Adventuring Across Avallen

The bride was not scorned by her betrothed, but by her father-in-law, who sacrificed his son and the rest of his family to defeat the threat of plague and death. He became a god in return for his victory, whilst she, pregnant with her unborn son, raged at him in her grief and anger. She spurned his offer of marriage, outraged even further by his audacity, and exiled herself from the life she would have had. She still wants that life and she wants her beloved returned to life. Even after accepting a place at her would be mother-in-law’s court, her anger burned and her desire for revenge seethed. She turned it into a blade and became a feared warrior in service to the Ever Ones and amongst the Fae. Even this outlet for her rage was denied to her when the gods signed the Ever Pact that ensured peace amongst the fae and their withdrawal from the mortal realms. The bride was incensed. She had come close to freeing her beloved and the chance had been denied to her. She scorned the Ever Ones. She repudiated the Ever Pact. She would free her would be groom and together, they would kill the Ever Ones and all the gods, and then take the crown of Avallen, which was theirs by right and so fulfil their destiny. The Faerie Queene stalks the land of Avallen, her plans close to fruition…

This is the set-up for Against the Faerie Queene: A Celtic Campaign for Legends of Avallen & 5E Queene, a campaign for Legends of Avallen: A Tabletop RPG Inspired by Celtic Mythology in Roman Britain. Published by Adder Stone Games, Legends of Avallen is not, despite it inspirations, a roleplaying game about the conflict between the invaders and the invaded. Rather, it is a roleplaying game about two cultures attempting to keep the land and its people safe, protect it from incursions from the Otherworld, and about men and women who grow beyond their ordinary lives to become heroes and forge legends that the bards will sing of in tales down the ages. Against the Faerie Queene is the first campaign for it, published following a successful Kickstarter campaign. The campaign not only uses the card-driven mechanics of Legends of Avallen, as its subtitle suggests, it gives stats compatible with ‘5E’ or Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, opening up the world of Avallen to devotees of that game system. However, in opening up Legends of Avallen to Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, what Against the Faerie Queene does is provide a lot more than just a simple campaign.

Against the Faerie Queene begins with an introduction to the setting of Avallen, its history and its peoples, along with a map. The latter consists of the native Vallic, divided between five clans, cattle-herders, charioteers, and blacksmiths, renowned for their song and poetry, and the Raxians, invaders from the Ataraxian Empire, known for their architecture, structured society and military, and application of logic and reason to magic. All five Clans are detailed through their legends and songs, before Against the Faerie Queene presents five new Legendary Paths linked to the roleplaying game’s professions.

The Automaficer is an Alchemist or a Crafter who constructs an Automaton which can be used to fight or pass messages or even be piloted in combat. The Enwyr is a Bard or Tamer who studies the knowledge and use of true names, pulling at the Threads of reality to discover them and then use them to place someone at an advantage or disadvantage, force them to speak truthfully or accept the Enwyr’s lies, to change into an inanimate form, to summon someone temporarily, and so on. The Faceless is a Thief or Scavenger who is able to change his face and body. The Paragon, either a Priest or Socialite, champions an ideal and can make allies out of enemies. Beginning as either a Scribe or Merchant, the Philosopher learns to change the world through words, whether this is to remake a failed check to spot, learn, or uncover something, to set someone up to succeed with enlightening advice or fail through inscrutable paradoxes, and so on. All of these have Legendary trials which the Player Character must undergo or achieve to grow into the Legendary Path and gain the abilities that each grants.

