from: Atlas Games
Discount Price: $20.95
Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Usually ships in 9 to 14 days
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Paperback
EAN num: 9781589780040
ISBN number: 1589780043
Label: Atlas Games
Manufacturer: Atlas Games
Page Count: 126
Printing Date: October 02, 2001
Publishing house: Atlas Games
Sale Popularity Level: 1625194
Studio: Atlas Games
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
An Encounter Sourcebook for the D20 System
Edited by Michelle A. Brown Nephew
You've scoured the dungeon, looted the dragon's horde, and lived to tell the tale of your brave deeds. Now it's time to push on to the subsequent village, where still more fortune and glory await ... but you have to get there first! On your path lie restless spirits, strange hallucinogenic plagues, homicidal innkeepers, bloodthirsty magical weapons, demonic livestock, uncontrollable constructs, not-quite-abandoned temples, obnoxious missionaries, bands of thieving children, alien creatures, conniving bandits and brigands, profiteering bards, mischievous fey, and a host of other obstacles to complicate your journey.
En Route is a collection of short encounters that GMs can easily insert into longer adventures of their own design, or use as transitions between published modules. En Route goes beyond glorified battles with random monsters; each encounter is a story unto itself, playable in about an hour's time or less. Designed for a wide range of locations and character levels, this book will be a valued resource for every fantasy D20 System campaign.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
Preventing an overland journey from deteriorating into a tedious succession of random encounters has always been a struggle for me as a DM. Therefore, when the player characters found themselves over 300 miles from the subsequent plot point in the main storyline, I was keen to try out some of Penumbra's mini-adventures:
Dancin' The Night Away
"A travelling party is charmed into serving at a pixie's dance and must escape."
- very harsh: all of the DC 20+ Will saves are not something that I would want to inflict on my players very often. If you take away their ability to act, then you reduce them to a passive audience. They are sure to find this trying on their patience.
- However, it is in keeping with the reputation of the fey as enchanters and illusionists. Gwydd and his band of cheeky tricksters are only after a bit of fun at the adventurers' expense, but their ploy stands a significant risk of backfiring.
- The player who heard Amadan's warning should have known better, but he fell for it hook, line and sinker. Fortunately he had the diplomacy skills to patch things up once he had realized his mistake, but not before half the party had succumbed to sleep arrows.
- keep in mind that, according to the Monster Manual, the pixies' sleep and memory loss arrows do not do any damage (contrary to what is stated in the text of the adventure).
Dead Drunk
"While visiting an inn, the party runs afoul of a drunken poltergeist that possesses one of the players."
- a great scenario to use when one of your players skips a game (as an NPC, his drunken antics are more inexplicable)
- the player in question is still wondering what his character got up to in his absence - it has become something of an in-joke amongst the others.
The Fox's Fraud
"A small party meets a waylaid traveller alongside the road, who is really the leader of a bandit troupe that uses subterfuge to mask its small size."
- my players were not intimidated at all by the ruse, and attacked the bandits immediately. You will need to put in a lot of effort to sell this scenario convincingly.
- dependent upon Spot and Listen checks for the adventuring party to know that they appear outnumbered. Many of the characters were oblivious to the fact, and acted accordingly.
Goblin Trippin'
"Although goblins and men rarely coexist peacefully, one particular band of goblins has more than a malicious gleam of hatred in its eyes. What has stoked these wicked creatures' fury so greatly?"
- by interrogating the Goblins, they discovered that a nearby village's grain supply had been infested with ergot
- a good encounter for the druid (or any herbalist) to shine, while also providing an opportunity for heroism in warning the village
The Hellcow
"After a strange encounter with an old man and a cow, the party has to deal with a troublesome spirit that possesses animals."
- the heroic ranger who rode forth to assist the farmer was suitably perturbed when the old man clutched his chest and fell to the ground
- there was much discusion amongst the players whether to eat the cow or leave it be
- a great encounter for adding a touch of humour to an overland adventure, with plenty of opportunities for the players to endeavor creative solutions
A River Runs Through It
"Religious fanatics and a pack of mischievous pixies block the party's progress across a swollen river, demanding that they submit to an embarrassing ritual before crossing the only bridge."
- one of the player characters submitted to having all her hair shaved off, but the others were having none of it.
- with only 13 hit points, Shoshanna was an easy target, standing on the bridge. She toppled into the water and Andros, her charmed bodyguard, dove in after her ... in half-plate armor
- the party included an elf and a half-elf, who were immune to the pixies' sleep arrows
- in the end, a last minute diplomatic plea from the party druid saved the day. Fortunately, none of the pixies themselves had been attacked, so their attitude was only Unfriendly and not Hostile. The druid convinced them that the joke had gone far enough, and they called a truce.
Sideshow Of Doom
"An evening's entertainment turns to terror when the heroes discover that the freaks in a sideshow have been created from former spectators."
- a good scenario involving detective work. My players enjoyed piecing all of the clues together.
- brought out some character abilities that had previously been little used: gave the Ranger an opportunity to use tracking; the Druid put his Spellcraft to good use; and the Rogue employed Use Magic Device on Gadrian's wand, to return the sideshow freaks to normal.
- Circus of Fear, the Penumbra adventure due out in 2002, was never published.
Wayfarer's Rest
"The ... Read More
Rated by buyers 
-
I am not a huge fan pre-boxed adventures. Still I can recomand any DM to pay the price for this fantastic book.
In short, this book contains 21 ready to play adventures that will take only a short while... say between half an hour and a couple of hours. But they will be memorable adventures, that can realy spice up the long hours on the road or fill time between two adventures. These adventures will stand out in the memory's of your players way more then the average "You are out on this path and two muggers jump up to you" ....
The adventures are balanced and need very little preparation time. Read thru the pages and you can run it basicaly. The artwork is in black-and-white and not always realy top notch, but the quality of the adventures clearly sets a high standard.
Best of all, most adventures either require a "non-combat" approach or have a "non-combat" solution.
Personaly I love the encounter that features a great golden oak with rubby applesize nuts in it. However, beware of the gnome in that giant oak tree.
Rated by buyers -
En Route is a sourcebook that provides a great variety of short adventures for a role playing campaign. The quality of the writing and the originality of the scenarios are both praiseworthy, but best of all is the fact that most of the adventures can be solved with only a minimum of armed conflict. That is not to say that the adventures are not challenging--quite the opposite. Rather, players will have to adapt to a variety of situations calling for diplomacy, cunning, or a sense of humour to overcome the obstacles described here. I think my favorite adventure is "The Hellcow," in which the PCs are set against...a perfectly ordinary cow. A riot!
Find other books like this one:
