The Forge of Fury (Dungeons & Dragons Adventure)

Rating:
Summary: You can do alot with this one, but YOU have to do it.
Review: If you just run this thing straight out of the book, it won't be so great, but I would argue that of ANY module. What is nice is that while most folks think the big dragon at the bottom of the ancient dwarven citadel is pretty over-done, this is the only module I know of that gives you a map and layout of what that looks like (other than Dragon Mountain, but that is a VERY different animal). Yes, it is up to the DM to give characters a good reason to go there and yes it is a big hack n' slash, but that should be obvious just flipping through the book. As far as the treasure goes, it is in absolute compliance with Third Ed. rules (check your DMG) as the game has evolved into a pretty high-profit, high-magic event. The bottom line is that this is alot of well designed stuff for a good price, but if you dont like fighting on top of fighting, dont get it. (And DMs... go easy when they fight the bear on level two, 3rd edition bears are very, very mean... and hungry. Well the bear in my version isnt very hungry any more :) sigh...)

Rating:
Summary: solid adventure
Review: My most common complaints about modules are laziness on the part of the authors and a lack of logic. In this module, it is difficult to find fault in those areas. The creatures are sufficiently realistically placed that it makes sense when you go from one's domain to another's. Another usual complaint of mine is an appendix that you must reference for each encounter. I want all of the stuff I need for an encounter in one place with the appendix simply pointing to the encounter number rather than vice versa. In this module, though, the appendix is sufficiently short that it doesn't make much difference.

As for the adventure itself, players generally have to use a little stealth and/or strategy. Not thinking can get you killed. That's a good thing in my book. I liked the impossibly tough encounter that you just had to avoid since avoidance was well within the capabilities of a reasonably intelligent player.

I was slightly disappointed with the glitterhame encounters (the second part of 5). The way a treasure chest was guarded was silly (don't want to give too much away, but trust me--it was silly). That was really the only major complaint on that level, though.
Also, the designers probably got a little bored while making the foundry. That's always what I think when what you find in a bunch of rooms is derived from the same random table. How hard is it for them to write a sentence or two about 8 rooms instead of a random list? It probably would take about the same amount of ink.

If this module is done correctly, there is no reason the players should get the hoard. (You'll know what I'm talking about.) I like that. Perhaps the designers were grinning a bit thinking, "if I were DM, nobody would be touching this stuff!" Supposedly the encounter level is 4 (and the characters will probably be 4th level when they encounter it), but the players didn't get it in my game. Now they are heading back, though. It's hardly fair--they are 8th level.

Rating:
Summary: solid adventure
Review: My most common complaints about modules are laziness on the part of the authors and a lack of logic. In this module, it is difficult to find fault in those areas. The creatures are sufficiently realistically placed that it makes sense when you go from one's domain to another's. Another usual complaint of mine is an appendix that you must reference for each encounter. I want all of the stuff I need for an encounter in one place with the appendix simply pointing to the encounter number rather than vice versa. In this module, though, the appendix is sufficiently short that it doesn't make much difference.

As for the adventure itself, players generally have to use a little stealth and/or strategy. Not thinking can get you killed. That's a good thing in my book. I liked the impossibly tough encounter that you just had to avoid since avoidance was well within the capabilities of a reasonably intelligent player.

I was slightly disappointed with the glitterhame encounters (the second part of 5). The way a treasure chest was guarded was silly (don't want to give too much away, but trust me--it was silly). That was really the only major complaint on that level, though.
Also, the designers probably got a little bored while making the foundry. That's always what I think when what you find in a bunch of rooms is derived from the same random table. How hard is it for them to write a sentence or two about 8 rooms instead of a random list? It probably would take about the same amount of ink.

If this module is done correctly, there is no reason the players should get the hoard. (You'll know what I'm talking about.) I like that. Perhaps the designers were grinning a bit thinking, "if I were DM, nobody would be touching this stuff!" Supposedly the encounter level is 4 (and the characters will probably be 4th level when they encounter it), but the players didn't get it in my game. Now they are heading back, though. It's hardly fair--they are 8th level.

