> Clark Peterson
>
> Actually, the idea came when I dusted off my old
> Judges Guild "The Book of Treasure Maps" because I
> needed a short dungeon for my current campaign. As I
> looked at it I said, "hey, we should do some of
> these..." They arent side treks, so much as locations.
This may have come up before, but have you seen the new 'adventure boosters'
published by AEG (Alderac Entertainment Group)? Each one is a short
adventure, not unlike Dungeon feature adventure. They scale somewhat, and
are designed so that a DM can pull 'one out of the hat' when the players go
off on some unexpected tangent.
They are in an odd format- 8.5 x 11 folded lengthwise, so they are about the
same form factor as a map. The form factor makes more sense when you see
them in their display rack - a map rack with AEG logos on it. I found the
rack sitting on the counter next to the cash register at my local store, and
it served it's intended purpose - I bought one for $2.49 in addition to my
intended purchase.
Most seem to be about 16 pages long. The cover is cardstock, four-color
printed on the outside and all b&w on the inside. Workmanship is good, with
a nice gothic font for titles and a very readable serif font for the text.
It uses a very readable 12pt font for text, with OGC is shown clearly on a
gray background. They released their new spell and monsters as OGC, but did
so in a less-than obvious manner, by naming the section rather than using
the gray boxes. I suppose it would have been hard to read if it were all
gray though. The OGL and the rest of the legalese fills the last page and
inside cover. The OGL is small (7pt or so) but in a very legible sans-serif
font.
All in all, I think they're a good value and fill an important niche for the
DM. They aren't quite as good a value as Dungeon, but then again, you get
to pick the adventure you want without waiting for it to come in the mail.
-Brad
