Rating the Bonus Adventures

[andyc]

LW30 - The Kaum Before the Storm
Not sure how I feel about this one. Protaganist Blazer is a refreshingly different character and I like how it follows the fight back against evil elsewhere while the main scenario in LW29 is happening. It suffers slightly from having no pictures or a map (in fact this region appears in none of the Lone Wolf books). Also, it does get rather repetitively combat heavy in the latter part of the story, though August Hahn does try to make many battles more varied. It was slightly on the easy side despite this and I even had to deny myself Weaponskill so that I didn't completely steamroll the opposition. The long epilogue would have been better as more sections as mentioned above, and I would have preferred the final opponent to have been not just a random Drakkar. Anyway, despite these things, I enjoyed it and award it a 4/5. (Though it does have too many spelling errors)

[andyc]

LW1 - Dawn of the Darklords
Actually released way back in the Magnamund Companion, I am counting this as the bonus adventure for book 1 as it details Banedon's journey from Toran to his meeting with Lone Wolf in Flight from the Dark. At 80 sections and with branching paths, it is a fairly brief adventure and pretty much runs as you would expect. I managed to get through without any combats and found it rather easy, but it is perfectly fine for what it is. Very similar in style to the original Flight from the Dark itself, so I guess it fits well. 3/5

[GhostofLandar]

Sept 6, 2019 20:31:55 GMT andyc said:

LW30 - The Kaum Before the Storm
Not sure how I feel about this one. Protaganist Blazer is a refreshingly different character and I like how it follows the fight back against evil elsewhere while the main scenario in LW29 is happening. It suffers slightly from having no pictures or a map (in fact this region appears in none of the Lone Wolf books). Also, it does get rather repetitively combat heavy in the latter part of the story, though August Hahn does try to make many battles more varied. It was slightly on the easy side despite this and I even had to deny myself Weaponskill so that I didn't completely steamroll the opposition. The long epilogue would have been better as more sections as mentioned above, and I would have preferred the final opponent to have been not just a random Drakkar. Anyway, despite these things, I enjoyed it and award it a 4/5. (Though it does have too many spelling errors)

On one hand, I sort of liked the change in perspective, I feel like the narrator is more intimately involved in your internal dialogue as Blazer.  But certain story ideas (such as the wall-walking lizards) is a bit far-fetched, like let's not make everything achievable so easily because magic exists in Magnamund.  Not a fan of one of the greatest Kai Lords on the planet being bested after waking up by a Telchosi warrior, even if I did just overcome a major opponent.  

My most pointed criticism (sorry, if he's reading) is since the Darklands supplement for Mongoose, there is a sort of flippancy in August's writing that I can't quite sum up with a specific sentence but if anything is somewhat demonstrated in the choice of titles for the bonus adventures (Dire Straits, Kaum Before the Storm.)  Puns don't seem appropriate since they would lose that character in any sort of "translation" from whatever language is being used as part of the title (Dire is Talestrian, right?)

[andyc]

Yeah, I noticed that slight flippant tone also. It feels that he his not quite so invested into the lore as some of the other authors. On the plus side however, he does write Blazer with more personality than the deliberate blank slates of Lone Wolf and the New Order GM. Despite our misgivings, I still think it is one of the better bonus adventures unlike the very poorly constructed and irrelevent LW12 'Aboard the Intrepid', which actively annoys me that it is such a wasted opportunity to add the the events around the epic Masters of Darkness.

[andyc]

Not quite a bonus adventure, but I will include my mini review of:

1 Flight from the Dark Expanded Version
(Since it stands in for the bonus adventure of later Collector's editions)

Having only just read this I found I really struggled to get through it. There is nothing wrong with the writing or plot, it just felt rather pointless as I thought the original version was a perfect start to the series. I guess I did enjoy the initial siege and the final surprise, but the rest of it just felt like over egging of the pudding. Perhaps it would have worked better as a bonus adventure following Grand Master Brave Blade and his doomed defence of the Monastery while Lone Wolf's first adventure was left untouched. Anyway, the original still exists and it will be that that I introduce to my children when they are a little older. At least this book helped kick off the renewal of interest in the books.

3/5 (my comments seem more negative than this book deserves, it is well written and plotted when looking at it in isolation.)

