Dawn of the Overmind (Advanced Doungeons & Dragons Adventure: Monstrous Arcana, No 9572)

Rating:
Summary: Toadkiller Dawg says "Strikingly original and entertaining!"
Review: Dawn of the Overmind is the final installment of a trilogy that deals with the illithids' attempt to put out the sun and conquer the PC's home world. It relies heavily on the material published in the Illithiad and also has some Spelljammer elements though access to that supplement isn't as necessary. Access to the psionics handbook will probably be useful, if not required.

The finale has the PCs journeying by spaceship to an ancient illithid world where they must find the artifact necessary to foil the plans of the mind flayers. Once there, the PCs find a truly bizarre and alien planet with strange topography and even stranger inhabitants. There are several subplots and side trips that the PCs can investigate, but the highlight of this product and the entire series is the vast subterranean city ruin that must be braved in order to complete the PCs quest. The inhabitants and their environment are not only deadly, but evoke the eerie otherworldliness of the decayed and forgotten capital of an ancient civilization. An enterprising DM could base an entire Underdark-like campaign around this setting.

Prior installments of this trilogy relied heavily on NPC guidance of the PCs, this is less true in DOM at least until the final chapters. The exploration of the planet resembles traditional sword and sorcery gaming, but the rest of the scenario is strongly sci-fi in nature. The climax even takes place on an illithid space station that is all but certain to draw comparison to the Death Star of Star Wars fame, complete with githyanki rebel ships attacking and brain-eating storm troopers.

The plot has plenty of flexibility despite its apocalyptic nature. The PCs don't even have to succeed in their artifact quest to achieve their ultimate goal and there are plenty of alternate endings suggested for whatever degree of success the PCs do manage. If the trilogy itself doesn't appeal to you, the subterranean ruins of planet Penumbra could be used in many other ways and are easily transplanted to just about any campaign. In fact, the entire module is flexible enough that it could be reworked with minimal effort to fit as wide variety of campaign circumstances. Recommended.