Death Frost Doom - review

Spoilers ahead! Skip to the last little section if you want the spoiler-free summary.

I really like this adventure. It's by James Raggi, who can be found at Lamentations of the Flame Princess. It features lots of traps, some really cool magic items (that often have bad side effects), and the chance to unleash an undead horde on the world.

I have the 1st printing, which is a black and white digest-sized book. I like the artwork throughout, which is atmospheric. There were a couple typos, which I believe are all fixed in the second printing. Compared to some other products I've bought recently, this book was very well edited.

The encounter with Zeke is interesting, and sets the tone. The cabin where the cultists operated out of seems very similar to the one found in Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2. It's creepy, but not flashy.

The actual dungeon has a sprinkling of interesting magic items (my favorite is the Ring of Vanishing). The Purple Lotus is also interesting, kind of a new take on the Deck from AD&D.

I'd be very surprised if the majority of players did not destroy the plant guardian, which is too bad. I wish there was some clue that it should be undisturbed. I would add in something semi-obvious, that if the players ignored, would be their fault.

The vampire is an interesting bad guy. It's likely he won't even fight the PCs, but will help them instead. But if the players have good characters, the choice they have to make will really bother their characters.

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Following the Death Frost Doom adventure is a short adventure labeled The Tower. It's pretty neat, and is basically just a big trap for players. If they try to do what the trap shows, they will have big problems. If they just fight their way through, they will still have problems, but it would actually be the wiser choice (other than the best choice, of just not entering).

It's a fun little adventure, that I think would best work for a short solo one-off game. It would be great as an introductory adventure for an older person or someone who has played other rpg's but not S&W or 1e.

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Overall, I highly recommend this adventure if you like horror stuff, and it would be a great Halloween game. If your players just like to bash skulls, they might not like it. But if they like investigations, delving into old tombs that seem unguarded, or just scary movies, they should have a lot of fun.