By G Hawkins
Self Published
OSRIC
Levels 4-6
In the days before the rise of the Jade Empire and the rule of the serpent men, the enigmatic axolittians reigned in Halith Vorn and there built their cities amongst the reeds in the swamps and caverns below. They mastered sorcerous arts and paid homage to devils and terrifying elemental beings. In the end, their serpent men slaves rose up and rebelled against their rule, driving the axolittians into the lower caverns; there they lingered on, slowly degenerating to a primitive and base level. In turn the Jade Empire was cast into ruin, and the former slaves of the serpent men occupied parts of the once great city. Finally came the Cultists of Thul, worshipers of disease and inheritors of serpent man sorcery, enemies of civilization and the Baron in Longfelt, searching for a weapon of great power…
This 120 page dungeon contains numerous levels and rooms all centered around an evil cult in a ruined city/civilization/cavern and its neighbors who hate them. Evocative descriptions, interactive encounters and situations, with formatting that works and great design. This is the adventure you were looking for.
I do, what, twelve or so reviews a month? Usually of shorter adventures; it takes me a few days to work through them. The hundred-page-plus stuff is piling up on my todo list because I have to review them as time allows in inbetween other adventures, since it takes often weeks to absorb them. But, then this came out. I got it and set to work. Generally, I think, I might find one adventure a month or so that is not terrible or even good. Then something like this comes along; something that is not just good but is FUCKING GREAT.
Like most reviews of good things,I don’t even know where to start on this. The very first words are the background. Does Hawk drone on and on and on? No. The designer gives us a short paragraph that sets up the dungeon and situation and then moves on. It’s enough to get us oriented as to whats to come and doesn’t get up its own ass. Perfect. The Hooks? How about “We received a strange report from the village of Hroogpith. Something about pestilence assailing the village; and the village blacksmith’s deceased grandmother rising from the grave and eating his leg or something” See that? That’s fucking specificity. That’s what makes your adventure evocative. That’s what gives the DMsomething to work with. A faction table? Sure. Everyone is evil, but, also, they all hate the evil cultists. That was cute. ?
The designer knows what the fuck they are doing. An NPC is a short stat block, where needed, followed by a terse personality. Dude oils up and “Poses to show off his figure before combat,” Noice! The start village is short, doesn’t overstay its welcome and yet is described with a great vibe. You KNOW how to run this place from the terse but evocative descriptions. Edge of the swamps. Smells of fish oil. DIlapidated. Shrouded in mist. Corpses lying in the streets rotting and bloated and covered in flys and maggots. Oh … ope! That is, after all, why you’re here. ?
The formatting here is clean. It’s easy to find information with a decent number of cross-references. Bolding and whitespace are used effectively to help the DM locate information during play. Boxes and shaded text and bullets … not becoming an eyesore but used effectively. The designer knows WHY they are using these techniques and it shows.
The writing proper is somewhere between good and great. “A field of corpses lying half-submerged in the mud. A thick cloud of flies blankets the area; the air heavy with the droning sound of their wings. The corpses are bursting with puss and filth” Heavy air. We’ve all experienced that. A FIELD of corpses. THICK clouds. Not a large or big to be seen here. It’s terse. It’s evocative. “A gnarled, weeping, leafless willow tree stands by a black stone monolith.” Gnarled. Leafless. “Water cascades down a shaft; mist swirls out of the opening. The sound of crashing water echoes up from below” These are almost impressions of a room rather than a description of a room. And, frankly, I like that best. I’m sure some fuckwit will take the wrong message from that statement, but, I think you want to communicate a message, a vibe, to the DM. The DM is the designers greatest asset. Inspiring them, getting the vibe across to them, that’s the key. Then they can expand and expound on the situation, the description, whatever. Like the NPC doing poses. That’s enough for the DM to run with, to be inspired by.
And situations abound! I love situations! Not just a room stuffed with a monster to hack, although there is certainly a place for that. But, also, everyone hates the cultists. And, also, they are all evil. So, enemy of my friend? But they are assholes also. And then there are things like this, a prisoner in a cell: “Lealock, merchant (frizzled hair, lesions on body, ripped clothing); fetal position in cell corner, rocks back and forth whispering ‘My good little doggy, my good little golden boy’: if released, runs screaming to area 11 and throws himself down the pipe—this alerts the cultist guards in area 10” FOOL OF A TOOK! Not just the dude, and roleplaying with him, but also consequences of NOT handling him.
There are so many other details here that are great. A timeline for the village. Not a static place but a living place and shit WILL happen as you rest and fuck around. A whole booklet of additional resources, like a time tracker and henchmen sheets to track things with. These things are fucking great and go a long way to show someone who is actually RUNNING a game and an understanding of what you need to run a game like this. I don’t comment on art frequently, but, personally, the art style here appeals to me. I’m not sure it contributes as much, specifically, to individual situations going on, but it does contribute to the overall vibe.
This seems like a good place to comment on the maps. They are fucking great! Complex, with caverns and rooms, water features, chasms, good same level features. There is a sense of verticality in many of them. Claustrophobic tunnels and wide open spaces with all that entails for encounters in them. I need to up my map vocabulary to better relate their complexity. Hmmm, not so much complexity as it is variety and … opportunities for gameplay? Whats a word for that? “Enables better/more interesting gameplay.” Seems like in fifteen fucking years I should have figured that out by now.
But, also, I would have put the business names on the village map.
I’m a big fan of this. I wish I could better convey all that makes it work. The factions, the cultists proper. The interactivity and variety of types of things to do and explore. It’s really all of the components integrated as a whole, working together to bring something more than the sum of its parts. Design.
This is $12 at DriveThru. The preview is 25 pages. More than enough to show you the clean formatting, the great maps, and a variety of encounters and text overview. Great preview. Hawk has done just about everything right to produce to a great adventure.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/508270/pestilence-at-halith-vorn?1892600
Hawkins is really consistent, huh?