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LG BK Classics #2: Love Letter
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 02/13/2019 06:12:10

An Endzeitgeist.com review

The second LG BK Classics module clocks in at 30 pages – 30 pages of content, that is (covers etc. already accounted for) – one of these is devoted to a regional map, and 2 handouts for players are included, so let’s take a look!

This review was moved up in my reviewing queue at the request of my patreons; it was further moved up in my queue due to me receiving a print copy of the module. My review is primarily based on the softcover print version.

In case you’re new to the work of Casey Brown – the author is one of the masters behind the by now legendary Bandit Kingdoms adventures for the by now, alas, defunct Living Greyhawk campaign. Even within the context of that living campaign, back long before Arcanis or Pathfinder Society, the bandit kingdoms were special, emphasizing a gritty, old-school dark fantasy aesthetic firmly rooted in D&D, it seems to have been a classic in the truest sense of the word. With the end of Living Greyhawk, those legendary scenarios evaporated. Being a German, I wasn’t even aware of their existence until I got to read the campaign summary of these adventures, and if anything, the Unofficial Living Greyhawk Bandit Kingdoms Summary (linked here and below on my homepage) made me bemoan the fact that I never had the chance to participate in that campaign. Well, turns out that sometimes, wishes do come true.

The author has begun reviving the classic Bandit Kingdom adventures for a proper, wider audience, updated and streamlined. The modules may be bereft of Wizards of the Coast IP, but they still are decidedly examples of the same, gritty Greyhawk-atmosphere that old-school gamers and folks like yours truly have come to love. If you’re not an old-school gamer (hey, quite possible, considering how long it’s been since there’s been any serious support for Greyhawk!), and are familiar with Pathfinder’s 3pp-circuit, think of the flavor evoked by Raging Swan Press and the more subdued Frog God Games adventures. Raging Swan Press is a slightly closer analogue, considering Creighton Broadhurst being another Greyhawk alumnus.

This module could be considered to be linked in a way to the “Blue Scales, Red Secrets” adventure, which introduced one of the most famous threats of the Bandit Kingdoms to the PCs…but fret not, this module per se works perfectly as a self-contained module and requires no knowledge of said adventure.

This adventure was designed for 4-5 level 3-5 characters, but unlike many modules, it does offer actual notes on how to handle scaling individual encounters – not global stuff, mind you, but individual modifications. The module uses footnotes to explain trivia where required, and indeed, can be considered to be basically a go-play module. If you’re a moderately experienced GM, you can run this adventure without any serious prep time; potentially even spontaneously – there is but one prep work to potentially be done, and that pertains a battlemat. And guess what? The module ACTUALLY has guidelines for that. I kid you not. It achieves this ease of usability, at least partially, in two structural decisions: The first would be mechanical transparency that exceeds what you usually get to see: For example, the settlement statblock of the starting settlement has its individual skill-modifiers due to Crime, Corruption, etc. explained in a footnote – on the same page. No page flipping required. While the module does reference NPC Codex NPCs for town guards and similar characters that the PCs aren’t meant to enter combat with, all immediately and likely to be used mechanical components are included. This includes a spell-variant, a reference to a mythic feat and the like – you generally won’t need to flip books with this. Secondly, it should be noted that even GMs not used to running complex encounters or playing up NPCs get guidance via read-aloud text far beyond what one would assume in the module, beyond what is customary. This makes the adventure pretty friendly for GMs less proficient in the improvisation of flavorful read-aloud text. It should be noted that this is very much a ROLEplaying module – social skills are genuinely helpful, and while there is plenty of action, there also is some serious use for skills beyond that.

All right, this is as far as I can go without diving into SPOILERS. Potential players should jump ahead to the conclusion. … .. . Okay, only GMs around? Great! So, we join the PCs as they are celebrating in the hamlet of Ankheg Springs (settlement statblock included), the festival of Lammas, to be more precise. With gatherin information entries and even a small dedicated shopping section, the pdf starts idyllic enough – and yep, even here, we can see Diplomacy, factions available, etc. – the information is more detailed than you’d expect, and indeed, generates a sense of being alive. The PCs even get to participate in the local tradition, which is basically ankheg egg hunting. This is risky and may pit the PCs against desert ankheg variants – and if the PCs botch things, they may get food poisoning from rotten eggs. As a further example of how detailed this is – the module does provide rules for food poisoning. Depending on how much your players enjoy RPing here, this all may make for the first whole session, in spite of not taking up that much space. Still, it’s fascinating to see that a few well-written pages can have this effect. The organic climax for the end of the prologue section is heralded by the entrance of a weird man – muscular, exceedingly good-looking man with blazing, blue eyes, a red mane and predatory eyes enters the inn and heads straight towards the PCs.

In case you did not expect it – this man is no mere mortal. In fact, he pretty much makes no pretense of who he really is…and that he has a job for the PCs. He is, of course, one of the most deadly dragons I’ve seen statted in a commercial module – he is none other than the charmingly super-deadly red dragon called Morginstaler! His offer is simple – act as his couriers, or he will wipe out the PCs and the whole town of Ankheg Springs just for the hell of it. The dialogue with the dragon in-not-so-cognito follows a course that the PCs probably did not expect: Morginstaler (whose human form btw. only clocks in at CR 19 – and yes, PCs can piss him off…) asks them to deliver a love letter to the Floating Lake, which is situated within the Baleful Forest. Charming.

So, the PCs have been made cupids, handed a letter by a mighty dragon…what’ll they do? The letter is sealed, arcane mark’d and secured with improved alarm. And guess what? Unlike most modules, this one actually talks in detail of what happens if the PCs get smart – with uses of erase and similar tricks – after all, many a group will be very much tempted to try to read the letter. (As an aside: If you have a bit of wax and a seal, you could duplicate the seal easily with 5 minutes of prep-work – that adds another level to the handout provided. (Yep, the letter’s one of the handouts.) There also is a rather hilarious scene as the dragon leaves, wherein a mighty duidess bursts into the tavern, attempting to “save” folks from Morginstaler, who even laughs about her prowess. This not only establishes further the power of the dragon…it also makes him oddly relatable.

