By Evlyn Moreau
Self Published
Basic
Level ... 4?
The oasis is filled with cactus sprouting large yellow flowers. The water flows between a cave mouth and a sandstone crevasse.
This 42 page adventure describes about twenty locations in and around desert oasis With Shit Going Down. Creature creativity abounds with an occasional turn of a phrase that is wonderful, but it can’t sustain that and doesn’t support the situation it wants to develop.
The vibe here is Yojimbo. We’ve got this oasis with these cactus flowers. The pollen can be used to make some decent drugs. A caravan arrives in a few days to pick up a drug shipment and drop off silver and spices as payment. On one side of the oasis is a group of thieves. On the other side a wizzo who has charmed a bunch of humanoids and dressed them up as his frock coated retinue. Standoff motherfucker! Also there are cactus cultists running about. And some halflings that live in the tall purple grass, reminiscent of dark sun without so extreme a disposition. Wanderers and such, of course, and the cactus goddess and her daughter. And right in the middle a group of clueless pilgrims who have stopped off to rest on their way to somewhere else. Enter Le Parti, the fireworks going off in the gas factory.
The monsters here are a delight. The kangaroo rats without arms that only eat the skin … living or dead. Owlbear people except instead of a bear its a cactus. Even turning the halflings in to plains hilljacks and dandy charmed monsters and a sisterhood of filth who never wash, the other thief band vying for control. New monsters and giving a spin to the old and usual make them fresh again, and exciting to run.
And there is a turn of the phrase here and there that is magnificent. The clueless pilgrims “knowing only prosaic and ordinary sin” get a couple of sentences to describe them and then “They’re the deadmeat teenage spring-breakers of the ancient forgotten fantasy world, this being one of those pilgrimages that ends up being a big party.” WoW! So much here! Shades of Camp Crystal Lake! Clueless fuckwits as the victims, turning up dead, hostages, fucking up shit. I love it! That one phrase just really fires the imagination. Not just “You can use them to get things going” but the deadmeat teenage spring breakers thing just overloads the brain with possabilities. This is EXACTLY the power of language and the appeal to our shared cultural understanding. A short sentence can be overloaded with context that brings so much more to the table. A perfect description leads to so much more, be it imagery in the DMs head for a well crafted adjective or adverb sentence, or like this, the appeal to the shared understanding and trope. When this thing hits it hits REALLY well.
There are a decent number of things here to complain about. “Beasts” are mentioned in a couple of places but never described … although they are stated .The pilgrims, in particular, could use a few names and quirks. The caravan doesn’t really come in to things at all, in terms of what they are expecting and what they are paying for it … it’s all abstracted. But, worst of all …
There’s no Yojimbo thing going on. If Marky got with Sharon and Sharon got Cherese then that’s something. It’s better than just saying that Marky, SHaron and Cherese are their names. But, I think, what we’re looking for here is a little bit more. We want some situations going on in just a bit more details. There is, to be sure, a “Situations” page in the book, listing everyones thing, but it’s just, I don’t know, a motivation? “Protect the cactus” or “Trade for some flowers.” And these are just repeats of the text found in the adventure keys. But, in spite of this adventure having a map with keys, it’s not a keyed adventure. Or, shouldn’t be. There is a social element here. What we want is something that is potentially explosive. Some situations going on, secret liaisons, blackmail opportunities, the ability of the party to profit, maybe a hothead and/or a lovers thing ala Mercutio. But we don’t really get any of that. We get quirky gang that wants to sell drugs components. And another quirky gang that wants to sell drug components. THis is certainly better than them NOT being quirky. But there should be more here. SOmething things to prompt some opportunities for the party.
I recognize there’s a spectrum here. I’m not looking for plot, but I am looking for more than minimalism (which this is not, to be clear.) I want things that, like the spring-breakers that are deadmeat, fire the imagination and make me want to do more with it. That’s the sign of a very good adventure. This is not a very good adventure, but, if all you want is a location where you can bring 90% of the action and situations then this is it.
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