[andyc]

24 - A Traitor's Reward

This was a nice long meaty adventure that adds a little to the lore of a certain enemy faction as well as getting right in the midst of Vandyan's invasion. It was a little on the hard side, beating me about three fights from the end, but I can see myself completing it with a better planning and a little luck (unlike Castle Death's ridiculous BA). The Loyalty element was a nice incorporation, but I felt your companions never really came to life on the pages and I am trying to work out why, as they get mentioned often enough. Perhaps it could have done with a bit of mercenary humour from them?
My biggest criticism is that one spends a large amount of time wandering around in the Great Salony Forest, so much so, that a lot of the adventure has blended into one in my head. The starting battle, mid-story city section, and climatic location however were excellent so it is a worthy addition.
4/5

[Black Cat]

Mar 30, 2020 9:20:11 GMT andyc said:

24 - A Traitor's Reward

This was a nice long meaty adventure that adds a little to the lore of a certain enemy faction as well as getting right in the midst of Vandyan's invasion. It was a little on the hard side, beating me about three fights from the end, but I can see myself completing it with a better planning and a little luck (unlike Castle Death's ridiculous BA). The Loyalty element was a nice incorporation, but I felt your companions never really came to life on the pages and I am trying to work out why, as they get mentioned often enough. Perhaps it could have done with a bit of mercenary humour from them?
My biggest criticism is that one spends a large amount of time wandering around in the Great Salony Forest, so much so, that a lot of the adventure has blended into one in my head. The starting battle, mid-story city section, and climatic location however were excellent so it is a worthy addition.
4/5

Having recently read that particular adventure, I mostly agree with what you say. The nice addition of the Loyalty bonus (which leads to multiple endings... or at least, personnalized endings depending of your loyalty) is very interesting. As for the companions, maybe it is because they are too many of them, so there's no room to really flesh them all out? I love the ending, inside the Cener Temple. However, I thought that it took too long to really get to know our mission (rescuing the prince) and to get to the main part where we actually do what we the mission asks us to do (going into the forest to find the prince's whereabouts). There's the "side-mission" of preventing the poisoning of the town, which fits if you want to flesh out the bad guy, but I found it unnecessary: the bad guy is a bad guy, no need to add that he wants to poison a whole town to the fact that he has kidnapped a prince (it would had been a good main plot for a bonus adventure though...a sequel to that particular BA perhaps?). I thought that it complicated the plot for nothing. After the first battle, I think we could had skipped directly to the search inside the forest.

Also, Vorka are freakin' tough opponent! Maybe too tough: they all have CS in the mid-30s and even with my own CS bonuses and the one provided by allies, I often found myself with a combat ratio of -8/-9, which led to many Instant Kills of my character.

Don't get me wrong, it is a good adventure, well written, but I think the plot and balance would had needed a little bit of work. And like with all bonus adventures published by Holmgard Press: TOO MANY TYPOS! This time, all the quotes where missing the capital letter at the beginning, and the start of the quotes where never seperated with a space from the ending of the preceding phrase. Also, where we were supposed to see a ', they were replaced with a " (don"t, couldn"t, etc.)

[andyc]

Mar 30, 2020 14:57:36 GMT Black Cat said:

Mar 30, 2020 9:20:11 GMT andyc said:

24 - A Traitor's Reward

This was a nice long meaty adventure that adds a little to the lore of a certain enemy faction as well as getting right in the midst of Vandyan's invasion. It was a little on the hard side, beating me about three fights from the end, but I can see myself completing it with a better planning and a little luck (unlike Castle Death's ridiculous BA). The Loyalty element was a nice incorporation, but I felt your companions never really came to life on the pages and I am trying to work out why, as they get mentioned often enough. Perhaps it could have done with a bit of mercenary humour from them?
My biggest criticism is that one spends a large amount of time wandering around in the Great Salony Forest, so much so, that a lot of the adventure has blended into one in my head. The starting battle, mid-story city section, and climatic location however were excellent so it is a worthy addition.
4/5

Having recently read that particular adventure, I mostly agree with what you say. The nice addition of the Loyalty bonus (which leads to multiple endings... or at least, personnalized endings depending of your loyalty) is very interesting. As for the companions, maybe it is because they are too many of them, so there's no room to really flesh them all out? I love the ending, inside the Cener Temple. However, I thought that it took too long to really get to know our mission (rescuing the prince) and to get to the main part where we actually do what we the mission asks us to do (going into the forest to find the prince's whereabouts). There's the "side-mission" of preventing the poisoning of the town, which fits if you want to flesh out the bad guy, but I found it unnecessary: the bad guy is a bad guy, no need to add that he wants to poison a whole town to the fact that he has kidnapped a prince (it would had been a good main plot for a bonus adventure though...a sequel to that particular BA perhaps?). I thought that it complicated the plot for nothing. After the first battle, I think we could had skipped directly to the search inside the forest.

Also, Vorka are freakin' tough opponent! Maybe too tough: they all have CS in the mid-30s and even with my own CS bonuses and the one provided by allies, I often found myself with a combat ratio of -8/-9, which led to many Instant Kills of my character.

