AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: A Darkness Gathering (Adventure) by Bruce R. Cordell ISBN: 0-7869-1208-1 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: June, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.95

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 3.2 (5 reviews)

Rating: 3
Summary: Old-style AD&D module, slightly more depth
Comment: I confess. I have not played this module. But the adventure does read like an old-style AD&D adventure, and even goes as far as to refer to itself as a "module," a term that I understood was on the outs, being as it didn't sound very adventurous.

Unlike most of the old modules, however, the middle chapters of this adventure can be played in any order. This gives the players a little flexibility as to how they complete the adventure, and at the DM's option, they need not find ALL the clues before the evil mastermind reveals himself (I'm not quite sure why the party would want to bust up the city guard anyway).

There's a great deal of license a DM can take with this adventure, fitting it into his game world as needed. The NPCs are also easily changed to suit the DM's game. The strange thing I noticed was that ALL the NPCs were human. I guess the city of Stormport [or your preferred city] is not as cosmopolitan as some other places in AD&D.

I don't have as much time to design my AD&D games as I used to, so the resurgence of premade adventures is a boon to me. I've always found the Mind Flayers interesting, but was never able to use them successfully in a game. This and its companion guide, The Illithiad, are a great help in this matter.

Rating: 3
Summary: Toadkiller Dawgs says "Yawn. Mind flayers deserve better."
Comment: A Darkness Gathering is first in a trilogy of modules that deal with an illithid plan to enslave the PC's world. The fairly short (32pp) introductory installment is divided into 8 chapters that don't necessarily have to be run in order, but can be run by the DM as dictated by the direction of the PC's investigation.

The scenario starts in cliched fashion with the PCs summoned to meet an acquaintance in a local tavern over a mysterious danger of unknown import. The acquaintance never shows, instead the PCs can pick up various plot and sub-plot lines by interacting with the other tavern patrons. This story matrix style of bringing the PCs into the adventure is interesting, but the execution suffers somewhat since the eventual connections between the various sub-plots are much less imaginative and generally of the lead-by-the-nose style of DMing. More than one chapter ends with the PCs finding a less than subtle note that says something like "Bring brains to Thieves' Guild" and the finale has the PCs discovering that they've been manipulated by a unknown entity that will continue to puppet them through the next two installments. The other elements of the plot and NPCs are pretty much stock material with usual suspects including the local thieves' guild, a lengthy sewer crawl, a corrupt watch captain and an odd cult that seems to be brainwashing the locals.

The writing is a bit too self-serious with literary quotes and chapter headings like "Chapter the Second, wherein the DM learns the module's background....". The overall tone of the scenario is appropriate with a definite slant toward Ravenloft or Call of Cthulhu horror with a bit of illithid-inspired science fiction thrown in. A Darkness Gathering doesn't require the use of psionics, but the conversion to a non-psionic campaign will require some work and a little of the flavor of the adventure will be lost. It also looks like the Illithid Monstrous Arcana would be a very useful item to have, though it isn't required.

The only really distinguishing feature of this product is the use of illithid adversaries, which many people, myself included, think are very cool. While the presentation could have been a lot better, the price is reasonable even though the entire module won't require more than a couple of game sessions. It is a recommended buy if you like using mind flayers, but don't expect much more than a rather run-of-the-mill story.

Rating: 5
Summary: Suprisingly Great
Comment: Again, having just read the previous comments from a reader in Tennessee, I have to wonder if we're reading the same modules. Everything about A Darkness Gathering is wonderfully great, including the way it manages to weave together 4 sub-adventures that can be played in any order (how un-linear can you get?). Better yet, the players' exploits in one sub-adventure affects the play of the others: A "haunted" sewer, a thief-infested warehouse, a wizard's tower, and a secret illithid Cyst are well rendered, and better yet, really well written. Really, this module is one of TSR's better offerings, ever, especially when brought together when Master's of Eternal Night and Dawn of the Overmind. I would be seriously interested in how this module could have been made any better, and that's why I give it 5 stars, the best!