Four Against Darkness: The Stump of Elemental Evil Review

 

For Levels 1-4

I finally got around to playing The Stump of Elemental Evil, which I purchased in card format. It is also available in a PDF file. Here's my review!

It's a deck of cards that takes the place of the tables found in Four Against Darkness. For instance, instead of rolling d66 to make a room/corridor, you simply look at the top left corner for the picture of the room/corridor. After that, you flip another card depending on if it is a room or corridor and reference the room/corridor box and it will tell you your next box to go to. Here's an example, I flip a card over for the shape of the room/corridor. I generate a room so draw another card and look at the room box and it says combat. I would then draw a card and look at the combat box. If there is treasure from the monster, I draw another card and reference the treasure, etc. Pretty easy to understand. Just remember, if you would roll on a table, you just draw a card for it. There is a dice in the upper right hand corner but I never used this. I like rolling dice!

My first party to enter The Stump of Elemental Evil consisted of a Rogue, Warrior, Cleric, and Wizard. They had two 4AD dungeons already under their belts but only the wizard managed to level up in the second dungeon. In the initial dungeon, the first weird monster encountered were "invisible gremlins" and they stole all my starting weapons and gold.  I had a -2 on combat rolls for everyone. I thought about restarting but I told myself, "I'm going to see this thing through!" After some lucky rolls, I got a few gems and bought some more equipment in the next dungeon. Then I decided to enter the Stump.

The first time in was very short, indeed! As luck would have it, there were only three rooms and two corridors before I reached a dead end. Thus, I fought the boss monster at the end, the Tentacle Worm. He was pretty tough but my party took him down with only minimal wounds as I had a good tank. I did pick up a couple magical treasures, which I won't spoil for you, dear reader.

I decided I'd do another run before I did a review and this time I did a timed adventure. At the end of 45 mintues, I'd encounter the boss and then head out of the dungeon. Sadly, I encountered the boss in a corridor. The special rule "narrow corridors" only allows one hero to be in front, my rogue. After he was quickly dispatched, my warrior took over. She didn't last long either. Next up, my wizard, Giselle. She fought valiantly zapping and fireballing the worm to mush. She didn't even take damage and very much deserved her 3rd level. I collected my treasure and made off. I encountered only two wandering monsters on the way out, which the duo made short work of.

Thoughts: I felt like this was a well made deck. I think the there was a lot more searching, traps, and treasures than in the original 4AD book but I might have just been lucky. I always have a rogue in front when I can! The inability to disarm traps might spell doom for a lot of parties, I'm sure. Encountering the worm in a corridor was brutal, especially when I didn't remember I could cast spells over the front rank. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle, as they say!

Overall, I found it very enjoyable. A nice addition to an already solid franchise. I have three other decks that I can't wait to try!

Thanks for reading!