Don't get me wrong, it is a good adventure, well written, but I think the plot and balance would had needed a little bit of work. And like with all bonus adventures published by Holmgard Press: TOO MANY TYPOS! This time, all the quotes where missing the capital letter at the beginning, and the start of the quotes where never seperated with a space from the ending of the preceding phrase. Also, where we were supposed to see a ', they were replaced with a " (don"t, couldn"t, etc.)

Yeah, I have come to accept the typos, but it is a shame as the quality of the book itself (art, cover, binding etc.) is excellent.
You are definitely right about it taking too long to get to the point, but I respectfully disagree about the city poisoning side plot. Indeed I found that aspect and its relevance to the climax to be much more compelling than the rather dull search for the Prince.
The Vorka were absolute beasts and largely contributed to my character's eventual demise, but I guess they had to be consistent in stats with the main story Vorka where they were manageable for the Kai GM.

[andyc]

LW3 - Vonotar's Web

This was a pretty short and easy adventure as you chase the thieves who have your guildstaff. It was pretty average on the whole, though I did enjoy the confrontation with Vonotar as you thwarted his various attacks (what a shame you could easily bypass the whole battle without penalty). It is remarkable how short this felt (even without the bypass) compared to something like the epic Tides of Gorgoron which only has 30 more sections.
2.5/5

[GhostofLandar]

In my view, the Bonus Adventures are canon in the general description/events but not in any other way. I just see too much of a creative/thematic/tonal departure in SOME of the stories, even well-told ones.

[andyc]

LW25 - Dire in the Dark
This is a much shorter affair than the BAs for LW23 and LW24 at only 125 sections, but I still enjoyed it on the whole. It is well written in my opinion (other than 3 typos I found) and didn't have the subtle flippancy the has occasionally appeared in a couple of other of Hahn's BAs. The setting was enjoyable for me but it does end rather abruptly and I think it will work better once all five parts are hopefully released in a single volume. Finally, the Anathema sword is massively overpowered with its big CS increase and ability to drain End from many enemies. No enemy stood a chance against me, and this is starting from this book rather than the first Dire. I know the Lone Wolf main series has also had difficulty balance problems, but when you have such a short mini series it should be much easier to get the difficulty right.
Anyway, I give it a 3.5/5 as I had fun with it despite its problems.

[Black Cat]

May 13, 2020 11:02:22 GMT andyc said:

LW25 - Dire in the Dark
This is a much shorter affair than the BAs for LW23 and LW24 at only 125 sections, but I still enjoyed it on the whole. [...] The setting was enjoyable for me but it does end rather abruptly and I think it will work better once all five parts are hopefully released in a single volume.

I'm thinking the same thing: it's fun but... it ends abruptly, with no real climax. I don't know how long will be the last part of the Dire series, but I feel as if parts 4 and 5 were meant to be just one and that they were splitted into two for some reasons. Otherwise, it's really an interesting series and it deserves to be republished in one volume once all parts are released (in this hypothetical volume, I think it would work if all parts are still divided but between each of them, there's a section that explains that you can add a bonus, regain your EP, etc. before starting the next part.)

[Black Cat]

It took a decade (first part was published in 2010 by Mongoose!) but I've finally read the last part of the Dire series, 'Destiny Most Dire'. As a whole, it was an interesting series and I still hold on my previous comment that it deserves to be republished in a single volume.

However, like the previous adventure, I felt that this one ended in an anti-climatic fashion. I don't know what Azavath was trying to do (does it say it somewhere else?) and which region of Magnamund I was and I didn't have to fight him (of course, it would had been the second fight to death with him). And I don't know what to make of the actual ending: will it be linked to the upcoming books 31 and 32? Will Dire and the 13 Warriors of Light© () be featured in another media (novel, movie, game, comic)?

[andyc]

I've not read the last Dire yet, but isn't August Hahn is involved in the bonus adventures with Blazer (book 30 and probably book 31). My guess with 31 will be Blazer heading into the icy north. Perhaps he will somehow link to Dire series there?

[Black Cat]

Jul 24, 2020 17:36:38 GMT andyc said:

I've not read the last Dire yet, but isn't August Hahn is involved in the bonus adventures with Blazer (book 30 and probably book 31). My guess with 31 will be Blazer heading into the icy north. Perhaps he will somehow link to Dire series there?

Maybe... The ending of the BA in book 30 leaves open for the return of Blazer in the BA of book 31 (there should not be a BA in book 32 because it will already be 550 sections). But there still are the BA in books 27 and 28 that we don't know of, so maybe there could be a link there too.