GameMastery Module J3: Crucible of Chaos (OGL) (based on
6
reviews)
Paizo Publishing, LLC
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A journey adventure for 8th-level characters.
The Lost City has been found, hidden in a remote mountain valley. As adventurers rush to plunder its fabled treasures, a hungry terror prepares for their arrival. The dream of the Lost City is gone, warped by eldritch forces into a living nightmare that only the bravest can ever hope to escape.
Written by Wolfgang Baur
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-074-2
GameMastery Modules are 32-page, high-quality, full-color, OGL-compatible adventures for use with the world's most popular fantasy RPG. All GameMastery Modules include four pre-made characters so players can jump right into the action, and full-color maps to enhance play.
As my title may indicate, I used Crucible of Chaos to begin my weekly Monday night game (and the game group call themselves the Monday-Knights). This was one of those modules (like another reviewer had said) a few pages into it and you WANT to run it, it's that good. I had a slightly larger adventuring party (mostly 6, sometimes 7) players. I did kill about half of the original party at one point or another.
Spoiler:
(The babaus,& the lightning trap were the culprits).
I would have enjoyed using the "return of the eaten" but my group wouldn't have gone for it. They plan to rebuild the city, and make it their own. (Of course they need to survive the last part of Legacy of Fire first). If they do, it's on to the Ruins of Kho, find any parts that can help rebuild Ulduvai, and get back in one piece. I also LOVED the Derhii, and I WANT a miniature of one SO badly. An Awesome module! Highest recommendation possible.
This really is one of the best adventures I've ever seen. Lots to do, plenty of hooks and NPCs, helpful hints and examples for creating a "weird" atmosphere, and winged apes! 5/5 and a 'must buy' award if you're a pulp/Lovecraft fan.
We intergrated this side adventure into the Rise of the Runelords campaign. The party was investigating leads on ancient ruins and societies in their search post Hook Mountain/pre Stone Giants. Intergated so well that one of the Shori joined as a cohort/side kick. (Martaniss Gloriandor).
Flying Apes! Demonic Baboons! and all the love of the ancient lost city in the jungle. loads of fun. worth your time!
I love this adventure! It's got all of the elements that make for a fantastic, fun time. Flying gorillas with big ass falchions? Hell yes! Ancient tech magic? Ah, yeah! Undead spellcasters? Gimme more!
I got a distinct "At the Mountains of Madness" meets Robert Jordan's The City that Waits and Machin Shin (The Black Wind) from his "Wheel of Time" series on the set of Jurasic Park vibe from this module. I LOVE those elements.
Can't wait to run this for my group. This is one of those adventure that you pick up and start reading and 2-3 pages in you want to run it immediately. Definitely pick this one up!
I really wanted to love this adventure but it was a little disappointing. However I did get some good ideas off of it. I'll share some thoughts below so here's a spoiler warning...
Likes:
-The idea of the Aeromantic Infantibulum, an arcane engine for the floating city is fun and really evocative of some lost race of great power.
-Fiendish monkeys. That explains itself.
--The Derhii were cool, I think I would have liked them earlier in the story though, maybe switching them with the Lizardmen to gain information and plot development.
-The 'Seven Mysteries' sidebar and '10 Creepy Chaos Elements' were inspiring and helped flesh out the city and add some eerie atmosphere.
Dislikes:
-I didn't like the idea of the three cultist spellcasters, they just felt redundant.
-Overall my biggest problem was a disconnect with the danger of Chaos in the adventure. It was this force that destroyed the city and it's citizens but as the villain, it's almost an afterthought. Perhaps because the Shoggoth is more of a plot tool than the BBG that terrorizes the city. The cultists seem much more important than anything Chaos related.
An excellent adventure. I was rather worried having read Spires of Xin-Shalast that there was no way one 32 page module could live up to the high standard set by it. I was happily proved wrong. The module is full of atmosphere the valley the adventure is set in is well detailed, it feels like a realistic isolated environment. I like the way this valley is isolated enough that it could be placed anywhere in a homebrew campaign. I do wish that they had made some mention of where in Golarion the adventure is supposed to be set.
Spoiler:
The city itself is really well designed with a feel of exotic strangeness. The tribe of isolated lizard folk who have not seen “softskins” before I particularly liked. The Shoggoth, a chaotic ooze that is at the centre of the module, is a great way to keep the adventure moving. Every time the PC’s start to drag their feet you can have this creepy nigh un-defeatable blob of evil chase them. It also explains nicely why this city has stayed unexplored.
Final the Dehrii are one of my favourite part of the module. They are a race of tribal winged ape that were allied with the original citizens. Between the way they are described and the evocative art I just really liked them. I’m sure at some point one of my players will want to use one as a character.
All in all this is a great module. The writing is really good, it can be easily dropped in to any campaign and the art. I feel I should make special mention of the art as it is exceptional. I think Ben Wootten who does a lot of the interior art may be my new favourite artist at paizo. His work in this module is great. To conclude a must have module.
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