Treasures of Elbard is a very typical find the treasure adventure for 8th and 9th level characters that has the feeling of the same ole Tuesday night meatloaf. There is nothing innovative about it and the new sauce tastes like rubber tire tread.

Treasures of Elbard was originally created in 2001 as a print supplement for 3.0. It is very unclear whether or not the document was updated to 3.5 standards. The PDF itself is 40 pages, upon which about 25 pages is adventure, and the rest is supplemental NPCs, treasures and monsters. There?s also a ton of the assuming box text that seems to attempt to forecast where and what your PCs will do and see.

For the DM If you are like most DMs, you want to go to the summary to see what you are into. You will first be miffed that there is no table of contents. You would figure if the material is 5 years old, they would at least do some cleanup and deck out the PDF with separate tables, maps and bookmarks. The beginning of the book goes into the history of the treasure, and from there right into the adventure. There is not a single adventure summary to be found. And after reading the adventure I can see why, most DMs would find it too simple or unimaginable for their campaigns.

The summary would probably go something like this. There is a treasure. You got to the castle to find out about the treasure. You go to the place the treasure is. There is a bunch of spiders and halflings. Then there is a big ole halfling-spider you have to fight for the treasure. Then it?s over.

This all may not be too bad, if the writer accounted for anything else that could happen to the PCs. The only tactic the writer seems to assume is that the PCs will rush forward without using other tactics such as stealth, diplomacy or magic. This assumption is quite bad. If the PCs consider that the halflings took the treasure into the valley as a favor for a good king, they would not be so anti-social to a good party. Even if they were, at 9th level, the challenges presented would be a cakewalk for an experienced party. A couple of charms and the party will be at the treasure in a couple hours riding on the back of a monster spider.

The Iron Word

Treasures of Elbard works as an historical document of how adventure writing has changed in five years. With its lengthy box text, lack of a summary and very A, B, C style of writing, it dates itself worth than grandma?s blue wig. <br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: - The treasures are very nice <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: - Seems like a retread of every other adventure

• Just seemed like they scanned in the book with no updates or PDF enhancements
• Without a summary, the DM doesnt know where he needs to switch things up beforehand. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>