Today we’re looking at When the Shimmer Fades, a level 2-4 adventure for Shadowdark by Matthew Pfister aka GnomeLackey. This adventure features a short hexcrawl and a 4-level, 45-room dungeon set in the nicely detailed region called the Shimmering Vale.
Long ago the people of the Shimmering Vale abandoned the gods of their fathers and turned their devotion to the Prince of Avarice, Gapobaga. For this they were cursed, and their temple destroyed. Gapobaga was imprisoned deep below and the remains of the temple are still occupied by the cursed worshippers, now divided in the Magpii – those that are seeking redemption, and the Curpii – those that still worship greed.
We get a decent-sized region with 19 hexes, 6 of which are keyed. Even the un-keyed hexes get a description depending on the biome where they reside – forest, water, mountains or plains. There are also biome-specific random encounters, all of which offer some interesting situations to interact with. Details of the locations themselves are a little sparse but there’s enough to inspire the GM and add some intrigue and adventure beyond the dungeon itself, should the players so choose.
The layout is pretty novel and deserves a screenshot:
So there are a few interesting things going on here. In the initial description we’ve got a short version and a long version. I guess you have to decide if your players are focused enough for the long version (protip: they aren’t). For the most part, both descriptions contain the same key information but there are a couple of places where they don’t, and the GM will probably want to scan the long version to make sure they don’t miss anything. I don’t think that’s intended.
Things on the left side are color-coded to things on the right side. You will also notice some of the text on the right-hand side marked “INFORMATION”. Let’s just go ahead and move those to the left side and directly into the room key. While we’re at it, might as well move the treasure over there as well. Easier to follow that way. But then we’ve kind of lost the purpose of laying it out this way. We still have the monster stats on the right, that’s ok. And the connections would be useful for anyone running in theater of the mind. But you have to ask yourself if the layout is serving the writing, as it should, or if the writing is subservient to the layout. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate reading an adventure, any adventure, that doesn’t follow the Shadowdark template. But I think this needs a little more work before it really elevates the usability of the adventure.
Once we get to the dungeon we’re greeted with a few bespoke mechanics – there is a network of goblin tunnels that can be navigated by small PCs with an INT check and will allow sneaky, safe traversal of the dungeon. There is also a black ichor in certain areas with slugs that can attach themselves to PCs and occupy a gear slot. They can be removed with a STR check but I would probably make it a little harder – maybe fire, with a risk of harming the PC. Something that makes them think “maybe this little guy ain’t so bad”.
There’s also a brewing conflict where the bad guys (the Curpii) are trying to bust down the magic so they can fight the good guys (the Magpii) and maybe free Gapobaga. The clock doesn’t start ticking until the PCs enter a certain room. I think the sense of urgency would be better served if they had some clue to this at the outset.
The first floor is mostly collecting treasure and maybe talking to the Magpii. In fact, a party could loot about 400 gp without encountering any resistance except maybe some wandering rats. We could use some HOTTness here – a little risk to go with the reward.
Things improve on the 2nd floor, where the PCs will have to contend with the black ichor, chase treasure goblins that steal their gear and maybe negotiate (or fight) with the Curpii. The PCs will also have the opportunity to foil the Curpii’s plans and possibly get in way over their heads. Good stuff. A party that lives by the sword will probably die by the, well, claws in this case, but you get my point. Due to their numbers and ferocity, the foes here are probably more of a puzzle to be solved rather than a problem to be stabbed.
The third floor has an area where PCs may make an offering to Gapobaga. If their offering is “worthy”, they get a boon: “Whenever you find coin of any value, find that much +1 GP” otherwise they get a curse: “Until you provide a worthy offering, you obsess over your possessions. You must pass a DR12 CHA check to discard or change gear. You can do this check CHA/day (minimum 1).” The boon seems a little on the weak side. I might make it a d10 or something. The curse is great.
On the whole, the text supports the themes of avarice and redemption well, with lots of attractive opportunities for the PCs to succumb to greed. It does get a bit repetitive as many of the rooms essentially give the PCs the option of giving something of value in hopes of getting something in return. A lot of press-your-luck mechanics. I can see how they might wear out their welcome. At least they often have negative consequences along with the benefits.
And there’s just a nice density to the whole thing. Lots of hazards to contend with, strange things to poke and prod and figure out. Unique monsters and NPCs to contend or cooperate with.
On the final level the party can battle the Prince of Avarice himself, should they so choose. Normally I would say that a level 4 party might have a decent chance against a single level 16 foe. But this one has some maybe possibly imbalanced abilities – “Crown of Avarice: All hostile spells are canceled with a spellcasting check less than 20. Heals HP 3x spell tier.” and Thought Seize: On hit gain ADV on checks against target (d6 rounds).” It’s not that much more powerful than the level 16 archdevil from the core rules, but I would expect any but the most clever and strategic parties to be reaching for new character sheets. We are also told that his treasure pile contains “thousands” of coins. HOW. MANY?
Whether they defeat him or just nope out with their backpacks laden with much booty, there’s an epilogue that explains what will happen to the Magpii and the rest of the Shimmering Vale, seeding some additional adventures. A very welcome inclusion.
The NPCs could use some flavor. For the named NPCs, we don’t get any personality traits, goals or fears. Nothing really to help the GM make them come alive. And many NPCs aren’t even named. Three gnome captives will leave you scrambling for your handy list of fantasy names. You’ve got to give the NPCs something to differentiate them from each other, make them memorable, and help the GM to run them. At least Grab a book of random tables like the D30 DM Companion and a make few rolls before hitting “publish” on your adventure.
And mechanical snafus abound. Monsters have the wrong amount of hp for their level, area of effect attacks are described as a ‘cone’ (there’s really no way to adjudicate cones in Shadowdark). Random encounters occur on a 1 or 2, and the floor number is deducted from the roll. That means, on floor 3, there’s an 83% chance of a random encounter every 2 rounds. That’s too many. Skill checks sometimes use non-standard DCs. Maybe these are minor offenses, but they’re also the easiest things to get right.
To be honest, after reading the first floor of this dungeon I had a pretty negative impression. But levels 2 and 3 sold me. The author took some big swings. Results are mixed but it’s got heart. There’s a lot of fun interactivity, some challenging situations and an interesting premise. Definitely worth a serious look.
On a scale of 2-12, When the Shimmer Fades gets 8 stingbats.
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