Title: Heart of Nightfang Spire
Price: $4.99 (PDF), $9.95 (Softcover)
Publisher/Year: Wizards of the Coast, 2001
ISBN: 0786918470
Author(s): Bruce R. Cordell
System: Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition
Rating: 3/5
Heart of Nightfang Spire is the fifth of the Adventure Path modules, designed for four 10th-level characters. Completion of the module should yield enough experience for them to reach 12th or 13th level.
The author is Bruce R. Cordell, who wrote the original module (The Sunless Citadel) which was generally well-received. That module was a dungeon crawl with diverse elements and a slam bang fight at the end. Nightfang Spire shares many elements of the Sunless Citadel, perhaps too many.
Let's begin with the design and artwork. This module features the by now standard setup of the Adventure Path modules. The inside covers feature well-designed, textured maps by Todd Gamble. They are a pleasure to use and refer to, and I believe are superior to other d20 publishers' efforts. The interior layout makes use of small text: thankfully, Wizards of the Coast (WOTC) has returned to the smaller fonts of the first three modules after the larger ones of the Standing Stone, giving us more content in the same 32 pages. There is also very little white space, and the margins are not large. The boxed text is easy to distinguish while still being easy to read, lacking any of the distracting backgrounds favored by companies like Atlas Games. Important information is contained in sidebars set off from the text. This is frequently useful, as I have found myself flipping back to sidebars to reread them as I read through the module. This design is clean and functional, and it works well. It deserves high marks.
The artwork, unfortunately, isn't as good. The cover picture by Jeff Easley shows three adventurers hovering (by various means) over a tower while being attacked by a scrubbing bubble with two long tentacles and bat wings. (The module notes inside that the creature is the horrific mooncalf, an otherworldly monster from the far side of the moon.) I'll grant that it looks like a very angry scrubbing bubble, but it still didn't remotely strike fear into my heart. It's also unfortunate that the adventuring party has traded in the reliable Krusk and replaced him with Quasimodo, although the scrubbing bubble is putting him out of his misery. All of this action takes place miles above the earth, which is only faintly seen below the massive paralyzed worm that sticks bolt upright from the bottom of the painting. Oh, by the way, the sky is filled with strange swirling colors that don't seem to make a lot of sense. Click here to see the cover. (If anyone has a larger image of the cover, I'd appreciate it if they would mention it in the forums. This small one really doesn't do the cover justice.)
Aside from aesthetic issues, this cover also has a major problem. In the module, the mooncalf lies in wait just inside of the tower to spring an ambush on the players. Any player who sees the cover is going to expect an attack from a scrubbing bubble at the top of the tower. It pretty much ruins the surprise value of the monster, which is intended to be a very shocking initial encounter for the players. I think this kind of cover shouldn't be used in the gaming industry precisely for this reason. Willie Walsh wrote in about the cover on Dungeon #12 on this very issue many years ago, and Dungeon doesn't have blatant covers like this anymore. I wish the module design team of WOTC would follow suit.
The interior art is by Dennis Cramer. I usually like his artwork and this module is no exception. The vignettes and character drawings are evocative and very useful to show to players. I particularly like the picture of Redbone. The poison dripping off her claws is a great detail to show the players and should raise everyone's blood pressure. Another nice detail is the diagram showing how the parts of the dragon key fit together. The big exception is the full page of artwork on page 26 showing the center of the Spire. The big heart is well done, but I'm not sure what the tentacle shaped thing is, though I surmise it is supposed to be a catwalk. The bigger problem is that Gulthias, the master insane vampire, has entered this module after a stay in a glam rock band from the 80's. It's jarring for an insane, power-mad vampire who likes to brood with only a large organ for company for weeks and weeks on end. I don't think this picture sets the right tone at all. This is by far the biggest scene in the module and shows the climax, so it weighs badly on the art as a whole. Overall, the art in the module doesn't aid the roleplaying experience or the feel of the adventure as much as it should have.
Many of those who read the Sunless Citadel wondered about the origin of the Gulthias tree. The questions are answered nicely in this adventure, where the vampire Gulthias has escaped his staking and returned to torment the world. He has returned to prepare his undead cultists to expand the power and reach of the worship of Ashardalon, the great red dragon. Characters must penetrate Nightfang Spire and destroy Gulthias and the nightmarish heart of the dragon Ashardalon or Gulthias and his undead cohorts will grow more and more powerful.
The module is divided into essentially three parts. The first part consists of the approach and the physical spire itself. A variety of lesser undead and remnants of the cult populate these levels, along with an imaginative gibbering mouther and an unlikely demon "ally". The second part of the module covers the catacombs beneath, where characters battle more powerful undead and girallon servitors to assemble the four parts of the dragon key. The PCs then use the key to enter the Core and battle Gulthias and destroy the heart.
