Review - UK4 When A Star Falls

 

 

UK4 When A Star Falls (1984)

by Graeme Morris

High time I did my 4th review, and it's a suitable one - the 4th adventure module I used in the current AD&D campaign, it was published with the code UK4, and some of the party were 4th level - spooky!

I was excited to run When A Star Falls, like a small child on Christmas morning, or a student heading to the nearest bar after graduation, I couldn't wait to get the players started.  I had originally purchased it back in the mid 1980s, and somehow had never got around to actually running it for my school-friends of the time.  This time, I slotted in into the middle of the UK2-3 series, due to the difficulty issues of that series, something I'll explain further on the reviews for both of those.

The cover is wonderful!

Physically UK4 is typical of the TSR -published adventures from the era, with a 32 page booklet, and the maps provided on 2 loose card covers. However that is about as far as similarities go.  Within those 32 pages you get one of the most sumptious plots ever devised for an adventure of this level range (3-5).  The story revolves around an old sage by the name of Shalfey, the significance of the appearance of a Shooting Star in the night sky, and an uprising within the Sage's tower.  Add to the mix the best introductory encounter ever written for a module, a Derro lair devastated by the Shooting Star, an adversary tracking the party's moves, and a group of dodgy Svirfneblin and their machines, and you have the potential for some highly memorable gaming.

Many of the pages have a header like the one above

 - these not only look great, but they are helpful too - a very nice touch.

The level of detail in the adventure is unsurpassed and full of flavour.  Graeme Morris has provided information regarding each Sage's fields of study, rituals and motives of those within the Tower, along with interesting treasures and some solid opportunities for the players to test their roleplaying chops. The other lairs are also very well described, and have a solid and realistic feel to them.

 The stats of one of the Sages

There's a great deal When A Star Falls to keep slash-happy players content too - most of the combat encounters are very nicely done, and very, very, VERY difficult.  So much so that I cannot support the entirety of the recommended level range, it recommends 6-10 characters of levels 3-5, I would revise that to be 6-8 characters of levels 4-5.  As with UK2, it puts the party in some congested locations, against numerous and mobile enemies, thus it could easily become a bloodbath with a large party of level 3 PCs.  My own group got beaten to a pulp on 4 separate occasions, lost 1 PC, and needed a piece of fairly generous DMing to avoid a TPK in the final encounter.

So then, what could possible go wrong, surely this is perfect?  Well actually, it isn't.  All that lush detail, beautifully written, can easily end up being forgotten, ignored.  Do we need to know a Sage is a specialist in the field of astrology when the aim of the party is to kill him?  Some of the encounters are also a little heavy handed.  Towards the end of the adventure the party need to defeat a particular enemy, which is likely to be a decent challenge - very soon afterwards they encounter a group of bigger ones along with their creators.  The aim is to ensure the PCs parley deal with them, as it is obvious they are totally outgunned.  And then there's the aforementioned final encounter, which feels almost like a kick in the teeth - it is INSANELY hard for a group of low level characters, which is why, as I wrote earlier, I used a bit of generous-DM-fiat to allow them to escape.

I keep thinking back to when we played this module more than any other - was there something I could have done better as a DM?  How could I have conveyed the beauty of it more effectively to my players?  Maybe it just wasn't best suited to my group, who tend to enjoy zany, gonzo old school madness? Or maybe it was just that their PCs weren't quite *tough* enough to focus on the detail, when they had to put all their efforts into merely staying alive?  Nevertheless there were some highly memorable moments, it just didn't quite live up to the lofty expectations I had of it.

Presentation wise When A Star Falls is superb.  From the evocative cover illustration and interior art, through the excellent maps, the quality of writing, depth of information, the attention to detail and ease of use.  There's one hell of a lot of adventure in those 32 pages, it just needs the right DM with the right group in order to get the best from it and do it the justice it deserves.

Presentation: 9/10 – very nicely done, great cover, solid interior art and clear maps.

Brawn:  10/10 – um yeah, it's not so much a case of a lot of fights, it's the nature of them. Very tough.

Brains:  7/10 - no real puzzles, but a great story, lots of RP potential, and the party will need to be tactically astute and creative in order to survive.

Overall: 8/10 - one of the best adventures to read, sadly not all of that will come out in play, but it's still a very fine romp.