A very poor update, on the whole. While this version was my introduction to Power Behind the Throne, there were so many errors, omissions, and unclear events that I had to obtain a copy of the 1st edition version of the adventure just to clear them up.
For example, many of the page references are incorrect. My personal favorite is a reference on page 36 that directs you to page 36 (the actual information is on page 98). There are also a number of places where dialogue is confusing or partially elided. Compare the first edition “travel for weeks to bring the young ’uns to the Carnival, and what happens?…” to the fourth edition “0 ‘uns to the Carnival [etc].” Yep, something is in the current edition of the pdf where half a sentence has been replaced by 0. It is nonsensical as written. Note that this was copied directly from the first edition and was somehow still messed up. One would think that some sort of minimal copy editing would catch something like this.
The most egregious, though, is the omission of important biographical details about an important npc. I’ll try to refrain from spoilers, but read the rest of the paragraph at your caution if you’re planning on playing. There is a part of the adventure where an important npc is able to do something big to some infrastructure based on his membership in a certain organization. This comes rather out of left field. The only other reference to his having been in this career is buried in the relations section of one of the wizards. As a GM, I was somewhat confused by this the first time I read it, or indeed what other npc should make of this knowledge. The first edition book, on the contrary, gives quite a bit of detail on his background, motivations, and career, which makes a number of things make a lot more sense. That is all somewhat vague, but should be understandable if you’ve read the adventure through. Generally, quite a few things about the central villain in terms of personality, background, and motivation have been omitted for reasons I cannot understand.
Another important thing missing is the “standard NPCS” section from the first. This gives stat blocks for watchmen, burghers, knights panther, courtiers, etc. It seems like sheer laziness to remove this rather than update it.
Three stars because it is still a very good adventure and there are some good suggestions on mixing things up for players who are already familiar with the material. There is also some nice art, although some of the character art tends toward the cartoonish by comparison. In my view, though, having compared this book and the original, you’d be better served by getting the first edition pdf and updating the stat blocks. The main reasons to buy a “director’s cut” would be more polish, better editing, and clearer writing. Ultimately, though, the writing is less polished, the editing is abysmal, and a number of things are left less clear.
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