Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan Review

Warning: Adventure spoilers abound, here. In a nutshell I like it well enough. I mean, the art is not all that great (having been cribbed directly from the original), but it is free and has some pretty cool stuff. Based on the level and cultural theme of this adventure, it could work really well as a sequel to Going Ape!.

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If you DMed a session of Lost Crown of Neverwinter soon enough, then chances are you got this adventure as an added bonus sometime last week. It is basically the 1980's competition module of the same name, updated for the current edition. Having never played the original, and while I am not sure how close they hit the mark the original authors seem to be pretty happy with it.

The adventure starts out with the characters legging it from a bunch of angry, savage warriors, presumably after trespassing on a sacred burial ground.

Or jacking gold idols. They take that shit seriously.

In an M. Night Shamwowian twist the characters actually end up just stumbling into the ass-end of the dungeon and have to find their way out, dealing with the spirits and undead that inhabit it. To make matters worse there is also a poisonous gas that prevents them from taking an extended rest, while at the same time paring off their healing surges the longer they stick around. Fortunately a lot of the encounters are not well padded, throwing only a couple of monsters at a time at the party, and some do not even need to be fought.

There are a lot of little things in this adventure that I really like: neat dungeon dressing, logical traps and hazards integrated with monsters, monsters willing to actually talk, a deadly game of pelota, will-o-wisps that try and draw you into traps, and more. There are even rooms that just contain traps, and now that anyone can notice and deal with them I am curious how they will be received. I also like a lot of the monster design, such as the vampire in Area 7; he cannot cross running water, can turn into a cloud of bats whenever it wants, and lacks a double-attack mechanic until it can pick up its axe (which is a cursed item), after which it can use it as a minor action.

It is a damned shame that this is not something that anyone can just buy without spending a ridiculous amount of cash on eBay. At the least it would be nice if WotC would post it as a pdf download.