[Free RPG Day 2025] The Scourge of Sheerleaf

Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday, June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

—oOo—

One of the perennial contributors to Free RPG Day is Paizo, Inc., a publisher whose titles for both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Starfinder Roleplaying Game have proved popular and often in demand long after the event. The emphasis in these releases have invariably been upon small species. Thus, in past years, the titles released for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game have typically involved adventures with diminutive Player Characters, first Kobolds, then Goblins, and then with the release of A Fistful of Flowers for Free RPG Day 2022 and A Few Flowers More for Free RPG Day 2023, it was Leshies, where as for Free RPG Day 2024, it was the turn of toys with The Great Toy Heist! However, for Free RPG Day 2025 literally makes a big change by making the scale of its contribution for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game big and make the villain of the piece even bigger!

The Scourge of Sheerleaf is designed for four Tenth Level Player Characters and makes use of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Player Core, the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game GM Core, the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Monster Core, Pathfinder Rage of Elements, Pathfinder Secrets of Magic, and Pathfinder Last Omens Grand Bazaar. It is a lot of sourcebooks and rulebooks, and what it means is that it supports the Game Master and the gaming group who has already invested time in the roleplaying game. This is not to say that the Game Master who has access to all of those books could not run the adventure for players who do not, running it as one-shot or demonstration adventure. That said, being designed for use with Tenth Level Player Characters means that The Scourge of Sheerleaf is more complex to run and play than the useful offering for low Level Player Characters that Paizo, Inc., normally releases for Free RPG Day.

The Scourge of Sheerleaf is set in the town of Sheerleaf which stands below Mount Zoldos,  between the Arthfell Mountains and the Arthfell Forest. It comes to the attention of the Player Characters when come across a pamphlet being circulated in nearby taverns. It tells of how the village has been attacked by a dragon, demanding fealty from the villagers, and wrought its revenge when the demand was rebuffed. When they arrive in Sheerleaf to help, they will find several collapsed buildings, many people now living in tents, and the town’s the mayor, Eliana, waiting for them. She will be able to tell the Player Characters that Zikritrax, the dragon, is an Adamantine Dragon, and with its ‘Avalanche Breath’ attack, was able to pummel the buildings into collapsing; that he has a lair in a cave up on Mount Zoldos; and worse, that Zikritrax not only refuses to negotiate, but because the town has still not acquised to his demands, has kidnapped Eliana’s wife and children. So, not only do the Player Characters have to defeat an Adamantine Dragon, they have to recuse a women and her children!

The action part of the scenario sees the Player Characters ascend the mountain, avoiding an avalanche on the way, and entering the cave. Here, they will face Zikritrax and his Armoured Cave Bear minions. Zikritrax is a tough opponent, being thirteenth Level, possessing 220 Hit Points, fearsome claw and tail strike as well as the ‘Avalanche Breath’ attack, let alone the fact that it has a ‘Fearsome Presence’ and a ‘Resilient Form’. The former inflicts fear, of course, whilst the latter potentially downgrades critical attacks against the creature.

And that is it. As an adventure, The Scourge of Sheerleaf is short. It is also very combat focused and arguably really only consists of combat since there is no other way to resolve the situation.

The rest of The Scourge of Sheerleaf is dedicated to the four pre-generated Player Characters. They are all Tenth Level and they all share a similar feature—their Heritage is ‘Dragonblood’. They consist of Brave Wanderer, a Leshy Sorcerer; Kiana, a Human Figher who has the wings, horns, and scales of a dragon; Ruvior, an Elf Cleric who uses a wheelchair; and Sizkmi, a Kobold Rogue with dragon wings. All four are given a two-page spread each and each includes his background, a guide to playing the character, with notes on whet he will do in combat, exploration, and when healing is required, as well as what he thinks about the other characters. The four Player Characters are very well done and easy to read, and also include references for the various abilities.

Physically, The Scourge of Sheerleaf is professionally presented. The artwork is excellent and the writing is clear. The one map included, which is of Zikritrax’s lair, is serviceable.

Despite how professionally The Scourge of Sheerleaf is done, it is difficult not to be disappointed at the end result. The adventure consists of three scenes, an underwritten roleplaying scene, an exploration scene, and a combat scene, the combat scene being the one that dominates the whole scenario. And that is it. There is very little on the town of Sheerleaf, and certainly no map of it, and the players and their characters have no real agency as to how they tackle the scenario and there is almost no scope for roleplaying. Further, whilst the adventure is simple—arguably simplistic—its Player Characters are complex with a lot of mechanical detail as befitting a Tenth Level Player Character. The end result is that The Scourge of Sheerleaf is likely to be too complex for players new to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and little more than a single encounter for players who have been playing it for a while. It is thus difficult to work who exactly, The Scourge of Sheerleaf is aimed at. 

The Alternative

The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game has a relatively short history that really runs parallel to that of Dungeons & Dragons. Originally published by Paizo, Inc. in 2009, it was an extension and development of Dungeons & Dragons, 3.5, published by Wizards of the Coast, a reaction to the development and direction of Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition, which was radically different to the previous editions of the roleplaying game. That reaction to Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition would result in three separate developments. One is that that the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game would acquire the nickname of ‘Dungeons & Dragons 3.75’; the second is, of course, the publication in 2014 of Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition; and the third is that the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game sold very, very well, though never enough to actually outsell Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition. In the years since, the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game has continued to sell very well, receiving a second edition in 2019. Then, in 2023, it was revealed that Wizards of the Coast was planning to make updates that would revoke the previously authorised use of the Open Gaming Licence upon which many roleplaying games, including the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, relied. Although Wizards of the Coast never followed through on its planned changes, by the time it decided not to, Paizo Publishing, along with several other publishers, had developed and was using the Open RPG Creative Licence in its stead. For Paizo, the result would be the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition Remaster. Its four core rulebooks—Player Core, GM Core, Monster Core, and Player Core 2—replacing the previous books—Core Rulebook, Bestiary, Gamemastery Guide, and Advanced Player’s Guide.

The Player Core contains everything that a player needs to play the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition Remaster. Well, almost, but this review will come to that. It is a handsome sturdy volume that provides a player with an introduction to the game, an explanation of what it is, and then the means to create a variety of different characters and begin play. The explanations are clear and simple, noting that the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is for everyone, defining what a character is and what it looks like, and describing how the game is played. This is supported by a clearly presented two-page spread of the roleplaying game’s key terms and more importantly, by an example of play that mixes in exploration, interaction, and combat. It is decently done. An experienced player will read through these pages and very quickly pick up the basics of the game, whereas a less experienced player will find himself eased into the game.

The point of the Player Core is the creation of Player Characters. Each Player Character is first defined by six attributes—Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. He also has an Ancestry, Background, Class, and then extra details. Ancestry represents the broad family of people that the Player Character belongs to; Background is what the Player Character before he became an adventurer; and Class is his profession as an adventurer. The Ancestry sets the Player Character’s beginning Hit Points, languages, senses, and Speed, as well as Ancestry Feats; Background gives a feat and training in one or more skills; and Class grants the Player Character his extra Hit Points at each new Level, the majority of his proficiencies, and Class Feats. Eight Ancestries and eight Classes are given in the Player Core. The eight Ancestries are Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Human, Leshy, and Orc. Of these Leshy is an immortal nature spirit granted physical form, and all of the Ancestries have Heritages which define them further. For example, the Orc Ancestry offers the Badlands Orc, Battle-Ready Orc, Deep Orc, Grave Orc, Hold-Scarred Orc, Rainfall Orc, and Winter Orc. Each grant quite different abilities. For example, the Battle-Ready Orc is the descendant of very scary battle leaders and is trained in Intimidation and has the Intimidating Glare skill Feat, whilst the Winter Orc is trained in Survival and can cope with more extreme cold environments.

