''Death Ascendant'' is an adventure for the 2nd edition of the ''

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Several different editions of the '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game have been produced since 1974. The current publisher of ''D&D'', Wizards of the Coast, produces new materials only for the most current edition of the ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

Plot summary

''Death Ascendant'' is an adventure that takes place in the less civilized realm of Darkon, one of the domains of

Ravenloft Ravenloft is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' roleplaying game. It is an alternate time-space existence known as a '' pocket dimension'' or demiplane, called the Demiplane of Dread, which consists of a collection of land piece ...

. The

player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional Character (arts), character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters tha ...

s come to Nartok, where public hanging and child-branding have become commonplace, and learn that a secret war is happening there between two sets of spies. The characters are warned about this goal by way of the fortune-telling Vistani using their Tarroka, and then rumors of war along with a new type of

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: ; ; Kikongo: ''zumbi'') is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies appear in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folkl ...

push them to the location they seek; upon arriving, the characters are must resolve the crisis in Nartok.

Publication history

''Death Ascendant'' was published by TSR in 1996, and was designed by

Lisa Smedman Lisa Smedman is a science fiction and fantasy author and journalist. Her novel ''Extinction'', set in the Forgotten Realms universe, was a ''New York Times'' bestseller. Smedman first became known for gaming adventure novels, and later published ...

, with cover art by

Fred Fields Fred Fields is an American artist whose work has appeared largely in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game from TSR. Biography Fred Fields was born in northern Kentucky. He grew up in the small town of Burlington, Kentucky. Fie ...

and interior art by

John Dollar John Dollar (born 1961 in Georgia) is an American artist best known for his contributions to a number of RPG settings during the mid-to-late 90s (TSR properties and White Wolf's Changeling). Biography John Dollar's illustrations have appeared i ...

. '' Death Unchained'' was episode 1 of the ''Grim Harvest'' trilogy, and ''Death Ascendant'' is episode 2.

Reception

Trenton Webb reviewed ''Death Ascendant'' for ''Arcane'' magazine, rating it an 8 out of 10 overall. Webb felt that the "wheels-within-wheels" premise of Ravenloft's secret societies is what links '' Death Unchained'' to this adventure. While he felt that ''Death Ascendant'' could work as a stand-alone feature, "this would be a waste" because the "continuity of the plot makes ''Ascendant'' far more satisfying as a sequel". He warns that with "a vast abbey as the central location and a less convincing climax than ''Unchained'', players need to bring recent histories to bear in order to get the most out of ''Ascendant''. If they've fought their way through the first installment they won't care about the slightly silly resolution." Webb concludes the review by saying: "An excellent sequel, ''Ascendant'' perfectly continues the events set in motion in ''Unchained''. But they do need to be played in sequence if the full effect of this series is to be enjoyed."

References

{{D&D topics Ravenloft adventures Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1996