Fortress of the Yuan-Ti
From: Wizards of the Coast
Reviewed by: Anthony Lombardi
Fortress of the Yuan-Ti is a new D&D; Adventure from Wizards of the Coast. This is an adventure for four 7th level characters, designed as a sequel adventure to The Sinister Spire. However, the adventure itself is entirely self-contained and can be played as a stand-alone, rather than as part of the sequence Wizards of the Coast published.
Let's put this out there right from the start; I don't typically make much use of published adventures. Not because they aren't any good, but rather because I'm blessed and cursed to always end up with players that do exactly what you don't expect. So when I do get ahold of a published adventure, I have rather high expectations.
That being said, Fortress of the Yuan-Ti fairly impressed me. For a published adventure constrained to just over 60 pages, you would not think there would be a lot of 'wiggle room' in its design. You would be mistaken. The adventure itself has a strong, interesting story to it, as well as a fair bit of detail. Because of this, or perhaps in spite of it, the adventure itself remains rather open. Not only are the Player Characters given ample opportunity to choose different patterns to reach their goal, but the adventure can easily be adapted by a crafty DM to serve higher levels of play, lower levels of play, or even entirely different types of play (lower magic, gritty, semi-realistic, etc). In fact, my experience with Fortress. . . was to manipulate it into a gritty, lower-magic adventure. This required far less work than you would think thanks to the way the adventure was designed.
So that covers the most important aspect of any adventure to me; adaptability. The storyline that the adventure is set against is compelling enough to be an interesting read all on its own, which is what really makes for a great game session or three.
GMs ONLY: Keep in mind that the rest of this review is intended for GMs. If you're a player -- why are you reading reviews on adventures that your GM may run? Shame on you.
But what you really want to know is if the adventure is fun right out of the proverbial box. I'd say it looks to be. You've got the compelling story element, which is terribly important and will make or break the adventure. But you also have a host of maps and stat blocks for everything to be encountered in the adventure. It's all at your fingertips, although you'll still need the Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide. Even the artwork is worthy of being photocopied and handed to players at the appropriate moments.
I've said a lot about how compelling the story is, but I haven't actually told you what the story is, have I? You might well already know. This story is a continuation of that found in Barrow of the Forgotten King and The Sinister Spire. If you're not familiar with those adventures, don't worry - you don't need to be. All you need to know is that the players have come upon the urge to chase down items that were stolen from the tomb of a dead king. But there's plenty more twists and interesting sidestories besides all that, including an interesting reason to remember that just because they're both lizardfolk, doesn't mean they like each other.
The main villain of the adventure is the risen King himself, if and when the PCs fail to stop the ritual to raise him. Facing the King will shove the PCs into a gloomy CR 16 Encounter. Prior to that the lesser villains are all Yuan-Ti or their allies - such as the lizardfolk. Most of the adventure's encounters have a dire, frantic pace, or at least should considering the PCs really can't be hanging around any areas for too long, due to the random encounter rules presented. Where does all this action take place? A rather grotesque fortress carved into the very face of a cliff. It's not easy to maneuver, gloomy, dark, and rather dismal all around. Perfect for fighting snake- and lizard-people.
Were I to offer a complaint about this product, it would be a small issue: The cover. The softbound cover is in no way attached to the interior pages, so that it can be slipped off to reveal the full-colour fold-out maps printed on its interior side. This is a neat feature, but for 20 dollars, I'd much prefer a simple map pack-in or insert. I expect the gaming books I purchase to last a very long time, and books without covers are definitely prone to more wear and tear. Cool? Sure. But it's not a feature I enjoy or would like to see continue. I have to admit, however, that the maps on the inside cover are very nice.
In conclusion,
This is an enjoyable adventure, with a strong central story and comes off overall as very well-written and designed. Its adaptability makes it excellent to keep on the shelf for future use, whether as-is or modified to suit your needs. I've seen many, many published adventures and thoroughly enjoyed considerably few. This one is a gem that I'm glad to own, and had a lot of fun using at the table.
For more details on Wizards of the Coast and their new adventure “Fortress of the Yuan-Ti” check them out at their website http://www.wizards.com, and at all of your local game stores.
(Product Summary)
Fortress of the Yuan-Ti
From: Wizards of the Coast
Type of Game: D&D; Adventure
Written by: Ari Marmell
Cartography by: Jason Engle
Cover Art by: Steve Prescott
Additional Art by: David Griffith
Number of Pages: 64
Retail Price: $ 19.95 (US)
Website: www.wizards.com
Reviewed by: Anthony Lombardi