The druidess, Bellamoh, has a sidequest for the PCs. Morginstaler spent the night at an inn, and now strange things have been happening. The terrorized farmer points the PCs towards the barn – their task: Slaying the monster, preferably without burning the whole barn to the ground. Fire spread, if any, as well as smoke inhalation are fully depicted for your convenience, as the PCs get a chance to find that Morginstaler’s notorious lustfulness and virility are no mere tales – they get to duke it out…with half-dragon sheep! This made me laugh so incredibly hard, particularly considering how, at one point during 3.X, slapping half-dragon on everything was a go-to-mode to make things “kewl”; this may be a deliberate lampooning of this era in gaming, or it may be funny for its own sake, but I wager that very few groups will not start guffawing when they realize a) that the horrid monsters are half-dragon sheep and b) how these sheep came to be. Wanna know how detailed this is? The pdf has actual rules for making the pelt of these sheep-monsters into magic items. And suddenly, that cloak of greater resistance has an utterly hilarious story that the players will always remember. It’s a small thing, but an approach to adventure-design that I’d love to see in more adventures.

In the aftermath of this encounter, the PCs will have a chance to riddle the druidess with information on Morginstaler and the path/the quest the PCs got – and she does caution the PCs about the path being fraught with peril. The path will bring them dangerously close to the Fleshreaver Keep – at least if they want to make Morginstaler’s deadline. This keep, lair of mighty Cambion who conquered Riverton – and indeed, when the PCs move through this area, they will have to brave giant apocalypse locusts and swarms of them – even when steering clear of the keep itself. Dealing with a mythic menace makes for a challenging encounter here…but if the PCs survive, they can harvest its venom. Yep. They can. All stats included. Are you starting to see what I mean by details? How these details help generate a sense of plausibility in a module that has half-dragon sheep, just because an NPC has a twisted sense of humor? Yep, this is unique.

This sense of wonder remains in effect when the PCs arrive at the Baleful Forest (which is btw. enhanced by aforementioned GM-aid-sequence) – here, a giant centaur with a fun accent (he’s half centaur, half dryad – don’t snigger!) can provide some words of advice – like warnings from the deadly ettercaps, of a lich…and the fact that there is, ya know, more than one dragon here. Yep. The PCs get to deliver a “love letter” to a dragon. (This is one minor nitpick – the dragon lady recipient of the letter has a changed type, which makes the green dragon behave more like a black one, but I don’t think that many folks apart from guys like me will mind – and in doubt, a GM can always rationalize this as a peculiarity of the dragon or consequence of the influence of the forest.) Anyways, negotiations can well take a turn for the really deadly, when the green’s mom rises from the lake…turns out that some things obviously transcend species, including parental disapproval for girls hanging out with “bad boys.” The PCs will need to get away from a REALLY angry mom…a true…dragon! Get it? Sorry, but the humor here is just awesome – enhanced, once more, by the copious amounts of dialogue-options.

Returning the green lady’s letter to Morginstaler can have a plethora of consequences – if the PCs tampered with the letters, they may well be forced to watch as the dragon kills one of the mightiest forces for semi-good in all the bandit kingdoms and incinerates the whole village; if the PCs failed, but are honest about it, they will have to pay the price – which is entirely dependent on how well they dealt with the dragon. Read-aloud texts for Morginstaler’s different responses are provided, and in the end, the PCs will receive boons/effects that govern their further adventures – such as an easier time dealing in a friendly manner with the great red if they meet him again…or his enmity, if they just failed/took off…

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are top-notch, I noticed no serious glitches on a formal or rules-language level. Layout adheres to a two-column b/w-standard, is player-friendly, and the interior artwork is fitting b/w-stock. The softcover has an elegant, matte cover. The pdf has bookmarks, just fyi.

Casey Brown’s “Love letter” is utterly unique. If I had to sum it up, I’d call it a gritty, down-to-earth dark fantasy adventure with killer half-dragon sheep and multiple end-game level characters that is situated in a world that feels very much alive in that the PCs can die horribly...how the heck does this juxtaposition work so well? How come that, in spite of all of the mighty beings herein, the module doesn’t feel as linear as its structure actually makes it? The answer is simple: Writing and attention to details. From the dialogue options to how loot is handled, from the humor to the threat-level, from the hazards to the critters, this adventure perfectly manages to blend subject matter you’d expect in a high fantasy gonzo game, and makes it MORE efficient, because it grounds it in the tangible quasi-reality that the previous modules penned by Casey Brown have shown already.

This humble module feels like none other I’ve read. It practically demands for the GM to further elaborate upon the cool characters introduced here; it features some of the most sympathetic and yet dangerous depictions of the apex predators that dragons are that I have seen in any module; the dragons herein are not simple hack-fodder, nor are they god-like monsters; they are apex-predators, and in the hands of a capable GM, this module can drive the sense of being a mouse staring a hungry cat in the eyes very well. If that cat was magical, smarter, and had a wicked, capricious sense of humor. In case my review did not drive that home – I adored this adventure. While the subject matter may sound like something that folks that usually go for gritty games dislike, believe me that this somehow actually manages to retain the flavor I’ve come to love in these modules, this sense of groundedness. This is genuinely funny, unique and definitely a module your PCs will remember; in many a way, it almost feels like a DCC-adventure, in how it allows even low level PCs to dabble with potent forces and have a serious impact on the region.

My final verdict will be 5 stars + seal of approval. There is also one thing: I have genuinely never read a module that hit these notes, achieves this flavor – and at this point, this is a truly daunting achievement. This is a small adventure with a grand scale, and it pulls off novelty, a genuinely unique take fabulously…and represents perhaps one of the best examples I’ve ever read on how to make something I usually despise, namely a relatively linear adventure, actually filled with choice and engaging; of making a relatively linear module that should structurally be a railroad par excellence instead of being boring and hostile to player agenda, deliver an amazing story. Deliver choices – from accounting for PC capabilities to respecting choices in all the details. I thoroughly respect and enjoy this attention to detail, this respect towards the cleverness of players. Since my list is a reflection of my personal tastes, this does get a nomination for my Top Ten of 2018 – it’s frankly a great example on how to make a module like this work.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
LG BK Classics #2: Love Letter
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SoR2: Against the Slavers
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 05/01/2018 12:40:55

An Endzeitgeist.com review

The second adventure in the „Shadows over Riverton“-AP clocks in at 58 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with a massive 54 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

This review was moved up in my reviewing queue due to me receiving a print copy of the book. You’re seeing the review this soon because I received the copy prior to release to the public and thus had ample time to analyze and test it.

