Review: "Force of Nature” by Mark A. Jindra

This review covers the second of the free “Original Adventures” series that Wizards of the Coast distributed to support D&D 3.5. Mark A. Jindra's Force of Nature is intended for four 18th-level characters, and requires the three D&D core rulebooks (Player's Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, and Monster Manual) or the Pathfinder Core Rules and Bestiary. Jindra also recommends having four additional supplements on hand.  Although this module was originally free, the re-release on DriveThruRPG costs $0.99.

Force of Nature is a fairly good-looking seventeen page .pdf, really a bit better than I'd expect for free content. While it doesn't have any illustrations, there are four detailed situation maps. Sadly, in a trap for the incautious, three of the maps use a one square to five feet scale and the other is one square to ten feet. There's also an inset area map which doesn't have any scale on it, although I suppose the scale could be worked out from the size of the objects.

Jindra bases the adventure in Porthaven, a wealthy trading enclave historically protected from natural disasters by a magical machine. However, the machine has exhausted its fuel supply and the city is threatened by volcanic eruption. Only the PCs are capable of travelling the elemental planes to refuel the machine and ward off disaster! The DM is informed that Porthaven is being evacuated as the adventure begins and that “rivers of lava will reach what is left of the town in only a few short hours”. This kind of “ticking clock” is a sound approach because of the versatility of high-level adventurers – hand them the initiative and they will prepare an unstoppable steamroller. There are useful character sketches of the principal NPCs who have been tasked with begging the party for aid and the adventure hooks are decent if, in my opinion, a bit too prosaic for an 18th-level party.

At least Force of Nature got it right when it put the party on the clock.

And that's about all I can say in favour of Force of Nature. This isn't the worst adventure I've ever read, but it's simply not fit for purpose. Not only are the challenges all combat, but they're far too easy. Most of the encounters are below level, none are above, and of the two that are at the party's level only one is a substantial challenge (the other looks to be over-rated by the CR system). Worse, the module doesn't include any details about expected treasure other than a brief mention that Porthaven's rulers are prepared to offer some reward but cannot empty their city's treasury.

While I gave the scenario a good gloss above, it has problems too. For starters, the ticking clock might be a good idea, but I wouldn't put it past 18th-level spellcasters to stop or slow the advance of lava. (Repeated castings of Wall of Stone, Move Earth, etc should have some effect – right?) Also, the party doesn't go off on a merry jaunt through the planes braving whatever perils might come their way – something that powerful adventurers ought to be able to cope with – but instead embark on a kind of glorified milk run, hopping from one shielded area to the next via planar portals. The Elemental Plane of Fire and its famed City of Brass make an appearance, but only as scenery. One problem that is readily forgiven is that high-level adventurers would be expected to have a great deal of history, quite possibly involving them in Porthaven before disaster strikes. There's very little that a module designer can do about that, other than setting adventures in truly exotic locales.

My rating is 0/5. I went back and forward on this, but my final judgement on Force of Nature is that it's simply unplayable in its current state and that anyone wanting to run it as an adventure (as opposed to a dawdle) would need to re-write it with the power of an 18th-level party in mind. Even if you were happy with the absurdly low difficulty and the scenario problems, there's still work to be done setting the treasure. I would recommend the module only to those who really want the kind of rebuilding task that it demands.