Pocket Sized Perils #6

For every Ptolus: City by the Spire or Zweihander: Grim & Perilous Roleplaying or World’s Largest Dungeon or Invisible Sun—the desire to make the biggest or most compressive roleplaying game, campaign, or adventure, there is the opposite desire—to make the smallest roleplaying game or adventure. Reindeer Games’ TWERPS (The World's Easiest Role-Playing System) is perhaps one of the earliest examples of this, but more recent examples might include the Micro Chapbook series or the Tiny D6 series. Yet even these are not small enough and there is the drive to make roleplaying games smaller, often in order to answer the question, “Can I fit a roleplaying game on a postcard?” or “Can I fit a roleplaying game on a business card?” And just as with roleplaying games, this ever-shrinking format has been used for scenarios as well, to see just how much adventure can be packed into as little space as possible. Recent examples of these include The Isle of Glaslyn, The God With No Name, and Bastard King of Thraxford Castle, all published by Leyline Press.

The Pocket Sized Perils series uses the same A4 sheet folded down to A6 as the titles from Leyline Press, or rather the titles from Leyline Press use the same A4 sheet folded down to A6 sheet as Pocket Sized Perils series. Funded via a Kickstarter campaign as part of the inaugural ZineQuest—although it debatable whether the one sheet of paper folded down counts as an actual fanzine—this is a series of six mini-scenarios designed for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, but actually rules light enough to be used with any retroclone, whether that is the Dungeon Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game or Old School Essentials. Just because it says ‘5e’ on the cover, do not let that dissuade you from taking a look at this series and see whether individual entries can be added to your game. The mechanics are kept to a minimum, the emphasis is on the Player Characters and their decisions, and the actual adventures are fully drawn and sketched out rather than being all text and maps.

Flaming Fandango in Faratusa is the sixth and final entry in the Pocket Sized Perils series following on from An Ambush in Avenwood, The Beast of Bleakmarsh, Call of the Catacombs, and Death in Dinglebrook, and Echoes of Ebonthul. Designed for Sixth Level Player Characters, this is essentially a fantasy version of Ocean's Eleven, a heist at a big party—rather than a casino—and up front, it is a lot of fun with all of the clichés of the genre left in and it has quite possibly the most Australian of titles! Further, the fact that it contains all of the clichés means that it is easy to run and it is easy to adapt, whether that is to another fantasy genre or roleplaying game or to another genre or roleplaying game all together.

The scenario opens on the night of a masquerade ball hosted by Ortolan, the Governor of Faratusa in honour of Sir Aroldo Tuft, who recently defeated the infamous Fire Chain Pirates and returned with the Salt-Ember Crown. Its set-up quickly throws the Player Characters into the action, with the Game Master being expected to ask their players some questions that somehow link them to Governor Ortolan, establish rumours about the Salt-Ember Crown, and explain how they got into the party, and then giving the players fifteen minutes to devise a plan to get into the vault where the Salt-Ember Crown is being held, get hold of it, and then get out of the governor’s mansion. After that, the scenario begins with the party in full swing, the masked guests enjoying themselves, and the governor’s newly installed Brass Servant automata providing both security and silver (brass) service.

After that, Flaming Fandango in Faratusa is all about whatever the Player Character want to do and how they want to go about the heist in what is a very player driven encounter. Stats and details are provided for Governor Ortolan, Sir Aroldo Tuft, and the governor’s Brass Servants, including in the case of the latter, what they do in the vent that they encounter an anomaly, such as the Player Characters being in the wrong place. There are tables two for random guests, things that the Player Characters might find in the process of searching the governor’s mansion, and for tracking increased security by the Brass Servants. Space constraints mean that the tables for both the guests and the items found are short, so the Game Master might want to expand these to add more colour and detail to the building and the party itself.

So far, so good, but the expanding and unfolding nature of design to the Pocket Sized Perils series is used to very good effect in Flaming Fandango in Faratusa. Flip through the first few pages and everything looks fine, but the first unfold opens up to reveal a fantastic map of all three floors to the governor’s mansion. Done in three dimensions, it has enough detail for the Game Master to describe each room or location in broad details, but leaves her to interpret the specifics. Overall, the look of the governor’s mansion is slightly Italianate and since it sits on the docks, it feels as if it should be in a Pirates of the Caribbean film (the scenario would be a great addition to a Pirate Borg game). Yet, Flaming Fandango in Faratusa is not done for there is one last reveal as the whole of the scenario pulls open for one last reveal. This is what is actually in the vault and the secret plans of some of the guests at the party upstairs! The revelations are anything other than astounding, but they fit the style of the scenario and its set-up to a tee.

Physically, Flaming Fandango in Faratusa is very nicely presented, being more drawn than actually written. It has a nice sense of scale and the combination of having been drawn and the cartoonish artwork with the high quality of the paper stock also gives Flaming Fandango in Faratusa a physical feel which feels genuinely good in the hand. Its small size means that it is very easy to transport.

As written, Flaming Fandango in Faratusa is a serviceable scenario, but not a standout one, since the set-up and plot are familiar. That does mean though, that it is easy to run and easy to adapt to other genres and roleplaying games. Yet Flaming Fandango in Faratusa is elevated by its format which quickly presents the Game Master with its set-up and various details before allowing the Game Master to pull it apart to reveal first the locations for the scenario and then second, the plot complications. There is a lovely sense of a story being told also in these reveals, but of course, the Player Characters are going to tell everyone ultimately, how their heist plays out. It is sad that just as the author seemed to master the format of the Pocket Size Perils, Flaming Fandango in Faratusa marked the end of the series. It is a good design with which to end the series though.