Friday Fantasy: Fortnightly Adventures #1: The Flame Pact

Far from any regularly ploughed sea routes and any civilised coast lies the remote island of Enjin no Chi—or ‘The Land of the Fire God’. Every sailor who has set their eyes upon it will say it is a place to be feared and none would be willing set foot upon its shores, for at its most northerly point sits a great volcano that spews out lava that runs in rivulets down into the forests that dominate the rest of the island to set their trees alight and when not spewing out lava, it belches out great clouds of ash that fall upon the rest of the island that fall in dry showers of heat. There are said to be monsters that lurk in the perpetual gloom of these clouds, and that is in addition to the ‘Fire God’ itself. Sailors and scholars might scoff at such an idea, but there are those who genuinely believe that Enjin no Chi is the home of fire god. They are the Honō no Dōshi, or ‘Flame Guides’, and their fanatism has driven them to commit many atrocities and villainous acts in their preparation to fulfil their life’s purpose—reaching Enjin no Chi and summoning the Fire God! Thus, ‘The Land of the Fire God’ is the setting for The Flame Pact that all Honō no Dōshi devoutly promise to keep.

Fortnightly Adventures #1: The Flame Pact is a mini-hexcrawl published by Angry Golem Games. Designed for Player Characters of between Second and Fourth Level, it is the second in the publisher’s ‘Fortnightly Adventures’ series, begun with Fortnightly Adventures #0: The Hollow Tower, which is intended to provide a brand-new, original module every two weeks—each exploring a different biome, mysterious locale, and unique challenge. For The Hollow Tower, this was a section of desert, a strange tower, and a mystery to uncover, but for The Flame Pact, this is a volcanic island with a volcano, a temple with some hot springs, the lairs of two types of beetles, and the cultists’ camp and ritual site. It is written for use with Old School Essentials Classic Fantasy and Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy, published by Necrotic Gnome Productions, it is based on the 1981 revision of Basic Dungeons & Dragons by Tom Moldvay and its accompanying Expert Set by Dave Cook and Steve Marsh, and presents a very accessible, very well designed, and superbly presented reimplementation of the rules.

What Fortnightly Adventures #1: The Flame Pact details is a seven-hexagon rosette of island and volcanic terrain. Each takes roughly two hours to explore, so the region is not a large one overall. In fact, it could easily be treated as a mini-location as a whole and placed in a single hex in a Game Master’s campaign. This would have to be a sea hex, but also the name of a cult suggests that the island is located somewhere similar to the Asian half of the Ring of Fire, this need not to be the case. The details of the cult are the easiest thing about the scenario to change. Apart from the seven-hexagon rosette format, what Fortnightly Adventures #1: The Flame Pact shares with Fortnightly Adventures #0: The Hollow Tower is that it has a roving environmental hazard. In the latter, this was a roving sandstorm that tore that the Player Characters and their possessions, whereas in the former it is the daily ash rains which strike a hex each for the day, burning anything and anyone there, and heating up any metal present. Thematically, it fits the setting, but one can only hope that it does not become a signature feature of the series. A handful of hooks are included to get the Player Characters involved, including the Player Characters being shipwrecked on the island, being hired to explore and map the island, forced to follow the cultists to the island and stop them from whatever they are planning, and hired to obtain the ‘Essence Seal’. These are not enthralling hooks and the Game Master will likely want to create her own that are stronger and likely tied to her campaign setting.

The four adventure locations in Fortnightly Adventures #1: The Flame Pact consist of a ‘The Volcano’, ‘The Hot Springs Temple’, ‘The Cult’s Camping and The Ritual Site’, and the ‘Giant Beetle’s Lair’. Each is nicely detailed and has its own map, the more expanded maps being for the ‘The Hot Springs Temple’, ‘The Cult’s Camping and The Ritual Site’, and the ‘Giant Beetle’s Lair’—the latter having a sperate map and making it the longest entry. ‘The Volcano’s location is the simplest having a Lava Monster that roams its slopes guarding against intruders and part of the ritual preparations done for the summoning of the Fire God by the Honō no Dōshi. ‘The Hot Springs Temple’ is perhaps the oddest location since it is on the island and tended to by a group of monks without much explanation given that the island is all but unknown. Here is where the scenario could have benefitted from more detail. Similarly, the Magic-User leader of the cultists could have been given some indication as to his personality, but that said, the cultists are active in looking for further sacrifices needed for their rituals. So, the Player Characters need to approach their camp with care. Surprisingly, the most well developed encounter in the scenario is with a dead cultist, or rather his skeleton, in the ‘Giant Beetle’s Lair’. He is given some motivation, mostly self-pity, and the Player Characters can talk to him, though what is ultimate motive now is not made clear.

One major difference between Fortnightly Adventures #1: The Flame Pact and Fortnightly Adventures #0: The Hollow Tower is that Fortnightly Adventures #1: The Flame Pact has a plot in that cultists are working to summon their ‘Fire God’. It is suggested by the scenario that the Game Master use a ‘doomsday clock’ to count up to the point where the Honō no Dōshi cultists succeed in summoning their ‘Fire God’ and the volcano erupts explosively, destroying the island in the process. The scenario also suggests that this will take twelve days, but that really is too long a period given the amount of adventure in the scenario. Halving this time would lend the scenario a greater sense of urgency and push the Cultists to act with greater haste. It would have been good too, for the Game Master to have been given some idea as to what the Cultists need to do to, step-by-step, if necessary, to complete the summoning.

Physically, Fortnightly Adventures #1: The Flame Pact is decently done. The layout is clean and tidy, the illustrations good, and the hexcrawl is an easy read.

Fortnightly Adventures #1: The Flame Pact is much like Fortnightly Adventures #0: The Hollow Tower before it. Some parts are reasonably detailed, but in others it is underdeveloped, especially in terms of characterisation and motivation. Yet there is more of a plot than Fortnightly Adventures #0: The Hollow Tower and in places more motivation, giving something for the Game Master to build upon herself. There is a basis of a solid, useful encounter location in Fortnightly Adventures #1: The Flame Pact , but the Game Master will definitely want to flesh it out a bit more to give some much needed character.