Against the Faerie Queene does not give any new Classes for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Instead, it adapts the five Legendary Paths given in the supplement as well as those in Legends of Avallen into archetypes. Thus, the Automaficer is an Artificer archetype, the Enwyr a Monk archetype, the Faceless a Rogue archetype, the Paragon a Paladin archetype, and the Philosopher a Cleric archetype. For the Barbarian, there is the Gladiator Primal Path, the Fili is a Bardic College for the Bard, the Druid enters the Circle of Oak, the Fighter becomes a Primus, and so on. Effectively, there is an archetype for each Class in Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, sometimes more than one, and although a player does not have to pick one of the archetypes for his character provided in Against the Faerie Queene, doing adds to the flavour and feel of the setting. One other difference between most worlds for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and Legends of Avallen is that the latter is a Human world. Elves, Dwarves, and Gnomes are not unknown, but they reside in the Otherworld and thus deep into the setting. In addition, Against the Faerie Queene provides rules for Parleys, scenes where the Player Characters try to persuade others to some course of action or support in spite of their objections; the use of Fate Cards to represent risk and the passage of time; and entertainingly, ability tells for big monsters, giving a sign that a boss monster is about to unleash a devastating attack which will affect all of the Player Characters and thus the chance for them to prepare or react. Part of the campaign in Against the Faerie Queene involves travel, so there are rules for journeys as well, these providing different roles for the Player Characters to fulfil and challenges being created by drawing cards from the Fate Deck. These journey rules are similar to those seen in other fantasy roleplaying games. Overall, the adaptation of Legends of Avallen to Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition is solid and should provide a Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition game with plenty of interesting options ready for the campaign Against the Faerie Queene.

Against the Faerie Queene: A Celtic Campaign for Legends of Avallen & 5E is designed to take Player Characters from Third Level to Tenth level, in both Legends of Avallen and Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. (Parts one, two, and three—‘Caer on the Borderlands’—of the campaign are available to download for free, starting here, but are not required to play through the campaign.) The campaign is divided in five acts and each part is divided into three branches. However, calling them branches is a misnomer since what they are not branches in the sense that they have different or alternate storylines that the Player Characters could follow. Instead, they are more like chapters, with the first chapter setting the situation for the act, the middle chapter containing the main events, and the third chapter dealing with the climax and its consequences. However, not all of the acts are structured like this, as will be explained below. In addition, although the first act introduces and sets up the campaign, and the fifth act brings it to a climax, the middle three acts can be played in any order. This can be a problem for the Game Master as one act is far more complex than the others.

In the first act, ‘The Hunt’, the Player Characters come to the Pen Baedd forest to hunt down Ysgithyrwyn, a vile, otherworldly boar that attacked the royal wedding of the daughter of Daedica the Brenin, one of the chieftains of the five Vallic clans. They quickly discover that not only are they not the only ones hunting Ysgithyrwyn, but that the creature is also unkillable. They will be given information as to what they need to gather in terms of magic to defeat the beast and to cure the wounds that they may have suffered in facing it the first time. This requires a number of sub-quests to be fulfilled and in addition to this, there are side-quests which will grant the Player Characters boons that may come in handy later on in the campaign. ‘The Hunt’ has a mythic earthiness to it, played out across a land scarred by the Otherworldly darkness of Ysgithyrwyn’s rampages, but leavened by encounters with often playful, even whimsical Otherworldly figures. Also appearing in this early part of the campaign are its villains, the Faerie Queene of the title and her son, though their villainy is not yet apparent. The son appears as a fellow hunter and the Faerie Queene as herself rather than his mother to thank the Player Characters for their efforts. Throughout this act, the Player Characters are advised by the blue-tattooed Myrddin the Wild, and here at the end, he tells them that he suspects the Faerie Queene to be a villain behind the release of Ysgithyrwyn and asks them to investigate her activities further. The Player Character will also be approached to visit other parts of Avallen and in doing so, find other signs of the Faerie Queene’s activities.

