SF3 – Culvert Operations

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Bryce Lynch

This is the third in the Frog God Games Splinters of Faith adventure path. Each module appears to have a strong stand-alone elements to it, with a small tie-in to the overall adventure path. This one is no different. In it’s 24 pages we get about eleven pages of actual adventure detailed about 42 locations. In addition we get about four pages detailing the city in which the adventure is set and about another four detailing the temple complex. The cover is the same as the other 9 modules in the series, and the back cover blurb is about two sentences long. Frog God does themselves a disservice with this: so far this series has delivered very well and just seems to be getting better and better.

The city proper is only very briefly described and the locations detailed all relate in some way or another to the adventure that appears further on in the module. There’s not really enough information here to make the city a detailed environment for adventure, and only a brief description is given for the ‘flavor’ of the city. IE: Generic fantasy city. The locations that ARE described are well done, as are the two major factions. Thus you get exactly enough detail to bring that aspect of the city to life enough to run the adventure. The city feels like a bolt-on, but what IS presented is what you nee to run the adventure, so I don’t think I can complain too much. Well, no, I can complain a lot but it may not be justified. Similarly we get a four page description of the temple which the party needs to visit for the adventure path portion. The backstory is interesting (Lessons Learned: Don’t worship the god of Luck) and again, enough of the temple is described that the party can interact with it’s elements prior to setting for on the core of the adventure. Turns out the priestess won’t do what the party wants for the adventure path unless they help her with a little Necromancer problems she’s having …

The core of the adventure is a journey through the sewers. Wait! Stop! Don’t close your browser. Yes, I know, “sewer adventure” ranks right up there at the top of ‘cliched adventure ideas.’I LOATHE them and seeing one in this set my teeth on edge. Maybe it’s filled with kobolds too! Or maybe goblins! Yeah! Well, no, that’s not what’s going on. There _is_ a lot of dreck with sewer adventure portions out in retail-land however this one is rather well done. For example, on the wanderers table the party meets a house cat in the sewers who is running down the tunnel mewing like crazy. Turns out it’s got some green slime on it. How many animal loving PC’s did THAT one just get? As with the other modules in this series, the Wanderers table is not all enemies and most of the encounters actually have some plausible reason for being in the sewers. The encounter areas in the sewers are well done also; they are briefly described and yet interesting and plausible. For example, the sections of the sewers under the slaughterhouses are filled with blood & gore, with some of it hanging from the gates in the ceiling as the floors above are cleaned. Reveling in this gore is a group of ghasts/ghouls, and a blood golem thing lurks in a different part of this area. Not just your usual “ghouls in the sewers”; they have a reason for being there. This sort of detail really helps bring the module to life.

This is a good time to talk about the sewer map. Essentially, I think it sucks … but I may be wrong. It’s basically a long sewer tunnel with a few twists in it. Side branching corridors lead to different encounter areas, each of which has some sort of theme. IE: This section is under the slaughterhouses, or, this section is controlled by wererats. A smart party will avoid all of the side branches and head sPeter Pan like straight on till morning to find & defeat the Necromancer. So while the map _is_ pretty linear, the side branches _offer_ encounters but don’t _force_ encounters, which is a very good thing indeed.

In reviewing this I’m reminded of another adventure, from Dungeon magazine I believe. It was centered around a bunch of goblins in their cave. Ho hum, pretty boring. Except it wasn’t, it was very well put together and well worth playing. (I recall an earthquake in there which made the exit difficult.) That reminds me of this: an idea that has been badly done a hundred times in the past but is well done this time. And that, after all, is the point of a review: to guide you past the hundred examples of dreck and to that one certain sewer adventure that is worth checking out. This is that one. I can heartily recommend this one.

This is $5 at DriveThru.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/86762/Splinters-of-Faith-3-Swords-and-Wizardry-Edition?affiliate_id=1892600

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Q3 – Death on Signal Island

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Bryce Lynch

Q3 – Death on Signal Island, is an OSRIC adventure for 4-6 characters of 2-4th level. It’s the third in the Pacesetter Quick Play series, designed to played in a single session or two. As such these tend to be brief affairs, and this is no exception. It’s 18 pages long with three pages of introduction, seven for the ten keyed encounters, and a page for the new monster and new magic item introduced. We get a full page for the map and another for a set of pre-gens. The rest is composed of the license, table of contents/credits, and two pages of ads.

 

The adventure revolves around the PC’s investigating why the fort on Signal Island has gone silent. It seems that the city keeps a guard on the island, located in the bay, and they haven’t been in contact for a bit.  Ought oh! The set up here is similar to Alien: why can’t you leave the haunted house? Because it’s an island you were dropped off on. The island is quite small and has no wanderers on it. There are two animals on the island, some Sahuagin, and some smugglers. Finally, you get some Lacedons and the big bad guy monster himself. Not a lot going on; just ten keyed encounters over seven pages and none of those really stand out as interesting at all. Smugglers & Sahuagin may be the most overused monsters ever in coastal adventures; I groan now when I see them in print. A snake dropping out of a tree and a trapdoor spider do not a thrilling island adventure make.

