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| War of the Burning Sky #1: The Scouring of Gate Pass |
$5.99 |
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Publisher: EN Publishing
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War of the Burning Sky: The Scouring of Gate Pass is a 65 page d20 fantasy adventure and the first adventure in EN Publishing's War of the Burning Sky adventure path. The War of the Burning Sky adventure path and campaign saga consists of twelve linked adventures that take characters from 1st to 20th level and embroil them in a war of epic proportions. The campaign saga includes both a Player's Guide and Gamemaster's Guide available for separate download, although it is strongly recommended that players do not read the Gamemaster's Guide as it contains a complete adventure overview and significant spoilers. This adventure, The Scouring of Gate Pass, is for 1st level characters, and finds the characters in Gate Pass just as the Ragesian Empire war machine and their mage-hunting inquisitors arrive on the outskirts of the city.
This product comes as a zip file contain a number of files for the adventure: a full color screen pdf version, a black and white print pdf version, a rich text file containing all adventure and combat statistics, and a separate map pdf file containing the adventure maps, although these are included in the actual adventure itself as well. The product comes with extensive bookmarks, allowing you to navigate to an encounter, map or section of the adventure.
Layout if fairly simple, with no real bordering to speak off, but the writing is good and evocative in places. Editing has generally been very well done, and the stat blocks themselves (located at the end of the product) for the most part look good as well. One or two errors have naturally crept in throughout the product, but for the most part it's of a high standard despite the relatively simple presentation. Artwork is numerous with some good pieces, although many are repeated throughout the product. Maps are very good and clear with good legends and attention to detail, and EN Publishing also offer 1-inch scale battlemaps for download from their War of the Burning Sky website for those using miniature products. In general, a good-looking product without any major hiccups in presentation.
The adventure finds the player characters in Gate Pass, just hours before the invasion of the Ragesian Empires start. Here the PCs meet up with a 'freedom fighter' of sorts that belongs to a group that aims to prevent the escalating war. The PCs become involved in retrieving and finding some vital information from spies, which, with the help of the freedom fighter Torrent, they must deliver to a nearby mage academy. During the course of the adventure, they must contend with the war raging around in the city, bounty hunters, negotiate their way around, fight deadly foes, and generally use every bit of cunning to make it out of Gate Pass alive during the hours of warfare in the city.
The adventure is one of the more creative and inventive I seen in creating a war-like atmosphere around the PCs, but also in sculpting the encounters of the adventure within this time of turmoil. The encounters will not only excite the players, but provide challenges that they will find fun to solve and work through. The encounters are by no means all combat related, and the PCs will find themselves negotiating with friend and foe alike in this adventure. There is certainly something for characters of every class, and most skills will also find some utility in this adventure. The only negative thing related to the encounters is that they are very difficult, particularly for a party of 1st level characters. Some DMs might be inclined to start the adventure off at 2nd level rather than first. The other problem with the difficulty of the encounters is that there is naturally an over-reliance on the higher level NPC, Torrent, as she guides them through the city. While the module writers have made every effort to reduce this, it is unavoidable, and PCs can feel like they're being strung along by the nose.
The adventure organisation and flow is good, but DMs are advised to make sure they have thoroughly read all encounter areas when playing them. The encounters are good in part because they're quite complex to run, and it can therefore be easy to make mistakes when running the adventure. The action throughout the adventure is fast paced as the PCs race against time to escape the city and head out on the path towards the wizard's school with the information they require. I think this adventure is clever in the way that it creates atmosphere and keeps things moving, although it would've been nicer if Torrent had not played such a large role in this adventure. Lazy PCs can easily just turn to Torrent for information rather than thinking their way through. On a related note, players characters should be reasonably well versed with Gate Pass and the Player's Guide, as this will make the adventure more fun as they consider the options open to them within Gate Pass.
Overall, this is a very enjoyable adventure and a cracking start to the War of the Burning Sky campaign saga. The adventure caters for all characters, contains lots of action, lots of intrigue and mystery, and blends these all very well to create an exciting and challenging whole. Barring the unfortunately over-reliance on Torrent, this adventure is of a very high quality, and most players and DMs can't go wrong by playing it. EN Publishing have done a grand job with this, and I hope the other adventures released and to be released are of the same or better standard. Having the constant tension of trying to arrange subtle spy/informant exchanges and diplomatic intricacies within the backdrop of flying dragons and war breaking out creates a very memorable adventure.
LIKED: Quality and detailed encounters, exciting back-story and background to the campaign, creates good atmosphere during the course of the adventure, varied and caters for most characters and classes, and contains good balance between roleplaying, mystery, and combat. Very good adventure.
DISLIKED: The over-reliance on Torrent can become an issue if DMs don't play the NPCs involvement carefully. This adventure's encounters are also brutally difficult for 1st level PCs.
QUALITY: Very Good
VALUE: Very Satisfied
Rating:  [4 of 5 Stars!] |
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