Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 793
EAN num: 9780786918300
ISBN number: 0786918306
Label: Wizards of the Coast
Manufacturer: Wizards of the Coast
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 32
Printing Date: January 02, 2001
Publishing house: Wizards of the Coast
Sale Popularity Level: 330416
Studio: Wizards of the Coast
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Sinister forces terrorize a town
The town of Brindinford is in the midst of its annual streat fair. Joy and merriment abound -- until calamity disrupts the celebration. Are rival gangs responsible? Is the government sliding into tyranny? Or is a nightmarish plot about to come to fruition?
The Speaker in Dreams is third in a series of stand-alone adventures for the Dungeons & Dragons game. You're in for a wild ride in this river town. Leave the dungeon behind -- the terrors lurking in Brindinford are more challenging by far!
To use this adventure, a Dungeon Master also needs the Player's Handbook, the Dungeon Master's Guide, and the Monster Manual.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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Having read all of the previous 15 reviews I am surprised at the level of negativity for this adventure.
Firstly, I would like to address some the recurrent criticisms about this module.
1. Not all the information is present. Incorrect. Details appear in the appendix for all named characters. There are a few creatures missing, but they are easily found in the Monster Manual (which should never leave the GM's side!)
2. The plot is linear. What?!? Did people not read the adventure? This is one of the most non-linear adventures ever published for Dungeons & Dragons in all of its incarnations! Additionally, the flow-chart in the back which serves as a great re-orientation tool specifically states that the "...flowchart should not be followed rigidly." The layout and interactions between scenes has a very Shadowrunesque (from FASA fame) feel about it. Me thinks that they protest to much and whereas the weakness is in fact with the people running this adventure.
3. Why does the Evil Villian want to take over a small, inconsequential town when he really wants to conquer the world? Duh! Have to start somewhere and really, think about it...if four 5th level heroes can defeat him do you really think that the Villian was destined for World Domination? As for the Villian being weak, so is a badly made clay pot - its what the artist does with the clay that dictates whether the end result will be any good or not.
The only criticism that holds any water is the leap the story makes between defeating the Villians lackeys and then suddenly there are Demons running the town.
I got around all of these problems by simply planning my campaign in advance. I've never just 'dropped' my characters into a module, if you do, then they will naturally feel as if they are caught mid-film or something. I used 'Speaker in Dreams' as the base on which I built an entire campaign which featured material from TSR's Birthright campaign setting, the City of the Invincible Overlord boxed set, and WHFRP's Death's Dark Shadow sourcebook. The town was vibrant, alive and the PC's were devestated when NPC's that they had spent 'years' getting to know started getting murdered.
I digress. The adventure is solid, the plot is believable, the villian very, very deadly if played right. The only weakness that I found (demons mentioned above) I resolved by having that event take place first. Which is to say the Temple of Pelour was the very first victim, only the townsfolk didn't know it. The Demons slowly built up their numbers and when the PC's have dealt to the last of the Villian's lower-level retainers he's forced to play the Demon card...quite simple really.
Hope that helps. Finally, if you're still having trouble revealling a plot to players, even though their characters' actions haven't dictated that they would discover certain things, then I would suggest you use the 'Cut Scene' concept explained in WotC's 'Galatic Campaign Guide' for the Star Wars game. My players loved the cut scenes; especially when they got to roleplay them out.
Rated by buyers -
I'd tried in the past to create my own event- or story-based adventures, and have failed. Site- or encounter-based adventures seem to be easier for me, but they're lacking in complexity and sometimes in plot.
This module was my very first encounter with a real event-based adventure. While it wasn't spectacular, it wasn't bad, either. In fact, if nothing else, running this adventure may help teach a DM how to run an event-based adventure. The encounters can be used in different orders, and there's what basically amounts to a flow chart to hold the whole thing together. The story is a little weak at times, but the NPCs are intriguing, and the encounters are interesting and challenging .
While my favorite will still be the site-based adventure, this is an example of a decent event-based adventure.
Rated by buyers 
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If there was one bad thing to say about this adventure, it's that it was too good!
The DM has to work hard to get the full value of this module because there is so much going on at the same time. The reward is well worth the effort though, as your players will light up at the feeling of being immersed in a city where things are going on all around them whether they are looking or not.
This story-driven adventure is a nice change from an event driven dungeon where sometimes you get the feel that the monsters were "in stasis" waiting for PC's to show up and deal with them.
This adventure is full of plots, side-plots, plot-twists, rumors, and red-herrings and it is a lot of fun for the group to try and separate fact from wives tale, important from meaningless, to slowly uncover the trail that leads to what is really going on.
Rated by buyers 
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Very little information provided on NPC's and monsters. You have to look up EVERYTHING! Which makes game time real slow. Also, Gather information checks are HIGH, bring your bards! Rather tough battles, HIGHLY confusing for characters to run through. Mine kept looking for a missing town guard, which was a complete waste of gametime. My main gripe was the complate lack of information on monsters/NPC's, and no place provided in the book to write in what you need when you game.
Rated by buyers -
This module has a city in trouble from a manipulator. The problem for the DM is that if s/he just inserts this on the campaign, the players could feel like they got into the theater halfway into the movie.
In my case, I had already bought "The Sunless Citadel" and "The Forge of Fury" before starting the campaign. Comparing the towns depicted on the modules, I decided beforehand to use Brindinford (from Speaker in Dreams) as the characters' HQ. This allows me to build up the events in Speaker, so the players can feel that they are not being dropped in mid season.
Besides that, I think this module is a very good one to use as a break from too many Dungeons.
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