The Wurst of Grimtooth's Traps is a mammoth 226 page d20 pdf featuring the devious, evil machinations and traps of the famous Grimtooth the Troll. Many gamers will be familiar with the pure genius of Grimtooth's traps and this product is a compilation for d20 of the best of those traps that your players will never forget. In the pages of this product you won't find simple traps or single trigger jobs, but rather cunning, devious and downright painful multiple trigger traps that only Grimtooth himself could conceive. This product is compatible with the revised d20 core rules.

The product comes as a single pdf file with a complete set of detailed bookmarks and a table of contents. General presentation is excellent, with good writing, evocative text, great illustrations of the various traps, and decent editing and layout. The lack of a printer friendly version of this product will hurt those wishing to print this product. The pdf introduces some new mechanics to explain traps, and this works well with the existing core rules and expands them nicely to create more complex traps. Overall, the trap mechanics is good. The product usefully also includes an index of traps by CR and alphabetical listing so you can find the trap you're looking for in the 200+ traps presented.

The Wurst of Grimtooth's Traps is a compilation of some of the best and most devious traps from Grimtooth the Troll. This product collects over two hundred traps from the classic books of Grimtooth's Traps and coverts them to d20. This product is divided into five sections - room traps, door traps, corridor traps, the Traps Bazaar and finally the trap-filled Dungeon of Doom. It contains not only numerous great traps, but also some humorous elements and illustrations about the creation of the book, and Grimtooth's own thoughts on traps and the d20 trap rules. DMs and players familiar with Grimtooth's earlier works will find many old favorites here.

Traps. Some people love them and other hate them, the latter mainly because the most cunning traps are not well supported by the rules framework. This product provides some of the most ingenious traps you'll ever see, all that slot in easily within the d20 rules framework and work well within it. There are traps for every situation here, and your players will never look at a trap the same again after experiencing some of the traps in this pdf. Traps cover CR ranges 1 to 10, with a heavy weighting of traps at the lower CRs and the higher CRs with fewer traps in the CR 6-9 ranges. Some of the traps for CR 10 are very expensive, and it seems very unlikely from a realism point of view that something that costs so much will be implemented. Magical traps of a similiar CR seem far easier, although not nearly as spectacularly effective.

The first three sections of the product cover traps in all their glory. The illustrations are effective in conveying the meaning of the traps, and the mechanics supports the concepts well. Here you'll find some delectable and evil traps - if Death by a 1000 Slices doesn't do it for you, then perhaps the Delvermatic Dicer and Malingerer Trap will. There are traps that will certainly make your players squeal, both in surprise and in the agonising pain that these traps can inflict. No more will players just look at a trap, find it and disable it. Here the disabling is an art form, the traps carefully crafted to make sure that even if you think you know how it works, it will still get you killed. This is simply a splendid collection of traps, a must have for every DM that wants to create something extraordinary in their dungeon.

The next two sections deal with the Traps Bazaar and the Dungeon of Doom. The former is a large bazaar that sells various trapped items, such as the Ring of Doom, and the Satan's Bow. Like the traps, there are some clever items in here that are very useful in a campaign game. Unlike cursed items, these items are trapped, and serve as a very clever way of delivering traps where PCs expect them the least. The last part of the pdf deals with the Dungeon of Doom, a massive complex and dungeon filled entirely with traps and nothing else. How useful this is in a campaign world and setting is debatable, but from the challenge point of view it might be interesting to run it. Certainly, if nothing else, it provides a huge number of additional traps that can be used even if they're not part of the Dungeon of Doom.

The Wurst of Grimtooth's Traps is a great product that brings to d20 the best and most devious traps of Grimtooth the Troll. This product contains scores of devious traps, evil machinations, and deadly encounters that are both very creative and fun to play. Players will be challenged by these traps, and DMs will have some fun and interesting new ideas to play with. This is probably the definitive book on d20 traps, and a must have for those wishing to resurrect traps in their games or give them the proper status that they deserve. I am sure Grimtooth would approve. Very good product.

Tower of Jhedophar is a 36 page d20 fantasy adventure for 4 to 6 player characters of levels 13 to 15. The adventure takes place in the once great academy of magical learning, the Tower of Jhedophar, and here the PCs must navigate a vicious labyrinth filled with deadly foes in order to wrest the legendary Mandrake Staff from the Lich Jhedophar. This adventure carries the designation K7, although it is a standalone product that can be played through in two to four sessions. This adventure recommends a good balance of character classes, including a rogue, cleric, arcane spellcaster, and a number of frontline warriors.

