Tomb of Annihilation by Wizard of the Coast
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, September 11th, 2017 at 05:45 (39674 Views)
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/store...p?id=WOTC5ETOA
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First Impressions: 4 Stars, 42/50 Points
I’m really excited about this adventure and I really like how this product has been arranged in Fantasy Grounds. Simply put, there is a massive amount of content that has been expertly put together into what promises to be an exciting adventure and a great resource for expansion and/or homebrew creation.
The DM and Player versions of the Chult maps are key to using this adventure because there is simply so much content, so many images, maps and story entries that having these location-based links are key to navigating the content. It is very important that you read the entry (Story or Reference Manual) titled “Using This Module in Fantasy Grounds”, it is well written and has a lot of important information.
There are a few things though that are either inconsistent or lacking that bother me. These mainly are around not having unidentified values for the images and not all NPC’s being included in encounters when it is expected they will need to be added to the Combat Tracker.
Quality: 11/15 Points
Though I expect some minor issues to become apparent when DM’s start to use this in running campaigns, a detailed review reveals next to no errors, mistakes or omissions.
The most significant quality issues are with many of the maps. At least a dozen battlemaps (Acid…, Blood…, Rot…) are rotated so that the embedded squares are not horizontal/vertical. Which means an FG grid can not be applied and therefor token auto-scaling etc. is not possible. This is one of the key capabilities of FG and these images really should have been rotated and had an FG grid applied to them. Also, it would have been nice if the battlemaps had been provided to SmiteWorks without grids already in the images so that FG grids could have been cleanly overlaid, but the images have been scaled cleanly and an appropriate FG grid overlaid so this is not much of an issue.
Lastly, not all traps and hazards are handled consistently within the story entries. In some cases, they are included in encounters, and others they are not even though in these cases it is likely that the DM will want to add them to the Combat Tracker in order to apply their effects or actions.
Completeness: 7/10 Points
Unfortunately, there are a couple of serious issues that should be addressed; No images have unidentified names. In my view, all images should always have a set value for the unidentified name, even if it is a duplicate of the identified name or something simple like “Vista”, “Ship”, or “Scary Statue”. Something else that should be noted is that the DM battlemap versions do not have FG grids on them, so they are not encounter ready. Though since both Player versions of the battlemaps with FG grids have been provided, this is not much of a detractor, only something to be aware of.
And, even though there a relatively large number of maps (and both DM and Player versions), there are still many encounters and locations that do not have maps. Fortunately for FG users, Zacchaeus has provided a free map module with more maps for these encounters (just search the FG forums for the thread).
Creativity: 10/10 Points
As I said earlier, I really look forward to running this adventure, it promises to be unusual and fun and has a bunch of cool artwork that will help inspire everyone in the group.
As for the Fantasy Grounds module, the conversion has been well done except for what I mention elsewhere. Plus, there have been several useful additions to the FG module including the creation of NPC’s for the traps and hazards, and the first time I’ve seen this, the addition of the “You Are Here” and “The Party is Really Here” story entries and map pins. These two story entries and pins are so useful that they should be considered mandatory for all future location based adventures.
Value: 10/10 Points
I’ll say that if the FG module was being sold at the suggested retail price, the value would be questionable, but at $25 USD, this is a great deal that not only did I not hesitate to buy, I can recommend buying this module just for all of the new NPC, maps, items, and story elements.
Versatility: 4/5 Points
There is a great deal of re-usable content in this module and it also serves as a location reference for Chult (a jungle island). The number of locations, characters and related resources promise that this module can be used multiple times with vastly different play experiences with only minor adjustments or additional material being added.
For details on the review system and interpretations of the ratings, see Virtual Scribe Reviews.