|
First - thank you for a new Runequest Adventure (3 even!). That alone is so beneficial as a resource.
This review is for the Smoking Ruin adventure. The other two, not yet played, seem better organized.
The Smoking Ruin is not an adventure you can run without heavy modifications. The relationship of the NPCs is complicated and is only explained in several different locations (thankfully I bought the PDF on DriveThruRPG so I can search easily for reference; in paper I can't imagine the difficulty) and requires some reference to the GM screen content to fully utilize. I had to make a cross-reference chart in excel.
The map by Olivier Sanfilippo of the ruins is fantastic - but also utterly useless in how it was chosen to be presented. Without a player version (without key, spirits, exact location of what the players are looking for, locations of dangers and other hidden things) and since its publicly posted in high resolution on Chaosium's own website - it is nearly useless, even as a reference. Please (please please) make a player version available so at least GMs can follow the written recommendation to alter the locations.
The other map (burnt fragment) is actually more confusing than helpful to the players. The mere notion they will find it "Deep within a box at the far back of Hastur’s storage room, the adventurers should find an old map fragment" is ludicrous. Luckily the author gives at least 3 other places to get the map from. Further the map is on page 58, but the description of it is on page 73 - why? Not that it matters, since the text used to describe it doesn't match the art provided. There are no 'reddish' splotches or an Air rune or contour lines.
There are several great elements and portions, but do not expect to be able to pick this up, read it, and go have a session. Between each you'll need to review, alter, make notes, and figure out how to explain inconsistencies; such as why Uz Eat Dragonnewts battlefield and their eternally smoking bodies are 50 miles SE from the Smoking Ruin.
|
Log In 