 

I’m really at a kind of loss to describe this one any more. It’s short, but then again the first two in this series were short also, and Steading of the Hill Giants was what, 8 pages long? Unlike the first two in this series there’s just nothing of interest going on. It could be that this is a symptom of the size and the type of adventure. While Q1 was location based and Q2 was location based and had a strong hook, Q3 is more of a wilderness adventure, without wandering monsters or a survival challenge, and no strong overall tie to mesh the various encounters in to a cohesive whole. There are some attempts to mix things together; you could solve a mystery by going everywhere and talking to everyone and hacking everything, but there’s no need to. It’s pretty obvious pretty quickly what’s going on, and once you hack it you’ve solved your problems.

 

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T1 – The Thing in the Valley – Pacesetter Games & Simulations

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Bryce Lynch


I made a lot of old school purchases at GenCon. Just like in the D20 days, a lot of material for OSR is being produced that is of less than stellar quality. Occasionally though I stumble across something that is good, and this is one of those times. At it’s core the module is fairly simple. Something is haunting the valley and the villagers would like the PCs to investigate. There’s a brief wilderness jaunt/search until the party finds the lair. The lair is explored and the baddie dealt with. Fairly standard stuff, but made wonderful by the evocative nature of the encounters Bill Barsh scatters throughout.
First up we have the village. This will most likely be the first stop for the party. The village isn’t really detailed, just the encounter in the local tavern where the villagers implore the party for help. This section is short, just about a single column, but it sets the tone for the entire adventure. The villagers packed in to the old tavern, their faces etched with fear. An old crone by the fire. A nervous villager acting as the spokesman. It’s presented as read-aloud boxed text but can quite easily be broken up for more free-form use. The text itself is very descriptive and yet brief. It perfectly paints the picture of a group of relatively isolated villagers gripped by fear. At the same time the individual personalities of the villagers shine through. The tale they tell is one of uncertainty, horror, and desperation. There’s about a page more of additional information in unboxed format. Again, it is very well done. The very brief descriptions of the NPC’s, just a sentence or two, brings them to life AND provides ample resources for the PC’s if they follow up. For example: “the old woman will give her ring to the most outwardly brave of the PC’s. Also, it is a gift and she will not ask for it back at the conclusion of the adventure. if the PC’s try to haggle for a reward (none is offered) she will not offer the ring.” That’s the entirety of her text; it communicates a lot and gives the DM a lot to work with in bringing the encounter to life. And that’s just one example of many I could have pulled. It’s done VERY well and sets the feeling for what’s to come, both in mood for the PC’s and in flavor for the DM to impart.
There’s an overland wilderness portion to the adventure, essentially a hunt for The Thing. The valley is about 13 miles wide and 30 deep and has 8 keyed encounters in it as well as three events for the DM to throw in. Two of the events are mostly role-playing events while the third has the party being assaulted by bandits while they hole up in an abandoned farmhouse in the driving rain. Events usually mean “railroad” however in this case the first two events can easily NOT lead to combat (they are not combat by default) and the third provides some clues that it is coming. In any event, none of the events are required for the adventure and are more of the “wandering flavor text” variety. They are, however, VERY well done. The NPC’s descriptions and the setups are very well done and interesting and provide memorable encounters. There’s also a small wandering table. I’m happy to see no humanoids on it (Trolls & Ogres don’t count in my book.) I’m happy to see that the wanderers match the flavor of the adventure rather than “here’s some random goblins and orcs to fight.”
The keyed encounters in the valley are interesting as well. They involve about a column or so of text each and do a good job in that small space of describing the encounter and making it something that fits with the adventure and provides something memorable for the characters to do/explore. There’s only one unavoidable fight in the keyed encounters, and that’s directly related to the adventure. It’s also done in a very spooky way that, with a modicum of DM effort, should get the party nice & creeped out.
The final location is a ‘haunted house’ where The Thing dwells. It’s backstory is well done and the house has a nice variety of traps & tricks which fit with the overall feeling of the module and with them being in a house.  It reminds me a lot of that unknown feeling when exploring the Saltmarsh home, except I’d say this one is better done. It communicates well the creepy nature of the location and smart parties should be able to put the entire story together and get a leg up on the Thing.
I’m VERY happy with this module. It uses ‘standard’ monsters sparingly, has a set of new monsters for the party to figure out, and it’s ‘feel’ is communicated well throughout the entire piece. The entire module is built around a single monster, and, just like with the Harn Troll village/module, it’s a perfect way to illustrate how to do just that. This sort of well done work fires the imagination, which is exactly what I’m looking for in a module. It has about 30 pages and I’d rank it as a solid BUY. There’s a lot of dreck in the RPG module world; this is most certainly NOT one of them.
This is available at DriveThru.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/167998/T12-The-Thing-in-the-Valley?affiliate_id=1892600

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