As the title of the second act suggests, ‘The Heist’ is a complete change of pace and tone. The second act takes the Player Characters to Raxian city of Vallonium, the capital of the Ataraxian Empire’s presence on Avallen. Here Commius the Collector, a wealthy merchant who has a love of both Vallic and Raxian culture, and he asks the Player Characters to steal an important Pen Levi idol said to be linked to the Vallic god of death. Currently, it is in the possession of Fulvia Pilius, the Princeps Collegium Commercia, head of the shipping guild in the port city. She plans to host a viewing party in five days and then ship it to Ataraxia as a gift to the Twin Empresses. So, the Player Characters have five days in which to plan and carry out the eponymous heist, but before that they have to get into the city itself. The problem is their weapons—which are banned in Vallonium unless they are commercial items. Which can be taxed! So, the Player Characters had either better pay up or find another way in and be very careful about displaying their weapons. As well as finding a way to get into the domus of Fulvia Pilius, the Player Characters will get mixed up in the city’s gang politics and try their very best to avoid any imperial entanglements. The act includes details on what the city guard will do to the Player Characters if they are caught committing any crime and it is not good. Overall, ‘The Heist’ is typical of its scenario type, but decently done and gives the Player Characters plenty of leeway in how they carry it out.

The third act again switches tone and style, but also ramps up the complexity. ‘The Horror’ is set on the island of Arainn, one of the islands belonging to the mysterious Pen Afanc clan, perhaps best known for the highly imaginative masks that its members wear. Once the Player Characters get to islands, which lie in the north-east of Avallen, and that is a challenge in itself, they find themselves trapped, waking up at the start of the same day again and again. The islands have been beset by a curse, which the Player Characters will need to find the curse and then find a way of breaking it. Although they do not know it, the Player Characters also have a time limit before the curse takes full effect. There is a lot going on in this scenario, almost too much and certainly a great deal of information that the Game Master has to relay to her players so that they can understand it and have their characters act. Consequently, this is the hardest of the five acts in Against the Faerie Queene for the Game Master to prepare and run. To that end, a better breakdown of the act’s set-up, what the Player Characters have to do to break the curse, and where they have to go would have been useful. Once the Game Master does grasp what is going on, then this is a horrific treatment of the classic time loop, infused with Celtic mythology. It has some great scenes too, such as when the Player Characters have to descend ‘Beneath the Waves’ to enter the Otherworld version of Pen Afanc and challenge mirror versions of the NPCs they have already encountered on dry land.

The penultimate act in Against the Faerie Queene is ‘The Games’. After the events of ‘The Hunt’, Brenin Ena of the Pen Draig, Avallen’s most famous clan, invites the Player Characters to attend the Cabar Games. These are held annually to bring the clan’s tribes together, but it does not seem to be working this year. The Player Characters arrive late, but are quickly asked by Brenin Ena to attend a banquet and mix with the clan’s leading figures and perhaps determine whether tribes do all fully support the current regime. It is an excuse to have a party, play some games, and pick up on some politics before the action begins the next day. The Player Characters are expected to participate in the ‘Y Tair Tasg’, a triathlon race which combines chariot racing, a delve into a cave, and a fight with a monster back in the arena. The race around and out of the amphitheatre and up a mountain to the caves is handled as a series of complications generated by the Fate Cards before the Player Characters enter the caves in search of what turn out to be magical cabars that they will have to toss at the beasts in the arena to defeat them. Unfortunately, the friendly competition—primarily between the Player Characters and Peredur, the son of Brenin Ena and hunter the Player Characters encountered in the first act, who has recently returned to his family after going missing as a child—takes a darker tone, when those who had been preparing the prize for the winner of the Cabar Games are found dead and the prize missing. All evidence points to the Pen Gwyllgi, a rival borderlands clan being responsible, but is it? The Player Characters’ diplomatic and interpersonal skills are sorely tested to prevent an outbreak of hostilities. The games come to a climax with a battle to first blood between Peredur and his allies and the Player Characters and by the end of the act, the Player Characters should have confirmation as to who Peredur really is.

