Café de Nuit

Hi,
I couldn't find any Death Ascendant nor Death Unchained modules' review.

Can anybody who has run the modules find some spare time and write here a short review? Not a summary of whole module, but rather what's good, what's bad in the modules, some changes you've made, preferable twists, is the plot interesting enough or does it need heavy modification etc.

The Grim Harvest series is widely considered one of the low points of the RL campaign setting and not without reason.

Death Unchained wasn't quite as bad as the modules that would follow although, flavour-wise, it felt like a generic AD&D adventure with an eeeeeevil necromancer and what not roaming about and concocting eeeeeviilll schemes.

The subtleness wasn't overwhelming to say the least and, as far as I can recall, there were a number of plot holes to contend with that would only get more evident with the following modules. Furthermore, the module could have been used as a means of elaborating on the as of yet fleshed out cities, giving the DM tools for further adventuring, instead we get the bare minimum necessary to run the module and that's it.

Mind you, the maps were kinda useful. At that point, RL had little of those fancy and precious maps that save countless hours of planning and preparation. At that point, most DMs had to make up their own city maps or just wing it.

Also, magic is quite prevalent this time around. The level draining foes might become a particularly annoying nuisance, but feel more frustrating than scary. But then, I always felt that level drains were awkward at best, something used by generic D&D DMs to slow down the progress of powerful PCs.

All in all, it wasn't so much a bad RL module as an average generic AD&D module set in RL with little of the flavour.

Death Ascendant, however, got the community in an uproar. See, before Malocchio, there was another Dukkar, only his creation was the result of an oversight or lack of source material knowledge. Nobody bothered to check out the info on the Vistani beforehand and the result was the accidental birth of a Dukkar, albeit a generic "good guy" Vistana thief one as opposed to the better known Dukkar.

So, right off the bat, a bit of Thakok-An gender bending will be necessary.

Nothing major - changing the gender of an NPC shouldn't be too much of an issue, especially one who appeared for the first (and last) time in this module. I mean, it's not like they decided to turn Drakov into a woman or anything and declared it canon.

Again, more and more magic is added to the mix and the feel is significantly non-RL.

The plot feels a bit forced by now and might require some heavy handed DMing to set the PCs on the right path.

Again, the maps are a nice addition, too bad they're too small to be of much use.

The main bad guys would require a bit more fleshing out and the art wasn't exactly to my liking. Again, too much high fantasy influences all around purge the module of what made RL so different: unique flavour.

If taken as an AD&D module regardless of the campaign setting, this one isn't quite as bad as it may seem. Generic AD&D DMs could, with some minor tweaking, incorporate the module into their campaign. Granted, IIRC, the dialogue and plots weren't stellar, but fairly par course for generic AD&D where the emphasis is less on plot and more on getting from point A to point B and kicking ass in between. Those campaigns (RL or otherwise) with a strong focus on plot and characters might find this to be of little use.

Again, had the mpas been bigger and the information on the domains of Darkon and Falkovnia more elaborate (not to mention sensitive of flavour and source material), these modules could have at least acted as potential minor source books on major cities and domains.

It's been some time since I played these but here goes.

It's good to remember that at the time these modules came out, TSR seemed to be on the verge of bankruptcy. So the modules suffered in editing, artwork, and general quality control. I think the underlying premise is a good one but be prepared for a lot of work before they're as good as they should be.

The modules all have a severe case of railroading, and a lot of the work I did was to try to break that and give the PCs a bit more of a choice. Most NPCs they meet die in some preordained encounter, and there isn't even the illusion of choice to save them. A few changes to the presentation can change that. Maybe write in a few rounds of lopsided combat, or allow a few of the NPC allies to survive and give a few little hints before killing them off.

The first thing I can think of specifically to make the end game more interesting is to give the PCs a chance to influence the outcome of the final confrontation in Death Triumphant. I posted this elsewhere on the boards. But I had it that the PCs could disrupt the ascension of Azalin by laying his high level undead servitors to rest before he drained them of their levels to become a demilich.

In retrospect it might be fun to adopt a three-part ending as Mangrum did in his sequel adventure, Death Undaunted. If the PCs fail entirely, then Azalin becomes a demilich and leaves Ravenloft to terrorize new worlds. Dachine becomes Death and Darkon becomes Necropolis.

If the PCs score a partial victory (disrupt the ritual so Azalin doesn't have enough energy to become a demilich) then the game ends as the module says. Azalin is dissipated into background radiation and seemingly destroyed, and Death takes the reins.

If the PCs score a total victory (disrupt the ritual and destroy the hourglass before Azalin can finish the ritual) then Azalin remains a lich, albeit perhaps very seriously weakened, and Death does not gain darklord powers, instead wandering the domain as a unique undead creature.

If they need only some modifications, they are good enough. I usually change the story details a bit anyway.

So thanks a lot for briefings!