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>