Rating:
Summary: Good for some players, but a bit too long for me
Review: OK, so lots of people like this type of adventure - hundreds of caverns, sessions of dungeon-crawling, and no need to enhance your characters' personalities. But for me, I think this adventure is just too long.
My players spent around 9 hours on just PART of this adventure, and, as a DM, I found it highly tedious. There was simply no atmsophere! Just room after room of endless orcs, trogs and dwarves, with none having any special or memorable qualities. Like I said, some DMs relish the thought of not putting any role-playing into it - but for me, it just lacked creativity, and I was very relieved when we found an appropiate place to end it.
Also, it's not just the length of this adventure that makes it boring - factors like treasure and magical items are considerably weak, with PCs not gaining enough wealth to actually keep them up to standard with their appropiate levels. Or, they are given the appropiate amounts of treasure, but it's all in silver pieces and weighs a ton.
However, it's not all bad; the map is very well layed out, with plenty of winding tunnels and passages, and everything is very clear (no intense flicking through the monster manual for last-minute stats!). I particularly like the tactics that the orcs use, and the NPCs that Baker has created.
Well there you go; it seems that I have been quite disparaging of this adventure, but I don't want you to think it's all bad. I think at least one of my party enjoyed it, and it does give the DM a break for a while witinh regards to writing adventures.
Just buy it and decide for yourself!

Rating:
Summary: Not For Every Party
Review: Overall, I'd have to say it took my group a good amount of time to get through. Most of the combat was not that challenging but the twists and turns in any decent dungeon crawl kept them busy. It took about 6 sessions for them to get through and everyone was happy with the adventure. I did have to modify it a little bit to make it a little bit more entertaining. I wouldnn't suggest going straight from the book, use your imagination.

Rating:
Summary: Fairly decent dungeon crawl
Review: Overall, I'd have to say it took my group a good amount of time to get through. Most of the combat was not that challenging but the twists and turns in any decent dungeon crawl kept them busy. It took about 6 sessions for them to get through and everyone was happy with the adventure. I did have to modify it a little bit to make it a little bit more entertaining. I wouldnn't suggest going straight from the book, use your imagination.

Rating:
Summary: Low quality compared to The Sunless Citadel
Review: The Sunless Citadel, though it had its faults, was a decent adventure. It contained really good writing, enough of a storyline to make your own off of, and had a downright cool dungeon followed by a great boss.

Forge contains none of this. They seemed to get lazy with the writing, having bland and boring room descriptions. The dungon was not special or unique at all. Just your generic dungeon/stronghold that leads into your genereic cave. This is something that has been a D&D staple for years but after Sunless's cool citadel, I expected more.

The monster's populating the dungeon go from orcs to trogladyte to giant lizards to halflings to duergar to allips(weird ghost thing) to flying carpets to a Black dragon. These monsters have little in common and appear quite randomly. There is no really good reason for them to be there, which leads me to my next point. The adventure gives very little reason for the PC's to even be there, and I found it difficult to work it into my campaign.

Now for the smaller problems. In an adventure about a smith's many great magical weapons, i was disappointed with a +1 rapier and a dwarven battleaxe. The dragon at the end is way to hard for any party of 4th level PC's. In fact the whole thing was incredibly hard. Each battle I felt that i could have easily killed the PC's but had to restrain and help them. Duergar can be unstoppable if played right, especially when they have magic support.

This adventure provided hours of boredom. The PC's constantly had to ask "why are we here again?" This was a big let down! I'm really glad they are dropping these 'site based' adventures for something new.

Rating:
Summary: A great module
Review: This is a great module. My party of characters was bigger than the module was designed for, but I found it easy to increase the levels and numbers of monsters to make this a real challenge. It was also quite easy to fit within my campaign (what party won't seek out a lost treasure horde, or seek to eliminate raiders?).

