Customer Reviews

Fortress Ellendar (High Fantasy Adventure Series)

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

 

 

This the first adventure module for the first edition of the High Fantasy game. It is included in "Adventures in High Fantasy" for the second edition of the High Fantasy game. It is a pretty good module in its time in having themes and mysteries running throughout the adventure, though it would require revisions for todays use. The adventure is about a group that is sent into a fortress by the previous owner to release a sealed demon in it to evict the Dark Lord that currently owns it and to escape before the demon can kill them.

There are several main differences between the first edition and the second edition versions. The first edition has the cover art and is printed on 8.5 inch by 11 inch pages. It also has the unlabeled player map printed on a 11 inch by 17 inch paper. The first edition lacks the "level" and "Difficulty Factor" information in the "Inhabitants"/monster information table. The second edition on the "level information" needs to be corrected by looking at the Offense information and matching it with the Level table in the core game book.

It is strongly suggested that the module be used to mine for ideas to use it right would require having all the books for the second edition to understand how it fits in. As fitting in the idea of the lands being overrun by the "Eastern Empire" (of which the player characters should have "common knowledge" about and not all of which is included in this module or for that matter a map of the continent, which does not show up until the "Goldchester" and "Wizards and Warriors" game products. It can be run as a tournament adventure as-is, though there are features that should still be updated. It is worth noting that real story behind the game world only appears in the author notes of Goldchester where the game world started off as described in the core game book (Set up a town, in this case Goldchester, from which adventures go forth). Unfortunately the players were not what would today be called Power Gamers and analyze the rules for where there needs to be corrections or to be exploited for maximum survival and benefit. When the got to the "Lords of Conquest" rules they played the West City-States ("Kingdoms") forces against the Eastern Empire and lost badly. Many times. So badly that the Eastern Empire stomped most of the Western city-states. I would suggest that if Dillow's world is used, that the player characters start off on a continent to the west of the Western lands and have them hear about this part of the world when they have reached the third plane in terms of skill level or so and travel by ship of magic to help them. It is also suggested to get "Through Dungeons Deep" by "Robert Plamandon" to get a feel for "old school" gaming and to have 10 player characters that includes those with Healer (several), Armorer, Thief and Psychic (for detecting magic and detecting truth during interrogation) subclasses. They should be able to break up into two groups that support one another as needed to provide "covering fire" and so forth. There would be an emphasis on silenced (possible magically silenced) ranged weapons and relatively light armor with urban covert tactics. Alchemists would have have a way to either silence their weapons or use lots of poisons (possibly on bow or crossbow ammunition) ahead of time to get experience points. Wizards should have a good understanding of the Familiar spell (as well as having the Negate spell to complete the mission) and how the spell pages included in making a familiar can be exploited for maximum effect (like the Transumutation spell is a rather powerful general use effect). Mirrors (darkened or shielded in some way to prevent notice) and other means of looking under doors or sensing behind doors could be of use.

The "neutral city" city mentioned in the game could be Wellsport if the Judge gets the later continental map. Keep in mind the distance of the 6 days of foot travel (presumably around 12 miles per day) mentioned in the game for relative distances on the continental map, though depending on how big the continent is desired to be.

Concepts introduced includes: artificial alchemical creatures, various magic items, various alchemical devices that are more magic-like including a robot (disguised as a mythical creature on the outside of the fortress), strange magic fixtures, blessings by demi-gods on their followers, some religions and world backgrounds, that spells can be altered by including materials, the idea of seals of various sorts, etc. The effects are introduced though it will be up to the Judge how to expand upon them into actual rules or the effects of them.

The distances between the different maps seem to be slightly different and can be adjusted accordingly.

The "Spell of Sparrowflight" and its background and connected items should be changed to make it more consistent. It should be called "Message of Sparrowflight" as it is not a spell or a spell page. It should have been sent to Tancred (the previous owner of the fortress) by Sparrowflight (the wizard who helped Tancred to stop and seal the demon that tried to kill everyone in the fortress before) after Tancred decided on the plan to release the demon. The original words do not make sense for the message to be made into a riddle and if the instructions are for if Tancred found a way to kill the demon permanently, especially when it includes instructions for running away and is missing a key item for doing so. Tancred should be well aware of the locations of the two locations mentioned in the message as one item serves as his outer gate and the other is a huge weird tree growing in the back yard. Even if the message is in a riddle code, it should explicitly state how to shield yourself properly as it serves no else's purpose otherwise. Both the serpent gate and the tree should be well aware of all things needed to release the demon and escape and be helpful to those who give the code phrases as long as they appear and act to be in Sparrowflights' interests. They should also not react at all until given the code phrases otherwise the Dark Lord would have destroyed both long before the adventure began. They should have witnessed all things within their line of sight and can inform the player characters of the defenses of the fortress and "traps"/"strategies" used by the Dark Lord's forces that were within their view (basically one covers the "front door" and the other covers the "back door"). There is the question of that calling of Sparrowflight's servants and whether a spell is needed but that should be explained as the branches' magic due to some magic communication effect.

