Planescape review: People Under the Falls
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 it 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.
People Under the Falls
In which a secret Gate opens on the Prime, engendering the Heroes' perilous Descent into a Complex that is home to Foes both numerous and unpredictable.
- Designer: Colin McComb
- Source: The Well of Worlds2, Chapter IX
- Party: 4-6 characters of 9+ level
- Play-time: 1 session
- Locations:
- Beastlands / Krigala (L1) / River Oceanus
- Arborea / Olympus (L1) / River Oceanus
Overview
Hired to escort a barge down the River Oceanus from Beastlands to Olympus, the party arrives at a mid-way stopover, the Portage Inn, located half a mile downstream from the waterfalls near the border between the two realms. The characters immediately find that everyone at the inn had been slaughtered, and a thick trail of blood leads to a hole in the ground nearby.
Following the spiraling underground tunnel, the party discovers a cave system hidden under the falls they just passed on their way to Olympus. A two-page spread of nine keyed locations describes this location and its denizens quite succinctly. Currently, the caves are packed by the slaadi preparing a full-blown invasion through a Limbo portal hidden deep in the complex. In summary, the character might encounter 20 green, 30 blue, 1 gray slaadi (for a total XP value of just over half a million points), and a non-aggressive spectre (unrelated to the invasion). Other dangers include environmental hazards and traps along the way. The final showdown with the gray slaad leader armed with a dancing vorpal axe happens near the portal and takes either the form of a one-on-one duel or a full-blown skirmish with its minions, six new ones emerging from the portal every five rounds until the characters manage to destroy or disable the portal, which concludes this module. A couple of suggestions for the follow-ups are presented in the epilogue.
Presentation
🖋️🖋️🖋️ superb
The area descriptions are clear and succinct. A single-level 10-foot grid map with a proper legend is included. In addition to the usual statblocks, a decent write-up on the slaadi ecology is presented at the start of the module.
Openness
☀️☀️ semi-linear
The branching layout of the caves provides some variability, and the outcome is not predetermined (though quite predictable for a well-experienced party).
Quality
★★ good
I would hardly call it an adventure — a title of lair would describe it more precisely. And as a lair, it's a great and memorable one, of a size that is just large enough to fill up a single session. Also, with minimal effort, you can replace the current slaadi occupants with any monster type that you need at the moment.
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