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The second
adventure in the „Shadows over Riverton“-AP clocks in at 58 pages, 1 page front
cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with a
massive 54 pages of content, so let’s take a look!
This review
was moved up in my reviewing queue due to me receiving a print copy of the
book. You’re seeing the review this soon because I received the copy prior to
release to the public and thus had ample time to analyze and test it.
Now, before
we dive into the meat of this adventure, let me talk a bit about the series:
The author was one of the triad members of Living Greyhawk, and particularly
involved with the Bandit Kingdoms. This module, in tone and spirit, thus
breathes the legacy of Greyhawk, and indeed feels like a lost Greyhawk
adventure with the serial numbers filed off. That is a good thing. The
adventure takes place in the city of Riverton, the stage set in the first
adventure of the series, and directly builds upon it – characters met and
interacted with directly influence some of the proceedings and represent the
main hooks. That being said, the adventure is VERY easy to adapt to other
locales. As long as you can justify a humanoid slum (perhaps due to a lost war
effort) in front of an otherwise more traditional city, you’re good. It should
be noted that the Bandit Kingdoms-flavor that suffuses this adventure means
that the town is grittier and somewhat more realistic than comparable
settlements.
Now, if you
recall my review of the first adventure in the series, you’ll recall some
components I loved: For example, Riverton gets settlement statblocks for EACH
QUARTER. These, if relevant herein, have their modifiers hard-baked into the
challenges. This is just one the various components, wherein this adventure
sets itself apart from the majority of modules. The second, and most important
aspect here, though, would be the obsessively, meticulous detail that is
provided for the GM. PCs follow their employer after the quest, due to massive
paranoia? There’s a scene that covers it. Need an encounter for one of the
myriad gangs in the humanoid-slums? There’s an encounter for that. Unlike most
published adventures, I can’t see this one requiring much in the way of
GM-expansion o account for players going off the rails, which is even more
interesting and remarkable, considering that this is a pretty free-form
investigation/infiltration!
Now, the
adventure does another thing right that I really love: Rules-decisions,
explanations and help for the GM is provided in a massive array of footnotes
that further make handling the actual running of the module much, much easier.
The adventure also sports a metric ton of statblocks, which render the
challenges faced distinct and don’t leave you hanging dry when you’re looking
for the stats of character xyz. This all conspires to make the adventure work
in as much of a Go-Play-fashion as can be: While, being an
investigation/infiltration and pretty free-form at that, the adventure works
better (like all modules!) when you’ve read it prior to running it, but you
won’t need to make many notes and GMs with at least a bit of experience under
their belts should be able to run this without previously preparing it in
detail. The adventure also presents an impressive array of read-aloud text, in
vivid prose, bolds rules-relevant context so it’s easier to find (without
violating formatting conventions)…and it eve sports an appendix, wherein
effects of different lodging situations that the PCs find themselves in have
significant mechanical aspects. The adventure also provides a handout.
In short:
This is one of the most convenient to run modules I’ve seen in a while, and its
attention to detail is impressive and really helps to set the stage and
maintain the atmosphere throughout: It generates a sense of reality, an
impressive achievement. There is, for example, a magic item that most groups
will not find. It is pretty cool and relevant for a powerful figure in town,
though – the adventure even devotes time to the negotiation process regarding
the figure and the item! In short: There is A LOT of care poured into this
adventure, and it shows.
All right,
this is as far as I can go without diving deep into SPOILER-territory.
Potential players should jump to the conclusion.
…
..
.
All right,
only GMs around? Great! So, it’s been a few days since the PCs arrived – enough
to have their accommodations in Riverton have an impact on their well-being.
The Halfling Stefania, an acquaintance of the PCs from module #1, contacts them
to meet up at a tavern – and while this may sound like the oldest trope in the
book, it provides a great example for the case I made regarding details. The
module takes into account that PCs may show up early and scan the area; it
covers the discussion of the task at hand with both read-aloud text and bullet
points for conversation, skill-use, etc. – and if they unearthed the connection
of the goblins from module #1 to the slavers in the slums, that also plays into
the proceedings. Misty is acting on behalf of one of the most powerful NPCs in
the city, who comes to meet them: None other than Misty Homeagain. Now, in
another module, the proceedings would just boil down to a read-aloud text.
