I did enjoy this scenario. There is a bit of everything for all types of characters. Of goodness sake though, do not play this adventure with 4 players of the Andoran fraction as it does start to get a little over bearing. :)

The plot is coherent and nice, but the scenario reeks with all kinds of holes. If the player catches you and asks certain questions, you might get locked up with no good answer. GMs should be very well prepared to things they haven't prepared.

Combat encounters are nice, although I find them to be quite forced. It does, however, allow the characters to utilize some non-combat abilities, which is nice.

This adventure was a lot of fun. It showed off Absalom quite a bit, and provides plenty for the PCs to do, both RP and in combat.

I really enjoy running this one. There’s a little suspension of belief in the beginning, but most players never question how a grit junkie could pull off such a heist. The gameplay is linear a-la The Hydra’s Fang Incident although no one’s complained yet. GMs need to prep for Misery Row, including an improvised map of the encounter because the players inevitably make trouble there. Also practice a Vudrani accent for that encounter, it makes it even more fun. The faction missions are varied, but two are very challenging and entertaining to see accomplished. The combats are exciting and move fast (the stat blocks in the final act need to be fixed though) and can be VERY frightening for ‘impulsive’ parties. Pretty much any scenario where you get to fight on a ship and curse like a sailor can’t go wrong in my book. I put this scenario in my top three--so far… Nice job Lou.

This module gets high praise for it's plot and combats. The story is easy to follow and linear, but that's not a complaint. There are several situations that have high role-playing potential and depending on how players make use of the character class, there are a variety of ways to play through the game using different approaches besides just combat.

Combat encounters are very fun and put players in situations that are not the run-of-the-mill hack-n-slash fights and require them to think tactically. Charismatic players may perform slightly better during role-playing encounters.

Faction missions are plot related and reward/facilitate role-playing. They support and drive the main story while also fleshing out the game world.

Overall this is a fun mod that would appeal to fans of swashbuckling or pulp adventures. I highly recommend it.

Slave Pits of Absalom starts off with a well-presented "Damsel-in-distress-plot" and gets really cool once on the way. I'm a sucker for the three Is: Investigation, Interrogation and Infiltration. And any DM worth his salt may extend the basic plot and scenes to a bigger adventure.
(It's inspiring and you may find unofficial extra goodies on Lou's Blog at
http://rpgaggression.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html.)

Don't be fooled: The battles are fun as well, there is a lot of room to swashbuckle and fight smart. And the axewielding boss for once deserves his name, although I don't like the decision to make him less lethal in the revision - I'll stick to the original: Hooray for bosses that actually kill off some PCs. However: To each his own, everyone is free to stick to the weaker version.

Why then 4 Stars and not 5? Well, although the Faction Missions are fun and really well-integrated, the overall plot is not too exciting.
I'm excited to see more from Lou - and more infiltration. ;)