The last part of Against the Faerie Queene is ‘The Cairn’. The Player Characters are charged with tracking down signs of the Pen Gwyllgi and Faerie Queene’s activities in the swamps where she is said to make her home on the Borderlands. Following signs of a terrible battle between the Pen Levi and Pen Gwyllgi clans, the Player Characters can gain clues as to where to find the Faerie Queene from a Pen Gwyllgi prisoner held by Pen Levi survivors. These will point them to the entrance to the Ever Stranger’s Cairn on the Stranger’s Mound and enable them to access the Otherworld where the god of death has built his Cairn, which is as much prison as it is fortress. Again, gaining access, this time to the Otherworld via the Stranger’s Mound, is a challenging task, either involving answering a question with something learned earlier in the campaign or with a Player Character sacrificing himself. Fortunately, this is not as campaign ending as might be first thought. It is in keeping with the epic fantasy of the campaign and the Player Character does have a role within the Otherworld and if the Player Characters are successful in defeating the Faerie Queen, it is also perfectly in keeping with the campaign that the Player Character who sacrificed himself returns to the land of the living. Inside the Cairn—the nearest that the campaign has to a dungeon—the Player Characters will be faced with a series of puzzles to solve and traps to overcome in order to finally confront the Faerie Queene, her son Peredur, and even the object of her plans. This is an epic battle, but much more than a simple stand-up, knockdown fight, which brings the campaign to a rousing climax. The campaign ends with an otherworldly conclusion that is nicely judged in terms of how the NPCs react and decently rewards the Player Characters.

Physically, Against the Faerie Queene: A Celtic Campaign for Legends of Avallen & 5E is a fantastic looking book. The artwork is excellent, though it is used again and again throughout the book, and the individual acts are nicely colour-coded. However, the book does need an edit in places and the writing is not always as clear as it could, especially in some of the more complex parts of the campaign. The book does not have an index, unfortunately.

Against the Faerie Queene: A Celtic Campaign for Legends of Avallen & 5E is a solid supplement for Legends of Avallen, a decent introduction to the setting for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. The campaign is better, nicely showcasing the setting of Avallen and its different cultures, and giving the Game Master and her players the opportunity to both experience and save it from the dangers and wonders of the Otherworld in an epic storyline.

Champions & Cards

The island of Avallen is one of legend and song. The oldest legend and first song tell of the Wild Hunt, how great heroes of the Vallic peoples stepped into the Otherworld or Annwn where ultimately, they sacrificed themselves to stop Avallen from being plagued by abominations known as Ffieidd-Dra. The victors of the Wild Hunt returned and were acclaimed by their peoples, becoming the ‘Divine Briendal’, or immortal god-kings and god-queens of the five clans that exist to this day. Rivalry between the clans and the ‘Divine Briendal’ led to civil war. The resulting bloodshed would undermine the divine power and influence of each of the god-kings and god-queens as followers either lost their lives or their faith. It was this that brought the wars to an end and made the Briendal to retreat into the Annwn and swear a pact never to intervene in the affairs of the Vallic again. Yet songs of their legend continue to be sung by bards to this day, along with the legends and tales of other heroes who were influenced by the Wild Hunt and then had their own songs. The island of Avallen is one that cries out for legend and song, for heroes and adventurers, for it is a land under threat and a land divided.

The abominations known as Ffieidd-Dra, such as the water-borne Afanc or the mighty porcine Ysgithyrwyn, each driven by a hatred of the Briendal, break through from the Otherworld and spread chaos and destruction. Fiends, like the seductive Baobhan Sith and the cursed Werefolk, also slip through from the Otherworld to spread their malign influence. The undead, ghosts, and vengeful Spirits, all known as the Unshapen, remain in the mortal realm, as yet unwilling to let go and enter the Otherworld. Otherworldly predators, the Wyrd, such the Adar Llwch, great dust eagles which grant great rewards to the winners of the games of riddles they favour and peck the losers to death, or Cat Sith, which feeds off the spirits of both the dead and the living, hunt both the Otherworld and the real world. The Fae can be equally as dangerous, though sometimes their curiosity can make them commit acts of kindness too. These are not the only threats to the Vallic, but there is one that divides them rather than is common to all of the clans. Roughly a generation ago, the Raxian Empire invaded. Aided by the strong ties and an alliance formed by decades of trade with the most southerly clan, Pen Cawr, the Raxian Empire set out to add the barbarous peoples of the island which lay off its western coast at the end of the world, but the defeat of its army by an alliance of the other clans prevented further expansion. Not all of the Pen Cawr clan have accepted the presence of the Raxians, but the assimilation has seen a continued Raxian military presence, Raxian construction techniques and writing being taken, and Raxian culture practices accepted, even as the Raxians adopt the worship of the gods of the Vallic—if only for protection.

