Review: "The Black Ruins" by Corey Ryan Walden

The Black Ruins is a module by Corey Ryan Walden for low-level adventurers, released as a free e-book on Lulu with the option to buy a print copy.  Walden has aimed his system-agnostic scenario at the OSR, but claims that it "can be made compatible with newer editions with minimal effort".  After probing this sort of claim while writing my last review, I'm not inclined to believe that things are quite that simple.

Nonetheless, there are components which stand above the rules.  The two hand-drawn maps in The Black Ruins could be useful in any fantasy RPG.  They're not spectacular but are usable and offer eyes tired by TSR-style maps a bit of a change.  A possible complaint is that the maps cover fairly small areas.  The wilderness map is just nine 5-mile hexes drawn into the middle of a hex grid with some encouragement from the author to detail the rest.  Smaller still is the site map, with only eleven keyed entries.

Walden sees his scenario as "part hexcrawl, part dungeon-delve".  Unfortunately, the wilderness map is unnumbered and the DM is obliged to compare the pictured hexes in the body of the module to the main map.  There are summaries for three or four of the hexes (depending on how you read the module), with the rest left to the DM.  Although it's not specified as the starting point, it seems likely that the party is intended to begin their travels in the "town" of Honem.  The Black Ruins only has a single rumour for adventure, a report of an escaped villain with a bounty of five (5!) gold pieces on his head.  Realistic though this may be, it's not exactly a fabulous reward to quicken the hearts of adventurers - or role-players.  The alternative (if unlikely) starting point is the keep of Zhairmont, which is offering 25gp for the slaying of the Leatherman.  Only the most sparing details are provided for this endeavour.

On the other hand, the descriptions of the wilderness are evocative.  Each locale has a paragraph of introduction and what seems to be a single-roll encounter table (i.e. rather than check for an encounter, the DM rolls on a table with a chance of "no encounter").  There are some odd turns of phrase in the introductions and one or two "clanger" sentences, but the mood gets established very well.  Walden's encounters range from the sublime description of the Forest Sage to prosaic "plot-centred" chances of encountering the villain or the Forest Ruins themselves.

The villain is truly worth the 5gp offered for his capture, though I find it a little grating that the party is more likely to run across one unique individual in the woods than they are to encounter one of the bands of roving foresters that plague the region.  The other problem with the villain is that he seems to be in the scenario mainly to get the party near the Forest Ruins - but with such a high chance of finding him, there's a distinct possibility that a group will get their man and their 5gp and move on in hopes of richer pickings elsewhere.  An obvious fix would be to simply remove the villain from the woods encounters altogether, making it more or less likely that the ruins will be explored in the hopes of finding him.

Even once a party gets to the ruins, there's a lot to dissuade them from exploring deeper.  Walden states in the module that this is a scenario which he has playtested, but I'm not sure why his players decided to keep poking around the ruins until they found a way down.  A possible answer is the list of mysterious items that can be found around the surface site - one or two of them would certainly encourage a more thorough exploration.

The weak draws into the dungeon are unfortunate, because it is by far the best part of the module.  Although the map is small, Walden resists the temptation to cram it full of encounters.  He provides sensory cues in his "empty rooms" to help the DM set the tone for the adventure and the monster encounters feel sharp and meaningful.  Some of the more technical descriptions have ambiguous wordings, especially in Room 3, but the general ideas are sound enough.  For my tastes, the Specials in The Black Ruins are simply too random in their effects and the party is not provided with any way of knowing the consequences.  This is particularly troubling because the Specials are the source of the scenario's treasure.  I realise that D&D is a game of bold adventure in search of great reward, but here it feels a bit too much like gambling.

A short conclusion section rounds out the module.  In the most part this is too wishy-washy, filled with "can be", "may be", and "fine".  It would be more help to simply state some possibilities directly, accepting that the interested DM will do the work and the disinterested one will not.

My rating is 3/5, but this is not my usual "3".  I feel that The Black Ruins has the mark of a superior module, but the problems raised above lower its rating.  What Walden has achieved is a good starting point for a DM, but the usefulness of the product depends on the amount of time that the user sinks into it.  I recommend at least a look, but don't expect to run The Black Ruins the same day you pick it up.