Madness at Gardmore Abbey(Box) [Import anglais] [Anglais] [Jeu]

This product is quite possibly the best 4E D&D product that I have read yet. And I've read 70-80% of them out there. They all range 1-3 stars with some few that are a little better. But this product really surprised me. It's got an excellent concept and the execution is really well done.

IF you're a player, the only thing I have left to say is tell your GM to get this so they can run you through it! Otherwise, don't read on because of SPOILERS.

So if you're a GM, this is really an excellent product. The concept of this mini-campaign revolves around the Deck of Many Things. This has always been a fan favorite since 1st edition and it's really cool and amazing to see them not only bring this magic item back (well, it was already brought back in a Dragon Magazine) but to devote an entire mini-campaign around it. The writers rewrite the Deck as an artifact that's been scattered. So the players start with one of the cards and they try to gather all the other cards to complete the deck. While attempting to do this, they get hired by three benefactors that give them various minor to major quests. During the journey of completing all these quests (in and around Gardmore Abbey) they'll come across another group hired to also complete the Deck, various factions that range from an Orc clan, to a red dragon, a beholder and others! Some of these factions are even designed with possible RP-ing involved so that the players don't have to fight and kill everything they meet. And, it's not just the factions, but various encounters are also designed so that smart players can succeed in them without having to resort to combat all the time. It's really impressive how many encounters are designed like this. And on top of this, the real bad guy pulling all the strings is randomly determined by which card you (the GM) draw from the Deck! The bad-guy will turn out to be one of the 3 benefactors that hired the players in the first place! Or you can always just choose one as your villain. It's really clever and well done. All 3 characters have their positive and negative motives for using the players and/or wanting the Deck for themselves. It's not so black and white their motives.

And finally, the Deck itself is an artifact but the writers rewrite the cards so that each card can be played during an encounter. And each card has its own unique affect which will effect the encounter. It's really well done. And yes, the monsters the players fight that possess their own cards will of course use them against the players!

So this is a really well crafted mini-campaign. The writers state that if you play through every scenario, the entire thing should take 10-12 sessions though you can just abridge certain encounters or skip them entirely to fit your campaign. I honestly love this thing so much, I'm thinking of adapting it to my Dark Sun campaign. If every 4E product was this well written, what other system would you play?

For "Madness at Gardmore Abbey" to come out just before the dreaded reveal of the new edition in the works is bad, because a lot of people will begin holding their money or trying to get the books on PDF torrents instead of purchasing this box. And what a huge mistake that would be. Because this is a fine product, probably the best 4e story so far.

Your players can start from several very good adventure hooks, even linking the super adventure with previous quality works such as "Reavers of Harkenwold", which leaves room for the DM to flesh the plot with ideas of his own. But right away they bump into the new storyline regarding the Abbey and the secret which brought the garrison to an end: a powerful artifact of Chaos, which is woven into the story in such a subtle way you don't feel it as a "commercial" plotline. Moreover, there are quite a few open villains, hordes of monsters and even "neutral" rivals -a different party of adventurers, described with their own personalities and moral definitions, no less!-; yet the main drama comes from the misterious Secret Collector, who can happen to be someone your characters know from a long time -specially if you ran "Keep on the Shadowfell"-, someone they respect or someone who has a goal of family love. It does not matter: in the end, the Secret Collector has become corrupted by the Deck of Many Things, the aforementioned artifact.

Plus, the end of the adventure may deliver either great treasure or doom for a player character. If it is the latter, then the whole party is on the verge of a new adventure. Why? Because if players gather the whole Deck, its true magic is released and a person can make a draw. Depending on the random card drawn, the character can gain riches or disappear, prisoner somewhere far, far away. In the meantime, before the Deck is fully assembled, each card has a lesser power which can be used during encounters.

On the technical side, the box has good stuff inside. Books are printed in quality paper, maps are great -although, as usual, too few, but hey, Wizards has to make money from Dungeon Tiles and the like-. Tokens are not as good as in the Monster Vaults but they do. The Deck of Many Things, however, features wonderful artwork, and the two included treasure cards are certain to inspire lust in your players.

Monsters and encounters are well planned, and you get to have companions, such as an orc fighter or an eladrin maiden warrior -with whom I've fallen in love with, much to the chagrin of my wife-. Certain villains will want to make an alliance with your players, while others will strike on sight.

Roleplaying is a MUST. It's up to the DM to get players to like or hate the NPC's and get into their character skins. Moral choices are to be made. This is 4e at its best, so get it. And gather your players ASAP.

I have played campaigns on previous editions with the Deck of Many Things, and it's always been a fun plot device. I was very excited to see it come back for 4th edition, and picked up Madness At Gardmore Abbey right away.

Recommend this for interested DMs, not much in here that would benefit players that do not DM.

What this includes is an actual deck to draw from, dungeon tiles and monster tiles specific to the included mini campaign, and 4 booklets. The booklets are very detailed on what the Deck can do, and it has many options. In combat any cards held (including by enemies) get randomly activated, changing how that encounter could play out, from if you stand on this square you get bonuses, to actual changing of the landscape, making the players have to come up with some more tactics than they otherwise would. When you gather all of the cards the deck becomes an artifact, able to benefit spell casters as a magical item, and starts to decide if it likes the person using it or not. At any point the holder of the deck can draw from the deck, but whether or not it likes you can give you bonuses, like you draw 3 cards and pick your favorite result. Drawing from the full deck can open up whole new plot devices, if they draw poorly the other players may have to embark on a quest to go rescue them from a prison, or many other results. Just keep in mind, draw from the deck like this, and it is gone forever!

Included is a fairly open campaign with lots of options, giving a good story on gathering the deck to assemble it into the powerful artifact one at a time, opening up very cool possible fights like a Beholder who has a couple cards, and whenever it looses so much health, it activates another.

As always, the mini campaign is totally optional, if the DM wants to include the Deck in their story they could create their own story on how it is gathered, or simply give it to the players however they want, even if you don't want to use the included story, this is still a good buy, if only for the 32 page book on the deck itself, and the included dungeon and monster tiles (can never have too many). Still, the campaign is a good one, and at least worth a read.

I cannot wait to run my players through this!