The adventure comes as a single pdf file. Like all of Necromancer Games' products, this one has a high standard of presentation. Cover art is very good, as is the interior art, and the artists have generally done a splendid job on the product. The maps are also decent, although rather bland and do not provide adequate detail or even a legend/key. Writing and editing is generally excellent, as is the layout, although the bookmarks provided are probably a bit on the sparse side. The product includes a lengthy appendix that contains numerous new monsters, magical items and templates for the adventure. Overall, a solid product with some excellent artwork, although the adventure disappoints in other areas such as the maps.

The adventure takes place entirely within the Tower of Jhedophar, and as a result is a site-based, dungeon-crawl style adventure. A number of plot hooks are provided to take the PCs to Jhedophar's Tower, although once there the adventure quickly turns into an intensive combat-fest. The Lich Jhedophar, wielder of the Mandrake Staff, is a great evil, and for whatever purpose, the PCs are sent to destroy him, or at the very least remove the Mandrake Staff from him. During the course of the adventure the PCs will face both powerful foes and allies in the tower, and the choice of how the adventure ends is largely a case of the lesser of two evils, although stronger parties will just face the foes they find rather than parley with them. Naturally, from this perspective, parties that are good in alignment or have paladins will just have to fight their way through the adventure.

The adventure is fast paced and combat intensive, and most parties will barely have a moment's respite as they wade their way through the various levels of the tower. Encounters offer a decent mix of combat, roleplaying and puzzle solving, and a number of them have interesting flavor. The various levels of the tower, for example, are each themed according to the various schools of magic. That said, while the labyrinth portions are filled with traps and interesting monsters, the upper levels are largely roamed by a single type of creature which can lead to rather monotonous combat and adventure.

At times this adventure brought back that childhood feeling of 'You enter a room. There are 10 big monsters. They attack'. In that sense the adventure was disappointing, and apart from some encounters that offer interesting alternatives, many are just straightforward battles. Given that the majority of creatures in the tower are undead, one should probably not expect too many explanations for why creatures are there, or what they do to bide the time, or how they interact with each other.

Tower of Jhedophar is a decent site-based adventure that pits the PCs against challenging opponents and deadly combats. The adventure is mainly combat, although it does offer some roleplaying opportunity. On the whole, though, barring perhaps the few roleplaying moments and some interesting rooms, this is a rather monotonous adventure with little to offer. Even the options for expanding the adventure beyond the tower are fairly limited. Much more could also have been done to motivate the party to go to this tower, and to create a plot that is something different to 'enter tower, kill creatures'. Presentation is good, but generally while a fun and solid adventure, the adventure disappoints in other areas.

We play with the D&D 3.5 rules, so some of the 3.0 stuff can throw you off if you're really into rules. We just played it as written and had lots of fun. Don't forget to download the additional wilderness adventure material from the website.

Be sure to give your players a few hints about the two or three drastic bad guys in this module. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Dangerous, flexible: Go raid the orc stronghold! Just enough information on how the orcs are going to react, when their morale will break, how the subplots are introduced by townspeople. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The book consists of two parts; first, you get all the locations, and in the second half, you get all the action, assuming that the players do more or less what the authors expect them to do. Thus, the second half will tell you about the three orcs ambushing the party as they approach Fairhill, or the orcs on the raiding party, or the orcs on the investigation party, and the first part will list those orcs in their lair. Thus, the DM has to do a little book keeping of where the orcs are and what they are doing. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

A whole bunch of premade treasures at roughly the same g.p. value per chart. A useful book full of sometimes very elaborate descriptions. A useful book that will add detail to the loot wrested from monsterous claws. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: soemtimes the description goes a little beyond detailign the treasure itself but since i seldom just read the text aloud to players there is not much to that complaint.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

I did not like it as much as I likes Tomb of Horrors 1 because Tomb of Horrors 1 gives you all creatures that disappeared in the 3rd edition set. It is good with the same quality as in Tomb of horrors I but fewer monsters and most (maybe all) of them new. Some a little weird and not sure I would ever use - but that can be said for all the creature books in any system.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

These are the missing creatures from AD&D. Now you don't need to sit there for hours while trying to figure a conversion for those first edition modules and creatures to 3rd edition. You can look them up.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

The campaign is well thought out with a lot of good ides that can be used in a number of different settings ( I plan to use it for Conan ) and can be recommended for that. It is a good read, well researched with many little titbits and facts thrown in the exact way you would expect of Gygax.

