So I've decided to take a look at this book. The intended purpose is to create difficult encounters of CR 1-20. We'll be looking at every individual challenge and seeing whether they succeed or fail. I'd do a drunken review, but I don't drink, so...
So we start off with the cover, showing Lidda, Krusk, and Ember under a rain of arrows, in water, while tentacles approach them.
Anyways, inside, we get a page of credits. I don't know who any of these people are, and I don't really care, so moving on.
The book opens in a way that seriously made me burst out laughing the first time I read it. It's an (awfully bad) example of play. One of the players sees a wizard floating over a chasm, and somehow jumps to the brilliant conclusion of invisible bridge, and proceeds to charge straight off a cliff. I am not shitting you. And this is the first paragraph!
Anyways, the DM does a spit take, and hastily retcons that to never happen. This section is called the DM's Dirty Secret, and faps to the idea of the DM as omnipotent and omniscient, but is actually for realslies on the players side, while the players are regarded as complete idiots who can't survive without DM pity. It then says that this is really stressful on the DM and that the DM should let of steam by coming up with devious encounters to make the players fellate him.
Before we get to the actual challenges, there's some advice in this book about how to create encounters. All things considered, it's actually fairly decent advice. Play monsters intelligently, and take advantage of their abilities, placing them in environments that cater to them. Other things like surrounding PCs to prevent easy maneuvering, playing with their expectations and assumptions, It even give advice on how to split up the part, with the caveat to not do this too often, because it messes with the cooperative nature of the game, detracting from fun. There's even advice on how monsters do value their own lives and sometimes will flee (often with flight abilities). It says that PCs should still get EXP even if the monster retreats.
Some examples give are orcs with crossbows standing at the opposite side of a chasm to the PC's preventing easy access. An illusionist making hill giants look like iron golems to trick the PC's into avoiding magic initially.
It tries to give some advice on puzzles, and it's mostly okay, telling them that the DM should practice their puzzles first, until they have one type they can both solve and run. Also keep in mind that a DM should consider if they would want to solve the puzzle should another DM present it to them.
The puzzles mechanics should make sense in the setting, and perhaps PCs with the appropriate knowledge skills can get a hint.
There's even some decent advice on traps. It offers the idea that traps should often come with bait of some sort to lure their victims in. (Like treasure, an opportunity to advance the quest or dungeon faster, ect.) It also mentions that almost any effect can be considered a "trap". Raise Dead traps, anyone?
There's also some good advice about spells that PCs should use to survey and avoid danger, like Clairvoyance, Detect Magic, Dispel Magic, Gaseous Form, Fly and so forth (though it still seems to think that magic missile is worth something). It even instructs that the DM shouldn't be upset, but rather happy and proud when players use these effects, since it means that players are invested in the game they've made, and actually taking the time to think about things.
Interestingly, it also gives advice on how to scale challenges down. It first talks about reducing HD or size of monsters, but acknowledges that this is probably pretty ass to figure out. There are other simpler things (ettin looses it's greatclubs, titan loses warhammer). There's advice about having limited use abilities already used up, and instructs that it's a good idea to hint at this before hand. Players seeking out an ogre mage happen upon an owlbear that's frozen solid, indicating it's already used up it's cone of cold. There's other things, like putting creatures in environments that are disadvantageous to them, or even acknowledging that even smart creatures sometimes make dumb decisions. At the most basic, you can simply reduce a creatures hit points. Say it got into a fight earlier, and hasn't had time to recover. It does recommend using this judiciously though.
So finally, we get to the meat of the book, the sample encounters.
A Familiar Situation (EL1)
Setup: A wizard commissioned a pet store to bring her 5 animals for her to choose from as her familiar and have them delivered to her dungeon. The staff member who delivered them to her lair tripped as he was setting things up in a dungeon room, and ended up releasing the animals. (specifically, a hawk, bat, cat, rat, and viper). He's now frantically trying to get them back in to their cages as the PC's encounter him.
You had one job.
Encounter: The book lists several methods of coaxing the animals back into their cages. The PCs can
deal nonlethal damage, use handle animal checks, wild empathy, or just be dicks and kill them. It mentiones that if the door to the room is left open, some of the animals may flee through it, leading to a humorous chase sequence. If I ran this, I'd be sorely tempted to play this song during the scene. Additionally, it comes with a reward of 100 gp.
Thoughts: As low level encounters go, this is actually a pretty good one. It introduces the players to the concept that not every encounter need be violent or have high stakes to be interesting.
Close Quarters (EL2)
Setup: The players encounter a room in a dungeon where they encounter a wyrmling green dragon. Beyond the room is a small tunnel.
Encounter: The dragon uses it's size to it's advantage, using cramped tunnels beyond the room to restrict it's enemies movements and giving it 3/4 cover. It forces the party to engage it it melee one at a time. If they don't go for it, it uses it's breath weapon repeatedly.
Thoughts: Not really much to say. It's a decent strategy, and the wyrmling has 37 hitpoints, so it's not going down easily.
Here Kitty Kitty (EL2)
Setup: A bunch of svirfneblin have a community that's guarded by a krenshar. One day it got married and moved away, and now like the controlling mother that it is, the gnome community wants their kitty back. There's some basic stuff about the community, and they're offer a reward of free lodging at the inn if they help.
Encounter: The krenshar couple can be tracked with a DC13 wilderness lore (this was 3.0 apparently) check. Once found, they are sleeping. if woken, they'll use their scare ability, but don't attack unless the PCs attack first. They can attempt to attack non-lethally, or use diplomacy on the male (the one who guarded the village) at a -4 penalty to bring it back to the village. There's a travellers pouch in the cave that contains 2pp, 13gp, 25sp, and a garnet worth 100gp.
Thoughts: So I had to look up what a krenshar even was. Other than that, it's nice to see encounters that don't have to be solved violently.
Temple of Draxion (EL2)
Setup: Apparently this was once a temple of Erythnul. It's mostly collapsed, though bandits have made it their home. They're trying to form a bigger gang, though they've only managed to bring in a few kobolds.
Encounter: After a few empty rooms and a free everburning torch a gong sounds as they come to the main room. One of the bandits replaced a crumbling statue of Erythnul with a giant wooden statue of a red dragon. Unfortunately, they don't know what a dragon looks like, and it comes off looking like a snake. Regardless, the statue is basically an attempt at a ruse. It has peepholes to look out from the inside. It has coal for generating smoke to surround itself in, can shoot alchemists fire, and can even move a little. Also has a built in bullhorn for loud voices.
Basically this.
It requires a spot check of DC15+1 per 10 feet of distance to see through the ruse. If the PC's approach, a mechanism is triggered releasing two flasks worth of alchemists fire in a 20 foot cone, simulating the "dragon" breathing fire. (1d6 damage, reflex dc15 half). Hilariously, the operator must succeed on the same save or the statue catches on fire.
Also more hilariously, the bandits actually have no idea what to do if the PCs surrender. If the pc's attack, they flee down a set of hidden stairs, taking the alchemist fire, and dropping caltrops. The Kobolds appear at this point keeping out of melee with ranged combat.
If captured, the kobolds claim they were duped by the bandits (they weren't). If the human bandits are captured they claim they're slaves of the kobolds (they aren't). Of note is that the bandits are a human expert and human commoner.
Thoughts: This sounds like a fun, creative, encounter to run, and there's plenty of opportunity for jokes here.
It's getting late now. I'll go over more challenges another day.