In addition, there are three versatile Ancestries, the Changeling, the Nephilim, and the Mixed Ancestry. These build off a base Ancestry, but offer alternative Heritages to those normally associated with the base Ancestry. The Changeling was stolen as a child and taken elsewhere; the Nephilim is a character who has had dealings with immortal beings; and the Mixed Ancestries offered are the Aiuvarin and the Dromaar. The Aiuvarin has one parent who was an Elf, whilst the Dromaar has one parent who was an Orc. An Aiuvarin Player Character can choose from both Aiuvarin and Elf Ancestry Feats and the Dromaar Player Character can choose from both Dromaar and Orc Ancestry Feats.

The eight Classes in the Player Core are the Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Witch, and Wizard. Notably, the Cleric, the Fighter, the Rogue, and the Wizard Classes are illustrated with signature pieces of artwork for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game which actually predate the roleplaying game when they appeared as example Player Characters in the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path back in 2007. Also notable is the absence of certain Classes that one would expect to see in the core rulebook for a roleplaying game such as Pathfinder. The Barbarian, Monk, and Sorcerer Classes are absent, and so the Player Core does not feel complete. However, they do appear in the Player Core 2, along with a host of other Ancestries and Classes.

Character creation in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition Remaster is a matter of making a number of choices rather than rolling any dice. The lack of the latter is because once a player has selected both an Ancestry and a Class, attributes are not rolled to determine the bonuses they grant as in similar other roleplaying games. In fact, the classic three to eighteen spread for attributes is done away with entirely and instead the bonuses that the attributes might have generated in those other roleplaying games, actually become the attributes. It is not a new idea, having previously been seen in roleplaying games such as True20 Adventure Roleplaying and Fantasy AGE, both published by Green Ronin Publishing. Instead of rolling dice, a player applies Attribute Boosts to the attributes, which will come from the character’s Ancestry, Background, Class, plus some free ones. An Ancestry may also apply an Attribute Flaw, but these are rare. At First Level, no attribute can be boosted above +4 and when it can, it takes two Attribute Boosts to raise an Attribute by another full point.

Name: Eglund
Ancestry: Human
Heritage: Versatile Human
Background: Farmhand
Languages: Common

Class: Fighter
Class DC: Fighter (Trained) 16
ATTRIBUTES
Strength +4 Dexterity +2 Constitution +2 Intelligence +0 Wisdom +1 Charisma +0
Hit Points: 18
Hero Point: 1
Armour Class: 18 (20)
Melee Strike: +5 Ranged Strike: +3
Saving Throws: Fortitude (Expert) +7, Reflex (Expert) +7, Will (Trained) +4
Attacks: Simple Weapons (Expert) +5, Martial Weapons (Expert) +5, Advanced Weapons (Trained) +3, Unarmed Attacks (Expert) +5
Defences: All Armour (Trained) +3, Unarmoured Defence (Trained) +3
Class Features: Reactive Strike
Class Feats: Reactive Shield
Ancestry Feats: Co-Operative Nature
General Feats: Ride, Shield Block
Skill Feats: Assurance (Athletics)
Skills: Acrobatics (Trained) +3, Athletics (Trained) +7, Lore: Farming (Trained) +3, Intimidation (Trained) +3, Nature (Trained) +4, Perception (Expert) +6, Religion (Trained) +1, Stealth (Trained) +2, Survival (Trained) +4, Thievery (Trained) +2

Equipment: Scale mail, dagger, adventurer’s backpack, grappling hook, longsword, steel shield, 6 gp, 2 sp

One major change in the Player Core and thus the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition Remaster is the replacement of Alignment, an aspect of game design which has been with us from the start of the hobby, with Edicts and Anathema. Edicts suggest acts and behaviour driven by a personal code or philosophy, whilst Anathema are acts and behaviour which run counter to that personal code or philosophy. The various Ancestries suggest commonly held Edicts and Anathema amongst that particular species, whilst certain Classes more or less mandate them. The most notable of those are the Cleric Class, which will have Edicts and Anathema according to the deity worshipped by the Cleric. Violating the Edicts and Anathema can lead the Cleric to lose some Class abilities. The Player Core includes details of the gods commonly worshipped on Golarion, the setting for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Of course, a Player Character need not be a Cleric to worship any of these gods.

This change from Alignment to Edicts and Anathema has a profound effect upon the player of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. No longer is the world around the Player Character sharply categorised according to a moral compass. Nor is there any need for the Player Character to adhere to its diktats. The player and his character is freed to make choices according to the latter’s Edicts and Anathema, which can be those shared with an Ancestry, a deity, nation, or other organisation, or they can be more individual than that. It also means that the morality of the play or the roleplayed actions of the Player Character come out through play rather than necessarily being rigidly defined. Also gone are spells like Detect Evil since they are based on Alignment, whilst Protection from Evil is simply changed to Protect which provides a bonus to Armour Class and Saving Throws.

In addition to the mechanical aspects, the Heritages and Feats for the Ancestries, the Features, Skills, and Feats for the Classes, every Ancestry and Class is accompanied with suggestions as why a player might choose it and what they might do in play. Each Ancestry also covers physical descriptions and typical society and beliefs, whilst a Class also suggests what a Player Character might during combat and social encounters, when exploring, and during downtime. It offers some possible motivations and broad ideas about what others might think of the Class. Every Class description includes some sample concepts too, which suggests Attributes, Skills, beginning Feat, and higher-Level Feats to take to recreate the concept. There are notes too on creating Multiclass Player Characters, to create archetypes, though this is a more complex option.

In terms of progression, every Class goes up to Twentieth Level—and at every Level, a Player Character will receive something. The Ancestry will provide Ancestry Feats, whilst the Class will provide its own Feats, plus options to choose Skill Feats and General Feats. Plus, Attribute Boosts as well. Since a Player Character gains a new Level every thousand Experience Points, progression is consistent between the Classes and every player will feel like he and his character is being rewarded at regular intervals. The range of Feats available across all of the categories gives a player a wealth of choice and options when designing the type of character he wants to play.

The five spell-casting Classes in the Player Core are the Bard, Cleric, Druid, Witch, and Wizard. All have access to a range of cantrips and spells defined by magical tradition. This is another change like that of Alignment. Instead of Abjuration, Alteration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Illusion, Invocation, and Necromancy, what the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition Remaster has is four magical traditions. These are Arcane, Divine, Occult, and Primal. The Bard can also infuse his performances to create Compositions and will be inspired by a Muse such as Enigma or Maestro; the Cleric gains extra spells from his Divine Font that can either harm or heal, as well as those from his deity; the Druid belongs to a Druidic Order such as Animal, Leaf, or Storm which grants further spells; Witches are granted hexes and taught lessons by a patron such as ‘Faith’s Flamekeeper’ or ‘Silence in Snow’; and Wizards study a thesis, such as ‘Improved Familiar Attunement’ or ‘Staff Nexus’ which changes the way in which they cast spells and attend an arcane school which grants further spells. In addition, some spellcasters, like the Witch and the Wizard, have a familiar through which they can cast their spells. Any Player Character can have an animal companion if they have the right feat, and whether the animal is a companion or familiar, it will grow and improve as the Player Character gains experience and Levels.