There is a downside in the PDF quality, which is very poor and quite blurry and dropped my appreciation of the product substantially. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Good ideas and execution that can be used out fo the box or as steping stones for your own game.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The PDF quality, worst I have ever seen.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

The Doom of Listonshire is a 98 page d20 pdf fantasy adventure for 4 or more characters of 5th level or higher. The adventure is set in the province of Listonshire, a frontier civilisation that should be easy to adapt to any particular campaign setting. This adventure is designated K3, and is the 3rd adventure in the K-series of products, although it is an entirely standalone adventure from Necromancer games. In this adventure the characters get involved in the affairs of the province, and must attempt to restore the ducal family to power following the unexpected death of the Duke. Their quest takes them through a dozen of different locations, and characters of all types will find application in this adventure. This adventure uses the 3.5e core ruleset.

The adventure comes as a single pdf file, complete with extensive bookmarks, table of contents and all the trimmings one would expect from a quality presentation. Necromancer Games almost never fail to disappoint when it comes to their quality standards and the layouts and designs of their products and adventures. This product is no different, and follows the high standards for editing, art, writing, maps, mechanical statistics and general presentation. Included in the adventure are a number of new monsters and magical items, and the product also draws extensively from other OGL products, including the Tome of Horrors. From a presentation point of view, this is what one has come to expect from Necromancer Games - a top notch effort and excellent overall.

The adventure is set in the province of Listonshire, and begins with the party arriving in Listonshire for any number of reasons depending on which of the plot hooks provided are used. There they soon discover that the province is subject to a terrible curse, where beasts most foul roam the land freely. Not only that, the Duke has recently died, and the party are soon approached about concerns regarding this matter. From there the party set out on a mission to not only restore the ducal line, but also to restore the province to safety by removing a dangerous curse. The adventures of the party take them all across Listonshire, and include a number of varied locations, wilderness and dungeon alike.

The adventure is somewhat different to most other adventures in that there are some random elements to it. The adventure allows some key items to appear in any number of different locations determined at the start of the adventure by a random die roll. This means, naturally, that the adventure will be different every time it is played. Of course, this little feature is probably also one of the drawbacks of the adventure. These key items can be found in any number of locations scattered across Listonshire. The PCs are required to search probably all these locations, unless they're lucky and happen to stumble across the right one at the right time. While this kind of random searching could be fun, it'll probably get tedious after clearing out yet another set of monster encounters just to find very little to help your quest. Certainly the organisation of the module could be frustrating, however novel it may be.

As mentioned earlier almost any type of character can play easily in this adventure since most of the location featured are varied and play to the strengths of all the core classes. That is probably the strongest point of the adventure simply in its variety. This, of course, offsets the potential tedium of having to search through almost a dozen locations for those quest related items or pieces of information. The variety of the adventure is good not only in the interesting adventure locations (abandoned villages, castle ruins, forests and woods, caves, villages, castles, etc.), but also in the mix and blend of combat and roleplaying. This is probably one of the better adventures I've seen in that area, where there's ample opportunity for both, and in fact the roleplaying is very much a necessity and key feature of the adventure.

Throughout the course of the adventure the PCs will face numerous different monsters, many taken from the Tome of Horrors, and face interesting and exciting encounters and locations. The adventure detail, both descriptive and for the purposes of running encounters, is excellent, providing the DM with everything he needs and rarely is there a need to question anything. This is quite a long adventure, where characters will face danger and monsters around every corner courtesy of the Listonshire curse. There's a lot of ground to cover in this adventure, literally and figuratively, and the entire adventure should take several action-packed sessions to play through.

