[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.

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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. 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.