Name: Thulee
Ancestry: Goblin
Heritage: Unbreakable Goblin
Background: Cultist
Languages: Common, Draconic, Dwarvish, Kholo, Goblin, Orcish

Class: Witch
Class DC: Witch (Trained) 17 Spell DC: Witch (Trained) +7
ATTRIBUTES
Strength +0 Dexterity +4 Constitution +0 Intelligence +4 Wisdom -1 Charisma +2
Hit Points: 16
Hero Point: 1
Armour Class: 16
Melee Strike: +0 Ranged Strike: +5 Spell Attack (Trained): +7
Saving Throws: Fortitude (Trained) +3, Reflex (Trained) +7, Will (Expert) +4
Attacks: Simple Weapons (Trained) +3, Unarmed Attacks (Trained) +3
Defences: All Armour (Untrained) +0, Unarmoured Defence (Trained) +3
Class Features: Patron (Spinner of Threads), Witch Spellcasting
Class Feats: Cauldron
Ancestry Feats: Goblin Song
General Feats: Pet (Familiar) – Badger
Skill Feats: Schooled in Secrets
Skills: Arcana (Trained) +7, Craft (Trained) +7, Deception (Trained) +5, Lore (Spinner of Threads) (Trained) +7, Medicine (Trained) +7, Occultism (Trained) +7, Perception (Trained) +2, Performance (Trained) +5, Stealth (Trained) +7, Thievery (Trained) +7

Lessons: Lesson of Fate’s Vicissitudes, Familiar of Balanced Luck

SPELLS
Cantrips: Daze, Detect Magic, Know the Way, Shield, Telekinetic Hand
First Level: Grim Tendrils, Summon Undead
Equipment: Explorer’s clothing, staff, sickle, sling and 20 bullets, staff, adventurer’s backpack, cookware, healer’s toolkit, 7 gp, 1 sp, 8 cp

The Player Core includes an introduction to Golarion and the Inner Sea, the default setting for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, describing the various regions and their themes, and possible ideas for example characters. There is a list too of the various deities worshipped on Golarion. Besides a description, each god write-up includes areas of concern, Edicts and Anathema, and associated divine attribute. For the devotee, it gives spells for the Cleric, its Divine Font, skill, domains, and even a divine weapon. Together, this provides background details for the Player Character who wants a faith to follow and fundamental aspects of a Cleric’s worship. There are not just gods listed, but faiths and philosophies too, such as Atheism and the Green Faith. The latter two are in keeping with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game giving a player more choice, and avoiding the diktats of Alignment.

Much of the Player Core is devoted to the numerous feats and spells within pages, so it is almost four hundred pages into the book before it looks at how to play the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and its core mechanics. There is some guidance on the Pathfinder baseline in terms of content and tone, more detail being provided in the GM Core, but the focus here is on the core rules. It covers the three modes of play—Exploration, Encounter, and Downtime, rolling checks, attacks, damage, spellcasting, and so on. Checks are made against a Difficulty Class, the roll modified by the Attribute modifier, Proficiency bonus from skills, and circumstance modifiers. If the result is ten more than the Difficulty Class, it counts as a critical success, whilst if it is ten less than the Difficulty Class, it is a critical failure. A roll of natural twenty counts as a critical success, whilst a roll of one is a critical failure. Attacks, of course, are rolled against a target’s Armour Class, and that includes spell attack rolls. Damage and its effects work as you would expect, although Hit Points cannot be reduced below zero. If they reduced to zero, the Player Character will be dying if the damage is lethal or knocked out if the damage is nonlethal. If his character is dying, his player must make Recovery Checks, each failure increasing the character’s Dying Value, which if it reaches a value of four, the character dies.

The actual play of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game includes two notable additions. The first is Actions. Each round, a Player Character has three Actions. Activities can either take one, two, or three Actions. (The number is indicated by an icon in the rules, so initially it is not obvious.) The basic activities are One-Action, such as Leap, Raise a Shield, Sense Motive, Stride, and Strike. Notable of these is the Raise a Shield Action, which when taken means that a Player Character raises his shield to protect himself against a possible attack against him. The default position is thus: a shield is carried, but not raised, the protection it provides is not automatic and the player has to choose to raise it. The three Actions per round gives some flexibility to what a Player Character does over the course of a round. So, a Fighter might use the Stride Action to move to attack the enemy, attack with the Strike Action, and then do the Raise a Shield Action to provide himself with further protection. Or, a Cleric might cast his Bane spell, which takes two Actions and then do the Raise a Shield Action or the Take Cover Action. The rest of the Player Core covers movement, area effects, conditions, and more.

Physically, the Player Core is a thick heavy book. But it designed for use. It eases the new player in and there is an indication where the reader is in the book on each righthand page, whilst at the back the glossary and index are combined, which is very helpful. The book is also a good-looking affair. The layout is clean and tidy, and the artwork is excellent.

Of course, the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition Remaster offers play that is like Dungeon & Dragons—after all, that is what it is derived from, but that play is different and, in many places, more nuanced. These include the three Action economy of the combat round, the Edicts and Anathema, and so on. Their combined effect is to give a player more choice in game and support that choice mechanically, beginning with the range of Ancestries and Classes that are just that bit different and then in the long term, reward the character and his player at every Level. The Player Core is a everything that a player needs to get started with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition Remaster and makes that getting started, accessible and easy.

—oOo—

With thanks to Danial Scotte for the corrections to the sample Player Characters.

[Free RPG Day 2024] The Great Toy Heist

Now in its seventeenth year, Free RPG Day for 2024 took place on Saturday, June 22nd. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Thanks to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day.

—oOo—

One of the perennial contributors to Free RPG Day is Paizo, Inc., a publisher whose titles for both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Starfinder Roleplaying Game have proved popular and often in demand long after the event. The emphasis in these releases have invariably been upon small species. Thus, in past years, the titles released for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game have typically involved adventures with diminutive Player Characters, first Kobolds, then Goblins, and then with the release of A Fistful of Flowers for Free RPG Day 2022 and A Few Flowers More for Free RPG Day 2023, and now for Free RPG Day 2024, it is the turn of toys with The Great Toy Heist! This is a short adventure for Second Level Player Characters—of which four pre-generated examples are provided—who are all one of Golarion’s rare ancestries. This is ‘Poppet’. Usually in Golarion and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, a poppet is a small, mindless magical construct designed to serve as familiars and help with simple tasks. However, with The Great Toy Heist, all four pre-generated have achieved magical sentience and so can go adventure on their own.

To get the most out of The Great Toy Heist, the Game Master will need access to the Pathfinder Player Core, Pathfinder GM Core, Pathfinder Monster Core, Pathfinder Lost Omens Grand Bazaar, and Pathfinder Lost Omens Worlds Guide. However, a Game Master should be able to run the adventure with the core rules and further references found in the Pathfinder Reference Document.