The Doom of Listonshire is unique in many ways - loads of variety, wonderful locations and adventure details, random adventure locations, to name a few - and is written and presented very well. There are a lot of strong points to this adventure, and there's no doubt that players will have a lot of fun running through this. The only concern one could possibly have is the sheer amount of area to cover, and the tedium that might set in doing so. It might not be a case of finding a needle in a haystack, but it's quite close to that. If the PCs miss just one clue at a given location, they might not find what they want at another. In the old end the strong points probably overwhelm the weaker parts, making this an enjoyable and good adventure.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Excellent presentation, adventure variety in locations, and opportunity for both combat and roleplaying. This adventure contains all the classic elements of a good adventure and more. Interesting adventure and premise, and likely to be enjoyable to all players and DMs.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Too many random encounters. That, coupled with the nature of the adventure, and there's every possibility that it can get boring or frustrating.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

The Mother of All Treasure Tables It is always nice to see a product one likes but more importantly to see a pair of companies one likes working together. When I saw Tabletop Games and Necromancer were both involved in this project I knew I just had to get it. It makes it one of those rare books I bought that I review. I just do not have a lot of time to review things I buy but everyone once in a while I have to make an exception to that. Mother of All Treasure Tables was an easy choice for such an exception.

Mother of All Encounter Tables is a good sized book designed by Daniel Brakhage and Vicki Potter. It is available in print and PDF and is one of those collaboration books with ten authors given writing credits. The PDF version has book marks though only each table and not each result is marked. The book has the usual high quality Necromancer lay out and good black and white art inside.

The idea behind the book is rather simple. There are ten tables in here and on each table there are one hundred different variations of treasure. Well, the first nine table have one hundred the last table with its vast amounts only has ten. Each table is around a gold piece value by two percent. The first table is small treasures worth around ten gold pieces, the next fifty gold pieces, the next one hundred gold pieces and the last one being a half million or more. It does not just give one coins and such there is some great descriptions of the different items that are found. What is nice is the treasure here is not magical. That is easy for DM?s to do and add on. This is the more interesting mundane treasures that seem to get ignored. This is a great product for a low or no magic campaign as these treasures will really fit that type of campaign. But even games with magic need treasure troves filled with unusual items that can easily spark an interest in players.

Here is a sample of just one of the treasure descriptions.

You find a cylindrical ivory case, slender and as long as your arm [32 gp]. It holds a roll of thick, high-quality paper. When unrolled, the scroll is nearly four feet long. On it is an exquisite painting of a long-legged water bird with delicate shading in the feathers and in the reeds below [157 gp]. Next to it lies a backpack of mellow golden leather [2 gp] Inside is a folded piece of black silk, which proves to be a slender black dress with laces up the back. It is embroidered all over in large, openwork flowers in a variety of colors [92 gp]. Folded with it is a wide belt of soft black leather [6 gp]. Below, wrapped in a piece of gray wool [2 sp], is a set of three porcelain plaques, each about a hand-span square?their polished white surfaces decorated with delicate renderings of various wildflowers [set 18 gp]. In the bottom of the backpack is a cloth pouch [1 sp] of coins [3 pp, 37 gp, 287 sp, 318 cp], a petite leather pouch [3 sp] with five rose quartz stones [50 gp each] and another cloth pouch [1 sp] holding a bracelet. It is made of carnelian beads, round and smooth in colors ranging from fiery red to nearly cranberry dark [345 gp]. [Total 1,001.58 gp]

As one can read it is well written and has a good amount of detail making these treasures truly remarkable. The book has almost a thousand different treasure troves like that in it. It is a book that one will be hard pressed to fully exhaust.

The Mother of All Treasure Tables is in fact that. It is a simple way for DM?s to place some elaborate treasures into their own game with very little actual work. That makes it a big win in my eyes.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: It is well written and easy to use<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

I enjoy running adventures and it pleases me to be able to run the Dungeon Crawl Classics right along with the Necromancer ones. When one does that the difference in the approach to the writing and creation of the modules really comes into view. The DCC are usually shorter and a little easier to run with little prep time. The Necromancer ones however are more in-depth with a greater back story and they venture away from typical D&D in more creative fashions. For instance the DCC will usually have a good amount of standard creatures in them. The Necromancer ones have created monsters to fit the modules and use their own Tome of Horrors to pull out a lot of creatures people are not going to be as familiar with. While both lines are very well done I am finding I enjoy the creativity and depth of the Necromancer modules a bit more though I will continue to use both.