The player characters should have some means or be provided with a means to carry lots of loot (like say a magic backpack that has the internal size of small house that does not add weight to what is put inside) as that is apparently their only pay for the mission.

An interesting consideration is whether concealment (like large cloth covers that have been colored to match background) or disguises (to appear superficially as Eastern forces) would work against night vision or against the forces in the fortress. Player characters might even choose to wear disguises when doing the mission to prevent later identification by the Dark Lord.

There are a number suggested revisions for the fortress maps.

The area around the exterior map should be noted as being mostly forest (implied from the the descriptions). The continent map (if the Judge has them from the later products) does not note that area are being mountainous on a continental scale, though the cover art does show it be rocky with enough rainfall to support trees and lots of plant growth.

Area H of the interior map is not shown or described, though it does correspond to area 15 of the exterior map. It is supposed to be a large cavern for the goblins with an entrance/exit at area 15 of the exterior map and have two (or more if desired) stairs up into the fortress.

The description at the beginning of the exterior map of the goblins should put the movement at area 3 not the location of being between area 1 and 2 (which is closer to the player characters initially).

The wall-like structure around the tree in the back needs to be described better with information. It should not be too high. Stealthily climbing the wall is a strong possibility as the ramps, cliffs, and wall heights could be used to help conceal getting close to the fortress as is not as exposed to observation. Given that there is no walkways on the wall for observation, it probably is only about 10 feet or so high.

How the barrier/trap for the stairs near the tree section works and positions should be considered as it can have a bearing on alternative entrances. Does it actually come from the adjacent tower next to the stairway (which means a person could cross from the stair to that tower top)? How do the soldiers move around without triggering the robot nearby?

The engineering of the fortress needs to considered for revision.

There is the matter of logistics and living conditions as their needs to be a way to get regular supplies (food, water, air, equipment, lighting, etc.) easily into the building and to get them out (sewage, used water, used air (from both breathing, cooking, alchemical areas, smithing, etc.), garbage, etc.). Keep in mind that one entrance is a goblin cavern (possibly disgusting and has very long stairs to get up) and the other has a killer robot and a secret concealed entrance that does not appear to lead directly to where things can be stored or disposed of. The Judge/Game Master could include magic items to help reduce this like magic lights and magic chamber pots and so forth, though how much magic should be included is up the Judge.

The walls of the fortress are too thin, being apparently only about one foot thick when comparable historical ones are at generally at least three feet and often far greater. Given that there is one spell that can go right through five feet of material, most fortresses in High Fantasy should be at least five feet thick and include iron foil/bars/grating in the wall material (for magic resistance).

The Judge should erase that odd spigot and chamber of water on the cross-section of the interior map as it does not match any of the floor plans and is relatively too close to the demon's chamber anyhow (if its' presence poisoned the wine cask nearby it should have gotten to that water supply too). For that matter, the wine cask on top of the demon's chamber should be gotten rid of given that the entrance is in the prison area unless the Judge has a sufficiently reasonable explanation for putting a large wine cask in the prisoner area (possibly a way to make ingestible poison, though whether it would make sense to discover that effect or use it like that is another matter).

The Judge should arrange a map showing what the interior of the fortress originally looked like while making sure that the appropriate areas overlap (like the library, the old temple area that was sealed, the demon sealed area, etc.) with their notable features and use as well as matching the exterior areas. It would be reasonable for the players to ask for that information as they are trying to figure out how to get inside and get to the demon area (which as far as they know might be buried or something).

Something to consider ahead of time for both by the Judge and the Players (and the player characters) is what is to be done regarding any Non-Dark Lord soldier. As an example there are the cooks. There is also consideration of the fact that once the demon is released pretty much everyone in the fortress is going to die (a possible exception is the senile western priest) unless they leave the fortress before it is released (some paranoid player characters might fear such people alerting the Dark Lord what is happening or give their identities to the Dark Lord later) or accompanies the players when they hopefully escape. Some Judges and players might be okay with having player characters killing everything on sight, while others might not. It is suggested that if they do save (more or less) innocent bystanders that those player characters get them as friendly contacts later in the larger game world as a reward for showing compassion.

A further consideration is that if the players manage to defeat/neutralize the hostile forces and aid the innocent ahead of time, they might actually make an arrangement to see if they can kill the Dark Lord by setting things up so that there is plenty of debris blocking choke points to the main stairs and when either enough of the Dark Lord's forces enter or the Dark Lord himself enters the demon is released, resulting the Dark Lord into being trapped while the player characters are running to safety (while keeping low at the top to avoid being seen while calling for Sparrowflight's minions). While cutting it a bit close, this could result in one of the Dark Lords being wiped out along with a portion of his personal forces. This could be a significant effect in the game world.