By Patrick Seymour, Staff Reviewer

Available at FRP Games

D&D Kingdoms of Kalamar: Perils of Pekal
Retail $16.99 Sale $13.59

Initiative Round
The Perils of Pekal is a 79-page adventure module for the D&D Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign setting from Kenzer & Co. by Daniel S. Donelly. Cover art is by Keith DeCesare and interior illustrations by Mitch Foust, David Rabbitte, and CD Regan. Maps done by Rob Lee and Craig Zipse. The Perils of Pekal is an officially licensed D&D product and retails for $16.99.

WARNING: Potential players should know that there are spoilers ahead.

Perils of Pekal is actually an introductory package of three short adventures meant to introduce new players to the world of Kalamar and the Living Kingdoms of Kalamar RPGA campaign which is further detailed in the Pekal Gazeteer product.

In the first adventure, "If I were a Rich man", players must deal with the fallout of an ancient priests' greed. It concerns a small farming community suffering raids from a monster band that has settled in the ancient shrine. The players are asked by a village elder to drive off the creatures while keeping their mercenary nature hidden from the skittish villagers. The adventure stresses social role-playing as well as combat; ending when the monsters (goblins) are defeated/driven off.

The next adventure, "the Rounds", has the players hired to protect a ship that travels around the large lake Eb'Sobet. They are hired to ensure that no "accident", which several other traders have recently suffered, befalls the good vessel Hearts' Home. They explore some of the smaller towns and hamlets around the lake and might enlist the aid of a local group of rangers and warriors who patrol the wilderness. They will ultimately face the undead minions (lacedons) of a Sea Hag wizard. Upon completing this adventure, the party will arrive at the capital of Pekal, Bet Rogala, and the start of the last adventure.

Scenario three is "Hurry up and wait". In it, the players have the chance to experience the "big city" and interact with the famed College of Magic. A College conjurer, Sutilla, hires the PCs to locate and retrieve a needed item. This job will take them through the College meeting other professors and students; negotiating and trading various items to complete the quest. The scenario is role-playing intensive and provides a wealth of opportunities to impress the Wizards and make valuable contacts.

Critical Hit
Plenty of resources for the DM to bring together new players of beginning characters. The details provided give you plenty of information to bring the area to life and let the players pull together as an adventuring party. There is also plenty of information about the Lake Eb'Sobet are of Pekal including such things as suggested calendar dates and weather for the adventures, details of constellations and the omens they portend, and appendices with maps of the various hamlets and towns to be explored, tables of names, the code of conduct of the College of Magic, and on and on. There is a ton of detail in this package.

Critical Fumble
I really only have a minor complaint. The hooks that tie the three scenarios are quite sparse. In many ways these are separate adventures that happen to be bundled. I can see that the authors/editors wanted to leave the DM flexibility to mix and match the adventures into their own campaigns, but I think the package could have been improved with some tighter plotting connecting the material.

Coup de Grace
Even if you don't use the Kalamar setting, this is an excellent package to introduce new players to a campaign. There is plenty of action and much support for the role-playing encounters. New DMs can learn a great deal about scenario organization from this product.

Final Grade: A