Pyramid Review
A Lion in the Ropes (for d20)
Written by Stephen Chenault
Published by Troll Lord Games
24 b&w pages; $6.00
A Lion in the Ropes is a d20 adventure designed for 4-8 characters levels 2-4. The adventure is set in Troll Lord Games' World of Erde in the After Winter Dark Fantasy Campaign Setting. The author doesn't waste precious space explaining how to either scale the adventure or place it in a different setting, trusting that a capable DM can either do so herself or find the relevant information in the Dungeon Master's Guide.
The adventure is short but well thought-out and very different from other d20 offerings to date. The book opens with a brief narrative to establish the setting then goes on to give an outline of the adventure as a whole as well as relevant history of the region and how it pertains to the events of the story. The background is informative without being gratuitous and while the players will likely never discover most of the details, knowing the underside of the iceberg is essential for adding dept to the adventure. Also included is a brief (four paragraph) section titled "Advice from a Tired Referee." As the name implies, this is a somewhat apologetic attempt at advising the DM, concerned mainly with how to maintain mystery, build suspense, and handle an encounter-based adventure with numerous red herrings.
Troll Lord's original material, including NPCs, new monsters and new spells, is separated in gray boxed text, while flavor text intended to . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: March 9, 2001
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