The setting for The Great Toy Heist is the Chelish capital of Egorian, notorious for its inhabitants engaging in the practice of devil-worshipping. Not everyone is a devil-worshipper though and in-between the gothic buildings of the temples to Asmodeus, there are ordinary businesses such as The Terrific Toybox. It is famous for the quality of the toys its owner, Gettorio Galla, makes and sells. The shop is sat atop a source of occult magical energy, some of which seeps into some of those toys and so awake them to sentience. These Poppets revere their creator and help her about the shop as well as keeping an eye on when she is not there or asleep. However, a greedy, unprincipled, and wealthy noble, Baron Falgrimous Vreen, has learned about the magical source and decided to take for himself. He found a loophole in the diabolically complicated laws of the city and exploited it to seize the deed to the toyshop and now plans to evict Gettorio Galla and her fantastic creations—including the Player Characters. Loyal to Gettorio Galla, the four Player Characters have decided to break into the mansion of Baron Vreen and steal back the deed to The Terrific Toybox!

The Great Toy Heist opens en media res. The Player Characters have had themselves shipped into Baron Vreen’s mansion and can take the advantage of the head of the house holding a party, to search the for the deed. As players, the scenario gives them time here to go over their characters and introduce themselves to each other before beginning the scenario proper. The first encounter is combat driven, a fun battle with a pair of Imps engagingly called ‘Tsk’ and ‘Tut’, who will taunt and tease the Player Characters throughout the fight. The guidance for the fight suggests making it a very physical affair that takes in the environment, such as climbing and pulling down bookshelves, dropping chandeliers on the Imps, and so on.

The battle, which takes place in the mansion’s sitting room, is the first of the scenario’s three acts. The second is the ‘Manor Infiltration’ in which the Player Characters sneak about the mansion. This is handled not room by room, by more narratively as a montage of scenes in which the Player Characters overcome obstacles and take advantage of opportunities. Through rolling successes and failures, the Player Characters accrue Infiltration Points and Awareness Points, and these can be used by the Game Master to trigger Obstacles, Complications, and Opportunities, such as a ‘Messy Office’, ‘Drunken Guest’, ‘Not Like That!’, and ‘Lucky Break’. Eventually, the Player Characters will find the vault, deal with its guardian, and having found the deed to the land under The Terrific Toybox, escape back home with its future ensured.

Whilst half of The Great Toy Heist is dedicated to the scenario, the other is decided to its four pre-generated Player Characters. These consist of Cutie Killstuff, a pink, fluffy bunny rabbit Barbarian; Hellpup, a hellhound toy and Witch done in leather; Marcella the Marionette, a classic Domino puppet and Rogue; and The Tin Wizard, a clockwork toy Wizard. All four are given a two-page spread complete with background, a guide to playing them in terms of combat, exploration, and healing, , relationships with the other three Player Characters, and the full stats along with a good illustration. These are really very well done, though quite a lot of information for a one-shot scenario.

Physically, The Great Toy Heist is as well presented as you would expect for a release from Paizo, Inc. Everything is in full colour, the illustrations are excellent, and the maps attractive.

The Great Toy Heist is a fun scenario, though very short. The only problem perhaps is the inclusion of Cutie Killstuff, a pink, fluffy bunny rabbit Barbarian. Everyone is going to want to play them and only one player can! The Great Toy Heist is a great release for Free RPG Day 2024, just as you would expect from Paizo, Inc.

[Free RPG Day 2023] A Few Flowers More

Now in its sixteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2023 took place on Saturday, June 24th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. Thanks to the generosity of David Salisbury of Fan Boy 3, Fil Baldowski at All Rolled Up, and others, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day, both in the USA and elsewhere.

—oOo—

One of the perennial contributors to Free RPG Day is Paizo, Inc., a publisher whose titles for both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Starfinder Roleplaying Game have proved popular and often in demand long after the event. The emphasis in these releases have invariably been upon small species. Thus, in past years, the titles released for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game have typically involved adventures with diminutive Player Characters, first Kobolds, then Goblins, and then with the release of A Fistful of Flowers for Free RPG Day 2022, Leshys, humanoid sapient plants of various species and Classes, typically crafted by a druid as a minion or companion. For Free RPG Day 2023, the same Leshys from A Fistful of Flowers return in A Few Flowers More, a second scenario which continues the ‘Spaghetti Forest’ theme of the first. As before, four pre-generated Player Characters are included, each of Third Level, each independent of their creator, and the scenario requires the Game Master have access to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition, Pathfinder Bestiary, Pathfinder Advanced Player’s Guide, and the Pathfinder Lost Omens Ancestry Guide. The scenario can be played through in a single session and unlike in past years, is more combat focused, than the previous scenarios.

A Few Flowers More, like A Fistful of Flowers before it, begins in Verduran Forest, a large woodland in Avistan. There is a Wildwood Treaty in place between the forest and the nearby settled lands, affording the forest certain legal protections which limit what the nearby humans can harvest from under the eaves. In A Fistful of Flowers, the Player Characters traced a number of missing Leshys to a nearby village where they discovered an alchemist transforming the kidnap victims into showpieces to display at the tea parties of the snooty, venal aristocrat, Lady Constance Meliosa. Having prevailed and rescued the missing Leshys, the Player Characters have taken the chance to rest and recuperate and enjoy life in the forest. Unfortunately, the events of A Few Flowers More means that their respite is cut short and their bravery will be called upon once again.

The scenario begins with Stella, a tiny, bat-featured spirit known as a Nyktera, and also a pillar of the community, summoning the Player Characters to her home. Here, she explains that part of the forest has seen the rapid growth and spread of strange plants and this has attracted the attention of Humans harvesting them and thus annoyed the local fey. With the treaty between the humans and the forest under threat, the Player Characters are instructed to investigate. When they do, they discover that the harvesters’ is already in disarray and there are signs that somebody has already attacked the intrusive Humans. By now, the Player Characters may already be suspicious that the plants are neither native to the Verduran Forest or indeed, the prime material plane. Investigation will quickly confirm this, pointing to the First World, the primeval home of the fey, as the source of the new plant life. The question is, has there been breach between the Verduran Forest and the First World, and if so, who caused it?

A Few Flowers More is a short adventure, taking up less than half—including the maps for the scenario—of the sixteen page booklet. It effectively consists of three scenes: a roleplaying scene which introduces the scenario, followed by two combat scenes. The better and more inventive of the two combat scenes is essentially a big game of peekaboo as the Player Characters try to get into the cabin belonging to the harvesters, but since occupied by Fey who have hacked holes in the walls. The combat in the third scene is nowhere near as interesting, or even actually interesting. That said, the scenario does finish with the Player Characters needing to decide what do with the cause of the breach with the First World.

If less than half of A Few Flowers More consists of the scenario, what comprises the bulk of the booklet? Simply, the Player Characters. These consist of a Gourd Leshy Druid, Leaf Leshy Bard, a Vine Leshy Barbarian, and a Fungus Leshy Rogue. Each is neatly arranged on their own two-page spread and complete with background and clear, easy to read stats. Of course, the players do not have to use these, but could instead substitute their own characters, created using the rules in the Pathfinder Lost Omens Ancestry Guide. Otherwise though, these are a decently diverse range of characters. The Player Characters are all Third Level and highly detailed. In fact, too highly detailed. Arguably, all four Player Characters are accorded too much information given that they are designed to be played in a scenario intended to be played in a single session and in effect, the two-page spread for each Player Character becomes filler.