This is the setting for Legends of Avallen: A Tabletop RPG Inspired by Celtic Mythology in Roman Britain, published by Adder Stone Games. Although inspired by the historical situation of the Roman invasion of Britain in the first century AD, this is not necessarily a roleplaying about the conflict between the invaders and the invaded, but rather a roleplaying game about keeping the land and its people safe, about protecting it from incursions from the Otherworld, and about men and women who grow beyond their ordinary lives to become heroes and forge legends that the bards will sing of in tales down the ages. Legends of Avallen maps this out, so that such men and women—the Player Characters—begin life with a simple Profession, such as Crafter, Priest, Scribe, Tamer (of animals), or Thief, and after a Quest or two, take up an adventuring Class, like Warrior or Mage, before going on to follow a Legendary Path like Druid, Gladiator, or Slayer. A player can select a Class at Level Two and a Legendary path at Level Five, and then follow that all the way to Level Fifteen. Now there are some obvious paths for a Player Character. For example, a Tamer would become a Reaver and then a Slayer; a Scribe a Mage and then a Magister; and a Bard a Mystic, and then a Fili. However, a Player Character is free to follow whatever path his player decides, so whilst Legends of Avallen provides the framework and structure, it leaves the choices to the player. It does one other thing though and that is make following Legendary Paths difficult. To earn each ability of a Legendary Path—and a Player Character can switch back and forth between several—a Player Character must complete a trial. The book suggests several for the various abilities across all of the Legendary Paths. What this means is that Player Character progression is mere accumulation of Experience Points, but a chance to be tested, and whether or not the Player Character succeeds, to turn that into a storytelling and roleplaying opportunity.

A Player Character in Legends of Avallen has four attributes—Agility, Spirit Vigour, and Wit. These range in value between -1 and +5. He also has a Profession, of which there are ten to choose from. These are Alchemist, Bard, Crafter, Merchant, Priest, Scavenger, Scribe, Socialite, Tamer, and Thief. His Personal Aspects include Motivation, Virtue, and Flaw, and he also has an Origin, Name, and Appearance. Origin will be from one Avallen’s five Clans or the Raxian Empire, and provides typical names and appearances. The process of character creation is simple. The player assigns +1 to one attribute and -1 to another, and then chooses all the rest. The book even suggests Motivations, Virtues, and Flaws that the player can choose from so that they remain unrelated.

Iulia is the eldest daughter of Caeso, a retired military commander with mercantile interests in Port Magnus. Her younger brothers currently serve in the army elsewhere in the Empire. She helps run her father’s business as he is getting older and is not as well as he once was. She fears that with this news, her brothers will be called back to take over, whereas she wants to take control herself and perhaps do some good with her wealth.

