If you've been reading my reviews, you'll remember that I poked a little fun at Necromancer Games' tagline, "Third Edition Rules, First Edition Feel." With their first few products, I just didn't think that the feel was there. However, I do believe they are getting closer.

In fact, when I opened up Prisoners of the Maze, I was struck by a feeling of real nostalgia. Now, it wasn't quite "Tomb of Horrors" or "Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl" nostalgia (those are big nostalgia shoes to fill), but it was there. Sort of a "Ghost Tower of Inverness" feel or something similar to one of the first two Slave Lords modules. And that's pretty good.

Prisoners of the Maze is for mid-level (9th to 12th) characters. It's the first of a series; the rest of the five-part series is forthcoming. It involves, as the title would suggest, attempting to escape from a maze that a powerful wizard throws you into.

Now, be warned. Twenty years ago, it was perfectly acceptable to write a module that starts out telling the PCs that they agreed to help kill an evil king, and in their attempt they were foiled and transported into a dungeon. But times change, and modern roleplaying sensibilities often find that sort of "railroading" offensive. I'd rather judge Prisoners of the Maze on its own merits rather than simply dismiss it as "old school," because I know first hand that old school can be fun. (I wonder sometimes if modern sensibilities don't cheat younger gamers out of the sort of experiences I enjoyed back then.) Besides, the tag line is "Third Edition Rules, First Edition Feel," so you know what you're getting into when you buy this. If an old-style module isn't for you, well, you might want to pass on this one. Prisoners of the Maze takes up those classic methods (plots being excuses to get you into the dungeon, dungeon design based on what's cool rather than what makes sense) and uses them throughout.

Prisoners of the Maze dutifully follows all the old tropes: strange riddles on dungeon walls, rooms full of levers (some are trapped, some are good), plenty of monsters to fight, illusions that hide still more monsters, and so on. For the most part, it handles them quite well. There are some strange items, like a quarter-page table that tells you the reaction of one ogre when his brother is killed in combat, when it's likely that neither ogre would survive the first round of combat with 9th- to 12th-level characters. This case is actually similar to some of the other trouble spots I had with the adventure -- the module is not always designed with the idea of what characters of those levels can do. The obvious example being that there's nothing preventing PCs from just teleporting out. Various divinations are also going to make it pretty easy to get out. Some of the encounters are going to be very easy for characters of this level (while others will be quite hard). While that's fine, the encounters that will be over in a single round (like the fight with the ogres) are given as much attention -- sometimes more -- as those that will push the characters to their limits, like a fight with a nearby marilith.

The adventure has some really imaginative and wonderful parts, particularly an area filled with magical paintings, each with a different effect. No encounter in this module is a straightforward monster bash -- there are plenty of twists and strange things going on. Some of it's just window dressing, but it's really interesting window dressing. In fact, that's the real reason to buy this adventure -- for the imaginative and strange encounters, such as one with magical hands that reach out of paintings or the bizarre courtroomlike encounter with an insane judge and undead jurors.

There are some new monsters, magic items, and even spells in the adventure, and they're okay. Well, to be honest, there are lots of rules gaffes, but they're still usable. I can't recommend that you use the pregenerated characters provided, though. They're given strangely disparate amounts of magical equipment (as if the DM really liked some of the characters, and not some of the others). The sorcerer's spell selection is quite poor, the fighter is far short on feats, the various calculated stats are very frequently wrong. (This sort of thing is annoying for NPCs, but at least the character or monster is still usable. For PCs, it really makes them unplayable.) Lastly, each has a special power that is interesting, but not well explained, and their usefulness varies wildly from character to character.

So, when all is said and done, what we have here is an old-school adventure with a lot of rules problems and an imperfect grasp of the abilities of the PCs that will take part in the adventure. On the other hand, it's got a real nostalgic feel and some very imaginative encounters. If you're willing to put up with the former to enjoy the latter, then this module is for you.

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