Now, before we dive into the meat of this adventure, let me talk a bit about the series: The author was one of the triad members of Living Greyhawk, and particularly involved with the Bandit Kingdoms. This module, in tone and spirit, thus breathes the legacy of Greyhawk, and indeed feels like a lost Greyhawk adventure with the serial numbers filed off. That is a good thing. The adventure takes place in the city of Riverton, the stage set in the first adventure of the series, and directly builds upon it – characters met and interacted with directly influence some of the proceedings and represent the main hooks. That being said, the adventure is VERY easy to adapt to other locales. As long as you can justify a humanoid slum (perhaps due to a lost war effort) in front of an otherwise more traditional city, you’re good. It should be noted that the Bandit Kingdoms-flavor that suffuses this adventure means that the town is grittier and somewhat more realistic than comparable settlements.

Now, if you recall my review of the first adventure in the series, you’ll recall some components I loved: For example, Riverton gets settlement statblocks for EACH QUARTER. These, if relevant herein, have their modifiers hard-baked into the challenges. This is just one the various components, wherein this adventure sets itself apart from the majority of modules. The second, and most important aspect here, though, would be the obsessively, meticulous detail that is provided for the GM. PCs follow their employer after the quest, due to massive paranoia? There’s a scene that covers it. Need an encounter for one of the myriad gangs in the humanoid-slums? There’s an encounter for that. Unlike most published adventures, I can’t see this one requiring much in the way of GM-expansion o account for players going off the rails, which is even more interesting and remarkable, considering that this is a pretty free-form investigation/infiltration!

Now, the adventure does another thing right that I really love: Rules-decisions, explanations and help for the GM is provided in a massive array of footnotes that further make handling the actual running of the module much, much easier. The adventure also sports a metric ton of statblocks, which render the challenges faced distinct and don’t leave you hanging dry when you’re looking for the stats of character xyz. This all conspires to make the adventure work in as much of a Go-Play-fashion as can be: While, being an investigation/infiltration and pretty free-form at that, the adventure works better (like all modules!) when you’ve read it prior to running it, but you won’t need to make many notes and GMs with at least a bit of experience under their belts should be able to run this without previously preparing it in detail. The adventure also presents an impressive array of read-aloud text, in vivid prose, bolds rules-relevant context so it’s easier to find (without violating formatting conventions)…and it eve sports an appendix, wherein effects of different lodging situations that the PCs find themselves in have significant mechanical aspects. The adventure also provides a handout.

In short: This is one of the most convenient to run modules I’ve seen in a while, and its attention to detail is impressive and really helps to set the stage and maintain the atmosphere throughout: It generates a sense of reality, an impressive achievement. There is, for example, a magic item that most groups will not find. It is pretty cool and relevant for a powerful figure in town, though – the adventure even devotes time to the negotiation process regarding the figure and the item! In short: There is A LOT of care poured into this adventure, and it shows.

All right, this is as far as I can go without diving deep into SPOILER-territory. Potential players should jump to the conclusion.

..

.

All right, only GMs around? Great! So, it’s been a few days since the PCs arrived – enough to have their accommodations in Riverton have an impact on their well-being. The Halfling Stefania, an acquaintance of the PCs from module #1, contacts them to meet up at a tavern – and while this may sound like the oldest trope in the book, it provides a great example for the case I made regarding details. The module takes into account that PCs may show up early and scan the area; it covers the discussion of the task at hand with both read-aloud text and bullet points for conversation, skill-use, etc. – and if they unearthed the connection of the goblins from module #1 to the slavers in the slums, that also plays into the proceedings. Misty is acting on behalf of one of the most powerful NPCs in the city, who comes to meet them: None other than Misty Homeagain. Now, in another module, the proceedings would just boil down to a read-aloud text. Here, Misty uses a custom spell to provide a discreet means to converse (and paranoid PCs are taken into account) before talking to them – it’s a small thing, but it provides a rules-based foundation to discreet talks that adds a sense of realism and authenticity to the matter at hand. Heck, as mentioned before, paranoid PCs stalking Misty may be in for a thrashing – they’re small things, yes, but they add to the immersion, and this level of detail is maintained throughout the module.

So, folks have been disappearing, and as the PCs found out in module #1, there may be a tunnel to provide egress to Riverton, past the corrupt, but at least nominally stringent guards. Thus, the mighty halfling wants the PCs to go to the humanoid slums before the city, to Beggartown, find the missing folks and rescue them. Sounds easy, right? Well, Beggartown is not a nice place to be – the rickety shantytown is characterized by lawlessness and the corrupt half-orc captain Llerdnig is one of the movers and shakers there. With orcs, tieflings, gnolls and goblins freely living there, some races like elves, dwarves, etc. may want to think about disguises. Nice: Stefania will accompany the PCs as a sort of GM-PC, and her input, well-meant, if not truly helpful, can help steer the PCs. If she does accompany them, they’d better make sure she gets out alive, though! Anyways, with incidents or without, the PCs enter Beggartown, where the trail does not really grow cold – instead, it becomes hot rather quickly, as the PCs are faced with a cool and diverse skill challenge/chase: The contact amidst all the squalor and misery of Beggartown seems to have just met his rather grisly end at the hands of gnolls, who see the PCs rather instantly, courtesy of Stefania. (Neat: This does help “sell” the chase as a not a railroad!) If the PCs succeed in catching up to the mottled gnolls, they’ll have a fight on their hands. But there is a pretty good chance the gnolls get away as well – so, how does the module handle that? Well, successful PCs can wring the location of the slaver compound from the gnolls, no problem…but if they failed…they don’t really have an issue.

Clever PCs will note that the mottled fur only is sported by one of the gnoll tribes in Beggartown, a tidbit of information that clever GMs can seed…and even if the PCs know where the complex itself is, they’re left with more than one issue. You see, the tribe is rather sizable. To the point where assaulting the compound sans doing legwork is not a smart move. But if they haven’t managed to pinpoint its location, we have no problem either: You see, the compound obviously needs to purchase goods, right? Well, one means of thinning the opposition (and potentially secure an ally for a coup-d’état of sorts) is to ambush said team! There are plenty of other ways to help weaken the gnolls, provided the PCs can survive in Beggartown, that is – random encounters for all of the diverse gangs in town are provided…and, indeed, if the PCs are smart, they may even manage to take down the Alpha of the gnolls prior to assaulting the complex: Growl, the rather huge (size Large) leader of the gnolls likes to spar in the Chapel of Slaughter, the ramshackle fighting pit/neutral ground of Beggartown, and the module actually talks, in detail, about the process of becoming pit fighters and potentially stopping the brute. No mean feat, but if the PCs manage to achieve success there, they’ll have a demoralized tribe when faced with the folks who defeated their champion.