Months after the characters cleared out the dungeon and abandonded it, I made them go back and clear it out of the Duergar that had moved in: the lesson being that you don't leave dwarven fortreses unnoccupied and expect them to stay that way. The layout is so challenging, we got another 2 sessions out of the module again.

With modifications this module can challenge a wide variety of parties (I killed multiple characters) with memorable, complex battles.

Some of the other reviews complained about the amonunt of treasure being given out. I don't understand these complaints, as that is an easy thing to alter if you don't like it.

Still, there is little story--it is mostly combat.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not Great
Review: This is a very mediocre adventure in many ways. In comparison to the Sunless Citadel, Forge of Fury lacked the fine writing that made Sunless Citadel fun to read as well as to play. There were enough nice things about Forge of Fury that I had to give it four stars.

First, I think it continues in the tradition of Sunless Citadel by showcasing the third edition and by helping the DM with its many sidebars and hints. In fact, I believe it does an even better job of helping the DM with new third edition rules. Secondly, it also showcases many of the creatures from third edition and it makes these creatures intelligent and worthy opponents. Third, it gives the players a slight chance to negotiate with one set of opponents and to surrender to a different one. I love when role-playing adventures actually suggest tactics that don't include "kill everything you see" and Forge of Fire does an excellent job with that. Now, onto the problems with the Forge of Fury.

This adventure brings first edition AD&D to mind with its large dungeons populated by creatures that seem to have little interaction. Though annoying, it's reasonably well explained. Also, a pet peeve of mine with Forge of Fury was the fact that there were so many coins. True, many of them are silver, but it made me wonder where they got the treasure since the dungeon is explicitly not located near any towns. Lastly, in many places the adventure states that treasure is hidden in the room, but doesn't give you a general search DC to use.

This adventure is rather hard, a killer in fact near the end of it. I suggest that a DM give the players many chances to break and rest. Some of the traps and creatures can outright kill players if they don't get chances to stop and get back spells. The cleric's ability to convert spells to healing will come in handy. PCs should be around third level when they begin this adventure. All in all, I recommend this because true to how it's described, it "highlights" third edition D&D.

Rating:
Summary: Very enjoyable!
Review: This is another wonderful addition to the 3rd edition role-playing experience! My players and I are still in the adventure and we have 2-4th level and 2-5th level players. While the orcs were almost ridiculously easy (because my players found a rather unorthodox way of entering the keep), I'm already seeing that most of the rest of this dungeon should keep them challenged.

I was as disappointed as another reviewer by the fact that the wonderful weapons are so lackluster (I guess after one hundred years most of the better ones would have been removed). They are doing enough traveling back and forth, however, that I'm giving them a 10% chance that any MW or magical blade they find on random encounters in this general geographic area may have Durgeddin's mark and they seem reasonably content with that.

The only other complaint I had was that the module didn't seem quite as user-friendly as Sunless Citadel. As someone else mentioned, the Search DCs are noticeably absent in several instances and I had to come up with my own Random encounter table for the dungeon. I just didn't feel that certain things were explained well enough and others didn't have enough depth.

As with Sunless Citadel, I used the suggestions for getting the characters into the plot. Actually, I used ALL of them because my players really respond well to such things and it pulls them more into the role-play aspect. I especially needed ways to improve their finances since (unlike many others), the first module didn't quite put them at the base-line level of treasure as recommended in the core rules. They spent quite a bit of money on potions after several deaths required resurrections. Now they have a priest with "Brew Potions" so that expense should decline a bit. Sorry...a bit off subject there...

I think that this adventure and the Sunless Citadel are readily modified by tweek-happy DMs but can also easily be played "as is". Overall, we've really enjoyed both of these adventures. The Speaker in Dreams doesn't look too promising, but then (thanks to our traveling encounters), my characters may be high enough level after this to skip it. Since I pretty much let them choose their next direction (well...okay I cheat a little to get them on a preferable track...but it doesn't always work), we'll see...