Well, I’ve said it elsewhere so i might as well repeat myself… it may very well save someone $16.40
(from my review at RPGNow.com)
Wow… what can I say. I was really looking forward to a good 4e adventure for FG2. Regretfully, this isn’t it. Why? Maybe it’s my aversion to bad character names, especially ones stolen directly from movies and tv shows. The banker? Young Mr Grace (Are You Being Served?). The name of the General Store? Wonky Willy (Willy Wonka anyone?). Ethel Murtz (I Love Lucy) and Joe? They are gnome farmers. There is a Guicci Bag of Holding and a Fendi Bag of Holding. There is an attack by rubber chickens.
Now if one wanted to edit out all the show stopping references to modern day media and products there might be a salvageable adventure in here. Both the artwork (used to reference some of the visuals) and the maps are passable for the most part. Or perhaps not. The first half of the adventure reads like a railroad… you even have a tool of bouncing fireballs to keep the party moving forward.
It IS useful if one decides to digest it as a reference as to how to build a complex adventure in FG2… I’m tempted to use it as a template, but not much more. It is a pricey template.
(end of my original review) I gave it 2 out of 5 stars… pretty generous for the sour taste it left in my mouth, and the sizable hole in my paypal account.
Apparently tho, it has great appeal to all-female IT gaming groups, ’cause they have something I apparently lack: brains (or so they inferred). Then again, I had planned on DMing this adventure… not so my reviewer, she played as a PC through all 12 adventures in this super module AND bought a copy for herself apparently (RPGNow only allows those that purchase a product to review it).
They laughed and cried… maybe I approached this from the wrong angle. Maybe I should have laughed at the audacity that someone had the nerve to charge over $16 for this possible homage to the oh so horrible TSR Classic… Castle Greyhawk. There were supposedly multiple gaming sessions to be had from that monstrosity also. As for crying… I haven’t cried during an RPG session since I was 10… it hurt when my first PC to make it to 5th level got killed.
In all seriousness, DW Publications should have labled their product a tounge planted firmly in cheek farcicle adventure. They would have avoided my 2 star review (as I would have avoided purchasing something totally unsuited for my gaming style) and would be sitting pretty with the 5 star “we laughed, we cried… it was the bestest adventure in the history of gaming” review that popped up after mine.
Tags: Fantasy Grounds II, module