[Review] Praise the Fallen (OSR); Aspiring Champion

[Adventure]
Praise the Fallen (2018)
Graphite Prime (Graphite Prime Studios)
OSR
Lvl ??? (4-6)

Prince prince prince review actual OSR. You can’t do magazines and interminable magical kung fu game reviews all year. Fine. Graphite prime has been on my radar for a while so now might be a good time to check him out. There’s only one caveat. He’s kind of artsy…

Overal adventure quality is pretty good. A fertile mind, hampered by what are ironically some layout and useability issues.

There were those demented powers that wanted to return all to naught, to become one with the Ever Slumbering Void. Pantheons collided and the heavens shattered with war. Untold cosmic powers were lost without their names ever spoken by mortal tongues. Countless legions fell. Defeated in their gambit of annihilation, they scattered across the universe. Several of the Fallen, fell to this world, forever imprisoned at their point of impact.

An assault upon a secretive shrine to a fallen angel, staffed by a cult dedicated to primordial annihilation, some of them transfigured by the Primordial Void. Somewhere between Warhammer, H.P. Lovecraft and Fate:zero. There’s some unwholesome 5eisms (recharge dice and advantage brrrr) inching into the thing but it is really quite a fun little adventure. No level recommendation, which has been amended in subsequent adventures and generic OSR, which is B/X – OD&D by any other name.

Simple hook, the players find a treasure map leading to a secretive shrine in the mountains. Roll d12 3 times for the fallen names. Zaphzeluthon! And we are off!

Promising map, even if it doesn’t really resemble a temple and the cultists having to inch past a lake of black pudding to reach the statue of their idol of worship does stretch credibility a bit. There are plentiful muh loops and some secret doors, properly telegraphed. The myriad idols, shrines, permanent annihilations and pools of shadow hammer home the theme. But where, you might ask, is the key. This is where the problem starts.

Artsy! You might be tempted to think, so fuck what? GP will just present the damn things in order so I won’t miss anything and I’ll still be able to figure out where everything is. But then, on the next page, haha!

The point is that having a map key would allow you to navigate the pages in an organic fashion while the current model means I might have to flip through several pages to find the room I want and I’m paranoid players might miss something. Because of the loops and branching paths in the map it is not really possible to predict how the PCs are likely to navigate it. Using a normal key probably would have worked better, even if it does require keeping a map open on a seperate tab.

Random encounters not set to a fixed frequency/turn ratio. Naughty Naughty! Many of the encounters are just cultists, hierophants or undead, but some are more interesting: Escaped prisoners, ogres or deserters. I think a minor opportunity has been missed to describe the cult a bit. One or two lines would have helped flesh them out in what is otherwise an adventure that attempts to cultivate a strong atmosphere. Of note is the last encounter, The Phaen Witch, a 200 year old 9th level spellcaster allied to the cult, who has an increasing chance to show up during an encounter, with the ability to teleport away and replenish her strength before appearing again.

Encounters proper is a decent mixture of weird shrines, bands of cultists, prisoners that can be rescued, undead dwarf slaves that will serve if the PCs are willing to engage in single combat with their champion, ghouls hanging from the ceiling as punishment for their betrayal and normal monsters given unholy powers by their link with the void. The impression of organized resistance is given, particularly with an organized smackdown at the end, where the cult has gathered in an attempt to rouse their fallen patron, but there is regrettably no genuine order of battle, alert status, or intelligent defense, which I think is a missed opportunity.

The shrines and statues add a bit of exploration. There are many dangers that can be bypassed if the characters obtain an amulet from the hierophants. Shrines that will reveal their riches if a C character prostrates himself before them, shrines that compel characters to cast themselves onto it, pivoting statues revealing secret doors, pools filled with void matter that will grant either annihilation (three saves to pass, jeez) or supernatural abilities. You get your permanent annihilation, your glimpses into the future, your Things that Man Was not Meant to Know, your blades of Shadow. A lot of stuff of the fuck around and find out variety. Clasp hands with the angel and either have your face permanently mauled, or receive a weapon of shadow.

Encounter wise we are still with one foot in the D20 era. Things frequently have interesting abilities (pale ogres with some sort of scalding breath weapon, say), but they attack in a straightforward manner. There are two large smackdowns with dozens of cultists which is very satisfying and the showdown at the end should prove possibly fatal for all but the most formidable adventuring parties but still, expect a lot of straightforward combat. Organization, a reward for clever thinking, maybe the ability to bypass a difficult encounter (and to be sure, if you have the key, you can bypass, say encounter 28), this is still something that is being worked on.

Treasure is a little on the dull side. Lots of random items and gemstones worth 2d4 x 100 gp and that sort of thing. The unique material is interesting and well themed but the bulk does not rise beyond the occasional ’embedded with opals.’ The decision to have angelic light engulf the players and remove the Void Blades and medallions (which allow perfect sight in darkness) if the adventure is completed, is probably a wise decision, but where the fuck is the treasure at the end? Also, 500 gp hidden in the rubble? That’s a lot of rubble. Total treasure is around 12k, with a lot of magic items, but the division seems a little off. Its placed in a way where you get that GP understands that it needs to be hidden, but the hiding place is almost a formality.

A promising start, and quite fun.

***

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