Here, Misty uses a custom spell to provide a discreet means to converse (and
paranoid PCs are taken into account) before talking to them – it’s a small
thing, but it provides a rules-based foundation to discreet talks that adds a
sense of realism and authenticity to the matter at hand. Heck, as mentioned
before, paranoid PCs stalking Misty may be in for a thrashing – they’re small
things, yes, but they add to the immersion, and this level of detail is
maintained throughout the module.
So, folks
have been disappearing, and as the PCs found out in module #1, there may be a
tunnel to provide egress to Riverton, past the corrupt, but at least nominally
stringent guards. Thus, the mighty halfling wants the PCs to go to the humanoid
slums before the city, to Beggartown, find the missing folks and rescue them.
Sounds easy, right? Well, Beggartown is not a nice place to be – the rickety
shantytown is characterized by lawlessness and the corrupt half-orc captain
Llerdnig is one of the movers and shakers there. With orcs, tieflings, gnolls
and goblins freely living there, some races like elves, dwarves, etc. may want
to think about disguises. Nice: Stefania will accompany the PCs as a sort of
GM-PC, and her input, well-meant, if not truly helpful, can help steer the PCs.
If she does accompany them, they’d better make sure she gets out alive, though!
Anyways, with incidents or without, the PCs enter Beggartown, where the trail
does not really grow cold – instead, it becomes hot rather quickly, as the PCs
are faced with a cool and diverse skill challenge/chase: The contact amidst all
the squalor and misery of Beggartown seems to have just met his rather grisly
end at the hands of gnolls, who see the PCs rather instantly, courtesy of
Stefania. (Neat: This does help “sell” the chase as a not a railroad!) If the
PCs succeed in catching up to the mottled gnolls, they’ll have a fight on their
hands. But there is a pretty good chance the gnolls get away as well – so, how
does the module handle that? Well, successful PCs can wring the location of the
slaver compound from the gnolls, no problem…but if they failed…they don’t
really have an issue.
Clever PCs
will note that the mottled fur only is sported by one of the gnoll tribes in
Beggartown, a tidbit of information that clever GMs can seed…and even if the
PCs know where the complex itself is, they’re left with more than one issue.
You see, the tribe is rather sizable. To the point where assaulting the
compound sans doing legwork is not a smart move. But if they haven’t managed to
pinpoint its location, we have no problem either: You see, the compound
obviously needs to purchase goods, right? Well, one means of thinning the
opposition (and potentially secure an ally for a coup-d’état of sorts) is to
ambush said team! There are plenty of other ways to help weaken the gnolls,
provided the PCs can survive in Beggartown, that is – random encounters for all
of the diverse gangs in town are provided…and, indeed, if the PCs are smart,
they may even manage to take down the Alpha of the gnolls prior to assaulting
the complex: Growl, the rather huge (size Large) leader of the gnolls likes to
spar in the Chapel of Slaughter, the ramshackle fighting pit/neutral ground of
Beggartown, and the module actually talks, in detail, about the process of
becoming pit fighters and potentially stopping the brute. No mean feat, but if
the PCs manage to achieve success there, they’ll have a demoralized tribe when
faced with the folks who defeated their champion.
Speaking of
“Alpha” – where this, in another supplement, would have been just a moniker to
denoe the chieftain, here, we actually get a fully depicted hierarchy – and
gnolls being gnolls, there is plenty of dissatisfaction and drama behind the
scenes, including affairs and the like. Roleplaying savvy players may well be
capable of destabilizing significant portions of the tribe before attacking the
compound. Extensive notes on further development pertaining both success and
defeat allow the GM to organically maintain the flow of the adventure. Oh, and
guess what: Yes, the module accounts for the PCs buying the captives! Provided
they have the funds, this would make for a smart move prior to attacking the
compound, for example, as the PCs wouldn’t have to take care of the NPCs.
