Sunday, March 16, 2014

Review and Commentary On The OSR Benefit Adventure - Fighting Fire - For Ernie Gygax From Creative Mountain Games




This system-neutral adventure was inspired by some of those events and the storied history of gaming. 33% of the price is set up to go to the Ernie Gygax Relief Fund set up by his brother Luke Gygax. 

Get It Right Over
HERE
The plot according Rpgnow:
 The adventure takes place in and around the town of Gamington on the shores of Gentle Lake. A arsonist's fire destroys the Tower of Ernesto, a famous wizard, but a band of heroes rallies to right the wrong, rooting out the evil in the nearby Fire Peak. A GM can set this up as a campaign addition or one-shot, in any Medieval Fantasy RPG system. There are plenty of tips to help do either. Included are some character backgrounds for the heroes noted within as well as an epic poem extolling their exploits.
Right so let's get something straight right off the bat, this is an old school adventure  in every sense of the word. The events of the tower of Ernesto set up what happens in and round the town of Gamington and the PC's are brought right into the chaos. The evil of Fire Peak is a pretty epic one and this adventure reminds me of many of the efforts of early Judge's Guild material. This thirty two page adventure is very nicely done and has some great add ons that I wish other old school publishers would take note about.
The artwork really adds to the presentation of the adventure and puts the DM in the mood of the events of Fire Peak.


One of the bits that I like is that this adventure is a system neutral adventure meaning that it can be run with any old school retroclone or edition of D&D. The scale of the adventure is balanced to the material and this is a well done adventure (pardon the pun).
The bit that helps to sell this adventure isn't the gaming Easter eggs scattered throughout the module. But this bit here,"
A GM can set this up as a campaign addition or one-shot, in any Medieval Fantasy RPG system. There are plenty of tips to help do either. Included are some character backgrounds for the heroes noted within as well as an epic poem extolling their exploits. I hope it is as much fun to read as it was to write"
A DM can easily add this as both an epic side adventure or as a complete jump off point to a beginning campaign. The beauty of this one is that it really can be used as a complete package unto itself. 
While the town of Gamington on the shores of Gentle Lake is very nicely fleshed out, there is a ton of room for DM's to customize and have a fine time with the DYI bits of the adventure setting to make it their own. I'd like to see a bit more about Ernesto,  the famous wizard perhaps in a further future adventure. One of the locations that really worked for me was Fire Peak. 
Fire Peak is as nasty and dangerous as it sounds  and a place of danger and adventure. There is lots of hooks, bits, and room to really expand Fire Peak into a location of  flame  filled fun,a place of depravity and old school evil that will challenge PC's again and again.
 To really get the most out of Fighting Fire, I would suggest using OSRIC or 1st edition AD&D as the old school gaming platform. Labyrinth Lord with the Advanced Companion will also fit this adventure quite nicely and with the right balance of PC heroes there might be a chance to survive this one. 
 I can honestly say that I really enjoyed reading this adventure and can't wait to run it. The folks from Creative Mountain Gaming did a bang up job with this one and the editing is nicely done as well as the solid bits of the writing as well as the design.
 All in all I really enjoyed Fighting Fire and can't wait to run this for my players.

Creative Mountain Games

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