A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement X7 The War Rafts of Kron

X7 The War Rafts of Kron by Bruce Naismith is a role playing game supplement published by Wizards of the Coast (originally TSR) for use with Basic Dungeons & Dragons. This is an underwater/wilderness adventure set in the Known World, later known as Mystara, and is an Expert level adventure for 4-6 characters of levels 9-12.

The supplement is available as a PDF from RPGNow for $4.99,  as a print on demand softcover and both PDF and softcover for $11.99, but the original printed module can still be purchased from sites such as Amazon. The original printed book is the version reviewed. This is a 32 page supplement but, as was common for the period, the cardboard covers are not affixed to the pages. It’s harder for these to function as a DM’s screen, as one of the exterior pages – the cover is three pages in size – has a DM’s map on it. Inside the cover are maps of three different locations and one exterior page has a colour, primarily underwater, hex map of the region on it. One page of the supplement is the front matter, Contents and List of Maps.

The first couple of pages have underwater movement and combat rules, including matters such as light, sound, writing and spell casting, and the effect on magic and normal items. These may be useful for X6 Quagmire! which has a number of sections that are underwater where combat can occur, but no rules for doing so.

The Adventure starts with the characters arriving at Minrothad where they successfully complete a series of (not detailed) tests before being hired to find a missing Ierendi princess, one who has been kidnapped by pirates operating in the area.

This may technically be a wilderness adventure, but it isn’t really a hex crawl – or even have much in the way of wilderness. Instead, the adventure takes place at sea, or underneath it. Parties lacking means of surviving underwater are going to fall. The hex map of the Sea of Dread matches up with the one included in X1 The Isle of Dread, although covering less of it, but details the underwater region instead (this region is later covered in more detail in PC3 The Sea People).

Once the adventure starts, there are a number of encounters in the Minrothad region, including a pirate raid and an encounter with a friendly giant who has some useful information and items, and a wandering monster table.

Suthus covers the triton city of the same name. An outright assault here will probably fail, and the tritons are being manipulated into attacking shipping.

Kron covers the raft city of Kron, an unusual place (and one that seems to be strangely well-off when it comes to wood). The humans in Kron are also being manipulated.

Finally, Colhador is the sunken city where the individual who is truly behind the pirate attacks is based. This is less populated than Kron or Suthus, but the inhabitants are far more hostile. The centre of the supplement has four pages of maps for Colhador.

There are three pages of new monsters, fourteen major categories but with a further eight subtypes..

The final page has a list of New Magic Items and seven Prerolled Characters.

X7 The War Rafts of Kron in Review

The Contents and List of Maps cover the major sections and subsections, which is about as good as it gets for modules from this era. The text maintains a three column format and appeared to be free of errors. The book is extensively illustrated, up to a full page in size, and they all appear to be custom. Sadly, most of the monsters lack images. The majority of the illustrations are black and white, with the exception of the front cover and the Sea of Dread hex map. Presentation is very good for the era.

This is not really a wilderness adventure, but a maritime one – although one that spends a lot of time below the surface of the sea, which is unusual. Especially as the upper surface of the sea has also been mapped. The area covered is, as a result, quite comprehensively detailed for the time (further details would follow in the Gazetteers as well as the previously mentioned The Sea People). The underwater rules, plus the extensive bestiary of new sea creatures, make this a great reference for sea and undersea adventures.

Of the three primary locations, two really require that the characters use something other than outright force, as they will be seriously outnumbered if they go for an all out attack. In each location, there is a primary villain who needs defeating, but most of the residents are not really willingly cooperating. The final location (although there doesn’t have to be a specific order in which they are explored) is a more traditional dungeon crawl location, albeit an underwater one, with a variety of traps (and being underwater creates some new possibilities for traps).

A DM might want to develop the wilderness aspect of the adventure more; beyond a couple of encounters and the wandering monster table, this isn’t much covered. This is probably because most of the supplement covers the three primary locations, not the areas in between them. X7 The War Rafts of Kron is an interesting change of pace from the normal overland Expert adventures and it can be found by clicking here.