Physically, A Few Flowers More is as well presented as you would expect for a release from Paizo Inc. Everything is in full colour, the illustrations are excellent, and the maps attractive.

Unfortunately, unlike A Fistful of Flowers before it, A Few Flowers More is not an entertaining and likeable scenario—or a sufficiently entertaining and likeable scenario. What is there is, is detailed and decently written, but A Fistful of Flowers is simply too short and focuses too much on combat instead of investigation and interaction. Consequently, A Few Flowers More fails to provide Pathfinder, Second Edition with the showcase it should for Free RPG Day. Paizo, Inc. has a proven track record of providing great content and support for the Pathfinder roleplaying game over the fourteen years that it has supported Free RPG Day. That track record is broken with A Few Flower Flowers more.

Less Anger, More Advice... Eventually

The Angry GM has made a name for himself dispensing advice and guidance on how to be a better game Master on his blog, which promises “RPG Advice with Attitude”. Some of that advice has been collected and collated in Game Angry: How to RPG The Angry Way. This promises that you can “Learn to play fantasy role-playing games”, “Run your first Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder game”, and “Improve your GMing skills and run great less worse games”, and if you take the advice and implement elements of it, then that is likely the case. This a book for the prospective player initially, but mostly the prospective Game Master, which has got her first roleplaying game—most likely Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, and wants to start running it for her friends or her existing group. It discusses narration and adjudication of running games, running the first game and then starting again, engaging with the players, handling combat, addresses risk and failure, portraying NPCs, dealing with problems at the table, and more. Though full of good advice, but for the most part, Game Angry: How to RPG The Angry Way is not a book for the experienced Game Master as she is likely already implementing the book’s suggestions and guidance. Of course, there is nothing to stop her from perusing the book to at least pick up the odd tip, or even confirm that she is at least game master the ‘Angry Way’.

However, Game Angry: How to RPG The Angry Way is not without its problems which get in the way of the good advice to be found in its pages. The first of which are its price and its length. The book is simply too expensive and too long. At over one-hundred-and-seventy pages, it is far too long. It could and should have been shorter and more concise. It is often overwritten and all often feels as if it could have got to the point a lot earlier. At $15 for the PDF, there are better looking books with more focused advice on being a good Game Master for less. Similarly, there are better looking books with more focused advice on being a good Game Master in print for the same cost as the PDF. Then there is the issue with tone and remit. The title of the book suggests that the book is going to be written a sense of energy and urgency, with anger, and there is none of that. Anyone coming to the book after reading the blog with its near rants and use of deleted expletives will be severely disappointed, for the style of the book is light and chatty—often too chatty. Which leads into the issue with remit, because if the book is written by the ‘Angry GM’ and he never gets angry in the book as he does on the blog, what is the point of the title? What Game Angry: How to RPG The Angry Way really means is that the player and prospective Game Master should be playing using the advice from a writer whose nickname is ‘Angry’, not be a Game Master with that emotion in mind. Which is misleading.

Game Angry: How to RPG The Angry Way is divided into three parts. ‘Part I: The World of Role-Playing Games’ is intended for the new player, ‘Part II: Getting Your (First) Game On’ is the first time Game Master’, and ‘Part III: Running Less Worse Games’ is the Game Master who wants to improve her skills. The opening of ‘Part I: The World of Role-Playing Games’ starts with first principles, taking the reader through the first steps of a Dungeons & Dragons-style game, what options has in terms of purchasing roleplaying games and what they offer, and giving a first examination of what a Game Master is. Veteran players and Game Masters are advised to skip this, but it feels too basic for the book, too much of a focus upon being the player in a book that is primarily for the Game Master. Perhaps this could have been saved for a book of advice on how to play roleplaying games the ‘Angry Way’—that is, a book of advice for the player, or retooled for the intended audience, the Game Master?

Thankfully, ‘Part II: Getting Your (First) Game On’ does begin getting to the point and telling the reader what a Game Master is and does. It starts with simple advice, such as ‘Keep It Simple, Stupid’, preparing the first adventure, explains the basic conversation involved in playing a roleplaying game, how to be a narrator and what the four types of narration are, and how to adjudicate the rules. This though, is forty pages in… It breaks down the nature of combat, examining the four things that the Game Master has to handle in the process—as a Referee, as monster wrangler, an accountant, and as a jockey, the latter to keep the pace of the combat appropriately fast and free flowing. Then it returns to the basic conversation involved in playing a roleplaying game, but examines it from the point of view of combat. This all sets the prospective Game Master up with the basic elements of her role.

At more than half its length, ‘Part III: Running Less Worse Games’ is the longest section in the book. It includes interesting sections on player agency and the power they and their characters have within a game, breaks down the time and framing units of roleplaying—action, scene, adventure, and campaign—before using them to build back up a Game Master’s approach to the structuring her game. There is standard advice too, such as only rolling the dice when it is important and running a Session Zero, and for the most part, the advice and suggestions are rules agnostic, but the book is heavily weighted towards playing and running Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, and Pathfinder, and where it does get mechanical it is always with those roleplaying games in mind. It also includes some mechanics of its own. This includes ‘Angry’s Ten-Point Scale’, used to track a Player Character’s success or failure and potential reaction points along that scale when he attempt’s a task that takes longer than a single roll, developing that as a means to handle loner, more involved conversations, for example. It differentiates between scene and encounter, and it also provides advice and suggestions as to how to create and portray NPCs in interesting and dramatic fashion in what is one of the more enjoyable sections of the book, and it also has advice on tone, a degree of improvisation, and finally potential issues and conflicts at the table. Here Game Angry moves into the social space of gaming. Lastly, the advice takes the reader to the verge of beginning campaign, but no further. That perhaps is the subject of another supplement?

Physically, Game Angry: How to RPG The Angry Way is a plain affair interspersed by pieces of cartoon artwork, much like the author’s blog posts. Here the artwork only serves to separate the chapters and adds nothing to the content. The writing is often over blown and it could have done with tighter editing for length and focus. The book lacks an index. Similarly, the author makes references to outside sources, such as to ‘The MDA Design Approach’, but does not cite them or include a bibliography. This is inexcusably unprofessional.

As decent as the advice in Game Angry: How to RPG The Angry Way is, it has dated slightly and it does not take into account different forms of gaming. Or even ways in which it can be consumed, stating “Now, RPGs don’t have audiences.” whereas even when the book was originally published, they did. Hence Critical Role. Anyway, no convention games or online games, the latter increasingly important and common since the pandemic. Now of course, the book was written before that occurred, but a section on running convention games would have been a very useful inclusion.

The author, the ‘Angry GM’, has neutered his voice for Game Angry: How to RPG The Angry Way. Had he not, then perhaps the book might have stood out from the range of titles on how to be a good Game Master. The advice given is good, but for experienced players and Game Masters will probably be familiar, whilst for the new or prospective Game Master, Game Angry: How to RPG The Angry Way takes a while to get the point and could have been far more concise.