Speaking of “Alpha” – where this, in another supplement, would have been just a moniker to denote the chieftain, here, we actually get a fully depicted hierarchy – and gnolls being gnolls, there is plenty of dissatisfaction and drama behind the scenes, including affairs and the like. Roleplaying savvy players may well be capable of destabilizing significant portions of the tribe before attacking the compound. Extensive notes on further development pertaining both success and defeat allow the GM to organically maintain the flow of the adventure. Oh, and guess what: Yes, the module accounts for the PCs buying the captives! Provided they have the funds, this would make for a smart move prior to attacking the compound, for example, as the PCs wouldn’t have to take care of the NPCs. Speaking of which: Hirelings and named NPC allies that have a stake in seeing the slaves freed may be recruited, and the adventure provides proper names, motivations and further adventure hooks for the slaves. Are you starting to see what I meant with “impressive details”?

The assault on the compound, should the PCs choose to undertake it, is btw. not a singular rail-road-affair – there are chances for folks not being there, and day/night does matter as well. Heck, the respective shacks etc. get full game-mechanics, should your PCs choose to smash through them! This is a bit like having terrain that can be damaged in a videogame. While, in pen & paper, you theoretically have that all them time, but flimsy construction of the shacks makes it really relevant here! Having stats for the frickin’ structures makes the whole complex feel more dynamic, and before you ask, the compound is fully mapped in pretty detailed color maps. As a minor downside, these maps do not come with a key-less player-friendly version, which is a bit of a bummer, considering that it’s pretty likely that the PCs will capture a gnoll at one point. That being said, the gnolls are amazing – there are plenty of archetype’d and template characters here that deserve the moniker: There would be, for example, a venerable gnoll who has become slow in her old age, the flavor represented by drawbacks; a crippled gnoll s who dabbles in fire breathing and makes use of goblin skull bombs, nearsighted ole’ Stinky…these gnolls feel indeed like they have lived. While rank and file beings exist, it is ultimately in these NPCs that the tribe truly comes to life.

I did mention an item, right? Really clever PCs may notice a magical shovel used near the trash pit, an unlikely treasure not identified by the gnolls – that would be the shovel of the final rest, which can yield PCs a nice financial windfall…if they don’t overly tax the goodwill of the guardian of the graves, that is. It should also be noted that XPs gained are contingent on more than enemies slain, so that’s another big plus as far as I’m concerned.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting on a formal level are excellent – Casey Brown’s professional background and experience in editing is quite apparent here. I wish I was as good at editing my own writing! On a rules-language level, the adventure is similarly impressive – though slightly less so: When e.g. a caltrop-trap references “slicing” damage that should be “piercing.” That being said, the module is actually more precise than PFRPG’s base rules here – caltrops inflict RAW, in a nonsense-decision, untyped damage, which clearly should be “piercing.” So yeah, my nitpick pertains something that the module does better than the core rules. Here and there, I could nitpick some minor rules-language in new content, but never to the extent where it would constitute a proper issue. The copious amount of statblocks are solid as well – I attempted to reverse engineer and encountered no problems. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience. The print version is b/w and sports a nice, matte cover; if you’re familiar with Raging Swan Press’ PoD-books, it uses that type. The lack of player-friendly maps represents my only somewhat valid complaint on a formal level against this module. The pdf version comes with a copious amount of nested bookmarks that render navigation comfortable and painless.

Casey Brown’s second foray to Riverton is amazing. It develops the strengths of his previous offerings and applies them vigorously to a module-type that is a) harder to pull off properly and b), wherein the application of this attention to detail is much, much harder. From a formal perspective, this is one of the easiest infiltration/investigation-sandboxes to run that I have ever read. So, it’s comfortable to run and provides plenty of gaming material as well.

The second strength of the module is one that is harder to describe and get right. Most folks would call this “old school”, but that term is, at this point, a flawed one. You see, “old school” does not equal “old school” – when we take a look at OSR-gaming, for example, we have e.g. the Advanced Adventures-line by Expeditious Retreat Press, which champions a slightly weird AD&D-ish feeling; we have the psychedelic nightmares of LotFP; we have Frog God Games’ fantastic Lost lands, which are a precarious, dark setting that always had, at least for me, a subtle sense of melancholia suffusing its books, a feeling of a world that is in the process of moving on, of empires fallen and a dark age impending; there would be Goodman Games’ DCC-material, which I always refer to “Metal-fantasy.” All of these, and many, many tastes more, are generally called “old school.”

There is another type of old school, one that you only get to see rather rarely – because it is really, really hard to pull off. You see, I could sum up this module as “PCs rescue slaves from gnolls in a slum.” I wouldn’t be lying. It’s a basic premise. The module does not throw some central weirdness in your face, it does not use some over the top shenanigans to distract you from structural shortcomings. It doesn’t have to. It is my firm conviction that unpretentious, Greyhawk-style fantasy sans a ton of high-fantasy stuff, with grit and detail and grime, is extremely HARD. You can’t rely on a catchy pitch that will make folks go “OMG, zis iz teh awes000m1111oneone!!” and you always risk the danger of becoming generic, forgettable. In fact, only your prose, your ability to evoke a concise, living, breathing environment, is what separates you from a “been there-done that” type of experience. You have to work in the small aspects, and when you botch the job, you’ll probably get a “soso”-review that can’t put the finger on why they were not engaged. That type of writing is HARD to pull off, very, very hard. Few publishers and authors manage to hit this precarious balance, this elusive sweet spot, with e.g. Raging Swan Press coming to mind as one of the few publishers that do.

You may have realized it by now: This module manages to hit the right mood right on the head. And it, in passing, serves as a perfect rebuke to the claim that complex systems like Pathfinder can’t do this tone. The module uses a TON of material from Pathfinder’s extensive mechanics to enhance the mood that is conveyed in the adventure, to underline the realities of the game-world. It represents an impressive synthesis of mechanics and flavor, all in the service of storytelling.

