Although Kickstarter has been the major method of finding funding for D&D-compatible adventures so far, a couple of publishers are now trying Patreon. Patreon offers an ongoing, magazine-like subscription, which is good for a series of adventures. Endless Vistas Publishing have just launched a Patreon campaign around their quarterly adventure magazine, The Spire. The first issue (in addition to an “issue #0”) is available for free, and contains the adventure Beyond the Battlements
by Darrin Drader. The adventure is designed for five 1st level characters.
Beyond the Battlements takes place in the humanoid-infested city of Arendan. The local Duke has become worried that the inhabitants of that city – goblins, orcs, hobgoblins and the like – have become dangerously organised. They have repelled the attempts of the kingdom to reclaim the city, and he fears the raids they might launch on New Arendan, where civilisation still hangs on. To deal with this, he hires a group of adventurers – the players – to capture or kill the gnoll leader he believes is responsible for the change in behaviour of the normally chaotic humanoids.
A few potential backgrounds and adventure hooks are offered to connect the characters more strongly to the quest.
The bulk of the adventure is concerned with the barracks where the gnoll leader, Bloodsnout, can be found. Actually getting there through the humanoid-infested city is not particularly difficult if the party doesn’t draw attention to themselves. There are a few complications caused by not knowing where he is, but interrogating a weak-willed goblin will overcome that issue. So, the adventure is mostly a dungeon-crawl, with the dungeon, in this case, being a 30-area barracks.
About half of the rooms contain monsters – mostly humanoids, but with a few surprises here and there. The rooms have a moderate amount of descriptive text, which should aid immersion in the adventure. There are a few tricks and traps here and there, but not to any great extent.
There are some really good encounters here; there’s the possibility of gaining valuable information from the chief cook, and I really like an encounter built around an old warlord living in the barracks, which can really surprise the players.
The biggest problem the adventure has is its difficulty. A group of first level characters are likely going to find that there are too many monsters to defeat, and – even if most of the monsters are avoided – there are several that involve a CR 2 monster. The adventure presumes that characters will clear out the lower level and reach level 2 before tackling the upper level. Apart from the problems inherent in allowing a level-gain in the middle of an expedition, clearing out the entire barracks without taking a long rest requires things to go right, something that it tricky with the unpredictability of low-level play, and the adventure does not give any guidelines as to what occurs if the party are unable to find Bloodsnout in their first attempt to take the barracks. It’s also possible for the players to bypass most of the encounters and move straight to Bloodsnout, and a combat with a CR 2 gnoll, two CR 1/2 goblins and two CR 1 dire wolves is almost certain to leave a party of first-level adventurers dead. It’s probably going to be a problem for second-level adventurers as well!
This is a structural problem with the adventure. In the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide, Gary Gygax gave a number of suggestions as to what occurs when players leave an adventure site and come back. I find it very unlikely that the rooms of the barracks would remain empty and entrance chamber unprotected for a second expedition, so the first expedition is likely to be it. Advice on how to handle this situation would have been appreciated. As it is, I’d prefer to run this for a group of 2nd or 3rd level adventurers, who would have more of a chance of succeeding.
The artwork in the adventure is mostly very good, as are the maps. The layout of the text has one or two problems, with the spacing between words occasionally becoming non-existent; however, it is generally fine. The editing is so-so, with quite a number of mistakes remaining in the text; despite that, the writing is good and it is very readable.
Ultimately, I want to like Beyond the Battlements more than I actually do. The barracks design would be fine for a regular dungeon, but seems a poor fit for the infiltration mission that this ultimately is. There is certainly too little attention given to the trip to and from the barracks. As a result, I’m tempted to take the barracks out of this adventure and use it as a monster-infested building that needs to be reclaimed. A lot of the encounter design is excellent; I’m just not happy with the adventure’s structure. With any luck, The Spire #2 will provide an adventure I like more.