[Free RPG Day 2022] A Fistful of Flowers

Now in its fifteenth year, Free RPG Day in 2022, was celebrated not once, but twice. First on Saturday, 25th June in the USA, and then on Saturday, 23rd July internationally. This was to prevent problem with past events when certain books did not arrive in time to be shipped internationally and so were not available outside of the USA. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. Thanks to the generosity of David Salisbury of Fan Boy 3, Reviews from R’lyeh was get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day, both in the USA and elsewhere.

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One of the perennial contributors to Free RPG Day is Paizo, Inc., a publisher whose titles for both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the Starfinder Roleplaying Game have proved popular and often in demand long after the event. For Free RPG Day 2022, the publisher again provides a title for each of these two roleplaying games, A Fistful of Flowers for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition, the other being Skitter Warp for the Starfinder Roleplaying Game. In past years, the titles released for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game have typically involved adventures with diminutive Player Characters, first Kobolds, then Goblins, and this year, Leshys, humanoid sapient plants of various species and Classes, typically crafted by a druid as a minion or companion. Four pre-generated Player Characters are included, each of Third Level, each independent of their creator, and the scenario requires the Game Master have access to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition, Pathfinder Bestiary, Pathfinder Advanced Player’s Guide, and the recently released Pathfinder Lost Omens Ancestry Guide. The scenario can be played in one good session or two and offers a good mix of skill challenges, stealth, interaction, and combat.

A Fistful of Flowers begins in Verduran Forest, a large woodland in Avistan. There is a Wildwood Treaty in place between the forest and the nearby settled lands, affording the forest certain legal protections. However, the Player Characters have become aware that some of their numbers are missing and as the more powerful Leshys in the woods, it is their duty to investigate. The trail begins down at a river crossing and leads across first to a campsite and then beyond the limits of the forest canopy to a nearby village. Here the Leshys will find themselves readily accepted by the villagers and able to gather clues as who might be responsible. This will lead to the first of the two main scenes in scenario which are fully detailed and mapped and serve as its two climaxes. This first takes place in the wax laboratory of Crystals and Candlewax, owned by the alchemist who has been stealing into the forest and kidnapping Leshys! He though is not the true villain of the piece, his ambitions having got the better of him and found him serving a snooty, venal aristocrat, Lady Constance Meliosa, who wants the Leshys as showpieces to display at parties to her friends. The climax of the scenario will see the Player Characters crashing her afternoon tea party.

A Fistful of Flowers packs a lot into its sixteen pages and gives plenty for the Player Characters to do. There are problems to overcome and NPCs to interact with, the scenario providing multiple means for approaching either, and whilst the confrontation with the brute of an alchemist is likely to end in combat, the confrontation at the tea party need not do so. The Player Characters can sneak in, crash the party, persuade the guests that Lady Constance’s misdemeanours break the Wildwood treaty, and so on. Whilst the encounter in the alchemist’s shop is a traditional sneak and combat affair, the aristocrat’s fancy tea party deserves to be played out as a riotous assembly of flying skirts, scattered cakes, and soured sensibilities.

To accompany the adventure, A Fistful of Flowers includes four pre-generated Player Characters. These consist of a Gourd Leshy Druid, Leaf Leshy Bard, a Vine Leshy Barbarian, and a Fungus Leshy Rogue. Each is neatly arranged on their own individual pages and complete with background and clear, easy to read stats. Of course, the players do not have to use these, but could instead substitute their own characters, created using the rules in Pathfinder Lost Omens Ancestry Guide. Otherwise though, these are a decently diverse range of characters. 

Physically, A Fistful of Flowers is as well presented as you would expect for a release from Paizo Inc. Everything is in full colour, the illustrations are excellent, and the maps attractive. The only issue is that the map of the alchemist’s laboratory is not numbered, though the locations are easy enough to work out. The Game Master might want to create stats for Lady Constance and her guests, but neither are absolutely necessary to run the adventure.

A Fistful of Flowers is an entertainingly likeable adventure. It provides a diverse range of Player Characters and has a pleasing different feel to its fantasy than that atypical of most roleplaying fantasy and packs a lot of adventure into what is just a handful of pages. Overall, A Fistful of Flowers is a fun showcase for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Second Edition. 

[Free RPG Day 2021] Threshold of Knowledge

Now in its fourteenth year, Free RPG Day in 2021, after a little delay due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, took place on Saturday, 16th October. As per usual, it came with an array of new and interesting little releases, which traditionally would have been tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. Of course, in 2021, Free RPG Day took place after GenCon despite it also taking place later than its traditional start of August dates, but Reviews from R’lyeh was able to gain access to the titles released on the day due to a friendly local gaming shop and both Keith Mageau and David Salisbury of Fan Boy 3 in together sourcing and providing copies of the Free RPG Day 2020 titles. Reviews from R’lyeh would like to thank all three for their help.

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Paizo Inc. has always been supportive of Free RPG Day, typically donating scenarios for Pathfinder, typically involving goblins, and more recently, for its Science Fiction counterpart, Starfinder as well. The contribution for Free RPG Day 2021 for Pathfinder Second Edition is Threshold of Knowledge, a short adventure for First Level Player Characters. It comes with five pre-generated characters and can be played in a single session, but does feel a little long for a standard four hour session in comparison to a typical Paizo five hour session. To play through Threshold of Knowledge, the Game Master requires just copies of Pathfinder Second Edition and the Pathfinder Bestiary.

Threshold of Knowledge takes place at the prestigious Magaambya, the oldest school of magic in the Inner Sea region and in the nearby city of Nantambu. The Player Characters are prospective students at the Magaambya, undertaking training with Teacher Takulu Ot who is their sponsor. His initial task is for Player Characters to become part of the community and the first step in that is to help Alandri, a local fisherwoman, with whatever tasks she asks of them. This means going out into Nantambu and down to the canal where she wants them to fish for her. On the way, another student challenges them to a race to get to her stall. Presented as a series of challenges using a variety of skills and player ingenuity, this is not actually a good start to the scenario. Whilst there is no doubt that students might engage in such a race, there is no real benefit to it in terms of the story to Threshold of Knowledge, especially since when the Player Characters arrive at Alandri’s house, the first thing Alandri says is, “You’re late.”—and that is whether they win or lose the race. It feels artificial and forced, more a case of the adventure setting out to teach the players how to roll dice and use their characters’ skills than anything else. Certainly, if the Game Master wanted to shorten Threshold of Knowledge, then this section could easily be excised and the players be left none the wiser.

Fortunately, after that, Threshold of Knowledge settles down and gets on with its plot. Alandri has the Player Characters fish for her—and the intimation is that the Player Characters will be doing this daily for the first year or so of study at the Magaambya—but not with either net or rod, but by diving into the canal! This is much more fun and intriguing than the earlier race and it foreshadows events to come later in the scenario. The plot really triggers when the Player Characters return to the Magaambya. Teacher Ot’s office is awash with water and he himself is missing! The clues lead to a store room elsewhere in the Magaambya and from there back to the canal and back again to the Magaambya. There is a puzzle for the Player Characters to solve first, a series of tunnels and a grotto to explore, and some semi-aquatic combat encounters to overcome. Of these, the puzzle is the most difficult challenge to handle and will need careful study upon the part of the Game Master to really understand and then impart with her players. There are some fun encounters here, such as with a shark gliding across the floor of a partially flooded library!

