Customer Reviews

Fantastic Locations: Hellspike Prison: Dungeons & Dragons Accessory (D&D Accessory)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a premium product from Wizards, again showcasing the major changes since buying-out TSR. The packaging is great: shrinkwrapped, with an outer cardstock cover, great cover art by Francis Tsai; interior cardstock is a color repro of the four miniatures maps included in the module. As alluded to, the module also includes four full-color maps of Hellspike, printed on bonded, heavy gloss paper. These look good, and are great for use with miniatures and as a imagination booster. The text of the product is well-written, informative and interesting to read, with great, atmospheric B&W interior illustrations that borrow from the surrounding text (not just cool art that has nothng to do with the story, as in some old TSR works). A great bonus is a collection of encounters that can easily and creatively be combined by a DM into a short adventure; the encounters are designed for 9th Level PCs, but a good DM can adjust to allow for lower-level players. The text is a short 16 pages, but the maps are worth the additional four dollars (over a typical module cost of around ten bucks). I bought this at a hobby shop at 10% off; but it's discounted pretty steeply here at Amazon, and costs the same as a standard module. All told, a fun product. I run my own brand of D&D gaming, based off the 2nd Ed Rules (1989), with selected changes found in the new 2000+ (3.0, 3.5) rules. Works great all the way around. To run this accessory/module you must have a Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide. Players DON'T need to buy this, or similar products; let your DMs buy these things, and you'll enjoy the surprise of new discovery as you play in a 'Fantastic Location!' The Monster Manuals are pretty cool, but with some imagination you can make your own monsters, or download some cool critters free off the internet. There are a few Hellspike-specific monsters included in this product, but not enough to really play an adventure. PS: I don't work for WOTC; this is an honest review.

Call me a throwback but I miss the days when TSR would at least try give you more bang for your buck. This set consists of nothing more than a 16 page book, poorly concieved and written, and two doublesided maps. There is nothing here that could not have been included in another set. Instead someone in marketing had the idea of squeezing even more money out of us clueless gamers- and so they did. I have maps. I have a monster manual. Therefor I didn't need any of this, especially not for this price. It simply makes more sense to convert second or even first edition modules to third and don't waste your time on this drivel.

The adventure is not all that great but the mini maps are excellant and you can use them for just about anything. I run an Eberron game and needing a cave with some lava running through it makes a great place for a trek into Khyber to a fight for the hard to find Khyber Dragonshards.