Customer Reviews

Scepter Tower of Spellgard: (D&D 4.0 RPG, Forgotten Realms Adventure FR1)

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

 

 

Scepter Tower Of Spellgard is a poorly organized adventure with a lame hook and even lamer payoff. It functions as a location for a standard very run-of-the-mill dungeon crawl. It is basically combat encounter after combat encounter (so this might be a 3 star review if you like that sort of thing and that is all you are looking for) But even if you like combat focused adventures, this module really shows the weakness in WotC's new book organization. The room descriptions are pages away from the encounter descriptions and since the adventure is split between 2 pamphlets some descriptions for locations for book 1 are actually in book 2 (lots and lots of page flipping). But I think the biggest problem with the module is the hook and the ending (or lack of one). The hook is that you get to ask a ghost a question to anything. And while the adventure gives the DM suggestions on handling the player questions...THE ACTUAL ENCOUNTER is not even in the book.

I like 4e and I like the new 4e Forgotten Realms. But this adventure is not worthy of the rich history and intrigues of Forgotten Realms. It is a simple dungeon crawl, and not even a very good one at that.

This product is a bit rough for new DM's. Unlike the H series, it doesn't hold your hand through out the whole module. Other reviewers have blasted the module for it's lack of a hook, but that's really part of the charm.

The adventure gives the player's a rumor to run with. So you have to create your own hook for players to catch, they hear about the place in a bar - or perhaps they hear about it from your campaign's BBEG. The fact is, this adventure will fit flush in with whatever our campaign is doing. Unlike the H series, your free to run the rest of your campaign as you wish, and can even weave it into the module.

The first book lists off everything about Spellguard (not a giant dungeon). It has a monastery, and man camps of other fortune hunters. There are a few potential ways into the keep (though one is the preferred path). And enough information is given to make the world come to life.

The adventure ending is open ended, making it easy to continue your campaign int he direction you want to take it, as opposed to leading you on to the next number module.

***SPOILER ALERT***

I'm running this module and am sorely disappointed.

If there is one part you take out of this module, it should be the Catacombs. My players really enjoyed that part of the module. However, I think some of that had to do with the story elements that I added.

My biggest gripe is that this module doesn't really use any of the storyline of the Forgotten Realms. I get the feeling that WOTC realized they needed a module for this campaign setting and asked an intern to adapt this one to FR.

The next gripe is the lack of coherence. OK, so a tower that remains standing for centuries for no reason has been invaded by evil forces. So, this leads to a bunch of "dungeons" that are totally unrelated to each other. There is no reason for Wererats to be in the first "dungeon." And their lair has no relation to the tower or the catacombs.

My next gripe is that the the elements that are supposed to allow the characters to figure out who is in the tower & why are inconsistent. I find myself needing to creatively dispense information to the players, just so they know they are on the right track.

I had to devise my own way to get the party interested in going to Spellgard. Then, I had to devise my own way to get the party to the first "dungeon." At least after they cleared the first "dungeon", they were lead to the next one (the Catacombs).

The monastery in the ruins is not fleshed out at all. So, as soon as the party got there, they were immediately skeptical of everyone there...for good reason. Who builds a monastery in ruins with out pledging allegiance to a god (something that every inhabitant of FR does).

About the only good thing I got from this module were the monster encounter groups. Most of them were a good challenge level for the party. However, the big bad guy at the end of the catacombs is WAY TOO POWERFUL. If I had not been on my toes and devised some creative thinking in fudging his powers & HP, I would have easily had a Total Party Kill on my hands.

The most disappointing thing is this looks to be the only FR module WOTC will be publishing anytime soon...then again, maybe that's a good thing? *sigh*

This module is horribly organized. Example: the players need to find several pieces of a puzzle/key in order to open a door in the tower. The pieces are supposed to have been found in previous rooms, unfortunately they failed to mention these pieces in the room descriptions. Reading through the module, I found so many inconsistencies and missing information it was ridiculous. The maps look nice, but they randomly re-orient the direction of the maps and don't bother putting a map compass to let you know which way is North. Come on, man!!!

For those DMs who complain about this adventure, they are not trying hard enough. Sure it is not perfect but it provides plenty of flexibility for a DM to make it their own and can be a great lead to a new campaign. If an encounter is too easy or to hard, adjust it. If there is not enough FR flavor text, add it. Its not an expensive adventure either; use it for what it IS worth.

Well, this adventure brings all D&D new adjusts for 4th edition into play, and it's in this new format, to help beginners in the game, so if you want to play but never heard about the Realms or D&D, this is a very good choice. Focus on the background, because the adventure is for players not to feel they are only "killing monsters", but also completing a story, a storyline of sort, plus all the monster!

And if you already know the Realms, it's a good buy. If there is something to be preserved in all changes to FR adventures is the feeling of the Realms... I was playing when the Avatars came, and now that Primordials and Dragonborn abound, what can we look for?

The new themes and chances have a very good read here, so even the purists should take a look... and give the new edition a chance.