Customer Reviews

The Standing Stone: An Adventure for 7th-Level Characters (Dungeons & Dragons Adventure)

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

 

 

"The Standing Stone" is interesting because it can be played differently depending on how well your players can role-play and how you want them to play. If you and your players like straightforward hack-n-slash adventures, that's easy enough to create. Just have the PCs save the village and reap the rewards of a job well done. However, if your PCs like to solve mysteries, this module can be so much more fulfilling to play and figure out. Trying to find out who the real villain is can lead to some great role-playing on the part of the DM and the players.

As with the previous adventure in the series (the horrible aforementioned "Speaker for Dreams"), "The Standing Stone" uses scenes rather than keyed locations to determine the action in the adventure. However, this adventure seems to use them much more successfully as something more than a flow in which dungeons to go to next. Here there is a real reason to have the scenes -- they move the adventure logically from event to event.

As with the first two adventures in the series, this one does a great job of highlighting third edition rules. It gives DMs a sidebar to help them determine what to do when their PCs have a lot of divination spells that might unravel the mystery for them. It gives DMs examples of how NPCs would use their skills to foil the PCs attempts to solve the mystery. It does a nice job with monster templates and introduces some interesting villains. A neat little quirk is that they've tried to tie in this adventure with the first two in the series through small features. (At one point, an NPC has a blade with the mark of the dwarven smith that the second adventure in the series focused on.)

I'd certainly recommend that any DMs disappointed after buying "Speaker for Dreams" consider buying this adventure even if they hadn't planned to. In fact, I'd recommend this adventure to either DMs who like role-playing or hack-n-slashing, which is really nice.

Overall I found this adventure interesting. The plot is good, couple this with some twists and turns and it can really keep players going in circles and second guessing themselves.

One of the other reviewers has some good points regarding one of the plot points and the elves. Although the elves actions are understandable within the story given, running them along those lines could cause the PC's to never quite figure out what is really going on.

I question the level rating of this adventure. It is rated for a group of 4 7th level characters. There are 2 encounters that are extremely difficult if run as the adventure describes (one EL 12, another EL 13). My group of 6 10th level PC's had a hard time with the final battle. There was over 100 HP damage done to the mage and the party was almost out of spells. Nearly all the PC's had significant damage. If it wasn't for a counter spell, and a very lucky attack roll much of the party would have died. I'm not so sure a 7th level party would have survived this encounter.

Like I said above, overall I found this adventure fun to run, and most importantly the players had a good time. If you are looking to add some role playing to your game, this adventure provides ample opportunities.

A month after beginning the module, my group is still talking about it. My friends have stated that the mystery and role playing aspects in this module led to intense discussions regarding moral choices and decisions.

Unlike a dungeon crawl, this module is a bit more openended after the party eventually arrives to the village, and as the DM, it provided me with some opportunities to spur thought about exactly what the group was really accomplishing. Since my group never follows the delineated path anyhow, and muck around with things unforeseen by module creators, this was the type of storyline that allowed them to excel at their craft.

<written by one who experienced this as a player. We "won", in the end, and no PCs died. This is not a vindictive crybaby review.>

A phantom horseman. Xenophobic wild elves. An ancient tomb. A Druid monument. A horrific secret. A demonic conspiracy.

Great elements of adventure, spectacularly wasted in this poorly-written module.

This adventure could have been great. It had many cool elements, a couple surprises, a great mystery, and even a few loose connections to the The Sunless Citadel (evidence of the great dragon) and The Forge of Fury (a Durgedin blade). But the author built in terrible contrivances. Here is just one example:

The Elves hate the Villagers that the PCs are sent to protect. If a PC tries to talk to the Elves, the Elves attack. Even if the PC is a bard. With an 18 Charisma. With 10 ranks of Diplomacy. And is an Elf. The writer simply dictates "If the PCs attempt to contact the elves, the elves respond with arrows."

Ok, so an experienced DM would throw out this ridiculous law and role-play the encounter. But these adventures are supposedly designed for those new to the Dungeons & Dragons game. More guidance, more flexibility, please!

Another example: The Village is set within a circle of Druid stones. In the EXACT center of the town there is a key building with clues to the adventure. Yet, PCs cannot find this building--even if they search--until they visit a certain site outside of town, at which point the building is bluntly pointed out--for no good reason.

This kind of "trigger"-based information parsing reeks of video game design. The PCs are not free to investigate on their own; instead, they must visit certain sites, whereupon arrival they "unlock" new areas and new information.

Lame, lame, lame.

If you are new to running a game, DO NOT BUY THIS ADVENTURE. Your players will be frustrated if you run it "by the book".

If you are an experienced DM, DO NOT BUY THIS ADVENTURE. I've listed the cool elements; simply take them and devise your own adventure.

Lastly, John Rateliff, if you read this: please, make your next adventure more flexible. You had some very cool ideas, but blew it. Your module is too stiff. It plays like a pathetic Final Fantasy knock-off. Try again, but please, learn from this... mistake.

I would imagine that played as a stand alone adventure this module would be lack-lustre, which is what may be driving some of the negative reviews attached to this product.

However, when viewed in a holistic sense with the modules that were released prior to and subsequent to this one, you can see the overall design that WOTC were aiming for. I don't know if there was anything official about how these modules would be building on top of each other, but that is essentially what they do.

In that regard, this module serves it purpose well. It offers an increased challenge to player characters as they advance in levels; it contains a mulitude of plot elements, everything from a black armoured rider stopping everyone from leaving the village, hostile natives of various sorts, mystery, murder, betrayal, diplomacy, chases, fights...when all this is spun into the tale by a creative GM the players will be hankering for more. I especially like the reference to the "the Cathezar" (from the adventure Bastion of Broken Souls).

As I stated in my review of "Speaker in Dreams", I don't ever just drop my characters into an adventure otherwise everything can feel disjointed. Each adventure or module that I include in a campaign is there for a purpose and enriches the overall story.

This is a good adventure when used in conjunction with the others of its ilk, but could be disappointing as a stand alone adventure.

Enjoy.

I ran this adventure as a DM. Its usable, but pretty poorly written. It contains some good storylines, but they aren't developed well. It leaves a lot of work for the DM if you want this module to be worthwhile.

This adventure is a great one.Very good elements of surprise and mystery.My gaming group normally gets sidetracked with jokes and stuff like that.With this one they didn't at all.I love how they split it into scenes.It allows alot of thinking and hack and slash isn't as fun.For any DM who likes having fun adventures, (everyone) buy this.

A usable module, but mediocre at best. Thin plot. Not a whole lot to it.