The Diamond Fortress is an adventure by Necromancer and disrupted through Kenzer. It can be found as a PDF or in hardcopy. The module is about fifty pages long and designed for character of eleventh through thirteenth levels. The book marks could have been better done and included the specific rooms and each monster and NPC in the back of the book. That would have made it a lot easier to go from room description to the creature stat blocks that are all collected in the back of the book. There was a lot of shuffling of papers around as referenced a few different places in the book for each encounter. While a bit of a pain it was one of the few problems I had with running the adventure.

This review will have spoilers in it so please do not read on if you are going to be a player in the module!!!

The adventure is set up so the players can stumble on it or they can come seeking the place out and be there at the right time. The module starts with a high level wizard elf ghost appearing to the group and warning them of what is going to happen. He gives a little backstory but he withholds some info because he has an agenda. He wants his amulet that he lost and he wants the PCs to get it for him. This is the first part of the module and then he warns of the Diamond Fortress that is coming back in a few days time and the great evil that will be in it. But until the Castle reappears no one is really going to believe the PCs. There is a village of wilderness people and there is a lot of fun role playing that can be had here as the group fills in details about the ruins of the castle and how it disappeared many many years ago. They can also learn about the orc and ogre bandits who have the Amulet though that is not well known. It should be easy with the magic of these level character to get a few good hints as to who has the amulet.

The bandits are tough being orcs and ogres at first with class levels but with some well placed spells the party should handle them with some ease. They have the numbers and if melee combat happens the party could be in trouble. But my group was able to control the battle field with entangle and other spells like that and just rain death on the bandits. I do like that the module says the bandits will break and run if the PCs gain the upper hand. Every now and then it is nice to have things run from the PCs. It makes them feel good.

The meat of the bandit adventure part is in some caves. There is a Dragon Horse?s children captured by the bandits and in the caves and that hook can also be used to get the PC involved or get them to the bandits. The Dragon Horse can help the PCs latter in the adventure though my PCs did not need that aid. There are some nasty fights in the caves if one is not careful. There is a thesselgorgon that really confused my group as they had no idea what it was. That is one of the things I like about the Necromancer modules. They have plenty of monsters the PCs will not know about and it helps to even make a high level party feel a bit worried and off their game. There is a roper some great green slime traps and other nastiness in here the Bandits have befriended. They have a high level Ranger so it becomes plausible to have these seemingly random assortments of creatures in there. The leader is a particularly tough Ogre Magi with class levels that really can make the final fight deadly. There does seem to be a good amount of treasure especially magical arms and armor the bandits are equipped with.

The party then should have a few days to recoup and possible prepare for the arrival of the Castle. There is a bit of role playing with the town, the Dragon Horses, the ghost elf wizard if the PCs want to. Nothing is specifically spelled out in the module but the foundation is laid in the earlier parts for a DM to do so.

The castle appears on the ruins and it is like a great diamond. It is now made entirely of crystal and the landscape around the castle is slowly being turned into this crystal stuff. The module seems to think most PCs will wait a few days and has actions that the demons in the castle will be taking. I do not see any good advantage for the PCs to wait and my own PCs were ready to go as soon as the thing appeared. Crossing over the crystal does have a risk of the PCs turning into crystal petrifaction. A few bad fort saves and if the PCs are not ready to deal with it could be problematic. Anyone that fails the save also has a chance to be turned into a Crystal like creature. There is a template that would be added and the character would still be playable. We had it happen to one of the PCs dog. The template is not too bad except for the speed gets reduced to ten feet. That can really be a problem and is a bigger concern then the Dex loss. The character though will get stronger, get a natural armor bonus, and might gain some spell like abilities. I did feel the template with a LA of +2 was a little tough for character to find them inheriting with out much choice. I would have liked to have seen some ways once the adventure was over for the PCs to get rid of the template.

I really like the set up of the Crystal and the history of this castle getting trapped on the elemental plan of Crystal and now coming back to reform the world. Inside the castle though just lost some of that feel and was a little too much of a dungeon crawl. There are some tough and interesting encounters. They have some good light based encounters I would have liked to have seen more of. There is an error with two rooms labeled nineteen in the descriptions in the PDF that can be a little confusing if the DM does not catch it before hand.

