Hey Game Fans, It’s friday so it’s time for us to dig into our Mystery Box and revisit one of our favorite publishers. Mad Martian Games has created one of our favorite campaign Settings in the Ice Kingdoms. A complex setting in a frozen land, Ice Kingdoms is Sword and Sorcery style adventures at their best. If you’d like to take a look at our review of that setting, you can find it here. Today we’re going to take a look at 3 of the adventures for that setting. This is as Old School as it gets.
First, we have The Girl with the Demon Tattoos, an adventure for 1st and 2nd level characters. Then we’ve got The Lair of the White Wyvern, an adventure for 3rd through 5th level characters. Finally, we finish up with Into the Mournwood, an adventure for 3rd through 7th level characters. These three adventures give you a solid feel for the Ice Kingdoms and you can use them as the basis of a campaign with a bit of planning. Let’s dive into the adventures and see what sort of trouble we can get into
The Girl with the Demon Tattoos
The Details
This adventure is designed for 1st and 2nd level characters, using whatever rules set you’d like to use. The stats presented in the book use 2nd edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, so if you’re familiar with that rules set, you should be good. If you are converting to your own preferred system, it may take a little bit of work. This adventure works very well as an introduction to the Ice Kingdoms setting (given it’s central location and ties to other major settlements in the region). It also serves as an excellent starting place for a full campaign, because there are larger events going on around this adventure that a DM can turn into further adventures of their own.
The Hook
During a feast in the Longhouse of a local lord, a murder is committed with the foulest of dark magics. The characters (by hook or by crook) are drawn into the investigation and have to figure out who the perpetrator is, and how this was done. There are more questions they can pursue and try to unravel the murder mystery before anyone else gets seriously injured. Following the clues leads the characters into the recent history of this area and delves into a lot of unusual dealings and interactions with strange forces and mysterious operators.
The Rub
Most mystery adventures require the characters to dig through clues, figure out who’s guilty and lay some blame. This adventure forces the characters to assemble the clues and try and figure out who is actually responsible while trying to stay the Girl with the Demon Tattoos from wrecking anything she wants. Not all the Innocent are so innocent, and the characters are going to have parse some very similar shades of grey to lay the blame at the appropriate parties.
The Rating
This is a solid 4 star adventure for me. The adventure is well written and the mystery plot tracks throughout. Characters that fall off the plot can find their way back without too much effort. Other major plusses for this adventure include the bestiary in the back of the adventure that covers the stats for all of the monsters encountered. The maps for this adventure are written with a 2nd edition aesthetic in mind and folks who are familiar with the 5 ft. square map grid and 6 second rounds are going to have to make some adjustments. If you are converting this adventure to any of the other suggested systems from the Ice Kingdoms core book, you’re going to spend some time reworking the combat encounters to fit the system. If you’re running it as a pure 2nd edition adventure, it’s ready to go right out of the box.
Where to find?
Conclusions
We said earlier that this an excellent starting place for a new campaign in the Ice Kingdoms and we mean that. This is built for introductory level characters and features a mystery which is a nice change of pace. Further, the adventure sends the characters around the area exposing them to the local environs and shows off the political situation. You can take this adventure dozens of different directions and still keep Tenebrous as a home base.
That’s our review of The Girl with the Demon Tattoos, and we hope you guys take a look at it.
The Lair of the White Wyvern
The Details
This adventure is designed for 3rd thru 5th level characters, using whatever rules set you’d like to use. Like the adventure above, the stats presented in the book use 2nd edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, so you may have to convert to your favorite system. This adventure features a lot of traditional RPG values and some other interesting encounters that aren’t especially common in later designs.
The Hook
After rescuing some farmers from an owlbear, the characters have a couple of choices for what to do next. Their road eventually leads to the small town of Ainhild, where a mysterious illness is rampaging through the town. The characters have several choices for encounters to have in the town, but the situation deteriorates and the characters have to try and figure out what’s making people sick and put a stop to it before more people die.
The Rub
This is a classic overland adventure with the characters having to use a variety of skills and abilities to find their way through the local terrain to a variety of key locations. There is an orc encampment, a ruined keep, an abandoned silver mine, and a variety of other locations that the characters will have to explore in order to figure out what’s causing the problems. Characters also have to deal with the effects of illness or poisons as well as the environment. These are things you don’t typically see in new school rpgs, and it’s fun to revisit the idea of the environment being able to kill you just as surely as the monsters. I personally like the “It’s Personal” random encounter result.
The Rating
This is a solid 4.25 star adventure for me. The adventure hits a lot of familiar spots from older overland wilderness adventures. It feels about as Old School as things get, and the adventure features some very real consequences for player choices. The Maps for this adventure are sort of a problem for me. A couple of them have absolutely no scale at all, and the caverns in a few different maps are hard to figure out what’s going on inside. The typical concern about system conversion remains.
Where to find?
Conclusions
This adventure features a lot of fun elements for a fantasy rpg. There are cunning humanoids up to mischief, people in need of rescue, and a ruined keep (and silver mine) to potentially explore along the way. It’s a fun adventure with Old School ideas and executions. We’re fans of it, and there are monsters that are used in clever ways. Check this one out.
That’s our review of The Lair of the White Wyvern, and we hope you guys take a look at it.
Into the Mournwood
The Details
This adventure is designed for 3rd thru 7th level characters, using whatever rules set you’d like to use. Like the adventure above, the stats presented in the book use 2nd edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, so you may have to convert to your favorite system. This adventure features a lot of traditional RPG values and some other interesting encounters that aren’t especially common in later designs. Unlike The Lair of the White Wyvern, this one actually has a hex map included, letting you experience the wonder and terror of a hex crawl experience.
The Hook
The Mournwood is a haunted place of evil repute and dark woods. The characters have to press into this place of evil to rescue stolen children before something terrible happens to them. (This is a very easy, straightforward hook that grabs the players and pulls them into the story)
The Rub
This is a hex crawl adventure with the characters pushing into a cursed forest full of hags, monsters, and random weather and assorted perverted nature. There are a host of encounters (4-22) that can be set to any blank hex the GM wants to use, but the adventure itself consists of number 23 and rolls forward as the characters explore the hexes. Remember, each Hex is about 5 miles across, so traveling through the forest is going to take time and resources to get through. Oh, and the forest is haunted, cursed and hates intruders. The Characters have to pick up the trail of the missing children and try to rescue them from the grizzly fate that awaits them.
The Rating
This is a solid 4 star adventure for me. I am a sucker for Hex Crawls, but this one is missing a couple of necessary explanations to get the process started. I am a huge fan of the area and what it represents for the Ice Kingdoms. If you were planning on bringing characters from regions outside the Ice Kingdoms in, or sending folks from the Ice Kingdoms out, you have this forest (which represents a natural boundary) as a crossing. The adventure itself features some excellent encounter design and solid mapping. The level suggestion may be a little low, and i would be hesitant to run a 3rd level party through the adventure’s encounters without running them through some of the optional ones to pick up gear. Still a solid Hex Crawl with potential to expand into a spookier cursed forest next door.
Where to find?
Conclusions
Hex Crawls are a staple of Old School gaming and finding a good one is hard. This one features varied terrain, weather effects, and lighting changes that dramatically affect how the encounters in it proceed. The adventure is a solid one, with a great hook and a ticking clock to move the characters along.
That’s our review of Into the Mournwood, and completes our review of these three adventures from Mad Martian. Be sure to check them out on Drivethru RPG at the links above. Game on Game Fans.
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