Speaking of which: Hirelings and named NPC allies that have a stake in seeing
the slaves freed may be recruited, and the adventure provides proper names,
motivations and further adventure hooks for the slaves. Are you starting to see
what I meant with “impressive details”?
The assault
on the compound, should the PCs choose to undertake it, is btw. not a singular
rail-road-affair – there are chances for folks not being there, and day/night
does matter as well. Heck, the respective shacks etc. get full game-mechanics,
should your PCs choose to smash through them! This is a bit like having terrain
that can be damaged in a videogame. While, in pen & paper, you
theoretically have that all them time, but flimsy construction of the shacks
makes it really relevant here! Having stats for the frickin’ structures makes
the whole complex feel more dynamic, and before you ask, the compound is fully
mapped in pretty detailed color maps. As a minor downside, these maps do not
come with a key-less player-friendly version, which is a bit of a bummer,
considering that it’s pretty likely that the PCs will capture a gnoll at one
point. That being said, the gnolls are amazing – there are plenty of
archetype’d and template characters here that deserve the moniker: There would
be, for example, a venerable gnoll who has become slow in her old age, the
flavor represented by drawbacks; a crippled gnoll s who dabbles in fire
breathing and makes use of goblin skull bombs, nearsighted ole’ Stinky…these
gnolls feel indeed like they have lived. While rank and file beings exist, it
is ultimately in these NPCs that the tribe truly comes to life.
I did
mention an item, right? Really clever PCs may notice a magical shovel used near
the trash pit, an unlikely treasure not identified by the gnolls – that would
be the shovel of the final rest,
which can yield PCs a nice financial windfall…if they don’t overly tax the
goodwill of the guardian of the graves, that is. It should also be noted that
XPs gained are contingent on more than enemies slain, so that’s another big
plus as far as I’m concerned.
Conclusion:
Editing and
formatting on a formal level are excellent – Casey Brown’s professional
background and experience in editing is quite apparent here. I wish I was as
good at editing my own writing! On a rules-language level, the adventure is
similarly impressive – though slightly less so: When e.g. a caltrop-trap
references “slicing” damage that should be “piercing.” That being said, the
module is actually more precise than PFRPG’s base rules here – caltrops inflict
RAW, in a nonsense-decision, untyped damage, which clearly should be
“piercing.” So yeah, my nitpick pertains something that the module does better
than the core rules. Here and there, I could nitpick some minor rules-language
in new content, but never to the extent where it would constitute a proper
issue. The copious amount of statblocks are solid as well – I attempted to
reverse engineer and encountered no problems. The pdf comes fully bookmarked
for your convenience. The print version is b/w and sports a nice, matte cover;
if you’re familiar with Raging Swan Press’ PoD-books, it uses that type. The
lack of player-friendly maps represents my only somewhat valid complaint on a
formal level against this module. The pdf version comes with a copious amount
of nested bookmarks that render navigation comfortable and painless.
Casey
Brown’s second foray to Riverton is amazing. It develops the strengths of his
previous offerings and applies them vigorously to a module-type that is a)
harder to pull off properly and b), wherein the application of this attention
to detail is much, much harder. From a formal perspective, this is one of the
easiest infiltration/investigation-sandboxes to run that I have ever read. So,
it’s comfortable to run and provides plenty of gaming material as well.
The second
strength of the module is one that is harder to describe and get right. Most
folks would call this “old school”, but that term is, at this point, a flawed
one. You see, “old school” does not equal “old school” – when we take a look at
OSR-gaming, for example, we have e.g. the Advanced Adventures-line by Expeditious
Retreat Press, which champions a slightly weird AD&D-ish feeling; we have
the psychedelic nightmares of LotFP; we have Frog God Games’ fantastic Lost
lands, which are a precarious, dark setting that always had, at least for me, a
subtle sense of melancholia suffusing its books, a feeling of a world that is
in the process of moving on, of empires fallen and a dark age impending; there
would be Goodman Games’ DCC-material, which I always refer to “Metal-fantasy.”