Why should you care? Simple. Because we frankly need more adventures like this. Because this atmosphere, this feeling, is precarious, hard to get right, and because, even if you prefer far out concepts, the weird ultimately does become stale if you constantly barrage the players with it. The wisdom inherent in this type of old-school sensibility is, that in order for the outré and fantastic to properly work, you have to ground it, contextualize it. And that is much harder than writing an adventure about 8-armed flying monkey/mi-go-hybrids with laser canons. See what I did there? I bet you thought “that sounds cool” – see, that is the elevator pitch I mentioned.

I can’t do the same type of elevator pitch for this module. Don’t get me wrong. I love far-out weirdness. But know what? Chances are, that if you buy this module (the price-point is btw. imho really, really low for the amount of material), you’ll start smiling upon reading the module. Because it draws you in. Because it feels alive and organic and plausible. Because it doesn’t rely on flash and bang and world-ending threats, instead opting for a more subdued theme – without becoming generic. It is interesting, once you start to think about it, that strange and weird concepts and high fantasy over-the-top superhero-esque gaming have become so prevalent that fantasy like this, grounded, grimy, and down-to-earth, has become fresh, unique, and a rare and treasured type of experience. I do get why, mind you – in the hands of a mediocre author/designer, this would have been boring. It’s not.

The second installment of “Shadows over Riverton” is an impressive, extremely flavorful, detailed, and most importantly, fun adventure that even relatively new GMs should have no problems with. In fact, it’s good enough to transcend the lack of player-friendly maps that most of the time prevents modules from reaching my highest accolades. This is worthy of 5 stars + seal of approval, and if Greyhawk and the type of module I mentioned above even remotely struck a chord with you, then give this a chance. If you never understood why those old folks lament the lack of proper Greyhawk support by WotC – look no further than this to understand it! (And, if you’re a fan of Raging Swan Press, check this out – same hold true for vice-versa, obviously!)

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
SoR2: Against the Slavers
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LG BK Classics #1: Blue Scales, Red Secrets
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 07/17/2017 10:32:30

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This module clocks in at 29 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 25 pages of content, so let's take a look!

This review was moved up in my review-queue due to me receiving a print copy of the book.

So, before we start, a little history: The Living Greyhawk campaign back in 3.X was a campaign I would very much have enjoyed playing in; I always liked Greyhawk's relatively down to earth and classic tone. In particularly the region of the bandit kingdoms would have tickled my fancy, for the Bandit Kingdom summary-book I read really made its shades of gray mentality and pretty gritty feeling sound like something I'd appreciate. Alas, the general public doesn't have a way to play these modules now - they're lost...or rather, they had been lost. You see, this module would be the conversion of one such module to PFRPG, with the serial numbers filed off, if you want. I sincerely hope that we'll get to see more of the bandit kingdoms...but does the module hold up?

The module is designed for a party of APL 6, with characters ranging from levels 4 - 7, but also contains notes on how to increase the challenge posed by this module up to APL 8. A handout and maps for the combat-encounters have been provided - the maps are in color in the pdf, b/w in the print version.

It should be noted that the bandit kingdoms are slightly darker in tone than standard fantasy and feature slightly more explicit themes. While still firmly PG 13, squeamish players and kids may require a slight alteration of some text - though, big kudos, the pdf does note such instances! Kudos!

This being an adventure-review, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players should jump to the conclusion.

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All right, only GMs around? Great! The pdf assumes that the PCs are accompanying a man named Yulkin on an errand, acting as guards of sorts. The module features copious read-aloud texts, including some local color that ties into the Riverton-backdrop, but that as an aside. The way taken skirts the so-called Scar - the domain of none other than Morginstaler, the mighty red dragon. The terrain and environments provided for the areas, for the landscape, etc. btw. has mechanically-relevant repercussions - the lack of plant-life, for example, makes certain spells not work. The fact that the pdf mentions tidbits like this should be taken as testament to the attention to detail exhibited here.

Speaking of detail - this attention to detail also extends to the first encounter. Where Morginstaler swoops down and threatens to eat the PCs and their charge, unless they provide a bit of a service for him: A weird group of kobolds has intruded upon is domain and he is a bit perplexed - the kobolds did not grovel or run in panic and hence, he wants some intel on them. Best of all, he'll graciously not kill them all. The interaction with Morginstaler sports A LOT of troubleshooting, read-aloud text, etc. - and yes, Morginstaler is a bit of a Casanova, so charismatic female PCs may actually start a romance with the dragon. He's quite a charmer and, player-consent provided (the pdf notes this in bold all-caps!), the lady may actually become pregnant...though, if you consider these topics icky, you can simply ignore them - it's just one of the possibilities. The potential issues paladins may face here are similarly touched upon.

Ultimately, the group will probably consent to the dragon's request and thus travel into the badlands of the Scar - only to feel watchful eyes upon them...the PCs don't know yet, but dusk kamadans are stalking them right now -and yes, there are full stats for these monsters, which bring me to one thing I honestly LOVE about this pdf. The stats of both NPCs and monsters herein are lavishly-detailed and hand-crafted, using creative templates, 3pp-classes and even some unique tricks - like a scaling Spell Mastery variant and a feat for move action spellcasting. The latter represents one of the few issues I have herein: It is included for the sake of the build of the NPC the PCs meet in the Scar, the Indiana Jones-like archaeologist/wizard Mumford Ravine, who, with his griffon-figurine and ties to some of the local humanoids, can provide some advice and social interaction for the PCs. While the feat works in context with his stats, I'd strongly suggest never allowing it anywhere close to PCs.

The encounter with Mumford, just fyi, also offers the chance to trade spells - told you, this was detailed! Oh, and once the dusk kamadans do strike, the pdf mentions how their pelts can be used for magic item creation! Yes, this is exhaustive regarding the GM-guidance and details provided and I mean that as a compliment!

Sooner or later, the PCs will find the location where Morginstaler has slaughtered the irreverent kobolds - only that since then, slime crawlers have begun taking a shine to the delicious corpses...oh, and there is an optional complication in the guise of a VERY potent kobold magister who survived the massacre - once again, a potent and custom-made threat. It should, at this point, come as no surprise that speaking with the dead and similar options of information gathering are covered. The PCs can find a prayer to the new "deity" of the kobolds here...ostensibly, a powerful blue dragon...oh, and they can find out that there are many, many more kobolds. Whether or not they try to discern the location of the massive kobold settlement, the PCs should have some information for Morginstaler....who has amused himself in the meantime by playing with Yulkin...who hence lies unconscious at the dragon's feet.

