Total Party Kill Games has another winner on its hands with Grave Undertakings: Ship of Fools. It is set upon the high seas and promises high adventure.
The overall product lay out is good, keeping in theme with their other adventures. I like very much how they link monsters and items to the SRD site; it makes for easy reviewing with just a click of the mouse. The included printable battle maps for the ship are also great, makes less work for the DM not having to draw or re-draw each section as the PCs will inevitably travel back and forth to various decks and rooms.
The adventure is easy to run as a stand-alone or as part of a current campaign; they introduce several plot hooks that would get any adventuring party involved. The pace of the adventure is epic, a wrong turn or lack of tactics and it can get ugly for the PC’s very quickly. Grave Undertakings is a great title to give as it can be very lethal. The traps are well placed and well done; the haunt they put in is very well done and adds to the mystery surrounding the ship and should help keep the PCs on their toes.
Overall I enjoyed the module very much. The writing is good and keeps the Dm interested in seeing how this plays out. The read aloud text is great and should give the players a sense of dread as intended by the author. When reading it I was easily able to picture the rooms and items that set the scene. The loot awards perfectly match the tone of the module, working well with the creatures encountered.
Ship of Fools is also written in a way that lets the DM have some free reign when dealing running the encounters, also suggesting tactics and combat suggestions for the various nasties aboard. So impressed am I with this module I plan to run it in my homebrew Pathfinder campaign. Well worth the very modest price.