It is not all a kill or be killed adventure though as the main goal is to stop this place of making crystal of everything. To do that some specific crystals must be destroyed and a room that is not on this plane of existence must be found. I liked that as a solution to this problem and would have liked to seen a little more problem solving along those lines.

The Diamond Fortress is a creative module that will change players. Like many Necromancer modules it can be a bit on the deadly side and has a very well thought out back story. But the adventure itself could be a bit more polished in some areas an d I like stat blocks with the encounters so I do not have to flip to different sections of the book for one encounter. It was nicer to have it as a PDF for that reason though.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Highly creative<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: A number issue in the module, stat blocks not with encounters<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

This book is the best "bang" I've ever gotten for my d20 3.5 buck (with possible exception of the core book gift set for $56 on amazon). The "Tome" includes virtually all of the monsters found in the classic first edition hard backs omitted from the 3.5 Monster Manual. If you want to run 3.5 with first edition flare, you should by this pdf. It's a shame Necromancer is folding, but I've read that those guys have an open door to publish for Troll Lord, so maybe we'll see "Tome of Horrors C&C." <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Well presented; illustrated. Authors credit original designers and publications; good sale price -- $9.95.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: not too much <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

The Diamond Fortress is a 51 page d20 pdf fantasy adventure. The adventure carries the designation K2, although it is an entirely standalone product from Necromancer Games. The adventure takes place in around the town of Ravenscar, where the PC are required to deal with a crystal fortress filled with horrors from the other planes. The Diamond Fortress is suitable for 4 to 6 characters of levels 11 to 13, with a good mix of spellcasters and strong warriors required.

This product comes as a single pdf file containing everything required to run the adventure. Extensive bookmarks are provided for navigating through the pdf, as well as a table of contents. While the page navigation is excellent, I wish the same could be said for the adventure. An adventure summary or plot synopsis would've gone a long way to making the adventure easier to run. As is there are a number of related, yet somewhat disjointed, paragraphs giving adventure details but no overview of the entire adventure and how it's expected to play out. Nevertheless, the rest of the presentation is excellent and professional. Artwork and maps are good, writing and editing excellent, and layout and presentation of a very high standard. Stat blocks, all included in the appendix, look good although a number of errors naturally crept in. Overall, good presentation and layout, although the organisation could be improved.

The adventure takes place in and around the small town of Ravenscar. As the PCs explore the town they are requested to investigate and eliminate a ghost, an adventure that quickly leads them into a forest of bandits and eventually to the diamond fortress as it magically appears some time after the arrival of the PCs in Ravenscar. PC will then be required to handle the fortress itself as well as its intelligent inhabitants and numerous raids on the small town of Ravenscar.

The adventure is fairly combat intensive, particularly once the PCs enter the fortress itself. There is some initial opportunity for roleplaying in the early stages of the adventure, but after that the adventure revolves around the PCs fighting their way through the adventure's two dungeon locations - the bandit forest and the diamond fortress. The bandit forest seems a bit contrived from a certain point of view, in the sense that it appears to have been stitched on to add some length to the adventure. At present it seems like a side trek to find something the PCs need for the diamond fortress, although they won't know that until the fortress actually appears. The fortress itself is a very interesting location, and holds a number of surprises for the PCs.

The encounters in the adventure are challenging, and the premise certainly interesting and fun. There's a good range of different encounter levels, some very difficult and others easy for characters of the adventure's stated levels. The monster range is good, and characters will have to contend with a good variety of attacks thrown against them. Given that the diamond fortress is constructed of crystal, the adventure maintains that theme well throughout, and includes a number of monsters and templates along those lines to support the adventure's premise.

The Diamond Fortress is a decent adventure with an interesting premise and some neat encounters and locations. It suffers, however, from the lack of organisation in places. The fortress itself is by far the best part of the adventure, and I'd be tempted to exclude the bandit lair from the adventure in favor of altering the adventure to give the diamond fortress more focus. It should be a fun adventure to run through, given the combat encounters and other challenges, but I can see it being less that satisfactory from a story point of view, particularly given the exposition of the plot to the PCs. Overall, an excellent presentation as one would expect from Necromancer games, and a decent adventure.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Interesting premise, challenging and fun encounters, and very good presentation. The support material such as monsters and magic enhance the concept and premise behind the adventure well.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Organisation of the adventure is not the best, and in places the adventure appears a little disjointed. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

Monte Cook used to be my favorite D&D author, but Bill Webb has taken his place. This is a great adventure, and a logical continuation from The Lost City of Barakus. There are plenty of 'hooks' for players, and enough detail to make running the adventures a cinch.