To accompany the adventure, Threshold of Knowledge includes five pre-generated Player Characters. These consist of an Ekujae Elf Monk, a Human Fighter, a Grippli Rogue, a Human Cleric, and a Half-Orc Sorcerer. Each is neatly arranged on their own individual pages and complete with background and clear, easy to read stats. Of course, the players do not have to use these, but could instead substitute their own characters, especially if the Game Master is planning to run a campaign set at the Magaambya. Otherwise though, these are a decently diverse range of characters. In addition, there is a selection of magical items and spells, such Gritty Wheeze, an exhalation of abrasive sand and grit, which appear in the scenario.

Physically, Threshold of Knowledge is as well presented as you would expect for a release from Paizo Inc. Everything is in full colour, the illustrations are excellent, and the maps attractive.

Threshold of Knowledge is perhaps a little long and perhaps does not handle its single puzzle as well as it could have done, but it is a very likeable adventure. It provides a diverse range of Player Characters and has a pleasing different feel to its fantasy than that atypical of most roleplaying fantasy. As written, Threshold of Knowledge is a good introduction for Pathfinder Second Edition or a good starting adventure for a campaign based at the Magaambya.

Goodman Games Gen Con Annual I

Since 2013, Goodman Games, the publisher of  Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game and Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic has released a book especially for Gen Con, the largest tabletop hobby gaming event in the world. That book is the Goodman Games Gen Con Program Book, a look back at the previous year, a preview of the year to come, staff biographies, and a whole lot more, including adventures and lots tidbits and silliness. The first was the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book, but not being able to pick up a copy from Goodman Games when they first attended UK Games Expo  in 2019, the first to be reviewed was the Goodman Games Gen Con 2014 Program Book. Fortunately, a little patience and a copy of the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book has been located and so can be reviewed.

After having reviewed Goodman Games Gen Con 2014 Program Book, it is clear that there have been changes between its publication and that of the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book. It is slimmer at just sixty-four pages, but as subsequent entries in the series have appeared, they have got thicker and thicker with ever increasing page counts. Nevertheless, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book set the template and is still a book of bits and bobs, the silly and the seriously useful, an eclectic mix of the useful and the ephemeral, all illustrated with some great art. What is radically different between the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book and the Goodman Games Gen Con 2014 Program Book, is that the silliness in the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book begins with the first page! So we have a ‘Gen Con Luck Chart’, a table of prizes and benefits to be rolled for when the attendees might have won—or even lost—when they purchased the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book. This is followed by ‘Bios of the Band’, fun filled biographies of many of the luminaries who were writing and drawing for Goodman Games in 2013—and still are in 2020. They include Doug Kovacs, Brendan Lasalle, Michael Curtis, Brad McDevitt, and of course, Joseph Goodman. These are nice snapshots of the team behind Goodman Games and it is indicative of the strength of the team that they are still working together today.

Art has always been a major feature of titles from Goodman Games—of course, it is with any roleplaying book—but Goodman Games has placed a certain emphasis upon it and its Old School Renaissance style. So it features in ‘We’re with the band’, a look at the band of adventurers whose story has been told through their appearances in successive titles for Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, from the core rulebook and through each of the adventure modules. This is essentially a run of Easter eggs for the observant and adds a nice little level of detail through the series. The we are on to ‘What’s Next for DCC RPG?’, ‘What’s Next for Age of Cthulhu?’, and ‘What’s Next for Systems-neutral Sourcebooks?’, each section highlighting releases then forthcoming in 2013. Most notably, they include two notable boxed sets for Dungeon Crawl Classics, both of them—Dungeon Crawl Classics #83: The Chained Coffin and Dungeon Crawl Classics #84: Peril on the Purple Planet—now highly sought after. This all takes up the first third of the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book. Then we are on to the volume’s adventures.

The first of these is Michael Curtis’ ‘The Undulating Corruption’. The first of two adventures for Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book, designed for player characters of Fifth Level and parties which include a Wizard who has been corrupted by his use of magic, which as the adventure points out, is all too likely by the time he reaches Fifth Level. By various means, this Wizard has learnt of a means to expel the corruption from his body—the Crucible of the Worm. The exact location is up to the Judge, but wherever she places it, what the Player Characters discover is a disaster area, which instead of being free of corruption has been blighted by it, and not only that, whatever is the cause has now left a trail as it heads off across the countryside. So this sets up a chase for the Player Characters to take as they track down a very nasty threat to them, the countryside, and potentially, a nearby city. Designed to be played in a session or so, the scenario pleasingly picks up on a mechanic in Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game and builds a good adventure around it. Although it has a specific set-up, this is a good adventure to slip in between longer larger affairs and gets the adventuring content in the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book off to a good start.

If ‘The Undulating Corruption’ was a good start, then the second adventure, ‘The Jeweler that dealt in Stardust’ is even better. Harley Stroh’s scenario is designed to be played by Third Level characters is a heist, a raid by thieves upon the house of Boss Ogo, jeweller and one of the many fences of stolen goods in the city of Punjar. Unfortunately, he has not been seen for a month. Fortunately, this surely means that something must have happened to him—probably dead if no one has seen him for a month—and represents a opportunity to grabbed. That is, to break in and steal everything worth taking—or at least portable—and do it before anyone else does. His premises are famously said to be heavily trapped to trick and kill those foolish enough to attempt to burglarise him. The fully mapped building is full of traps and puzzles and clues as to Boss Ogo’s recent activities… The question is, just what has happened to Boss Ogo, but importantly, where is his loot?

This is a great scenario with plenty of detail and flavour. It is a really good scenario for Thief or Rogue type characters, and despite being set in the city of Punjar, would also really work with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar Boxed Set, a setting in which every Player Character is a thief—whatever their character Class.

The third and last scenario is actually a preview for the then forthcoming Maximum Xcrawl. This is one of the most original settings for Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying. It is set on an alternate Earth which was a Dungeons & Dragons-style fantasy world and in modern times is dominated by a Roman republic in North America. Like any Roman empire, it has gladiatorial games, but in modern times they take the form of dungeoneering as of old. Essentially, this combines the pizzazz and showmanship of World Wrestling Entertainment with classic dungeoneering and turns it into sports entertainment, complete with arena events. Written for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, ‘What’s next for Xcrawl?’ introduces the setting and the setting’s take upon Dungeons & Dragons-style gaming.

The introduction includes backgrounds for three of the Xcrawl Races—Dwarves, Elves, and Gnomes—as well as a list of Xcrawl Classes to enable players to create their own characters for the setting. To be fair, to get the most out of the accompanying scenario, ‘Maximum Xcrawl: 2013 Sudio City Crawl’, the Referee and her players will need a copy of Maximum Xcrawl. The scenario is designed for characters of Sixth to Eighth Level and showcases the type of dungeon to be found in the setting. It combines game show elements with combat and showmanship—characters can gain rewards for grandstanding—and very room and encounter is a test in itself. This leads to an intricate design for every room, whilst the modern sensibility enables plots to run inside and outside of the dungeon arena and ‘Rules Lawyers’ to take on a wholly different meaning.

Rounding out the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book is a selection of photographs taken on the ‘World Tour’ that the Dungeon Crawl Classics Judges team takes each year around various conventions. These are all North American conventions in the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book, but in the seven years since this book, the tour has expanded beyond those borders.

