[Legendary Games] Rambler Reviews "The Assimilation Strain": 5 Stars 9 / 10

[Scribbling Rambler]

It's not in general release yet, and I don't usually review adventure products until after I've run them, but my excitement for this product line spurred me on a little early. I'm no Endzeitgeist, but I hope people find this useful or interesting.

"The Assimilation Strain" is a 1st-level adventure which serves as an optional introduction to the Legendary Planet Adventure Path.

It's a visually appealing product. The art is reminiscent of pulp sf books, with an added touch of early RPG products. I like the added touches of the starscape headers and otherworldly footers, along with the planetary symbol around the page numbers. Layout and font are attractive and easy to read. I was impressed that I only noticed one typo, considering how fast this was produced to get it out for Gen Con. And the extra pdf of all of the maps and art, including player-friendly versions of the maps, is a fantastic bonus.

Among my all-time favourite beginner adventures are "The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh", "Against the Cult of the Reptile God", and "Burnt Offerings". While I don't believe "The Assimilation Strain" will supplant any of those, it's not far off. And it has a lot in common with those great adventures: a well-written investigative adventure with multiple layers of adversaries, taking place in a small town populated by three-dimensional NPC's.
I don't believe that I've been this excited to start a campaign since I picked up a book with Karzoug on the cover 8 years ago.

The only minor flaw so far is that a map (ground floor of the manor) is absent from the original pdf and print version. It is included in the bonus map file, and I'm sure it will be put into an updated pdf. And the descriptions in the adventure are sufficient for most GM's to create an appropriate map.

Well done, Legendary! I'm eagerly awaiting "To Worlds Unknown"!

[Jason Nelson]

Thanks for the review! We are updating the adventure PDFs and will be sending out a notice when the new version is ready for download!

[Tom Phillips]

Thanks for the kind review, Rambler!

[Endzeitgeist]

Nice review, Rambler, and thank you for the kind words regarding yours truly as well! :)

[Neil Spicer]

/salute

::goes back to developing To Worlds Unknown::