Name: Iulia
Origin: Raxian
Appearance: Raven haired
Profession: Socialite
Motivations: I will rise to the top (Influence)
Virtues: I help the needy (Benevolent)
Flaws: My image is everything (Vain)

Vigour -1 | 0 Agility
Spirit +1 | 0 Wit

Expertise: Politics, Etiquette, Courtship
Abilities: Introduce

Beyond that, there are four Classes to choose from at Level Two—Mage, Mystic, Reaver, and Warrior, and ten Legendary Paths to follow at Level Five. These include Druid, which can shapeshift; the luck-based Fae Touched; Fili, a bard who casts magic through music; Gladiator, a warrior who uses flourishes to enhance his combat ability; Magister, a mage who enhance his spells in numerous, often challenging ways; Maleficus, a mage who can bind Unshapen and other lost spirits; Primus, a commander who shapes the battlefield for his allies; Slayer use openings to strike at and take down dangerous creatures; Swyn-Pict, a warrior who paints himself in dyes to protect himself and even draw ethereal weapons from; and Teulu, a protective warrior who increases his Fury as he is hit, using it to enhance his defence and damage. In addition, every Player Character and potential legendary hero has a character arc reflected in mechanics that will see each gain both Resolve and Burdens—overcoming the latter to gain the former, suffer a Descent into self-doubt, undergo Transformation in the course of rising from the Descent, before ultimately, achieving Recognition as to whether the Player Character is a hero or an anti-hero.

Mechanically, Legends of Avallen uses a standard deck of playing cards as its resolution system, including the Jokers. Each of the four attributes is tied to one of the four standard suits. Thus, Hearts for Vigour, Diamonds for Agility, Spades for Spirit, and Clubs for Wit. They are paired three times. First into physical attributes by colour, Vigour (Hearts) and Agility (Diamonds), and mental by colour, Spirit (Spades) and Wit (Clubs). Second, into strength and endurance attributes—Vigour (Hearts) and Spirit (Spades), and into speed and subtlety attributes—Agility (Diamonds) and Wit (Clubs). Third, into diagonally opposing attributes, Vigour (Hearts) versus Wit (Clubs) and Spirit (Spades) versus Agility (Diamonds). When a player wants his character to undertake a task, he draws a card and checks both its rank and if it matches the colour or suit of the attribute being used. Ordinary numbered cards are worth one rank, whilst Court cards are worth two. If the colour of the card matches that of the attribute, it is worth an extra rank, or two extra ranks if it matches the suit. The Joker that matches the colour of the attribute, generates four ranks. These ranks are added to the attribute value.

Conversely, the card’s rank—one if a number card and two if a Court card, is subtracted from the attribute value if it does not match the attribute’s colour. This is doubled if the card is of the suit opposite to that of the attribute. A Joker which does not match the colour of the attribute subtracts four ranks from the attribute. The final result is compared with the Check Difficulty of the task to see if the Player Character is successful. The typical Check Difficulty is one, but can be lower or higher. The result can be a Critical Success, Success, Failure, or Critical Failure, depending on the card drawn. Both a Critical Success and a Failure will earn the Player Character an Edge, but his opponent an Edge on a Critical Failure.

Fortunately for a Player Character, the outcome of an action or task does not just rest on the turn of a single card. A Player Character can gain Advantage from a situation, from someone helping him, or from an ability. Each level of Advantage allows a player to draw an extra card and use the best one. Being at a Disadvantage forces a player to draw an extra card for each level of Disadvantage and use the worst one, although levels of Advantage and Disadvantage do cancel each other out. Edge is essentially a card that the player draws and keeps face down until the task or action that his character needs to succeed, in which case it is used to give his character Advantage. If a Player Character is on the verge of failure, he can also Exert himself or his equipment to upgrade a Failure to a Success, if being opposed, to downgrade an Opponent’s Success to a Failure. However, this means that the Player Character cannot exert himself again until he rests, if his equipment was used, that the item is now broken and cannot be used at all.

