Spoiler Alert/Warning/Disclaimer: I have tried to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible, while still giving GMs useful information. However, it is likely that there will be minor, vague spoilers. Nevertheless, if you think you might play the module, consider whether you want to read the review–or just give the link to your group’s GM.
“Dead in the Water” (DitW) by Keith Ryan Kappel is the module included in the Age of Rebellion Game Master Kit. (My review of the GM Kit) It is a full arc that could take 4-6 sessions, depending on how long your group’s sessions usually run. The beginning is set up to work for both established teams or when 1 or more new PCs are being introduced. At the request of my AoR group, I used the module as a new arc in my established campaign, but it should work for a new campaign, if you follow the advice below on session prep. For several reasons, one of my players offered to co-GM it with me, helping with planning, while playing his own PC and letting me do most of the in-game narration and adjudication. Even if you don’t want to add DitW to an existing campaign it works as a nice mini-campaign, or it can be run as part of a series including the other published AoR modules. The p. 3 sidebar String of Adventures explains the latter option.
I have noticed in previous official modules that Episode II is the most important, with Episodes I and III being much less complex and DitW is no exception. All three acts are entertaining to play through, however, which has not always been the case. In “Operation Shell Game” (AoR beta book) for example, the first and last parts had very little that focused on the PCs so I ended up discarding most of those acts. This time, there were fun encounters in all acts.
Like most of the AoR modules, this one assumes that every PC is going to be good in combat, and DitW has a large number of opponents, possibly too many for a party going on their first or second adventure. In fact, one of my Friday Night players wondered if it was written for 6 PCs rather than 4. For just about every encounter in Act 2, me and Co-GM cut down the number of opponents greatly after some combat test runs using the PCs’ stats. Each of our group’s 4 PCs is well above Knight-level* (300+ total XP) but only 2 are heavy hitters, an ex-mercenary good at both Ranged (Heavy) and Brawl with strong defenses and a Force-user that we guessed, correctly, would pull out his lightsaber under the circumstances. The other 2 are both pretty squishy and less combat-focused; one is a teenaged slicer and the other a doctor /team leader. Making encounters challenging but not overwhelming wasn’t the only reason we opted to pare the numbers. Three to three and a half hours is a typical session length for our group and non-combat/roleplaying time is important to all of us, so we didn’t want individual combats to drag on and cut into the interactions we enjoy.
Combat tests with the players’ characters, as Co-GM and I did, are a necessary part of the prep for DitW Episode II. Even though we did this for several encounters, to give ourselves a good feel for what the party’s PCs could handle, we still found ourselves having to alter some encounters between sessions or even on the fly. A major reason is that we had only tested with all 4 PCs in an encounter, and didn’t make allowances for the party splitting. A party split is a very logical way to handle the situation, particularly with a time limit, which is mentioned in the module. In my opinion, a beginning or Knight-level party won’t be able to quickly defeat the numbers of minions and rivals in each combat easily, unless, there is a PC with a lightsaber who is willing to use it. And you should be prepared for even a PC who is very discreet about being Force-sensitive to do this, at least in Episode II. Given the isolated setting, mostly Rebels to witness, and most of the opponents being non-organics, serious negative consequences–Conflict points, Imperial attention–for pulling a lightsaber and going to town with it in this Act are likely to be minimal. In fact, you may want to consider some positive consequences, depending on how it plays out, as I did.
The thing I liked least about DitW–which may or may not be a drawback for all groups–is that Episode II is so focused on combat, and with similar opponents–two different generic Rival types and varying numbers of the same minion group. Now, each encounter has a different non-combat goal (stop this, fix that, free people…) which allows for a bit of layering–even if only half the party is there. Our party split into two 2-man teams of 1 Heavy-hitter and 1 “Specialist” which worked well with lesser numbers of opponents. In fact, it made several of the encounters more cinematic, as Heavy-hitter tried, single-handedly and not always successfully, to keep the opposition occupied while the other PC worked on the Task.
But there’s a lot to like even if your GM(s) and players favor Roleplaying. For starters, we found Episodes I and III gave us some chances to insert bits specific to my main campaign. The bazaar portion of the space station where most of Episode I takes place has shops and NPCs that you can use to add hooks of your own devising for later arcs, which is what Co-GM and I did a lot, as well as using the Bonus Duty opportunities given in the text. Those extra duties, unlike some in other modules, won’t add a lot of time. They are mainly overhearing info useful to Alliance Intel or a chance to feel an NPC out as a possible supplier/supporter, before contacting the party relevant to the mission. There is little action in this section, except for the obligatory Cantina Brawl. Episode III seemed weak as written, but my Co-GM and I had already decided to alter it a great deal, to allow for the appearance of a VIP NPC from the campaign, another example of how well DitW can be altered to suit individual game groups.
The author also provides various helps for running the module, most of which are handy. On page 16, for example, the Creative Solutions sidebar gives some useful suggestions for handling things when the PCs’ skills and the ones called for in checks don’t match. Episode II’s Running This Episode presents both the Event Timer, to keep track of when certain things occur in relation to encounters and a sidebar for running encounters in a strict order, rather than the default of whatever order the PCs decide. The booklet also includes the optional Formations mechanic, an alternate to minion groups. (The Timer and Formations are covered in my review of the GM Kit.) Least useful to me and my Co-GM was the Duty and XP guidelines given, which at bases of 10 Duty and 15 XP, for an entire module that takes multiple sessions, seemed way too low. We opted to go with the per-session awards I had already established for my campaign.
But was it fun? Oh, yes, I and the Co-GM had a great time going over DitW together. And the players had a ball during the sessions, some of them trying things they hadn’t done before, while we GMs had a ball keeping up with them! So “Dead in the Water” scores a Ten in the most important area–Fun Gaming.
*I am using the term here to mean PCs with 150 XP over starting XP
Linda Whitson
Latest posts by Linda Whitson (see all)
- Astral Projections – The Ripperdoc Is In - May 8, 2023
