Sabre River

Companion #CM3

by Douglas Niles

You are a guest of the count, one of your allies and the strongest man in the region. Your sojourn has been pleasant, a nice change after weeks of battle. Suddenly the courtyard below your window is filled with the noise of galloping horses. More guests? ~ You yawn as you look out. But these people arriving look more like tax collectors than guests. You decide to give your attention to something more interesting, like dinner. ~ Relax while you can, friend, because these new arrivals are about to lead you to a crimson sailor, a cozy Tower of Terror, and a river with an aching heart. ~ Sabre River includes a complete campaign setting, new NPCs, dungeon and wilderness encounters, and a mysterious story.

Genres: Role Playing Games, Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Douglas Niles is a fantasy author and game designer. Niles was one of the creators of the Dragonlance world and the author of the first three Forgotten Realms novels, and the Top Secret S/I espionage role-playing game. He currently resides in Delavan, Wisconsin with his wife, Christine, and two Bouviets, Reggie and Stella. He enjoys playing his guitar, cooking, and visiting with family.

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sabre River is one of those adventures that plays better than it reads. Douglas Niles gives us another mystery adventure in the vein of N1, although the backstory isn't as engaging. Players travel to 3 different dungeon locales in pursuit of their quest to save the land; each playable in a session. The encounters are challenging, and the maps are nicely 3-D. The module is definitely helped by the fact that Companion level play is just fun in its own right, though the adventure adds a pretty cool new monster in the Sabreclaw. Only 3 stars because it just feels overall like a D&D scenario rather than a well-thought out fantasy scenario that utilizes D&D rules, which the best of them (X1, B4) do.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was much better. The adventure appears challenging, the locales at least approaching interesting and imaginitive, and there's some roleplay opportunities. Still a bit of a slog, though.

[Louis Norton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This module was interesting because it was written as a relatively straightforward (mostly) dungeon adventure for high level characters (18-22nd level). Spoilers: Some of the encounters and treasures are pretty wild as a result (300 carrion crawlers; 6 bronze golems; 10,000 gems worth 1 million gp as just one line of a large hoard, etc). Also there is at least one point where the PCs may take a fake item and have to repeat part of the adventure. Overall it seems like it would have been an interesting challenge and a good break from just running the characters' "dominion". Not sure it would translate to any modern edition though, but a good read anyhow.