Planescape review: Hard Time
For the last three years, I've run a Planescape1 campaign through almost all of its modules. Now, after successfully finishing it, I want to look back and review these adventures, highlighting the pros and cons of each one.
Each module will be rated in three categories, up to 3 points in each:
- Presentation: how easy is to understand and run the adventure.
- Openness: how open the adventure's scope is, regarding the freedom of choice.
- Quality: Overall quality of the adventure, including the originality and richness of its content, and players' enjoyment.
The full list of currently published reviews is available under the #planescape tag.
Hard Time
In which a Quest for the spirit of a Sage brings the Heroes to dreaded Colothys, where they endure Mountains of Trials only to become Trapped in a struggle of Titanic proportions.
- Designer: Colin McComb
- Source: The Well of Worlds2, Chapter V
- Party: up to 6 characters of any level (low levels preferred)
- Play-time: 1 session
- Locations:
- Outlands / The Dwarven Mountain
- Carceri / Colothys (L4)
Overview
The party receives the simple task of retrieving a dwarven sage Zeracuk for their factol in a timely fashion. The problem is, that the sage in question had recently died and should now be present at the Dwarven Mountain as a petitioner.
After a short venture through the quintessential dwarven afterlife (blacksmithing and excessive drinking included), the characters will find out that Zeracuk was misplaced, switching places with some cross-trader bound to Carceri. Thus, to complete their mission, the characters must jump into a readily available portal to Colothys and rescue the poor dwarf before something happens to him.
The fourth level of Carceri is a harsh land of bottomless canyons and high peaks, presenting some perils in travelling. Despite that, it is fairly densely populated, which might provide some additional problems for the party. Since this is a short module, there are just a few locations described here, including the small ramshackle town of Gaola, the village of Straifling populated by misplaced petitioners, and the final destination of the journey — the Temple of Crius, a legendary titan.
Besides these, there are also a couple of encounters that could happen along the way. One — with a friendly giantess who is trying to find a way to the realm of Grolantor — the god of hill giants. The other encounter is with an exiled yugoloth, who could become a useful ally of the characters in the later adventures if approached wisely.
The realm of Crius where the dwarven sage went is a gargantuan temple of non-human proportions, spanning more than a thousand feet wide (the map scale is immense 40 feet per square). Just getting to the main entrance poses a certain challenge, forcing the characters to climb a set of 6-foot-high steps. The temple proper is the main highlight of the adventure and will provide some fresh and unusual challenges to the players due to its titanic architecture.
To conclude the adventure, the characters can either find Zeracuk on their own, escaping to Sigil through a portal known to the sage, or they could stumble upon Crius himself, who will either jail them or propose a game of riddles. Either way, if the players act wise, they can escape unscathed along with the sage.
Presentation
🖋️🖋️ useable
Following the trend of the anthology, the layout and presentation of the module are very usable. Rules for travelling on precarious trails of Colothys are present, forcing PCs to think about how to traverse this land of cliffs and canyons in a most careful fashion. Crius's Temple is properly keyed as well.
There are some issues though that prevent me from granting the adventure the top score. There is no scale given for the overland map of Colothys, making it somewhat difficult to follow the time-based travelling rules given at the start of the module. Absent maps of the local settlements is another issue, though not in any way a major one, but I would still like to have them even if they would come in some rudimentary handout form, to show the players. There are also no random encounters present.
Openness
☀️☀️ semi-linear
Starting very much linear, the adventure soon provides some possibilities for meaningful decisions by the party. Alas, the small amount of material given for the region is not enough to qualify it as a proper sandbox. The temple part is a good environment that can be used on its own for other purposes outside the module's scope.
Quality
★★★ outstanding
My players found the adventure entertaining and fresh, quite enjoying interactions with NPCs and inventing creative ways to raise their odds against the mountaineering issues. The only part that is somewhat questionable, is Crius's riddle, which was felt somewhat out-of-the-universe by some players. Overall, the module sustains the reputation of the "Well of Worlds" anthology and I can wholeheartedly recommend it.
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