Mechanically, the system is simple enough, but its nuances are not easily taught and do take some adjusting to. Nor is it immediately obvious what the Check Difficulty should be for each test. However, once that adjustment is made, the advanced rules come together more easily. Combat has a stripped back feel, with attacks being made using Agility (Diamonds) against an opponent’s Agility—though some weapons favour other attributes, damage being determined by the weapon and the attacker’s Vigour (Hearts), defence by the opponent’s Armour Rating, derived from his armour and his Vigour. If hurt, a combatant does not lose ranks of Vigour, but is simply wounded. Of course, one reaction to this would be for the defender to Exert himself or his equipment to avoid such an outcome. Combat also covers grappling, ambushes, sneak attacks, and more, but also offers tips for the players, the most important of which are co-operation and strategise, rather than to simply rush in.

Similarly, magic in Legends of Avallen is designed to be challenging. Both Mystic and Mage spells have a Complexity rating, ranging from one to four, which acts as Disadvantage when the caster attempts to cast the spell. The caster can also increase the scope and range of a spell, but that also raises the Complexity. So apart from the simplest of spells—which can become more flexible as the Mage Mystic grows in power and is capable of overcoming the extra Complexity—it pays for the caster to prepare, whether that is having the right equipment, setting up a ritual, and so on.

Legends of Avallen pays particular attention to both journeys and socialising. The rules for overland travel are not that dissimilar to that of The One Ring, with the Player Characters taking particular roles—Gatherer, Guide, Lookout, and Scout—each keyed to one of the suits in the playing deck. Having someone in each role will negate most dangers unless a Danger or Opportunity arises, then it is primarily down to the Player Character in that role to overcome the Dangers or gain from the Opportunity. Suggested Dangers and Opportunities are given for each role. The roleplaying game’s social mechanics come into play when an NPC has an Objection to co-operating with the Player Characters or allowing them to undertake a particular course of action. When this occurs, the Player Characters enter into a Parley with the NPC into an attempt to overcome the Objection, and do so before he loses his Patience—again, not dissimilar to the interaction rules in The One Ring. Roleplaying and interaction are encouraged, but much like spellcasting, preparation can greatly advantage the Player Characters, as can Incentives which will give them Advantage. The Motivations, Virtues, and Flaws of the Player Characters can also come into play, as can the social standing for both the Player Characters and the NPC. Although there are parallels here with The One Ring, the mechanics for Legends of Avallen are their own and their card-based nature gives them a very different feel.

In terms of background, Legends of Avallen gives a good overview of Vallic society, the clans and the Raxians and their lands, with the latter including a selection of Otherworldly Tales found within those lands which the Game Master can potentially build stories around. For the Game Master there is solid advice on running the game and her roles when doing so, including narrator, judge, and creator. The latter includes a guide to creating quests. The Bestiary also includes guidelines for Game Master to create her own NPCs and monsters as well as give them trophies which the Player Characters can loot, and in the case of the Alchemist and the Scavenger Professions turn into useful items, such as potions, weapons, armour, and so on. Rounding out Legends of Avallen is ‘The Sealing Stone’, a starting quest which is very nicely structured and sees the Player Characters help restore a relic and search for the persons last sent to restore it, but are now missing.

Physically, Legends of Avallen is a stunning looking book, beautifully illustrated with quite lovely artwork. It is well written, although it needs an edit in places, and a better index would make the book more accessible. That said, the rules are succinctly written with a minimum of fuss and numerous examples. The setting does use a lot of Welsh, especially in name places and monsters, but a pronunciation is included at the beginning of the book.

Legends of Avallen: A Tabletop RPG Inspired by Celtic Mythology in Roman Britain is an impressive roleplaying game. It has a setting which feels both familiar and different, shifting the conflict away from the historical of Celts versus Romans, to one of protecting the land from the dangers and wonders of the Otherworld. Ultimately, Legends of Avallen is a roleplaying game about quests and becoming great heroes and legends, with succinct mechanics and a structured route that together encourage storytelling and adventure.

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The Kickstarter for Against the Faerie Queene – A Celtic Campaign for LoA & 5E, the first supplement for Legends of Avallen: A Tabletop RPG Inspired by Celtic Mythology in Roman Britain is currently running.