A new rpg publisher has been added to the database: Tharanor UG

A new rpg publisher has been added to the database: Uppsala Universitet

A new episode has been added to the database: Dice Funk S12: Part 55 - She Doesn't Swallow

by Steve

February 15th, time once again to celebrate the existence of

[user=GreenDude][/user]

Happy Birthday, O Wise One!

by sdonohue

The Fantasy Trip Quick Quest 9: Grand Opening is a 2023 release from Steve Jackson Games for The Fantasy Trip. It is part of the Quick Quest series. This entry was written by Stefan Jones and features art by Rick Hershey.

Presentation
Like other products in this series, this is a z-fold brochure with three-panels, each 5.5" x 8.5". They are double-sided. The illustration on the cover and the map feature color, while the rest is black & white on heavy stock. It is also available in two pdf versions. One presents each side of the brochure as a whole and the other has 6 pages, one for each panel.

Content
The players are hired to help with the grand opening of a temple to Enok called the Temple of Martyrs Tullis and Magurt. The temple has been under construction for more than a century. The structural portions of the temple are complete, but the decorations leave much to be desired. Sarrit Mane, entrusted with the construction of the temple, needs more money to decorate. He hires magicians to cast illusions of the eventual decorations. This isn't a secret; he hopes that seeing what will be will encourage donations. The temple has a rat problem as well and those who don't have illusion spells will be hired to kill rats in the basement.

The scenario provides a short explanation, details on key figures in the module: Sarris Mane, the leader of the construction; Kerris Mafistan, leader of the temple guard; and Turkansay Sadday, who will help the wizards perfect their illusions. There are also stats for the typical guardians of the temple.

The encounters describe the expectations during practice and for the rat-killers, including the possibility of trouble in town. From there, we get to a map of the temple and a description of the environs. Finally, we get the Big Day. Wizards will start off with illusions to cast and the rat-catchers will be reassembled because an acolyte found sings the rats have returned. There is a fairly extensive map of the catacombs and the monsters will have somewhat reset on the big day. Players may have heard rumors of worse things than rats, and today they will find ghouls!

The final section provides some directions on where to go next and on some of the intrigue which has been behind the adventure and the temple. These two sections provide ample direction for this adventure to turn into multiple sessions.

Evaluation
This is a fun adventure with a little intrigue the GM could decide to include or ignore; it plays fine either way. The idea of using illusions as sort of CGI fundraising props is a good one and it helps ensure the wizards and fighters each have a role in the adventure. The maps and descriptions are clear and there is no read-aloud. The backstory makes sense and isn't overly complicated. You could drop this in as an adventure pretty much anywhere large enough to support a temple.

by Rachel

Apologies for yesterday's double post. The "publish" button disappeared and I had no choice but to "schedule" the post. But, the time came and went and the post didn't post, so I tried changing the time, and again, nope. At that point, I copied the entire post into a new post, and the "publish" button miraculously returned! I published. But then couldn't delete the "scheduled" post. The "scheduled" post finally posted at some point overnight. So now there are 2 copies of the same Friday post posted. And I can't delete either...

Good work, BGG. Not sure what your doing with the blog editor, but I'm not a fan of whatever is going on with publish/schedule.

The "pull from body" to tag items is nice though :geek_grin:.

Game Over On borrowed time...

Happy Saturday and happy playing!
-Rachel

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by sdonohue

The Fantasy Trip Quick Quest 8: The Maddening Song is a 2022 release from Steve Jackson Games for The Fantasy Trip game. It is part of the Quick Quest series and was written by Howard Kistler with art by Rick Hershey.

Presentation
Like other products in this series, this is a z-fold brochure with three-panels, each 5.5" x 8.5". They are double-sided. The cover illustration and the map are color, but the rest are black & white. The brochure is printed on heavy stock. It is also available in pdf which includes two versions. One presents each side of the brochure as a whole and the other has 6 pages, one for each panel.

Content
The players are asked to help some elves who have been beleaguered in their high tree town by a double threat: schismada, a cicada like creature whose cry can drive those who hear it mad and murslakes, a deaf predator. To avoid being driven mad, the elves wear ear plugs and then makes it easier for the murslakes to sneak up on them.

The adventure contains about a half-page each on the general workings of the village, and the habits and stats of the murslakes and the schismada. The rest of the book (essentially the whole backside when folded out) is the adventure. It shows a map of the village with about 20 keyed locations (some are used more than once). There are also stats for average villagers, and character sheets and motivations for 5 other villagers. These other villagers provide some challenge as they may be affected by the schismada and have turned violent; obviously they need to be stopped, but the other villagers would definitely prefer they be subdued.

The aftermath explains how the players could be rewarded for their efforts and presents the ideas that the murslake pack (about 30 in all), will not feel compelled to fight to the death and will flee if things go poorly.

Evaluation
This adventure provides a lot of interesting challenges. Because the village of the elves is in the trees, it's not easy for those who don't live their to move around -- there are ladders and ropes which must be navigated. It also provides options for characters to surprise the baddies. The adventure has more backstory than most quick quests, but it's useful information and makes it easier to run the adventure. There's no read aloud. This is more of a sandbox than a lot of quick quests, but it's still a great adventure.