The Immortal Storm (module)

The Immortal Storm is a 1986 adventure module for the Immortals Rules expansion to the Basic Rules of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

Plot summary

In The Immortal Storm, a scenario for novice Immortals-level characters, Immortals from the five spheres of power (matter, energy, thought, time, and entropy) must join together in a quest through the planes for the Key to Eternity, to stop a cosmic storm.

A strange, supernatural storm appears and threatens the entire multiverse. The Hierarchs of all the Spheres are unable to stop the storm. A supernatural eye sits in the center of the storm, watching the Hierarchs, until it finally makes contact and gives them a message in the form of a puzzle. The Hierarchs give the puzzle to the player characters as a test to see how fit they are to undertake the mission. If they solve the puzzle, they will know what they need to destroy the storm; however, even if they do not solve it, the Hierarchs have already solved it and will impart that knowledge to the characters regardless.

The characters then begin searching the planes to collect what they need to destroy the storm. The climax of the adventure features the characters searching for something in New York, exploring that city as well as Chicago. After collecting all the ingredients, the characters stand guarding the Hierarchs as they destroy the storm.

Publication history

IM1 The Immortal Storm was written by Frank Mentzer, and was published in 1986 as a 40-page booklet with an outer folder. The module features cover art by Larry Elmore and interior art by Valerie Valusek and Larry Elmore. This was the first module produced for the D&D Immortals Rules set, designed for a party of Novice Temporals – the lowest level of Immortal character.

Reception

Graeme Davis reviewed The Immortal Storm for White Dwarf #84. He compared the adventure's premise to that of Star Trek: the Motion Picture. Davis points out the logical flaws that "everybody knows Our Heroes will get the mission no matter how badly they do" on the test at the beginning of the adventure, and that the storm would list the things needed to destroy it. He also felt that searching for items was a waste of the scope of Immortal characters, and that it would have been a far more interesting scenario to have the characters dealing directly with the storm itself. Davis did find the different planes presented in the adventure imaginative, although he found that the plane consisting entirely of music staves and populated by sentient musical notes "smacks more of Dr. Seuss than D&D", and criticized the presence of air-filled tunnels in the Plane of Earth to help its inhabitants move about. David ridiculed the adventure's climax: "Our Heroes happen to need something from this humble little plane of ours, and as everybody knows, if it's vital to the survival of the multiverse, well gee whiz, it's just gotta be in the USA. I must admit, though, having an inter-planar gate on the New York subway might explain a thing or two." David also felt that the possibilities of newly-Immortal characters were "severely wasted by sending them on a trip down the shops. I'm sure that it would have been possible to come up with something a little more grand in scale for the first Immortals module." He felt that this gave the impression that the module was produced in a hurry, and concluded the review by stating "the module does have its moments, but my overall impression was one of disappointment".