First of all, the character hooks to begin the adventure are weak. The characters are essentially expected to just enter the dim defile for some reason and stick around to explore the tower. There isn't really any specific reason for the PCs to explore the tower besides curiosity. Once they get to the tower, it is completely self-contained - essentially the perfect dungeon. Almost all of the action happens inside the spire, with a very few exceptions, which I will discuss below.
As the characters progress through the tower, there also isn't much reason for them to keep going besides Gulthias' attacks. This doesn't really contribute to the dramatic tension. In addition, the characters don't really have any clue about what is going on in the tower. The only way they find out things is by having the denizens tell them things in a fairly transparent manner. For example, the mooncalf will mention Gulthias before dying, just so that the characters know that someone named Gulthias is behind the whole thing. In the spire proper, there is a caged demon who will spill the beans if freed. Instead of the characters learning what is going on through their own experiences, they just get told everything in the first third of the adventure. If the characters bypass this demon or don't listen to him, they'll never really know what is going on. I think a definite way to improve this module would be to foreshadow the events much more clearly. One could have reports reach the players that the Sunken Citadel has been disturbed and an empty coffin found where the Gulthias tree once stood. Maybe rumors of Gulthias returning could crop up in the adventure ahead of time. In addition, since the night hags forage for food, the characters might encounter one of them going about its grisly business. As it is, the module seems a little too mysterious, and the attempts to circumvent this a little too blatant.
Finally, at the end of the adventure, there isn't really a clear next step. Other modules in the series have had fairly obvious jumping-off points, even if they weren't always the best. Looking for Ashardalon or other members of his cult seems like an obvious next step, but the sidebar on this and the cover of a later module in the series make it clear that the players won't fight him until the eighth module when they are something like 18th level. The spire is almost completely self-contained and doesn't have many references to new locations or opponents. Since the next module is based in the Underdark, I presume the PCs are supposed to use the rebellious girallons' food and escape passage to enter the Underdark, but there is no clear reason to go down there presented in the module. The module lacks motivation at both ends, really.
Bruce Cordell makes excellent use of the flexibility of third edition (3e) in designing the possible opponents of the PCs. The PCs' assailants are in general imaginative and sometimes very clever. Every major villain has an interesting twist to them that shows the care and thought that went into this module. Examples range from a gibbering mouth vampire with a unique backstory to an assassin wight who coats her wasted hands with poison. Every important monster encountered in the adventure has some interesting twist that should surprise the PCs. All the monsters act intelligently in combat and when dealing with the players.
The mooncalf is the new monster in this adventure. While the monster itself is reasonably interesting, very little background on its motivations or goals is given, neither in the general description nor pertaining to the specific individual in this module. I can't really figure out what it is doing here besides being new and cool. Perhaps it is designed to tie in to the insane sorcerers of the Speaker in Dreams, but this is just supposition. A little more background or motivation would have made this encounter more interesting to run, with the monster taunting the characters telepathically while it fights.
It's also refreshing to see a possible ally for the PCs in the form of the rebellious girallons. This introduction of Diplomacy and role-playing is always welcome in any adventure, especially when it can be adequately justified, as it is here.
Gulthias is a vampire wizards who seeks to revitalize his cult through the addition of undead cultists. He believes that if his cult grows large enough, Ashardalon will return. Through his connection to the heart, he has unparalleled undead abilities and can grant minor powers to his minions. He also can view 10 different sites in the spire and catacombs. His tactics are presented as him shadowing the PCs and directing his troops to attack the PCs at the most inopportune moments. I think this approach works well, and shows very good design. I like the idea of the reclusive head monster who strikes from the shadows and feel it works well here.
Essentially, Gulthias is a religious fanatic, willing to do whatever it takes to bring Ashardalon back. His primary method is through growth of the cult. For me, this doesn't make him a very interesting head villain.
One minor point that I appreciated seeing in this module was the attempt to more realistically module life in the dungeon. The rebel girallons have access to a passage to the Underdark where they can obtain food and water. In addition, specific mention is made of two night hags who provide the servitor girallons with sustenance. While I think this is still a little impractical, it does represent a big improvement from the Sunless Citadel, and I'm glad that the author took the time and effort to put these little details in. They make the module stronger and create additional options for playing the adventure.
This module is a dungeon crawl in the traditional mode. The players enter a mad wizard's tower and must battle his minions, assemble a plot device (dragon key), and then use the key to enter the villain's lair and defeat him. I have to admit I groaned when I came to the dragon's key. Why in the world would a wizard make it possible for people to enter his inner sanctum? Since he can assume gaseous form or travel through the gazeway, why doesn't he just keep the key in the core? There is some mention that the key is used to sanctify various regions of the catacombs, but this makes no sense to me. (Of course, it doesn't have to make sense, because Gulthias is mad, see?) It seems to be there purely as a plot device for characters to get into the core, and as such suffers from the flaws of all such plot devices.
