Review of The Scouring of Gate Pass by EN Publishing
“I’m not the first guy who fell in love with a woman that he met at a restaurant who turned out to be the daughter of a kidnapped scientist only to lose her to her childhood lover who she last saw on a deserted island who then turned out fifteen years later to be the leader of the French underground.” ~ Nick Rivers (Top Secret, Val Kilmer, 1984)
There are a plenty of movies out about resistance fighters battling against a seemingly unstoppable enemy. Whether set in World War II Europe, or in a feudal Japanese village, there are many striking similarities. These movies are usually set in a war-ravaged town or village, and are full of high drama, tons of suspense, and tragedy at every turn.
Although movies like Top Secret spoof more serious films, the quote above captures just how convoluted the plot of an “enemy-occupation” movie can be. Often, the line between allies and enemies becomes blurred, and those people trusted by the hero may not be all they seem to be, often having their own agendas which run counter to the hero’s or heroine’s own.
And through these movies, in little vignettes played out all around the heroes, there are tragic scenes of common folk trying to survive against the war which has engulfed their lives.
This is the atmosphere that the first adventure of the War of the Burning Sky Campaign Saga presents to D&D 4E Players. In The Scouring of Gate Pass by EN Publishing, Characters must fight to survive in a war-torn town, in the hopes of finding a way to escape before the invading army overtakes them.
The Scouring of Gate Pass
- Designers: Ryan Nock / Steve Muchow
- Illustrators: Cris Griffin (cover), David Hendee, J. L. Jones, Leo Lingas, Ryan Nock, Claudio Pozas, Todd Schumacher, V Shane
- Publisher: EN Publishing
- Year: 2009
- Media: PDF (63 pages)
- Cost: $6.99
The Scouring of Gate Pass is an adventure designed for D&D 4E, and set in the world created specifically for the War of the Burning Sky Campaign setting. The adventure is designed to take a group of 1st Level Adventurers to 3rd Level by the end this first installment of the Campaign Saga. The Scouring of Gate Pass is massive in scope, containing over 25 encounters and quests, ranging from minor quests involving problem solving or a skill challenge, to major encounters, where the adventurers are joined by powerful allies to battle terrible foes. It is possible to adopt the adventure for use in other campaign settings, by using The War of the Burning Sky Campaign Guide, which is free to download from EN World. However, the adventure will make the most sense, set in the WotBS Campaign Saga, and used in conjunction with other releases.
The production quality of The Scouring of Gate Pass is very good, with material presented in a logical fashion, and in formats readily identified by D&D 4E players. The illustrations are very good, and used to enhance the product, particularly the cover art by Cris Griffin, which is very striking. Well-designed maps are provided for each tactical encounter, which allows combat set-up to be handled quickly and efficiently. My only issue with the ebook’s layout is the placement of the encounters at the end of the adventure. While I am aware that this has become the standard “official” layout scheme, to have the encounters placed at the end of a module, separate from the adventure text, I still find this setup to be disjointed. Thankfully, there are numerous bookmarks placed in the PDF to provide quick flips between adventure and flavor text, and the tactical encounter.
Surprisingly, there were a few references to 3rd Edition in the adventure text, such as certain schools and types of magic, and even one mention of a type of poison that I know was in the 3.5 core rules. However, these references really are isolated to “fluff” text, and all “crunch” references are solidly 4E. Nevertheless, it still made me raise an eyebrow when I read something which reminded me so strongly of the previous edition of D&D.
The Scouring of Gate Pass opens with the Adventurers caught in a siege of the neutral free city-state of Gate Pass, which straddles a narrow gorge strategically placed between the warring nations of Ragesia and Shahalesta. The Ragesian Empire, which is flexing its military muscle after the recent death of its emperor, is intent on taking the city, and has sent spies and mage-killing Inquisitors to stamp out all resistance.
It is a frigid New Year’s Eve, and the heroes gather near midnight in a small condemned tavern within the Free City-State of Gate Pass. Located in the mountain pass which separates two hostile nations — Ragesia and Shahalesti — Gate Pass has been neutral since the end of their last war. That neutrality is about to be put to the test, as a scourge comes for the city out of Ragesia.
The Ragesian army is nearly at Gate Pass’s doorstep, so time is short. The war is about to begin.