The interrogation of the returned PCs once again sports serious detail...and once the dragon knows enough, he'll "reward" the PCs - by slamming his tail on the floor to call forth basically his half-draconic umberhulk children. Since umberhulks are closed IP, the book has instead used ankhegs with multiple templates to retain the abilities and flavor - big kudos!

The showdown, while Morginstaler laughs, seems like a cruel game of cat and mouse - after all, the mighty dragon could kill them any time...but sooner or later, he will have to retreat - in his absence, Mumford has triggered a hoard defense of the dragon, calling him back to his cherished treasure...and thus allowing the PCs to hopefully escape with their lives. (And yes, the module even accounts for how Morginstaler evades the confusing gaze of these critters...)

The pdf concludes with possible XP awards and boons the PCs may have achieved during this module.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are excellent, I noticed no glitches. Layout adheres to a no-frills two-column standard with thematically-fitting b/w interior artworks taken from the public domain. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience. The softcover is a nice one to have - being old-school, I prefer that version. Cartography is decent and player-friendly, though I certainly wished we got blown-up versions of the battlemap-style maps to print out at the proper size.

Casey Brown's little module is much better than I can probably convey here. You see, I've read and run my fair share of organized play modules; more often than not, they boil down to a lot of fights and a flimsy story without much roleplaying involved. This, while similar in scope due to its heritage, is not such a module. While there is plenty of challenging combat to be had, against utterly unique threats no less, the star of this module is frickin' Morginstaler. For the first time in a long, long, LONG while, the depiction of a dragon in a module actually nails what dragons should be, at least to me: Arrogant, smart, capricious and incredibly dangerous. This module NAILS how a dragon works and doesn't treat him as a throw-away encounter. The amazing final battle is another big plus. The attention to detail provided is a sheer joy to behold - from mechanically-relevant terrain to atmosphere, read-aloud text and more, this leaves nothing to be desired.

My only two complaints with this glorious module are that I would have really liked to see high-res versions of the maps for printing/VTT and the one feat used in an NPC build, which should seriously never fall into player hands. Apart from these two minor hiccups, the module delivers by the buckets and makes for an amazing experience, well worth of a final verdict of 5 stars, just short of my seal. If you enjoy Greyhawk or want to see a dragon done right...or if you just some actually well-made, complex statblocks, then take a look at this little gem, for it's well worth checking out!

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
LG BK Classics #1: Blue Scales, Red Secrets
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SoR1: A Page of Scrolls
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 06/13/2016 10:58:32

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This first module in the Shadows over Riverton AP clocks in at 34 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, 1 page editorial, leaving us with 30 pages of content, so let's take a look!

This adventure was moved up in my reviewing-queue due to me receiving a print copy in exchange for a critical and unbiased review.

Wait: Before we do dive into the SPOILERS, let me make something very clear. Are you interested in Greyhawk's bandit kingdoms? Well, if you've been following my homepage, you'll notice how last Friday, I reviewed basically the unofficial chronicles of the Bandit Kingdoms, right? Right. Note how I enjoyed the sentiments there, the style and everything? How I wished that this institution was still around, that I could play in it? Well, the Living Greyhawk campaign may be gone, but this module, in themes and presentation, very much breathes the spirit of the bandit kingdoms, if not, obviously, the IP. This does mean a couple of things: For one, there is a more than pronounced level of detail available here, with footnotes helping with less common rules, concise use of skills and DCs - the presentation does show the experience of author Casey Brown in the harsh realities of living campaigns - and yes, this includes notes to scale challenges to higher APLs. This level of detail, and this is very important for the potential buyer to know, extends to the eponymous town of Riverton as depicted herein: Apart from the map and the handout, the pdf has no less than 7 pages devoted to Riverton -and the city's details are truly captivating.

Without spoiling anything, here's basically the gist: 18 years ago, The Bastard, a powerful cambion, gathered an army of humanoids and, via the support of shadow demons as assassins, managed to take Riverton and subject it to his brutal yoke. The people did not let that stand, however - they slowly, but surely eliminated the powerful abyssal assassins and then, civil war erupted and Riverton's champions managed to drive The Bastard and his servants from the town. However, a significant population of humanoids remained, which is probably one of the reasons Riverton, to this day, is governed by a Plar - "Someone who rules over a motley group." Beyond the racial tensions between the more monstrous humanoids and the general populace, recent weeks have brought dire warnings and refugees from the North streaming to Riverton, further adding tinder to the explosive cocktail brewing. If that does sound interesting, you'll be happy to hear that Riverton's depiction in its details goes one step beyond what just about every sourcebook does: We get full-blown settlement statblocks and write-ups for not only Riverton, but also beggartown, the somewhat remote harbor town-quarter and the respective districts (!!!), overall generating a truly compelling backdrop, which, in style, presentation and theme would work perfectly with just about every Frog God Games or Raging Swan Press-supplement in theme and style.

So yes, this, theme-wise, pretty much represents the best of Greyhawk-aesthetics. This does extend to creatures though: Goblins are e.g. not illiterate here and the revised background stories and flavor assumed for Golarion does not necessarily hold true within these pages. Which brings me full circle around to the unofficial bandit kingdom summary I mentioned before. In case you haven't noticed: This pdf, in its spirit, detail and style, very much can be considered the heir to the Bandit Kingdoms aesthetics and flavor. Having read the guide, it is very hard to divorce the module's premise from this heritage; you see, the section that amounts to a mini campaign setting with Riverton and its environments reverberates with the stories of the bandit kingdoms to an exceedingly pronounced degree - it feels like the sequel the narrative was always supposed to have.

Okay, this is as far as I can go without resorting to SPOILERS. Potential players should jump to the conclusion.

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..

.

All right, only GMs here? We begin with an establishing shot, as the PCs make their way towards the gates of Riverton, towards Flaneur's gate, where access to the city can be gained; against a backdrop of refugees and yes, slavers, the PCs will have a taste of the frontier spirit and rough and tumble mindset beyond the borders, as they can save Stafania Wunderlich Homeagain, a halfling associated with the prominent Homeagain family, from slavers. The level of detail employed here is stunning and something you usually only see in modules by Raging Swan Press or 4 Dollar Dungeons - whether via combat or Intimidation, the pdf is not content in simply resolving the task with a skill check, but takes roleplaying and decisions as well as circumstances into account, extending this care to the consequences of the encounter as well. Beyond this intermezzo, the PCs will also have an easy means of bypassing the notorious anti-elven orc-captain Llerdnirg, who far exceeds the PCs in capability - probably with the help of one Ahren, a clumsy diviner in the employ of the local wizard's college. Pcs that understand Orcish may actually be rewarded with additional read-aloud text, to give you another example for the commendable level of care employed here.