Physically, the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book is very nicely put together. It is tidily presented, the artwork is good, and the editing decent. However, there is a problem with the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book and it is that even in 2013, its gaming content was not new. So both ‘The Undulating Corruption’ and ‘The Jeweler that dealt in Stardust’ appeared in the Free RPG Day release from Goodman Games in 2012 and then ‘Maximum Xcrawl: 2013 Studio City Crawl’ appeared in the Free RPG Day release for 2013. What this means is that if the Judge or Game Master has either of these, then the truth of the matter is that the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book is not going be of greatest use to her. The rest of the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book is fun, but not useful, so if the Judge already has these adventures, then the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book is really just a collector’s piece.

Now the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book did set the template for the Goodman Games Gen Con Program Books to come—Goodman Games having published one each year since. Of course, the format would evolve from book to book, as evidenced by the Goodman Games Gen Con 2014 Program Book, but many of the same elements would be retained from issue to issue. And if the Judge does not have any of the three scenarios in the Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book, then it is definitely worth her time. Whether she is running a standard Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game, a Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar campaign, or an Xcrawl campaign. The Goodman Games Gen Con 2013 Program Book is a fun silly book, but its gaming content is still as good as it was in 2013.

Mythic Horror for Halloween

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Mythic Adventures takes adventurers in Paizo Publishing’s Pathfinder Roleplaying Game not into ‘Epic’ tiers above Twentieth Level, but down dual tracks, one standard, the other Mythic. The latter becomes accessible once the characters have undergone ascension, perhaps after encountering a god or acquiring a mythic artifact and once on that track, the characters undergo various mythic trials to advance through the tiers. With Mythic status, characters can go on even more fantastic, grander adventures, and face even more incredible foes, many of which are adaptations of classic monsters to the Mythic. Now as good as Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Mythic Adventures is, it does not and cannot detail all of the beasts and monsters that have been presented for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game over the past decade or so. This is because, well, there are six volumes of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary, and not one of them is anything other than a weighty tome.

This is where Legendary Games comes to the fore. A third party publisher that provides support for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game in the form of adventures, supplements, and in particular, plug-ins. These provide direct support for supplements published by Paizo Publishing, for example, the Mythic Monsters line, which slots the very many monsters from the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary line into the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Mythic Adventures line. It does this by adapting monsters  from the Bestiary series so that they can be faced by player characters who are on Mythic Tiers. What you get are the straight monster stats. There is no background. There are, well almost no illustrations. As the publisher likes to explain, those elements can be found elsewhere. So “Just the stats, ma’am.” 

In the three years since the publication of Mythic Adventures, Legendary Games has supported the line with over forty titles, of Mythic Monsters 42: Halloween is the latest. Just in time for the autumnal season it presents fifteen monsters taken from the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 2, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 3, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 4, and Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 5. Like all entries in the line it assigns its monsters two important ratings. One is the Mythic Rating, indicating which Mythic Tier it fits and provides a challenge for. The other is the Challenge Rating, the standard indicator in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and similar games as to what level it provides a challenge to. Thus the Mythic Soulbound Doll is CR 3 and MR 1, The Mythic Hangman Tree CR 8 and MR 3, and so on. What this means is that the GM can use these monsters in the game without using Mythic Monsters. The monsters are just more of a threat.

Mythic Monsters: Halloween details some fifteen monsters, ranging from CR 1 to CR 17, from MR 1 to MR 7, from the Mythic Beheaded to the Mythic Nightshade. They include monsters that are simple, that are dismembered body parts, that are body parts stitched together, the creepy, the murderous, and the generous. The simple are the Bat Swarms, while the dismembered body parts are the Beheaded with it screams and skull splitting, the Crawling Hand with its terror-inducing grasp, and the Giant Crawling Hand that grasps and crushes as well as inducing terror and tomb rot. Carrion Golems are rotten, roughly stitched-together body parts reeking of foulness and virulent plague. The Hangman Tree sends its noose-tipped vines forth to drag its victims up to swing murderously from its branches, while the Jack-O’-Lantern is an evil  pumpkin that feeds on fear and nightmare. The creepy includes the Attic Whisperer, seemingly abandoned at the top of the house, but ready to steal both breath and voice; the Shadow Collector steals shadows and uses them as its own or as accomplices, as well as being able to draw and steal its enemies and their possessions into the Plane of Shadows; and the Soulbound Doll might be good or it might be evil, but that does not stop it being creepy. The generous Leshy Gourd can pluck out its seeds and transform them into magical treats that it will hand out. Lastly, two versions of the Torch-Wielding Mob are provided, one made up of villagers, the other fanatics. The other is typically made up of peasants, the other of cultists.

In each case, Mythic Monsters: Halloween gives mythic power to its monsters. For example, the the Mythic Shadow Collector can expend mythic power to cast the mythic versions of its spells, the Jack-O’-Lantern can expend mythic power on its death to implant a nightmare that if not resisted will result it coming back to life; and if a Carrion Golem strikes the same target twice in a round, it can expend mythic power to rip limbs of its target! All powerful abilities, though the GM will need to give a careful to pick up on all of their details and those of the other entries in the supplement.

This is not to say that Mythic Monsters 42: Halloween is all old made anew. It does contain some new content. This comes in the form of new magic items such as Ghostly Gossamer, which disguises the wearer as a ghost and even surrounds them with other ghosts or makes him incorporeal or a Goblin Mask that make the wearer appear to be a harmlessly innocent goblin or a horrific and intimidating goblin. A Sack of Gluttony produces sweets and illusions that force others to gorge themselves on the faux treats or with a resolute shaking, sweets that replicate the effects of potions and elixirs placed inside the bag, while the Witch’s Broom is everything that would expect and a Witch would want. These are powerful magical items in their own right, almost artifact-like in their multiple uses. They perhaps be a little silly for a standard Pathfinder campaign, but for one that involves horror they more than suit.

To get the fullest out of Mythic Monsters 42: Halloween, the GM will not only need access to the first five in the Bestiary series, but also the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Advanced Class Guide, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Advanced Player’s Guide, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Advanced Race Guide, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Occult Adventures, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Combat, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Equipment, and Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Magic as well as of course, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Mythic Adventures. And quite possibly the Mythic Hero’s Handbook and Path of the Stranger also, as well as Legendary Games’ own Mythic Monster Manual. Which is a lot of supplements. It highlights a problem with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game line in that there are a lot—and by that, I do mean a lot—of supplements. Now to be fair, any GM buying Mythic Monsters 42: Halloween will probably have most of those rulebooks and supplements anyway and it is them that this mini-supplement is really aimed at.

Mythic Monsters 42: Halloween comes as a thirty-two page, .2 Mb PDF. It is cleanly laid out and clearly written. It is done in full colour and comes with some excellent fully painted illustrations. There is roughly one entry per page, so only about two thirds of the supplement is given over to the introduction, advertising, and so on.

Obviously Mythic Monsters 42: Halloween is a niche supplement, hence it being released—and reviewed—just before Halloween. It is in turns whimsical and horrific, mostly horrific. Both draw very much from the American tradition of Halloween—the whimsical in particular—but there is more than enough horror here if you are not necessarily American or whimsical. Outside of Halloween, there are plenty of good monsters in Mythic Monsters 42: Halloween to add challenge to any horror game, Mythic or not.