FGG3 – Ursined, Sealed, Delivered

This is a 32 page module set in the frozen north, for 4-6 characters of levels 3-5. It has 2 full page ads and a license page, and 4 pages of table of contents, credits, and forward. Finally we have 12 monsters stated out on 2 pages in the back (most of which are new), 4 pages of maps, and 3 on wilderness survival. That leaves us 16 pages to handle the roughly 56 keyed encounters. The original product was a tournament module, and it shows a bit, although not nearly as much as in Ghost Tower or Hidden Shrine. You do get tournament scoring rules, but this is much less of a ‘linear & forced tournament format’ then any other tourney module that I’ve seen.While traveling by boat in the frozen north the characters come across a talking seal who begs their help in three tasks, presumably located nearby. The characters have some equipment unloaded from the ship to the beach, and the adventure begins! First, the PCs are playing the frozen north, which is where those 3 pages of survival rules come in, as well as the unloaded supplies. There are rules for encumbrance, dehydration, starvation, exposure, and travel. The unloaded supplies are on pallets and the characters are given no more than 5 minutes to select the specific gear pallets to unload from the boat. The pallet selection and their contents really lend to the atmosphere of exploring in the frozen north. It’s pretty basic and simple rules that add a lot to the scenario, which is exactly what this sort of thing is supposed to do.There are three major areas to explore, the furthest two of which are about 5 days apart. Spread out between these areas are some environmental encounters (penguins, sea lions, crevices, etc) and a nice wandering monster table which contains at least three encounters that will overwhelm the party. This is a good test for OSR players: killing the monsters, especially wanderers, is usually NOT a smart idea. You want the treasure, not the kill.

The three encounter areas break down in a small fort with NPC’s in it to interact with, a mysterious tower full of undead, and an ice cave full of environmental & vermin encounters. Most of the tricks/traps come from dealing with the environment: cold streams, crevices, ice climbing, drifting snow, and so on. The three major areas themselves are rather small but sufficiently interesting in their encounters, especially with a little GM descriptive imagination in the undead tower, to make the three sites, connected as they are, interesting to adventure in. There are a couple of interesting magic items that are not of the “+1 dagger” variety, which I always appreciate. These, along with the new monsters, are really what set a module above the rest; they show a willingness to create new & unique content with which to use to freak your players out.

This would make an excellent one-shot or a couple of game nights if you can get the PC’s up in the north. The locale is sufficiently different to be interesting to a wide group of players and offers them challenges they would not normally encounter in the temperate dungeons or tropical snake-people temples they usually adventure in.

This is available on DriveThru

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/86964/Ursined-Sealed-and-Delivered–Swords-and-Wizardry-Edition?affiliate_id=1892600