Module Review: "Dead Man's Cove"

Continuing the reviews of the different modules from the Adventure I omnibus.
Contrarily to "Against the barrow king" and "Jerimond's orb", I do not recommend buying the version of this module included in Adventure I, since the "improvements" made to this module (art and maps) are actually inferior (in my opinion) as the one in the original release.

Backcover and cover of the original module in booster format, side by side

Spoilers:

You might get severely spoiled by this review. Consider yourself warned!
“Spoilers are cowardly. They're just people who want to anesthetize themselves against the tension and the experience that the director and the artist have set up. If you go in there knowing what's going to happen, it's like reading the last page of the book. It's just cowardly.” ― Simon Pegg.
The same happens with playability and sense of wonder when you read a module review. You can never play that module again (but you could still have a go at DMing it, at least)

What is it and where is it to be found:

"Dead Man's Cove - Lvl 3-5 - by Ken Carpenter" is a module first published by AEG in 2001 for D&D3 in their "booster" format (narrow and cheap modules under 3$). It was reworked for D&D3.5 and integrated in the book "Adventure I".
Since the modules were reworked, and I own a print version of "Adventure I", this is the version I review here.
The module is also to be found on drivethrurpg.com for less than a dollar (Original Dead Man's Cove module on drivethru), in it's original version, with the old art and maps.
There are some other reviews of the module there, which are interesting reads, but I find them way too enthusiastic.

Type of module:

This is mostly an hack'n'slash module. There is not a lot of space in this module for parley, although ruse might get you a long way towards an easier pirate slaying.
The "further adventures" section (only included in the re-worked version), at the end, brings up ideas for follow-up "missions" (that you'd have to develop yourself) that need not be only fight, though. I appreciate the effort...

Difficulty:

The module is basically a pirate-ocide. You get the mission, you get there, then you have to get rid of the 30ish pirates in their base, handle the arrival of their ship as it was on a raid (reinforcements before you could get a long rest!) and a dungeon at the end to get to the pirate's booty. The cave where the booty is stored is interesting, though. I have not run the module (which means i'd need to convert it to 5E first), but since there are only 2 types of monsters (one of them being said pirates), it should be easy to convert.
The main difficulty to run this module, in my opinion, will be to make the piratocide challenging and enjoyable (I use piratocide here on purpose, because they are only described as sword'n'spell-fodder for the PCs to get XP and riches)

Motivation for the PCs to resolve the module:

The motivation presented in the module is straightforward: a merchant has been plundered a lot, found a map to the pirate's cove, want them dead, needs a team of exterminators. But as straightforward and cliché as it may be, it's still logical and the existence of the map, and the unwillingness of the patron to say where he got it from, allows room for more play after the adventure. So I think this opener is good. At least good enough and adaptable.

Art:

Apart from the maps and the cover, there are only 4 images in the "adventure I" version. The original module had 3, 2 of which are the same. But the "missing image" (not included in AdvI) is of the most interesting monster of the module! It is well described in the text and reminded me of an old magic card: the drowned.

Magic: The Gathering, including card images, the mana symbols, and Oracle text, is copyright Wizards of the Coast, LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc.

The art of "Dead Man's Cove" is not amazing, but since the maps are good, I don't think it penalizes the module either.
The cover is nice enough, and since it's pirate, it really has a connection to the module (this is not something you should be taken for granted).

Cartography:

I like the maps of the module. The computer-assisted redone maps in  Adventure I are surely readable, even if they lost the old school touch of the original module, that were readable too and had more charm, in my opinion.

Twists:

Not sure there is anything you can call a twist in this module, but at least 2 nice surprises: the returning ship and the underwater monsters (the "drowned") in the cave.
The fact that not only the ships of the Mr-Johnson-merchant but also all but one of his competitors have been attacked and plundered is a nice touch, which will allow for the implementation of an over-story-arc.

My impressions:

I have mixed feelings about this module. There are a lot of good ideas, but the "main course", the fight against the pirates, is not dynamic enough. I agree that the module has certain qualities though:

• It is very easy to plant it into an existing campaign (and into the world of D.R.E.A.D.) It's kind of plug'n'play, as soon as you have an harbor city and merchants
• I like the fact that the pirate boat is supposed to come back within the night, so the characters can't get a long rest and need to act immediately
• The merchant's intrigue running in the background and it's implications concerning the future of the story arc are easy to transform into a mini campaign
• It contains an ad hoc system for the handling of the pirate sentries (and how much noise will wake up the pirates)
• A part of the pirate's booty is nicely described

My grief with this module

This module shows great potential. Nothing in it is too caribbean, no reliance on black powder for any kind of scenaristic artifact, so it's also easy to bring it into a fantasy campaign.

The main encounter, though, is really terribly dull: it's just a bunch of sleeping pirates, easy to kill as long as they sleep, but much more dangerous if they wake up. But that's all. Nothing to discover that will allow players to investigate a bit and maybe recruit discontent pirates against the rest of the crew, no clue as to whom hates which other crew members. To be honest, only two pirates have a name (the captain and the guy in charge of the fires), that's emblematic of how much love pirates get in the module.

Additionally, I estimate that the treasures to be found / fought for in this module are too abundant. I would reduce it by a big factor of at least 10.

What would I do to run the module?

As I said, the pirate encounter needs a lot of reworking. My suggestion to make it better:

• The pirate "village" needs to be revamped into smaller living quarters - More huts instead of one big sleeping dwelling
• Those smaller units will allow for the creation of smaller cliques of pirates, which can then create clans. This is also in the interest of the cap'tain in a "divide and rule" (divide et impera) strategy to keep his bunch under control
• This allows for a diversification of the pirates, their motives, their relationships, and methods to use this encounter as something else than just a big hack'n'slash scene.

What adaptations would I make to run this module in Perfu:

This module, like most of the modules from its omnibus, is very generic, and therefore easy to adapt to any coastal setting.
I would make minor changes to better fit the tone of D.R.E.A.D.:

• The pirate village would need a shrine to Neptune
• The names of the characters in the story would need to be romanicized
• I would create a few other merchant houses, all rivals of the PCs' employers (one of them under devilish influence - the one that tries to destabilize the region, using the pirates as pawns while making their house rich)
• All references to canons would be replaced with greek-fire-launching ballistas - the village would need a backyard alchemist's "laboratory" with crude oil (naphta) and burnt lime (quicklime/calcium oxyde) and the pirates would have to include someone able to brew that alchemist fire (proficiency with alchemist supplies should be enough to brew some greek fire - no professional alchemist needed here - quite surely a disciple of Vulcan, though)

How would I rate the module?

I'd give it 3 stars out of five (the low price tag is the reason it didn't get a 2-star rating).
It'd be just too much work to get it working for my style of play to give it a better rating. Still it has some good ideas, useable cartography, a good dungeon at the end (even if linear) and a very low price tag (but there are cheaper and better modules in the PWYW and free range on drivethru)

Would you recommend it?

No, I would not. I might actually run this module, once I have made the modifications described earlier, but this is similar to starting from scratch from a map found on the internet. But the merchant-house-intrigues with a touch of devilish influence trope is something that I would want to use.
I recommend buying "Adventure I" but not because of "Dead Man's Cove". It's just a nice bonus to other modules included in this compilation...
"Jerimond's Orb", for example, is one of the reasons why this compilation is definitely worth its 4$, as a pdf.

Disclaimer:

The drivethru-links included in this article are affiliate-links.
One day, I will have a few dollars credit on Drivethru and I'll re-buy an item on Pay What You Want (PWYW) I found very useful there. So somehow this is supporting indie creation, right?