All of these, and many, many tastes more, are generally called “old school.”
There is
another type of old school, one that you only get to see rather rarely –
because it is really, really hard to pull off. You see, I could sum up this
module as “PCs rescue slaves from gnolls in a slum.” I wouldn’t be lying. It’s
a basic premise. The module does not throw some central weirdness in your face,
it does not use some over the top shenanigans to distract you from structural
shortcomings. It doesn’t have to. It is my firm conviction that unpretentious,
Greyhawk-style fantasy sans a ton of high-fantasy stuff, with grit and detail
and grime, is extremely HARD. You can’t rely on a catchy pitch that will make
folks go “OMG, zis iz teh awes000m1111oneone!!” and you always risk the danger
of becoming generic, forgettable. In fact, only your prose, your ability to
evoke a concise, living, breathing environment, is what separates you from a
“been there-done that” type of experience. You have to work in the small
aspects, and when you botch the job, you’ll probably get a “soso”-review that
can’t put the finger on *why* they were not engaged. That type of writing is
HARD to pull off, very, very hard. Few
publishers and authors manage to hit this precarious balance, this elusive
sweet spot, with e.g. Raging Swan Press coming to mind as one of the few
publishers that do.
You may
have realized it by now: This module manages to hit the right mood right on the
head. And it, in passing, serves as a perfect rebuke to the claim that complex
systems like Pathfinder can’t do this tone. The module uses a TON of material
from Pathfinder’s extensive mechanics to enhance the mood that is conveyed in
the adventure, to underline the realities of the game-world. It represents an
impressive synthesis of mechanics and flavor, all in the service of
storytelling.
Why should
you care? Simple. Because we frankly need more adventures like this. Because
this atmosphere, this feeling, is precarious, hard to get right, and because,
even if you prefer far out concepts, the weird ultimately does become stale if
you constantly barrage the players with it. The wisdom inherent in this type of
old-school sensibility is, that in order for the outré and fantastic to
properly work, you have to ground it, contextualize it. And that is much harder
than writing an adventure about 8-armed flying monkey/mi-go-hybrids with laser
canons. See what I did there? I bet you thought “that sounds cool” – see, that
is the elevator pitch I mentioned.
I can’t do
the same type of elevator pitch for this module. Don’t get me wrong. I love
far-out weirdness. But know what? Chances are, that if you buy this module (the
price-point is btw. imho really, really low for the amount of material), you’ll
start smiling upon reading the module. Because it draws you in. Because it
feels alive and organic and plausible. Because it doesn’t rely on flash and
bang and world-ending threats, instead opting for a more subdued theme –
without becoming generic. It is interesting, once you start to think about it,
that strange and weird concepts and high fantasy over-the-top superhero-esque
gaming have become so prevalent that fantasy like this, grounded, grimy, and
down-to-earth, has become fresh, unique, and a rare and treasured type of
experience. I do get why, mind you – in the hands of a mediocre
author/designer, this would have been boring. It’s not.
The second
installment of “Shadows over Riverton” is an impressive, extremely flavorful,
detailed, and most importantly, fun adventure that even relatively new GMs
should have no problems with. In fact, it’s good enough to transcend the lack
of player-friendly maps that most of the time prevents modules from reaching my
highest accolades. This is worthy of 5 stars + seal of approval, and if
Greyhawk and the type of module I mentioned above even remotely struck a chord
with you, then give this a chance. If you never understood why those old folks
lament the lack of proper Greyhawk support by WotC – look no further than this
to understand it! (And, if you’re a fan of Raging Swan Pres, check this out –
same hold true for vice-versa, obviously!)
You can get this cool adventrue here on OBS!
Missed the first one? You can find the bundle here on OBS!
Endzeitgeist
out.