Like the original, ToH II is full of well thought out creatures that can be easily fitted into almost any campaign. Most entries fit on one page, which makes printing them out for reference at the game table easy, and I have not seen any glaring mistakes.

Should have downloaded it sooner!

A Family Affair is a 98 page d20 fantasy adventure product from Necromancer games. This adventure carries the designation K1, and is the first in the K-series of adventure modules from Necromancer Games. A Family Affair is suitable for 4 to 6 characters of level 8 or higher, and blends an excellent mix of variety to suit every gamers' need. In this adventure the characters get the chance to investigate murder and kidnapping, take a sea voyage to a dangerous island, venture deep into unsettling caves, and relive the horrors of a murder most foul. The adventure is not set in any particular setting, and DMs should easily be able to place this adventure in the setting of their choice. This product uses the 3.5e core ruleset.

This product comes as a single pdf file, extensively bookmarked and including a table of contents. A quick look at the module immediately shows the excellent quality of production and presentation. Artwork and layout are very good, and the editing and writing of the same high standard. Maps are very good, although in some instances perhaps a little monotonous, and the stat blocks are almost faultless. A quick look at the organisation of the adventure and it's easy to see why Necromancer Games have such a good name in adventure modules in the d20 market. Their adventures are of the calibre of 'how an adventure should be written', featuring exciting plots, interesting and varied locations, and enough detail that the DM never has to go looking for something or has to make something up. A few new monsters are introduced at the end of the product, and it utilizes some material from Necromancer Games' other products Tome of Horrors and Tome of Horrors II.

The adventure is divided into a number of different chapters, each covering another aspect of the adventure. Full background details, adventure summary, adventure hooks and advice on running the adventure are provided. The adventure starts with a detailed overview of Martin's Nest the town where this adventure takes place around. The town is extensively detailed with a map, important locations and their inhabitants, personalities for all NPCs encountered during the town, and information on how they fit into the adventure. This detail is splendid within this, providing everyone one might want to know and more, and one could conceivable move this town into another adventure if needed by just removing the plot related elements from each description. The detail and the extensive personalities of the various NPCs make the town feel vibrant and alive.

During the course of the adventure the PCs will explore an seemingly abandoned mansion, gather information in the town of Martin's Nest, uncover not only one, but two seemingly unrelated story plots, and then venture to dangerous islands and face crafty foes to finally bring the adventure to a conclusion. Each aspect of the adventure is given its own chapter, so it's easy to jump from one location to the next by just following the chapter designations. The adventure flows rather smoothly, doesn't seem forced in any way, and with all the detail certainly allows for characters to do things their way, rather than follow a scripted adventure line. There's a lot of fun to be had in this adventure, covering most of the bases in good adventures, and including something for characters of all classes, although rogues are quite important for this adventure.

This is a very long adventure, and should take several sessions to complete, depending on the actions of the PCs. The encounters are challenging and fun, with some interesting ones and some neat locations and details. While the artwork of the maps is decent, the actual layouts are a bit monotonous and something could've been done to make the layouts of the maps more interesting. At present they feel rather 'blocky', and could've used a more fantasy feel to them. That aside, with over a hundred different encounter locations, most offering something interesting (although quite a few rooms are there merely for space filler and verisimilitude), there's something for every gamer and a whole lot to enjoy.

Overall, this is very much and adventure that gives both DM and players some free reign to explore various options and go down different avenues to their ultimate goal. The adventure is partially dynamic outside of the dungeon crawl parts and things happen in response to the actions of the PCs, something that is always good to see. The adventure offers a number of surprises, and should keep the players on their toes throughout. A thoroughly enjoyable adventure, very well designed and presented, and an excellent variety of challenges, monsters, locations and encounters. Splendid job.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: A Family Affair is a well designed and well presented adventure that offers something for characters of all classes and players of all types. The adventure is fun, challenging and the variety of locations and encounters means there's always something new around every corner.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Nothing terribly significant, although I suspect some areas of the adventure can become quite monotonous, while some of the maps could've use a little more fantasy to them, rather than the stereotypical 'blocky' approach.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>