Sidetrek Adventure Weekly Presents: The Undead Chronicles (OGL) PDF

"There is something that amps up the epic level of a series of movies when you watch all of its parts at once. I enjoyed Lord of the Rings more watching them as one piece and even got more out of the new Star Wars Trilogy by watching it in one setting. It is why I was excited to get my hands on the entire set of Sidetreks: Undead Chronicles by LPJ Designs.

I have been a fan of the first series of Sidetreks and with this series focused on a zombie epidemic in medieval times, I have enjoyed the Undead Series more. Undead Chronicles assembles the previous six chapters of Sidetreks into one complete compilation. Each sidetrek is a mini adventure, usually written by a different writer than the previous. By focusing solely on a few encounters, each encounter of a chapter is noticeably creative, distinct and strong. They are written to be popped into any adventure, but presented in this book as a whole, the strong story that connects the chapters really stands out.

Merzel Falls is a tiny town that sees a population boom every spring during the gold rush. However this spring, zombies have joined the rush. During each chapter, the PCs are faced against the repercussions of the undead assault, all the way to the confrontation to the catalyst of the epidemic. The one consistent thing about the writing is that each chapter provides the lurking feeling of a good zombie movie. These adventures are for the role player, not the hack and slasher. If your PCs see zombie and think easy xp, they will miss the ambience and atmosphere the writers have developed in the adventures.

Each chapter is intact, unfortunately including some repeated information that was given in previous chapters. After the six chapters, there is a Players guide to Merzel’s Fall and a Dungeon Master’s guide to add more depth to the adventure. Throughout the book, readers will enjoy the spectacular artwork, particularly the sharp detail to coloring that can be found in all LPJ Designs publications.

For the Player
The book provides all you need to turn your character into the next Ving Rhames of Merzel’s Fall. There are a few feats and a prestige class that provides bonuses and extra damage to undead. Spells included are neat additives to defeating undead. I enjoy the irony of necromancy spells that deal damage to undead. Those who are fans of zombie movies will want to take a zombie killed my brother feat.

For the Dungeon Master
If you want to run a creepy undead adventure subplot, Undead Chronicles has a lot of cool encounters from you. My favorite, an eerie chase through a mine shaft approaching the climax of the adventure. The Dungeon Masters players guide provides an extended history of the adventure where DMs can find segways into the adventure and adventure hooks for post adventure. DMs will also find detailed and statted NPCs of the town, a guide to incorporating all your players and a nice writeup of a new god to torture your PCs. There are also some very nice magic items, new zombies and some battlemaps.

The Iron Word
Modules, systems and dungeon masters often take the punch out of zombies. Imagine your mom waking up and wanting to tear a chunk of you out with her teeth and then realizing that the only way to stop this horror is to put an axe to her head. That is the type of horrible decisions zombies should have to bring up. Instead they are usually regulated to hack and slash fodder for the main villain. Undead Chronicles is one of the best renditions of zombies in a non-horror oriented RPG system. It is a fun series of adventures that will challenge RPG Players and entertain zombie fans."