Customer Reviews

Scourge of the Howling Horde (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying Adventure)

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

 

 

First, just to be clear: if you have ever run D&D campaigns in the past, do not get this adventure. Contrary to the marketing, it is purely for first time DMs.

And while I'm contradicting the marketing... this adventure has nothing to do with The Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde. Do not buy Scourge of the Howling Horde if you're looking for an introduction to The Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde. I fell for this, and was extremely annoyed.

For experienced gamers, this adventure has little to offer. Aside from the simplistic concepts that even a novice DM could have created, there are significant gaps in logic that really ruin this for me. The final encounter is a great example, as was previously commented on. Another example is the hobgoblins wielding long swords and wearing studded leather armor, while in a chest (that only they have the key to) are a magical long sword and magical studded leather armor.

They may be hobgoblins, but they are not that stupid.

There are additional issues, I am avoiding any spoilers in case players might take advantage of them.

The new format makes it very easy for a DM to run this module with little to no preparation. While an experienced DM will not get much except a short easy to run module for starting characters, a new DM will find it invaluable as an example of a dungeon adventure.

There were a few minor mistakes like the melee damage for the skeleton with a longsword but overall the module was solid though short. A new DM would find the tactics section for each encounter very helpful.

My biggest complaint was the backgrounds on the pages. This only made it harder to read it made the greyed section nearly impossible. I beleive the Dragon and Dungeon magazines tried this and received so many compaints that they ceased this practice. If they want to get artsy then they should include pictures and/or interesting borders.

This is definately the funnest 1st level advenvture I've ever run as a DM. I'm new to the DM game, and I absoultely can not express how great it was to literally buy the adventure, pick everyone up, and start playing (all within a few hours). The format and monster tables are great, I really look forward to buying more of these adventures that cater to DMs that want to let their player have a great time, without 3 months of preparation for the campaign. 5 stars!

There is nothing here that an experienced DM couldn't rustle together in about 15 minutes. The adventure is extremely simple and short. The new encounter format they have designed does make it easier for those unfamiliar with the game, but for those with an ounce of experience will find the excessive details, at best annoying. The new format keeps repeating information from page to page so that a lot of the (already) thin publication is taken up with repetition. Oh, and I found at least two typos - come on Wizards, you can do better than this.

Scourge of the Howling Hordes marked my second attempt after a long period of time in running the game rather than just being a player for many years. And this is a good module for the beginning DM... whether they have many years of experience or are truely beginning. However, it does suffer from a couple of problems.

1. Getting the party to the caves where the Horde is. As written, the townspeople aren't sure just where the attacks are coming from. Second, unless someone picks up on the trail from the initial ambush that is some distance out of town, it may be hard to get the party to go back to that point and investigate to get a lead on to the location. Possibly there should be a ranger or other woodsman connection in town that can give some guesses as to the location. Or a recent attack in the village that can serve as an in town jumping off point for finding the trail.

2. The layout and tactics of the goblins are fairly well designed and laid out. The entrance to the complex might need further description as I had to come up with something that also made for some interesting plans as the party had to attempt to approach unseen as long as possible across a semi-open stretch of lightly forested land next to a cliff.

3. The final encounter was a severe let-down. Its a wonder that the goblins ever accepted Noax as someone to be feared... even for them. There were several more difficult encounters through out the complex (either as written or through the use of tactics that caused the fight to become more difficult). The party had as much trouble with Noax as kicking a puppy. They almost felt sorry for how much of a push-over Noax was... This was in part because the module stresses warning the party what they are about to encounter in several ways and having them fully prepared to face Noax. Also, Noax chose his lair very poorly... which only made the party all the stronger against him. I feel that a modification in the lair and less warning would have made the encounter with Noax more of the climax it was supposed to be. Also, some way that Noax might have been able to better able to join in or in some way be a presence in other sections of the module would have been nice... some way to build him up to be something more important or dangerous. When running it, I did have Noax make a retalitory strike on the village after the party withdrew to heal and prepare for the next assault on the complex. However, even then, the best he was able to do was drop alchemist's fire on a house as his own abilities were too weak to really cause any real effect... though the party trying to figure out what happened in the absence of any tracks was somewhat interesting.

So, while a good module and having a lot of nice points, it also misses some others. But then that is where the DM has to step in and make changes or come up with something.

I have not been playing D&D for many years as I am rathe rnew at it but I was considered good enough to start DMing by my group. That being said this book was excellent in that it lays everything out very effectively and the adventure started within a few hours. My regular DM with years of experience was impressed with how good I ran the game and I could not have done that without this book making things much more simple for me. If you are brand new to being a DM or to D&D in general this is a great book. If you are a veteran of the game this book probobly will not be that beneficial to your campaign.

As someone starting out as a DM, it was suggested to me by a friend of mine (a very experienced D&D gamer) that Scourge of the Howling Horde would be the perfect opportunity for me to start out as a DM and get my feet wet. He wasn't wrong. Scourge, a 1st-level adventure, is as easy to read and understand for the novice DM as it is to play. And it's fun.

The basic plot is that there is a horde of goblinoids under the leadership of a very young, scheming dragon wreaking havoc on a nearby village. The PCs come and are supposed to defeat the goblins. A very straightforward, uncomplicated sort of story, really. It's a good product for beginning DMs first of all because it's easy to get through - there aren't a lot of complicated rules to deal with; also, all of the monster stats and tactics are right there on the page where the encounters are happening (there are even little places for you to count off the monster's hit points), all of the rooms and the dungeon overall are well-mapped, and there is even a fully set-up town, and the possibility of a returning villain (already fully statted) if you are expecting to come back and use this adventure setting as a jumping-off point for a campaign.

It's also good for new players because it has a little of everything - there's opportunities for role-playing encounters, there's action early-on, there's a good, light dungeon crawl, an undead encounter, hidden magical items, and a good, tough boss fight. There's also some room for your own customization, so you can change things a bit if you'd like to give the PCs a little more of an adventure.

There are a couple of details that aren't fantastic about this adventure: if you're not fast on your feet, or you're playing with people who might be slow to catch on, there is a place early-on in the adventure, right before the dungeon crawl, that could bring your game to a screeching halt unless the DM is fast on their feet (fortunately, I was able to come up with something, but others may not be so lucky). This is a glaring error in the writing of this adventure and should have been caught. Also, the interior of this adventure is completely in black and white, and the visuals aren't exactly inspiring. This is obviously a budget adventure for newbies to the game, and it shows.

Certainly, this adventure is currently out of print, but for those who refuse to play 4th Edition and want to stick to good ol' 3.5, this is a great place to start.

For beginners only. SPOILERS!!! Sadly stupid monsters that cannot coordinate. Why would anyone have a lair with no back door. Inconsistencies in that the goblin/wizard could not have had the skills/feats to make the acid resistance. I do not think an evil goblin wizard would be in love with in this way. My characters all went into attack against the dragon with potions of resistance. The poor dragon could not hurt any of them. The also came out of this very rich! I have had to slow down the treasure since then to let them balance out. It was nice to have a starter adventure. There are not many out there. Infact, as limited as this one was, it was the best one I know about.

This like Howweling Horde. Is great for begginers,but it also can be used for those players who have been looking for a launching site for a campaigning group with moderate experince.