Slavers: A Greyhawk Adventure (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Official Game Accessory) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

At last, a sequel to the epic story of modules A1-4, Scourge of the Slavelords! I was so excited to see this finally make it into print that I bought 7 copies. A brand new Greyhawk adventure, based on the modules of old, but an entirely new experience, with no rehashing! How long had I been waiting for this? The enthusiasm wore off a bit as I plowed through the module's 128 pages. I haven't had a chance to play this adventure yet, but I have a few reservations about the experience. The adventure begins well. The humanoid clans of the Pomarj, scattered into chaos once again by the heroic depredations of the adventurers of 20 years ago (A1-4), have once again been reunited by a Slavelord - this time, it is the grim, charismatic Turrosh, a half-orc princeling who shows ingenious savagery as both lord and conqueror. The dreaded yellow sails, not seen on any armada for years, have once again become the symbol of death and slavery throughout the Wild Coast, and even as far as the Nyr Dyv. It's time for a new generation of heroes to put an end to the menace! Things get a little sticky as the scenario continues. A bit more reading reveals that this isn't really a heavily-scripted adventure; actually, it's more of a sourcebook with detailed encounter keys. The PCs are given no single incentive to go from point A to point B - and although the work is impressive for its non-linearity, a bit of frustration sets in as the DM realizes that at least 10 hours of preparation will be required (after the preliminary reading) to make this adventure come to life. But don't let that throw you off! The more you read, the more you realize that the book is set up so that it can be perfectly customized to your campaign. Even better, it gives exhaustive, detailed, and imaginative settings, many of which are famous and well-known to long-time wanderers of Greyhawk: Hardby, Elredd, Highport (at last!), and more are revealed for the first time with well-planned encounters and many pages of lore. What's mostly lacking is the dungeon crawls - there's a few slaver outposts highlighted, but the book's pages are mostly spent detailing the settings of the adventures, rather than detailing the adventures themselves. One of the most impressive aspects of the sourcebook is the great ideas. We're treated to the ruined, shipwreck-dotted coastal village of Cantona, whose non-Euclidean angles and magical wardings prevent summonings and teleportation; the Yellow Tooth Kobolds of the Pomarj, who create makeshift floating villages with which to harass the unwary; the Temple District of Highport, where we get to read about the intriguing worshippers of Vecna, Iuz, Incabulos, and more; and the return of Stalman Klim, with his insidious plots to spread the Cult of the Earth Dragon throughout the heartlands of the Flanaess. The final "dungeon," the Temple of the Earth Dragon, is creative, fun, intense, and well-planned; but, this section is abysmally short. The hopeful DM is left with the idea that someone cackled, threw a handful of ingenious ideas into a cauldron, and then... forgot to stoke up the fire. If you're looking for flashing blades, sizzling spells, and piratical scenes of mayhem and drama, you'll likely be disappointed. But if you want an outstanding sourcebook that provides lavish detail on some of the most eternally mysterious corners of Greyhawk (which happen to be very close to the Free City itself), you'll find Slavers to be an excellent resource, with the seeds of many potential adventures. May it live long and free!

At once I was pleased to find that several of the original Slavelords had survived and had rebuilt the organization. This super module provides enough action and plot to put together an entire Greyhawk campaign for characters that are roughly 3rd or 4th level. It also provides plenty of side adventure hooks and ideas to keep the action going and to come in and out of the campaign to keep things fresh. Several key towns and cities are described to provide locales for action and to act as bases of operations. Several slave lords are familiar and several are new. The story will take the characters on a ride across several parts of Greyhawk during their quest and serves as a good means of "jumping" in to the setting. All in all this is an excellent module that should provide players and DM's with many sessions of thrills and action.

There are all kinds of contradictory feelings about the original A1-4 series. My group's experience in particular was not very good.

If only we had own Slavers! instead of A1-4 everything would have been different. The new module is more challenging but undoubtedly more fun than the original, with unexpected twists. All in all, it is more juicy.