupants. This is something rarely done well in many published adventures, so I was pleased to see it here.

The tower itself consists of seven levels, each one largely built around a specific theme or a specific creature. The levels are accessible through a unusual staircase, which creates an interesting effect within the tower. Judging by the various levels in the adventure and the maps, the tower has a rather odd shape, and I wish they'd included a sideview map to indicate how the size of the different floors change as you go up the tower. Most of the creatures within the tower are standard from the core rules, but there are a few new creatures with stat blocks, including a rather unusual dire chicken! The encounters are generally well constructed, with interesting environs and challenges and a fair share of traps. For the most part though, the encounters are standard fare, although largely make sense within the confines of the adventure background and the logic of a fantastical world and wilderness.

In general this is likely to be an enjoyable adventure. I liked the concept behind the tower staircase, and the way in which the adventure led you through the tower's history and the wizard's legacy. Care has been taken to ensure the encounters in the tower make sense, which is good to see. The presentation is fair, although the maps are fairly weak and could've been clearer. I think more could've been done to spice up the backstory and some of the encounters in the tower to make it more dynamic rather than a fairly static, albeit interesting dungeon crawl. Overall, though, an enjoyable adventure.