Having entered the city, it is also Ahren that tries to recruit the PCs for a specific task: You see, the clumsy diviner has lost a scroll, which has fallen into the canalization under Riverton, a place that is the home of quite a few unpleasant folks. It is here that the brief mini-dungeon episode begins, as the PCs climb down into the canals to retrieve the scroll. The canals as such extend the level of detail employed for the social encounters above ground to the terrain and encounter with both intelligent and nonintelligent adversaries, providing a diverse set of challenges and including means for nonviolent conflict resolution, tough as those may be.

So yeah, while you may well roll your eyes at a sewer level, it actually is a well-crafted one, with a handy GM-reference for underwater combat being included in the deal. Beyond that, it should be mentioned that, while CR-appropriate, this is no hand-holding exercise: There are ample harder modules out there, but PCs unwilling to act and fight smart will be tested to their limits if Fortuna does not favor them. The brief sojourn into the stinking and infectious depths does end with some interesting loose ends: Hints towards a conspiracy/slaver-ring and the very nature of the scroll - blood biography - render the potential for future developments more than pronounced, particularly since the PCs will have had their first taste of the sunken remnants of former ages of Riverton below the surface...and since they may have made a tenuous alliance with goblins...or eradicated them completely. The overall sense with which this pdf leaves you is one of baited anticipation - much like a good establishing shot/first module, this seeds a lot of hooks and potential and provides a fascinating vista for further developments and already points towards a serious array of potential consequences for the actions of the PCs. The pdf also sports a new spell that lets you detect hidden writing and the scroll case in question is actually a new magic item.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are superb - I noticed not a single glitch. Layout adheres to a clean two-column full-color standard with the pages sporting a yellowish used parchment look. The artworks are serviceable and the full-color map is neat as well, though we do not get a player-friendly map to cut up and present to the players. I hope that future installments of the series will sport a map of Riverton, but for the purpose of this module, it is not (yet) required and therefore absent. The pdf has no bookmarks, which constitutes a nasty comfort detriment. The print version is thus preferable and can be considered to be a nice, solid softcover.

Casey Brown's "A Page of Scrolls" is an establishing shot of a module: It establishes a tone, connections and challenges, a specific design approach and does so with flying colors. The flair and atmosphere evoked are superb and captivating, particularly for those of us even remotely familiar with the bandit kingdoms, to which this is a predecessor in anything but closed IP. That being said, as much as I adore the flavor and design approach, the level of detail and care, this module ultimately remains just that - the establishing shot. If you take the level of detail, the atmosphere and the setting up away and look at this on its own, it loses some of its appeal due to the overall brevity of the module. The easiest means of understanding what this is would be to simply picture this as an excellent first part in a multi-part organized play saga, with some excellent gazetteer-style information added. As such, the module feels a bit lacking in its resolution, but does so by design. In the end, this made me exceedingly excited to see where the saga will go from here, but also left me somewhat dissatisfied regarding cliffhangers or first, pronounced consequence, instead just hinting at the things to come.

It is thus, that I arrive at a final verdict of 4 stars, with the explicit note that I can't wait to see where this series will go.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
SoR1: A Page of Scrolls
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BDKR1: The Unofficial Living Greyhawk Bandit Kingdoms Summary
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer] Date Added: 06/13/2016 08:51:52

An Endzeitgeist.com review

And now for something completely different - this book clocks in at 92 pages. While I do own the electronic versions, I'd suggest getting the print version if you can - mainly since I'm old-school and have based this review on the print copy.

This book was moved up in my review queue due to me receiving a print copy of the book in exchange for a critical, unbiased review.

Okay, so what is this? It is, at least to me as a German, a piece of gaming arcana: Back in the 3.X days of old, there was a Living campaign of organized play called Living Greyhawk, shaping the classic world, with different regions sporting different adventures. During the impressive 8-year run of Living Greyhawk, the region Bandit Kingdoms produced more than 130 unique modules. These modules, to my knowledge, have never been published in a concise form, which renders a part of this region's turbulent history...opaque.

Well, no longer. The bandit kingdoms in their diversity are laid open in this book's summaries and depictions. Okay, but why should you care? Well, let me elaborate for a second my own personal stance towards Greyhawk. I know this is tantamount to blasphemy, but here goes: I was never the biggest fan of the setting. Sure, I was pretty excited to get to know the place Mordenkainen called home, where Vecna and Kas feuded...but ultimately, the 3 settings I truly loved from the classic TSR/WotC-IPs will always be Ravenloft, Planescape and Dark Sun. Perhaps it's my own predilection for darker fantasy and horror and the weird fiction in general, perhaps it's just a resonance of the disillusion that accompanied many a book and gaming-supplement for 3.X's FRs and the mounting feeling that this world needed no heroes. I'm not sure. But at the end of the 3.X era, I had the feeling that the realms had devolved into a mess, where every hamlet had a level 16 blacksmith. It's subjective. I still like the realms...but from afar. It should hence come as no surprise that I never went truly deep inside the Greyhawk's canon's evolution during these times.

Turns out that that was a colossal mistake. The flair and old-school vibe of a world close to the brink, with mature shades of grey mentalities and ideologies, the sense of threats I enjoy in offerings by Raging Swan Press, Frog God Games or TPK Games can be found within these pages - as the introduction aptly puts it "I had to save the bad guys from the other PCs." In the Iuz-dominated and war-torn bandit kingdoms, royals are forged by tourneys of madness, taking the crown may spell your doom and heroism has still its place, although it's tinted with a healthy dose of survivalism and realpolitik. From 591 - 598, this book chronicles the adventures that were undertaken by countless players, shaping the destiny of the bandit kingdoms in struggles that deviate from the tired challenge-rating-appropriate-formula in quite a few instances, breathing a sense of old-school danger that has been absent in far too many publications. A handy index sums up the respective scenarios by year for your convenience and we also get a glimpse behind the screen, wherein author Casey Brown, one of the meta-organization coordinators, discusses the respective issues with scenario designs and encounter design problems that resulted from some...well, let's say less than well-conceived design decisions that were imposed on the respective authors.

