Customer Reviews

Pool of Radiance: Attack on Myth Drannor (Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms)

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

 

 

Unlike many of the previous reviewers I haven't played the computer game that this module is apparently based on - I'm going to treat that as a good thing because it will allow me to review this item on its merits (or lack thereof) and not be predisposed to a negative review.

The adventure is unfortunately very linear and the authors have assumed that the players will naturally move from encounter A to encounter B. Any experienced GM will know that a group of PC's can be distracted by the most benign of things - mention there are some shadows moving in the trees as they walk down the path and off they go finding out what the shadows are all about - even though they were only intended to add colour to the scene.

Additionally, the hooks are very weak - but then its been my experience that all hooks for published modules are weak and that is for the simple reason that the writers of these things have absolutely no idea what shape or size individual campaigns are going to be in hence they go for the lowest common denominator - but every module is prefaced with the advisory that individual GM's know the best way to get thier players invovled, so I don't understand why people complain about hooks.

The thing that annoyed me most about this module was the fact that the main battle happens in the castle of Myth Drannor (which by any measure is a big frigging city) and yet the characters are led by the nose to the castle and the big fight in the dungeon. It seems so simplistic as to be laughable (and I suspect here is the strongest link to the computer game).

One final criticism is that of the creature index. I agree with a previous reviewer that having the index listed 'when encountered' is very frustrating; much better to have everything listed alphabetically.

On the good side, I thought the plot was reasonably well constructed and kind of clever having the PC's 'stumble' into it. Unfortuanately that's about it for the good parts, hence why it only gets two stars.

I would advise you only buy this if you're looking for a good way to get dracoliches involved in your campaign, otherwise you're probably better staying away.

If you are a DM looking for a decent adventure to fit into your Forgotten Realms campaign, you could do worse than to run this adventure. The hook to get the players involved is a little weak, but you can always write your own in. It was obviously written before the new (excellent) Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting and Creatures of Faerun were released (it has a Phaerimm listed as a random encounter, and sez it is WAY over the heads of 6th level characters, which is not necessarily true), the monsters and NPC's are listed in full stats at the end of the book, but in order of appearance, which is a little difficult to reference (I like the method that WOTC uses now, listing NPC's & Monsters' stats alphabetically in an index). The story is not bad, certainly better than some of the 3rd party modules I've seen. The adversaries seem a little under-powered in terms of magic items, so DM's may want to beef them up a bit with more equipment. The adversaries can be truly nasty, in my opinion truly fitting of the Cult of the Dragon. A Dungeon Master can get a lot more out of this module if he applies the info on the Cult found in "Lords of Darkness" (which I heartily recommend), as well as "Creatures of Faerun."
It is useable as written, but with a little DM work, it can be a truly memorable adventure.

I found a copy of this book at my old job at a mall. I brought it home and loved it. I've read it again once or twice since then and its great.

Like previous adventures based on computer games, this product proved to be extremely linear and unimaginative. The adventure hooks are extremely weak and it's just assumed that the party will head straight from point A to point B with no deviation whatsoever. The plot is extremely simple - keep the dracolich cultists from realizing their evil plans and free their wrongfully imprisoned slaves in the process. The opposition is supposed to get tougher and tougher as play goes on until you meet the 'big boss' at the end. Aside from being chock-full of typos, I found this product to be uninspiring and, quite frankly, boring. No chance at all that I'll be working this adventure into the ongoing campaign.

When I saw this for sale, I laughed out loud (and didn't even think about buying it). I can't believe they proudly announce on the cover that it's 'based on the computer game from SSI.' If you have any idea as to how insanely plotless and lame that game is, you'll know to stay away from anything based on it. The entire game is a big 'kick in the door' dungeon crawl, uninspired and utterly boring. The main strength of pen and paper D&D is the story, and there is no story in POR: ROMD. Save your money and get a better adventure, or make one up on your own.

This game struck my ire in the first five minutes... on the install. It wouldn't let me install it to anything but my main hard drive. I tried installing it to a different drive and it told me I didn't have enough space (30 gigs left). Contacted customer support and they had released a update for it. But that isn't a good way to start on a game... when you spend over an hour trying to get the darn thing to install.

But anyway, onto the game itself.

Once I got into the game it was alright. I haven't got anywhere close to beating it because my interest waned quite a bit. The game is difficult to play because you have some pretty tough things to beat in the start of the game (that is where more frustration set it).

Finally, in the typical WoTC way, you end up.... guess? Yup, in a dungeon. A very large one to boot where everything looks the same. They have some cool interactive options. But they completely change the interface for the whole thing. It doesn't follow your typical Baulder's Gate format for the characters. And it's going by third edition rules (thats a completely different review).

If you have never played a Wizards of The Coast game then this isn't a bad one to start out on. It has a good tutorial that you can go back to throughout the game if need be.

Not a bad game, but certainly not their best.

This book was one of the best D&D books that I have read it fun & the new stuff is cool. (=