A companion volume to The Dark of Hot Springs Island, A Field Guide to Hot Springs Island is presented as an “in world” artifact.  It is essentially the exploration journal and naturalist’s notes of Matthias, an agent of the Martel Company, who has come to Hot Springs Island looking for various resources to exploit.  If you were so inclined, you could use this as a handout, to give players looking to explore Hot Springs Island, to give them a sense of what they might find or look for.  As it is an in world book, written by a non-player character (who may or may not still be around), the book may have unreliable information that does not match what is presented to the GM in The Dark of Hot Springs Island.

I know I’ve mentioned it before, but as a long-time Call of Cthulhu player and keeper, I’m a sucker for a good handout or prop.  Well, this one has the potential to be a lot of fun.  I’ve been thinking about various ways I might introduce it to a group.  Perhaps found on a ghost ship, or in a wizard’s library.  Maybe it’s taken off a dead sailor.  Or the group might be hired by the Martel Company (or a rival), and given this book as a means of priming them for their journey.  I’ve also thought about photo-copying various pages, handing them out to players when their characters find them, and allowing the player to try to piece them together as time goes on, perhaps adding their own notes as they find the truth or falsity of various “facts.”

The book has several diary entries, chronicling the adventures and scrapes of Matthias and his fellows.  There’s a section on an ancient language that could help players translate things found on the island.  There’s a really weird segment of another book, this one about elementals.  I definitely got to thinking it might be cool to make a mini-pamphlet out of these pages in particular, and have them found in a wizard’s belongings.  Then there are some sections on plants, animals, and supernatural beings.  There’s also a chart in the back that goes into trade goods and which factions might want or have certain things.  Armed with that, it might be possible for the PCs to start up a little trade operation of their own.

My one major complaint about The Dark of Hot Springs Island was that it didn’t feel like the book would stand up to long term use.  The paper was very thin and felt like it would tear pretty easy (though to date, it has not).  With this book, however, that is not the case.  It’s a digest size hardcover that feels very well put together.  I’m not sure if the paper is actually thicker, or if it’s just because the pages are so much smaller, they feel more sturdy.  Whatever the case, this doesn’t feel like a book that’s going to fall apart anytime soon.

It doesn’t really make a lot of sense to acquire this book without also getting The Dark of Hot Springs Island, so there’s that.  Otherwise, I think this is a really cool item and I wish more well produced handouts/props would be made.  If I ever really crank up the nautical-themed Dungeon Crawl Classics game I’ve been kicking around, I definitely hope to bring the strange doings at Hot Springs Island into it.  Though, after reading Dragonbane, I’m also thinking about just running Hot Springs Island using that game.  We’ll see.  As I write this review, I’m taking a break from packing for my first big move in sixteen years.  Will I have better luck finding an in-person group where I land?  Only time will tell. 

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