Three Days to Kill

As one of the first adventures published for the D20 System, this 32-page book meets its most obvious goal easily: to present a high-quality and engrossing adventure for Dungeon Masters and players that have just gotten the Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook. However, it also meets an unstated goal just as well: to prove that the D20 System (and 3rd Edition D&D) is capable of handling topics outside the standard dungeon crawl, to include moral ambiguity, intrigue, and a high-action "Tom Clancy-style Special Ops mission, but in a sword and sorcery setting," according to the adventure text.

The book's presentation value is, frankly, astounding, considering the time frame it was produced in. It was available in limited quantities at GenCon on the day of release for the Player's Handbook, and while I'm certain Mr. Tynes had an early copy of the guide, the adventure had barely cooled from the printing presses by the time I got it. The cover illustration by Richard Pace is particularly apropos, with a camouflaged warrior or rogue outfitted with an array of weapons and a wicked crossbow that owes a lot less to fantasy crossbows than it does to modern weaponry, with a bull-pup stock and a hand-sized trigger guard. (The crossbow is a not-so-subtle hint to your players--as I found out in play, it's the most useful item your characters can have for the climax of the adventure.) The warrior is set against a court-yard background, white stones set in grass with red flowers all around more reminiscent of blood spots than vegetation. With the lack of particularly jarring fantasy clichés in the picture, and a main character that truly wouldn't look too unfamiliar gunning down Columbian coke farmers (at least in the movies), the picture conveys the feeling of the adventure perfectly. Art throughout the rest of the adventure is nothing incredibly special, it's not bad, either, and tends to shy away from traditional art for an adventure that requires the D&D Player's Handbook, with tattooed warriors in ski-masks, and a large number of men in animal masks. While the animal masks play a large part in the adventure, one can not help but see the parallels between the theme of masks in the artwork and the theme of a many-layered conspiracy in the adventure--both involved hidden truths under veils of secrets.

The book's layout is of equal quality, with clear fonts, and decent and easy-to-read, if not particularly inspired, maps. The spartan map provided to players for their trek is actually one of my favorite things in the adventure--while merely a scrawled line indicating a river marked with a few names, it conveys the location well, while leaving the players slightly in the dark (it doesn't mention that the river splits anywhere), and keeps me from having to show my DM's map, with more information, to the players. My other favorite part of the layout is the clear marking of the "open" material in the adventure. For those not as familiar with the D20 Trademark License (http://www.opengamingfoundation.org) this module was published under, Wizards' of the Coast has allowed individuals and companies to publish material for their D20 System under a license which leaves all rules material "open"--that is, free for duplication and reproduction in any format. Atlas Games, and the module's editor, Michelle A. Brown Nephew, and graphic designer, Scott Reeves, did a superb job of separating rules material in unobtrusive gray boxes (designed to look like parchment scraps, with ripped edges) clearly marked. (As an interesting note, a drinking game, made for use by the characters, but just as fun for the players, was put in an "open content" sidebar. I expect this to get much use on the Internet.)

As far as the actual adventure goes, it is consistent with the quality and tone of work John Tynes has done in the past. The first half of the adventure is dedicated to detailing the backdrop, a mountain town called Deeptown that lies along a trade route, and is usually surrounded by bandits. This provides an interesting town culture, where trade rules supreme, and most anything is legal as long as you're willing to pay for it. The town's culture and leading organizations are covered in quite a bit of detail, more than you need for the adventure. This isn't a waste of space, as a third goal of the adventure is "to provide you with source material for further adventures in the Deeps," as stated by the author. It does this well, and provides you with a plethora of further adventure hooks later in the adventure.

The second half of the adventure is all about the storyline. Without giving the plot away, I'll describe a bit. The characters get into town on the eve of a hedonistic festival, which provides for some interesting and morally dubious activities on the part of the party. They're soon hired by some locals to disrupt a meeting up in the local mountains--a meeting of a bandit lord and some unknown new group that plans to ally with the bandit lord in order to increase each of their power. This coalition would disrupt the delicate balance of power between the local Trade Circle and the different bandit lords (it may not be apparent to the players who they're working for), and no one wants that. From there, the players are well-equipped with some special ops gear done fantasy style--a magical orb that makes like a pair of night-vision goggles and telescopic binoculars, some "flash pebbles," and a one-shot wand of fireballs: an obvious rocket launcher.

Set off on their task to disrupt this meeting--they don't have to kill the bandit leader as long as the meeting falls apart--they'll have to use tactics and strategy, as they're well aware they're outnumbered and outclassed. And that's only if all hell doesn't break loose. (Come on, this is John Tynes we're talking about. Delta Green? Unknown Armies? Exactly. All hell breaks loose.) This sort of scenario shouldn't be too unfamiliar to fans of Mr. Tynes earlier work--low-lifes in a small town, with a seemingly mundane problem that turns out to be steeped in the supernatural--but he manages to make it fresh, aided by the change of setting into sword and sorcery. While I'm not sure if this is John Tynes first foray into the sword and sorcery genre, it's the first I've seen, and I'd definitely look forward to more after this.

In conclusion, I can't recommend this module for the D20 System enough. It makes a great introductory adventure into the D20 System, and even more so, makes a great adventure to run for people that might be a bit wary of returning to the D&D game after experiencing other games that focus more on character interaction and social skills. The fact that it breaks fantasy clichés, and does it so well, should prove to the most jaded group that there's plenty of fresh concepts to explore.