Now here is the interesting component - this massive book provides a comprehensive list of extensive summaries for all those aforementioned modules. The respective modules come with their own designation, the name of the author and list the AP they are associated with - with AP here denoting the sequence of modules that form a cohesive story, not the "whole campaign"-meaning the term has lately taken as its primary meaning. Each of the respective modules comes with a synopsis of the plot as well as a commentary.

Here would be as good a place as any to talk about Casey Brown's obvious experience in academia: From informative and properly placed footnotes to an easy to read, compelling style, what should by all accounts have been a pretty dry read actually became rather engrossing and kept me awake at night while digesting all the information contained herein - also from a mechanical standpoint, for e.g. calling out the Spell compendium (still hurts to type that book's very name). And yes, these tangents are brief, but their very existence is something I truly appreciate. Additionally, if that sound tiring or bland to you, the respective entries often feature extensive commentary that satisfy another craving of the conditio humana we experience: The human element. When e.g. a knight has won a crown as part of his retirement and steps down in favor of his competitor, only to have said competitor be soultrapped by the vile opposition, you can practically see the tables upon tables of players staring in utter disbelief. When an arrogant player's letter results in him becoming part of the metaplot, when a dwarf's famous last stand becomes a symbol for heroism in a region known for cut-throat politics, betrayal and dishonor - then the knowing roleplaying veteran nods and realizes that there are some stories that are only written in our medium, at least in the extent and impact they have on lives and collective ideologies shifting.

The compelling and intelligently-crafted political landscape of the bandit kingdoms, slowly unraveling before my eyes, complete with a powerful (almost) undefeated dragon, a kind of elder evil and Iuz' nigh-unstoppable forces ultimately provides a truly compelling insight into a whole campaign's worth of material, with a massive list of adventures by associated AP and a timeline that chronicles the events by year from CY 576 onward, this book offers a fascinating insight into the rich landscape of this region.

Beyond that, the pdf also offers intriguing miscellanea: Including favorite quotes...and they are hilarious: "You say medusa, I say artist." DM: "You hear a bloodcurdling scream from down the hallway." Player of a rogue: " I Take 10 searching the square in front of me." "We have two kinds of heroes: dead ones and...we have one kind of hero, actually." This book ends with a list of those who served as triad and Iuz circle members.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are excellent, I noticed no glitches of hiccups. The book's layout adheres to a two-column b/w-standard with thematically-fitting stock art. One thing that may annoy you is the tendency to have a blank page at the end of a chapter, but that's about it regarding complaints in formal criteria. The electronic version comes in three formats: Pdf, EPUB and MOBI and the print and the classic cover style, with the book sporting the 8 x 02 x 10 inch-dimensions. The pdf, in a minor complaint, is not bookmarked, which is a bit jarring. The paper used in the print does its job regarding its thickness and consistency.

Okay, so why should you care about a by now non-existent, discontinued living campaign? The obvious reason would be nostalgia on part of the participants...but that alone does not do the job. More important, for me as a reviewer is that this book made me actually want to participate in organized play. Pretty much for the first time. I'm not a fan of formulaic or necessarily "Balanced" or "fair" modules - I want a compelling, evolving world and this is a truly astounding glimpse right into such a world. I am neither a big fan of Arcanis, nor of the Pathfinder Society or Greyhawk, as a setting for that matter. But damn, I want to play this. Had I lived in Texas and Oklahoma during this campaign's run, I probably wouldn't have missed a single adventure. The picture painted vividly in this chronicle is that of a campaign that is mature, compelling and dynamic. Beyond the knowledge on the formal aspects conveyed herein, this can be considered to be one of the most compelling takes on roleplaying history I have ever read - and it is an inspiring book. I put this book down and started scribbling scenario-ideas and campaign seeds right of the bat - so even if you are not at all interested in Greyhawk, bandit kingdoms or anything like that, you still get a lot of mileage out of this book.

Casey Brown, Britt Frey and Austin "Theo" Judd have crafted a thoroughly unique document that has its special place of honor on my bookshelf - whether for the Lost Lands, the anarchic regions of Golarion or any other campaign setting, really - this book has a ton to offer for people who don't care about Greyhawk at all. An inspired chronicle that got me excited, a book that is testament to the fact that major story-changes by players can and should happen in living campaigns, a book that does show that there is fun to be had in darker settings and dangerous challenges - what more can you want? This is an inexpensive, awesome book and well worth a final verdict of 5 stars + seal of approval.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
BDKR1: The Unofficial Living Greyhawk Bandit Kingdoms Summary
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SoR1: A Page of Scrolls
by Chris Z. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 08/11/2015 12:42:35

A solid first level adventure

I must state that I was allowed a copy of a page of scrolls to read and then make a review.

A page of scrolls is an adventure that intrigued me. When I saw that it was a first level adventure involving goblins, I must say I was not impressed. I have so many first level adventures for Pathfinder so I thought, why do I need another one? I am glad that I had the opportunity to be proven wrong. A page of scrolls is an adventure that where players get their start. It is a pivotal time, because almost anything can hurt or even kill your character. The author Casey Brown does a great job at managing that and making an intriguing fun adventure for players to go through.

I will say that one of my favorite things Casey did in this adventure is include footnotes to certain sections of the Pathfinder Rules that apply to what is happening during the adventure. Brilliant! I don’t understand why this is not done more often. I know it takes up space, but as a GM it is a very useful tool. Casey also puts some great details in this adventure. I loved it.

One other great part of the adventure is that a full write up for the City of Riverton is included. This is where the adventure takes place. My only negative is there was not a map of the City of Riverton included. It is not a necessity to have for the adventure to be ran effectively, but it is nice to have to see the City that the adventure takes place in.

The adventure runs 34 pages, so 17 if you print it out and want to bind it like I did. I did not find any great errors in the pdf so that is always nice.

I found myself enjoying this adventure a lot. I was gladly surprised. I do enjoy low level adventures and this one did not disappoint.

I hope to see further adventures from Casey Brown in the near future. I will gladly review them if offered the opportunity again.

I rate A Page of Scrolls 5 out of 5 stars.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
SoR1: A Page of Scrolls
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