I normally try to stick to writing reviews of things that I like.  A few years back, I decided I didn’t really feel like putting a lot of negativity out into the world, and that I’d focus on trying to bring attention to cool things.  That said, I’ve been reading through a bunch of things I’ve picked up at Free RPG Day that I want to talk about. Though my feelings are not resoundingly positive and I don’t feel like writing a full review for them, I thought it was at least worth some brief writings.  So, here we are.

Where the Zal River Flows: Written by Shawn Merwin and released by Hexed, this is for something called Titanskeep, and compatible with D&D 5e.  When I first finished reading it, I was left scratching my head.  It seemed like such a bland, uninteresting, “railroad” of a module, that I had a hard time imagining why anyone would take the time to produce it.  But then I came to a realization.  The adventure, as written, is really just a framework, set up to allow players to do some serious roleplaying.  This is meant to be played using the six specific pregenerated 3rd level characters that were made for this scenario. Each one has their own connections, history, and ambitions.  Reflecting on it, I was reminded of the fantastic scenario for Unknown Armies I played in nearly 30 years ago, called Prison Break, I believe.  What made that scenario great wasn’t the plot as written.  It was how the players used the pregenerated characters, put into a high-pressure situation, to create something amazing.  Does that totally win me over on Where the Zal River Flows?  No.  I don’t see myself ever running it.  I’d never heard of Titanskeep and this did nothing to pique my interest.  However, I can see how it would make for a fun scenario at a con or something.  Annoyingly, you have to download the characters.  But I suppose that makes sense from a production cost standpoint.  

Scry, Scry, My Little Eye:  Another 5e scenario.  This one is written by Tam Henderson and Matt Henderson, and produced by Loke Battle Mats.  I was reminded of some of the Epic Encounters series I’ve seen, though this is a bit more than a single encounter.  Unfortunately, nothing about it is of any interest to me.  I imagine there are folks out there who are running games where this kind of thing makes more sense.  The general premise is that a wizard has roped the PCs into testing a magical dungeon in a sort of Squid Games-esque “show” for other wizards.  Physically, it’s meant to be cut up, with movable scenery and such, as well as a double-sided battle mat as the centerfold.  This is another one I can imagine would be fun for certain players at a convention or maybe at an open table event at a game store.  But it’s not for me.  By default, it’s meant for four characters of level 2.

The Scourge of Sheerleaf:  For Pathfinder 2e, this scenario from Paizo is written by Shay Snow.  There’s really not much to this.  It’s just a few small encounters.  There are four level 10 characters provided, each with some background and interparty connection.  But the adventure is only a few pages long, taking up less than half of the 16 pages.  The art is a bit cartoonish for my tastes, but it’s well done.  That’s about all I can think to say about this one.  Pathfinder isn’t a game I’ve got any interest in.  I mostly picked this up thinking I could lift ideas for my own games, but there’s really not much to this.  The characters are probably the most interesting part, but don’t fit anything I’m likely to run.  Except maybe the Kobold.  

Battle For Nova Rush:  Also from Paizo, this Jessica Catalan penned scenario is meant for Starfinder 2e, which I think has either just come out or is about to (time of writing).  It features four level 1 characters, and is much more the sort of thing I was expecting.  It’s an introductory scenario that shows off a few unique aspects of Starfinder.  Like Pathfinder, I’m not really interested in Starfinder as a game.  However, this would be super easy to lift for something like Star Wars or any other Sci-Fantasy game.  The premise is pretty basic.  Characters find themselves captured by pirates.  Things get nuts and they escape.  If things go really well, they could end up with a ship, and this off on their new quest as adventurers, if this were the opening of a longer game.  I found the character Chk Chk particularly interesting, and compelling enough that I could see myself wanting to know more.  Like the previous Pathfinder scenario, there really isn’t much to this one, taking up a similar amount of space in the book.  But it feels more useful, especially as an introduction to the game and its world.  Have they done Starfinder for Savage Worlds?  That’s a system I might actually enjoy playing.  I enjoyed the art in this one.  It feels tonally right. 

A Journey in the Shadows -1:  I picked up this introductory product at Free RPG Day 2024.  It’s for the Shadows of Esteren game, which I believe is fairly popular in France, and was released by Studio Agate.  Esteren feels sort of like a fantastical version of the British Isles, as seen from outside.  Like, this doesn’t feel British at all, but seems to be in a Fantastical Dark Ages England-analog.  I guess maybe it’s like a Norse Fantasy game written by Americans?  That said, had this come out in the 90s, I would definitely have a copy on my shelf, and a few decades of lamentations over not being able to find anyone else interested in playing.  I like the general vibe.  The art is cool.  I love the idea of a multi-media game, where they’ve even produced original music.  However, in a crowded field, I don’t think this one managed to really stand out.  It also reminds me a bit of Symbaroum, and that game had Free League behind it, but still struggles to get much attention.  I did an extremely quick bit of Google Fu and couldn’t find print copies of this game available, though it looks like there are PDFs on DriveThru.  I’ve definitely seen positive things said about it, but it just doesn’t seem to have made much impact.  This little intro suffers a bit from translation awkwardness.  Not that I think anything is translated wrong, just that the cadence of the writing feels really “off.”  I don’t know that I’d want to read a whole book that is written in the same way.  

OK.  That was a brief roundup of some of the things I’ve read recently, that maybe didn’t quite hit the mark, but were interesting enough that I felt like having some comments on them before I pass them along.  

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