My Review for Blood on the Waterfront
Robert "Hendersonman" Wood
Blood on the Waterfront is the first in the series called the “Sidetrek Adventure Weekly”. Written by Louis Argesta and Greg Oppedisano. The idea for this module is to be a additional side trek for your PCs. Or you can link this adventure with the other 11 pieces to for a fully fleshed out story.
Myself I see that this would work great as a fully fleshed out adventure. The story is interesting, an evil Lord marries to get access to the family library. And after his step daughter discovers this, she will seek revenge anyway she can. Even if she has to seduce another by offering him, The Key of Troodon. The key to a vast treasure, vaster than even his debts.
If used in a grand adventure, the PCs can be tricked into helping a poor Lord who's daughter has been kidnapped, and to also retrieve a family heirloom of only sentimental value. Of course, the Key of Troodon is not just a mere heirloom and is protected by a clan of Ninja Monks.
Which in the climax of the module leads you to answer the question, who do you choose? Pirates vs. Ninja. The age old question reveals itself. And the story is definitely one I want to see play out, including what the key really does.
The module is slick in design. It comes in a nice package, including enemy tokens, player and gm maps, and well configured stat for all the characters involved. And an Adventure key at the beginning tells you at a glance how tough this module would be for your group. However after reading I did not seem to agree with the Threats and Traps rating being Extreme. There seem to only be one place that the PC would be in extreme peril.
Also the climax is written out like a story, helping a GM not to get bogged down with details. I myself like this and tend to go this route, because I like story over rules. But all the stats are there if you want to run the battle.
I really enjoyed this module and hope to see where the story
