Tuesday, November 4, 2008

DCC56 Scions of Punjar (Goodman Games)


Scions is a 4th-6th level urban adventure crawl where players are hired by a minor noble family to find out how a pendant, which is supposed to be entombed in the family tombs, has made its way to a local pawn shop. Soon the heroes find themselves embroiled in a tale of revenge, because the slighted and thought-to-be-dead deranged daughter of the family has returned, now an insane necromancer. She has amazed a secret army of undead in the depths of the city of Punjar, and wants her family dead.
As usual, Goodman Games gives an adventure full of deadly traps and nasty combats. However, and this is a big plus, many of the encounters have a non-violent solution, so it’s not all hack and slash. There are a few twists, and room to expand the adventure significantly, if that is what you want. They are also kind enough to provide a flowchart of the major encounter areas, since not all encounters need to be taken in a definite order.
Sadly, there is some editing that really annoys the hell of out me. Wrong xp for some monsters and some 3.x-isms in the fluff, like the rogues having a few wizard or warlock levels to enhance their abilities. Maybe it’s just copy-pasting that hasn’t been caught by the editor, but none the less. I expect more from GG. There are also some parts of the adventure that can’t be copy-pasted, what’s with that. But worst of all is their use of the skill challenge… 6 diplomacy checks and nothing else in a skill challenge? 8 intimidate checks and nothing else in a skill challenge? My advice would be to subscribe to DDI and thus be able to read the advice Mearls gives on skill challenges, or read the DMG. Because that’s just poor use of a great system. Anyway, if you are willing to look past the crunch, add another star.
Rating:* * *

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