Review: “The Eye of the Sun” by Eric Cagle

The Eye of the Sun was the second of the free “Original Adventures” series that was released by Wizards of the Coast in support of D&D 3.5, not the fourth as you might have inferred from prior reviews on this blog. The module was designed for a party of four 4th-level characters and requires just the core rules for D&D 3.5 or Pathfinder.  Although this module is no longer available for free, you can pick up The Eye of the Sun for $0.99.

As a nine-page .pdf, The Eye of the Sun is short even by the standards of the Original Adventures series.  It does feature a full-colour map, although at a one inch to two hundred foot scale this is essentially an illustration. The module notes that this map had previously been presented in Wizards' “Map-a-Week” series, with Cagle's version differing only in having a few labels attached. Perhaps the intention was to showcase Map-a-Week and give an example of how to make use of content from that series?

The adventure background is, to my jaded eyes, a cliché. I'll give you the short version: Teotihuacan was once run by lizardfolk, but fell ages ago. The action picks up in the frontier town of Tooj-Reh, though the place gets very little description other than rather inconsistent references to fire damage caused by a mysterious light emanating from lost buildings in the jungle – the “Eye of the Sun” referred to in the adventure title. Cagle's plot calls for the characters to meet a shaman named Siroo in Tooj-Reh, who will give them hospitality and perform the vital task of exposition. In case the PCs are not falling over themselves to go adventuring, there's a staged event in which another fire is started by the mysterious light for them to participate in. Cagle does have the good grace to suggest an alternative: that the PCs would find a treasure map and follow that to the adventure instead, and I found this far more appealing than the scenario he actually developed.

A bright spot in The Eye of the Sun is a sidebar on the everyday problems of the jungle. Weather, navigation and insects all get a satisfactory write-up. However, the PCs can expect just one EL 4 encounter on their three day trek to the source of the light, an ambush that they (apparently) have no chance to detect. No random encounters are proposed. 

Random monster repellent.

That brings us to the main site of the adventure. Here, Cagle proposes something so astonishing that I have to quote him.

“You may choose to spring a random encounter with 1d4 [enemies] on the PCs at any time they seem to be managing the situation at hand too easily. The [enemies] fight to the death.”

In the first place, this encounter isn't random. Call it a “fiat encounter”, or, more aptly, a “punishment encounter”. But it's the rationale for the punishment that is really infuriating. Players should not be punished for good play. If they're doing well – good for them!

The main site of the adventure.

I don't have such strong feelings about the fixed encounters at the main site, but they aren't particularly good. There is what amounts to a trap, although the module does not propose to give any experience for the encounter as would be standard in the 3.5 rules. The not-trap encounter also doesn't make any allowance for smart play – using the rules as written, none of the logical approaches to the concrete situation are any help. If I wasn't still outraged over the “random encounter”, this would probably make me angry. Other than that, The Eye of the Sun has three EL 4 threats to manage, and these shouldn't cause much trouble unless the party falls prey to the not-trap. The treasure rewards for the adventure as a whole are about right, although many of the valuable items are only really mentioned by worth, with no figures for their size or weight.

Very little of the concluding sections is worthy of mention. I was intrigued by the suggestion that the PCs might find a complex beneath the main adventure site. 

My rating is 2/5. I really don't like this adventure and can't recommend it to anyone.  Beginners, in particular, should stay away from the bad habits it encourages.  However, the module is playable in the strictest definition of the term.  If one were using it merely as “bridging material” for getting to a much more engaging adventure site – perhaps beneath the main site of The Eye of the Sun – then it could be fairly tolerable, especially if run with an eye to allowing intelligent play.