The adventurers are gathering to meet with a resistance fighter – a cleric of Melora named Torrent – who seeks their aid in fleeing the besieged city. As some members of the party are also targets for the Empire’s Inquisitors, they are likely to throw in with Torrent, and join her cause in the hope of escape.
Without giving away particular plot points regarding this adventure, I can still confide that the plot of The Scouring of Gate Pass is extremely engaging, and the Author tells a great story. The Characters will be pulled by Torrent into a resistance cell, and will have to face not only the spies of the Ragesians, but those of the eladrin Kingdom of Shahalesta as well. Just as with the wartime movies I mentioned in the introduction, the Characters will be faced with tragic events involving the common folk of the city, alongside the main plotline of fighting for the resistance and finding a sage escape route. Good aligned Characters will have plenty of opportunities to engage in acts of mercy and timely rescues, and will be rewarded for their role-playing efforts.
And The Scouring of Gate Pass has plenty of twists and turns in the plotline, and many opportunities for the Dungeon Master to make the play both suspenseful and thrilling. There are sideplots as well, which are designed to allow the Characters to both advance in level, as well as curry favor with the resistance, while advancing the overall plot. Skill Challenges are sprinkled liberally throughout the adventure as well, making it possible for some situations to be resolved without having to resort to a combat encounter.
In my mind, these are the factors where The Scouring of Gate Pass did things very right for a D&D 4E adventure. Regretfully, there are a few key areas where the adventure design is not so right.
Mainly, my concern is with the balance of some of the tactical encounters. Most of the tactical encounters take place with Torrent tagging along as an NPC, and having an extra battle-cleric is not an inconsequential advantage. But some of these encounters, while falling into the expected L+1, L+2, and L+3 for overall Encounter Level, sometimes contain individual foes which are 4, 5 and even 8 levels higher than the Adventurers! Even with the addition of a healing Leader NPC-ally, the magnitude of the attack bonuses and the overall defenses of such higher level foes, grants them a terrible advantage over a 1st and 2nd Level Player-Character Party.
For example, one Level 5 Encounter, designed to be fought once the Characters hit 2nd Level, contains one Level 6 Artillery, two Level 4 Artillery, two Level 3 Skirmishers, and one Level 5 Controller. With attack bonuses of +9 to +11 versus non-AC defenses, the three artillery monsters are likely to never miss Player-Characters, round after round.
Too many of the encounters in The Scouring of Gate Pass seem to be designed under what the 4E DMG describes as “hard” difficulty for the Characters level, and beginning Players, new to D&D 4E would likely find themselves crushingly defeated time and time again, even with Torrent’s assistance. While several of the encounters are designed such that a defeat is not necessarily a TPK (Total Party Kill), the likelihood of Characters dying during the adventure feels uncomfortably high by most standards.
I would encourage Dungeon Masters purchasing this adventure to read the encounters thoroughly, and honestly appraise whether their Player-Characters can handle what is being thrown at them. While access to a raise dead ritual is written into the adventure, no Player wants to see his 1st Level Character die, and cost the party hundreds of gold in residuum just to keep playing.
Overall Grade: B+
The Scouring of Gate Pass is definitely worth taking a serious look at for a long-term campaign arc. The presentation and story are excellent, with an engaging plotline and lots of dramatic twists. And the amount of material packed into this 63-page adventure is definitely worth the cost, given that it will take many game sessions to fully explore the plot The Scouring of Gate Pass - that’s a lot of playtime for only a few bucks! If you’re play schedule is anything like my campaigns, it might take your Player-Characters up to two months to quest-all-that-is-questable in The Scouring of Gate Pass.
The only shortcoming that I can find is in some of the encounter designs. While most the monsters are exciting and “hand-crafted”, rather than simply recruited from a Monster Manual, they might overwhelm a lot of adventuring parties, particularly because the encounter designs fall into a hard difficulty framework. DMs using The Scouring of Gate Pass with neophyte D&D 4E Players are strongly advised to edit the encounters, and consider replacing a few enemy troops with minions to lessen the impact, and save their Players from the embarrassment of total defeat.
So until next blog… I wish you Happy Gaming!
Grade Card
- Presentation: A-
- - Design: A
- - Illustrations: B+
- Content: B+
- - Crunch: B
- - Fluff: A-
- Value: A-
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