Durlag's Tower

by Alan Patrick, Travis Woodall (Editor)

Dungeons & Dragons Adventurers League Season 5, Adventure 8
A Four Hour Adventure for 11th-16th Level Characters

38 pages, ebook

Published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Christopher Buza · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I'm coming to "Durlag's Tower" from a very interesting position, having not been a player, DM, or even assigned to this module. I first cracked its spine because I was told that a 'staff of thunder and lightning' could be found as part of the adventure's treasure, which would be an excellent thematic and tactical addition to my primary Adventurers League character's arsenal. With that said, I can't speak to it from the point-of-view of having been in the midst of the adventure (i.e. how it actually plays). But from reading it, I do have a few viewpoints that I'd like to share.

First, the good: the setting itself is pretty darn cool. The environs and interior of an ancient dwarf tomb have tons of built-in ambiance and scene-setting mood. Patrick's use of the obscure "hizagkuur" metal is also a nice touch, despite the tongue-twisting nature of the material. The explanation for why the baddies are there is also top-notch -- I love the idea that this dwarf champion continues to punish the evil of the multiverse long after his death.

Unfortunately, all of this awesome material comes with some really negative elements that I cannot ignore. For one thing, this adventure really buys into something I've seen more from old school modules than from newer material: the really sad state that is player-DM antagonism. With some of the obstacles in the PCs' way here, even successes result in damage to the characters and their belongings. Destroying what might be the rogue's only set of thieves' tools when the character SUCCEEDS on the check really feels like a blatant attempt to sabotage the players. Supplement this with a pair of INVISIBLE ASSASSINS who are wielding poisoned weapons, each of which is almost guaranteed to deal 17d6 points of damage with their first attacks, which will likely happen when the party is in the middle of dealing with other enemies. At least Patrick doesn't suggest throwing blue bolts of lightning at the party...

Add to this the fact that the PDF itself is very disorganized. It puts the assassin event at the end of the section during which it appears, despite the fact that the event can trigger at any point during the adventure, including when the PCs walk into the first room and disturb the creatures hiding inside. It seems like there'd be a lot of page-turning and flipping back-and-forth, which is never a good thing in the relatively fast-paced AL setting. The maps provided with the adventure is also ludicrously unhelpful; it provides a floor layout for one room (which is basically a glorified square) and gives no layout for the six other locations that appear in the adventure. Thank goodness there's no cartographer listed for this adventure, or they'd be receiving some harsh mail from me.

Finally, we come to the most minor and yet (perhaps) most annoying aspect of this adventure: PLEASE PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, GET THIS ANNOYING GRANDMOTHER SEER OUT OF MY ADVENTURE. She strikes all the wrong notes: quirky for the sake of being quirky, has the detached and bland attitude of a character who doesn't give a damn about who the characters are or what happens to them, and constantly described as being above the PCs for no reason other than being a "cool" NPC. I quote from the introduction, on page 6:

"She always seems to know the general goings-on for an area, and the true extent of her power lies well outside of this adventure. Simply put: SEER has interests and motivations far removed from the matters that concern the characters and possibly even the Realms."

*GROAN* It doesn't help that the characters travel to-and-from the tower by SEER's will alone; she instantly teleports them to the tower, regardless of whether or not they're prepared for the trip ("Once SEER and Hsing have told the characters all they know, grown tired of them, or worse, have been offended, SEER deftly flips the silver platter over [.... and] instantly teleports the characters to the outskirts of Durlag’s Tower.") and somehow has already stashed away a secret scroll that will allow them to instantly teleport back once they're done with the adventure. It seems implausible at best and serves to make SEER even more unlikable at worst. If SEER is so powerful as to be able to flit back and forth at a moment's notice and operates on a level that puts her in touch with the outer planes, why does she need the adventurers' help in the first place? Why doesn't she just solve the problem herself? If she has time to lounge around and drink tea, then she certainly has time to fix whatever's going on at Durlag's Tower.

All in all, this adventure suffers from a heavy dose of the toxic must-slay-PCs mentality and the unfortunate presence of a thorn-in-the-eye NPC, with the awesome environment and set pieces barely making a dent in the case against these two module-harming factors. I think it would take a very skilled and practiced DM to make this module fun: proceed with caution.