Blood on the Altar
Hi, everyone. Here’s a provocative question. 😃
So I just saw under the other Dunwiches question that almost everyone was praising the 5th scenario, Blood on the Altar. I’ve also noticed before that many people consider it one of the best scenarios. My question is, why is that the case—why does the community like it so much?
I’ve played through the entire Dunwich campaign about a dozen times. I’ve also played through 5 other campaigns and 6 standalone packs. I felt that Blood on the Altar was one of the worst scenarios. It’s definitely the worst of the Dunwich ones (alongside Undimensioned..., of course).
For me, Blood on The Altar is not a satisfying experience at all. It takes me 10 minutes just to set up, which is longer than the setup time for many other scenarios... Then it’s over in about 10–15 minutes, and I barely had to do anything. After all, you just have to pick up the key from one location and find the chamber under another. Then there’s only the main enemy left, which is ridiculously easy to kill—just run in and out, landing a few hits along the way (or picking up a few clues). So neither the plot nor the main antagonist is special, and it doesn’t keep the player engaged for very long. There’s absolutely nothing extraordinary about it. Perhaps sacrificing the helpers isn’t a bad idea, but this doesn’t really make the scenario much harder, since the villagers usually only sacrifice 1–2 less important NPCs. In my opinion, neither the encounter deck nor the location artwork is particularly remarkable either. So I’m completely baffled by the scenario’s popularity. There are plenty of scenarios in Dunwich that are much better, more unique, more substantial, or graphically more appealing, such as Lost in Time And Space... or even Extracurricular Activity. And of course, there are plenty of much better, more substantial scenarios in the later campaigns as well.
So, for those who like Blood in Altart, why do you like it? I’m really curious. 😃
Thanks for the replies.