As another traditional element of the dungeon crawl, there are many traps littering the area. Of special note are the traps that trigger when characters attempt to take the parts of the dragon key. Three of the four keys are trapped in one way or another, so the resident rogue in the party must defuse the trap before the characters can proceed. It's all very predictable and in keeping with a very traditional dungeon crawl.
Another thing about this adventure is that it is in some ways very simple. The characters just have to kill everything in the dungeon besides the girallons (and even they can be killed without real consequence) and gather the keys, finally killing Gulthias. It's pretty much unrelenting slaughter all the way through, because the monsters are all undead and can't be reasoned with. To top it all off, the head monster is insane, and no provision is made for playing him in any way except seeking the total extermination of the players.
The other traditional element of this adventure is the final climactic battle with the boss monster at the end. The characters must fight Gulthias, who takes full advantage of his various abilities. And the heart just sits there. I believe the qualities of the heart are underutilized in the climax of this adventure. Using it as Gulthias's coffin is somewhat imaginative, but all it does in the battle is hover there, and after Gulthias is dispatched, it falls and hits the ground with a splutch. And that's it. No climactic explosions, no holy light from on high, nothing. Just a lot of mummified tissue on the ground.
Like the previous modules, this adventure utilizes the 3e mechanics well. I noticed no clear errors in the rules, and care was taken to anticipate the spells that players might utilize to overcome various obstacles. Also, this module contains a fair amount of treasure, much more so than was available in previous modules. Without a lot of calculation, it seems roughly commensurate with the amount expected for a treasure of this level. There are several powerful armor and weapons (of 2 and 3) and several miscellaneous magic items as well. Of course, this assumes the characters do the standard dungeon crawl thing and sift through the trash and ground of every room they come across. In addition, at several points in the module it tells the DM to roll for magic items on a specific DMG table. I really don't like this advice much - I mean, what am I paying for this module for if it just tells me to roll for items in the DMG?
Also, this module is hard. If your 10th level characters do not have a good grasp of tactical combat and do not work as a well-oiled machine, they are going to get slaughtered. There are just too many combatants with too many special attacks. Also, the hit and run tactics of Gulthias will wear the players down. This module is probably more appropriate for 11th or even 12th level characters.
This module continues the arc of the previous modules, relating directly to events in the Sunless Citadel. Its relation to the Forge of Fury is weak, and the only relation to the Speaker in Dreams is a possible link through the mooncalf. The relation to the Standing Stone is clear, since it was the druids who eventually drove off the dragon Ashardalon.
One problem I have with the module is that it seems too similar to the Sunless Citadel. Both modules involve old fortresses sunk into defiles. They both have a small group the players can befriend fighting a larger group allied with the head bad guy. They both have this insane head monster directing things from a place of power allied with an artifact associated with the natural world. The insane head monster wants to rule the world, but he spends all his time hiding away. They also both end with a climactic battle with the head monster. In some ways, the Sunless Citadel comes off better. There is much more motivation to explore the Sunless Citadel, and these motivations are addressed throughout the module. There are also more power factions there (rats, kobolds, goblins, Belak and his minions) than there are in the Heart of Nightfang Spire. I also believe the final battle with Belak and the servants of the tree is more interesting and varied than the final battle with Gulthias.
This is in some ways a real problem, because you would expect that as the characters go up in level and power that the combats would get more exciting and varied, but it doesn't happen in this case for the final battle.
In addition, the modules themselves don't seem to be getting more complicated. Of course, the modules are limited to 32 pages, so they can't create detail without limit, but perhaps the design constraints are just too stringent on this project. This is the third dungeon crawl we've had out of five modules, and the Speaker in Dreams might as well have been a dungeon crawl for all the control players had over events. I would like to see more variety in the design and goals of these modules.
This is a very competently done dungeon crawl. It has interesting elements and good use of the new flexibility of the d20 rules, but motivation is lacking and it has some of the traditional flaws of the dungeon crawl as well. There doesn't seem to be any real effort to break away from the mold of the traditional dungeon crawl, and that worries me, because the characters for this module should have a variety of skills and approaches. It would be nice for the core modules to cater to as many of these skills and approaches as possible.
If you want a good dungeon crawl for this level, then by all means pick this up. If you don't want a dungeon crawl, I would avoid this. There aren't enough elements that can be cribbed to make the purchase of this module worthwhile if you aren't going to use the Spire itself.
.jpg)
