Customer Reviews

Feast of Goblyns (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons/Ravenloft Module RA1)

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

 

 

I've gone through this adventure twice now, once, years ago, as a player, and now as a DM. As a player, I'd have given it 4 stars -- 5 except for the annoyance of being constantly manipulated by deceitful NPCs; as a DM, I'd give it 3 because of the immense amount of work it takes to cover the numerous flaws of the module. I'll be generous and average it up to 4 stars.

I have fond memories of playing Feast of Goblyns: hunting the hunters beneath the Crystal Club; the stairway built into a giant skeleton; a wolfwere fight at the Old Kartakan Inn; and a slow, losing battle with the seduction of the Dark Powers. It was frustrating at the time because the NPCs jerked us around so much, and the conclusion was less than satisfactory, but it had its moments.

As a DM, I've discovered how much time and effort went into that game. It isn't just trying to make the NPCs' lies believable, or patching the occasional hole in the plot; it's ad libbing constantly to cover up unexpected gaps, like how Akriel met Dr. Dominiani in the first place, and where that nameless girl on the slab is from and what she was doing when Radaga captured her.

My party has made a few memories of its own, although they never went to the Crystal Club at all and no one ever had to make a Dark Powers check. The unintended humor of the "flow of the Minstrel River" (say it out loud), singing to get into Harmonia, a battle with the face-munching goblyns from whom the adventure takes its name, and Radaga's dungeons have all been fun.

Overall, I would say this is a good game if you're willing to put the work into it, but don't expect to be able to play it straight out of the book.

Feast of Goblyns - the first adventure module ever put out under the Ravenloft label! Still considered the most atmospheric gothic module of all time, with the sole exception of I6 - Ravenloft itself. In this dramatic story, your bold adventurers are pulled from the realms they know, into the dread mists of Strahd's domain... there, they'll find themselves caught up as deadly puppets in a chaotic web of intrigue, as the great dark powers seek to manipulate them to their own ends in a nefarious quest for the accursed Crown of Soldiers. A huge epic - features a 96-page book, 2 screens, and a giant poster map!