Mitarra: The Agenda of Itherelle Centepedes!
From: Silven Publishing
Reviewed by: Ron McClung
Mitarra: The Agenda of Itherelle Centepedes! is a new d20 Fantasy Adventure Module from Silven Publishing.
Centipedes! is the first in a long series of adventures that make up the Agenda of Itherelle. It is designed for a party of four to six 1st-level characters. It introduces the players to Mitarra, a mystique land of mystery and magic, and the community of Ravennora. The series is several interrelated adventures related to an evil entitie’s attempt to conquer a nation – something he has been planning for decades. The characters go through the natural progression of discovering a conspiratorial threat by first discovering it, then investigating its nature, and finally reaching the source of the threat.
From the website:
“Monstrous centipedes attack the town of Ravennora. Where did they come from? Are there more?”
The PDF starts out sort of backwards in my view. It throws you right into the action without much background. The background informationis in Section 3. Section 1 is the adventure and is divided up into 11 parts. From Ravennora Attacked! to Board of Inquiry, the author takes you through the first adventure of this series.
The Adventure itself is a mixed bag. It starts out with a large scale battle between the town militia and some civilian volunteers and 3 centipedes. Instead of just giving the GM stats and a map and let him handle it, it is refreshing that the author supplies a large scale battle script for the fight against the bugs. In general, it is a pretty hokey way to get people started into a campaign, but it works. At least it does not start out in a bar.
Once the players are hooked, they are hired to investigate the origin of the bugs and perhaps find the nest. The journey takes the characters deep within the wilderness around Ravennora. They follow the trail of the centipedes that escaped (or the trail the centipedes took to get to the town) and have several encounters. They encounter spiders, weather that forces them to stay in a ghost town, a bug and kobold infested mine shaft, and hidden hamlet. All locations and encounters are reasonably detailed out. However, my biggest problem with this PDf is the mapping. The cartography leaves a little to be desired. There is no scaling, they are hard to read, and a few are not labeled.
On the positive side, it had considerable detail. It includes game and combat notes with sidebars and detailed descriptions. However, I get a tinge of railroading as I read through it. Too much detail will leave little room for the players to feel free. The adventure claims to take two sessions.
From the website:
“Is the breadbasket of the Mitarran nation under dire threat, or was this an isolated event?”
Along with adventure, it is also a resource for Mitarra, and includes considerable information about the nation. Mitarra is a small, isolated, primarily-human civilization. Within the pages of these sections are descriptions of Mitarra’s society, history, influential figures, religion, geography, and more. Also included is a detailed look at the town of Ravennora, with a map, its leaders, and a breakdown of the population by character class. It can be placed into most larger, pre-existing settings with little effort. Included are suggestions on how to do this and how to otherwise change the setting by introducing other races. Also included at the end is an explanation about Itherelle (the evil entity) and the Agenda.
Along with my problems with the cartography, there are several editing glitches throughout and the cover art is less than stellar. On the positive side, the internal art is well done and I do like the layout. However, the order of sections does not quite make sense to me.
In conclusion, This is an interesting effort, but it is not something I can rant and rave about. The adventure itself is somewhat clichéd and has a forced feeling to it. I know, however, that the hardest thing about an epic campaign is getting it started, so I have to give them some slack there. The editing is poor. While it is somewhat inspired in places, I do not feel the driving desire to play it. The whole Agenda story arch could be interesting and has potential while the little teaser at the end gives you some idea of the direction it will take. Overall, I would say this is not the greatest PDF adventure but it has potential. Not great, not terrible, but somewhere in between.
For more details on Silven Publishing and their new d20 Fantasy Adventure Module “Mitarra: The Agenda of Itherelle Centepedes!” check them out at their website http://www.silven.com..
Mitarra: The Agenda of Itherelle Centepedes!
From: Silven Publishing
Type of Game: d20 Fantasy Adventure Module
Written by: Wes Yahola
Content Editor: Dana Lynn Driscoll
Mechanics Editor: Michael Thompson
Cover Art: Eric Douthitt.
Interior Artwork: Rick Hershey, Louis Porter, Jr. Design.
Layout: Kosala Ubayasekara
Number of Pages: 64
Game Components Included: 4 PDF Files
Game Components Not Included: Core d20 Fantasy rulebooks
Retail Price: $ 8.00 (US)
Item Number: SP0002
Website: www.silven.com
Reviewed by: Ron McClung