The Mall of Doom Review

This review is for an adventure supplement for "The Mutant Epoch". I previously reviewed the RPG this adventure goes with here. This will not be a very in-depth review because if I go over too many details it will spoil the adventure for players. I will give my thoughts about it.  The adventure takes place in a small town. The townspeople ask the PCs to help investigate a string of suspicious kidnappings. This leads the PCs to an ancient shopping mall filled with monsters and sick horrors. This is a dark module and not recommended for young children if you're wanting to get them into gaming. I really liked it because it shows how desperately this world needs heroes.

Like "The Mutant Epoch" the art in this book is amazing and done by the author himself. Black and white art throughout and each picture matches the text to help describe what is going on. The cover is full-color and shows off some mutant PCs facing off against a horde of baddies. My copy has slightly smaller dimensions than the core rulebook. It isn't as tall or wide. In the top-right corner it says "Muli-Path Adventure Module". This is because it plays out like a "choose your own adventure book", giving the GM multiple logical options depending on the events the PCs triggered, or the direction the story is going in. This makes the adventure less likely to be ruined by the PCs taking a path that wasn't expected and keeps the adventure from becoming rail-roaded. Players aren't forced into only moving one direction.

Normally I'm not very fond of pre-made adventures because they're either too predictable or don't take into account of the players going in a different direction. This adventure could be played in multiple ways with multiple outcomes each time. This is also a tough challenge for players. The game recommends each player have two or three PCs rolled up. I think it would be wise to take their suggestion. I'm not going to get into specifics but this adventure is scary, brutal, and perfectly fits how the genre should be played. There's also one new weapon and creature that are very powerful. Of course there's some new pre-made NPCs and maps.

This is a great first supplement for "The Mutant Epoch" and I highly recommend this adventure. This is good for both novice and veteran GMs because of the ideas and tips it has in it. This is also good if you haven't had experience running a post-apocalypse game, or ran games that focus on combat rather than survival. This will challenge players mentally, putting them in bad situations and forcing them to think. You can order the print copy here and the PDF here.