by sdonohue

The Fantasy Trip Quick Quest 4: The Caravan Raiders is a 2021 release by designer Howard Kistler. The art is by Rick Hershey and Liz Danforth. This is intended for use with Steve Jackson Games' The Fantasy Trip and is part of the Quick Quest series.

Presentation
This item is available as both a pdf and a printed trifold. The pdf includes two versions; one is 6 pages, one for each panel and the other is a two-page affair with each side of the brochure as one page. The trifold is a single sheet of heavy stock measuring about 8.5 x 16.5". The product is z-folded to create a total of 6 pages. The cover has a single color illustration and the rest of the book is black and white in a two-column layout.

Content
This adventure is intended for 4-5 experienced characters with about 34-46 points each and a wizard is recommended.

The players are hired by Jedric Millerson, the master of the Merchant Guild. He wants them to investigate a band of highwaymen who has intercepted three caravans moving from the Duchy of Kel and the Duchy of Dran. He has two survivors and they report that the band was humans, hobgoblins, and an ogre. He offers $500 for each player plus 10% of the value of recovered items. One strange thing is that some of the stolen goods were recovered in the city of Tro, which is on the other side of Dran, but the goods never passed through Dran.

The guildmaster will encourage them to leave immediately while the most recent robbery is still fresh, but if they talk to some townsfolk, there is a table of rumors, some true and some false. From there, we get character sheets for the main NPCs of the raiding party and of their minions. Once we have those, we're ready for the first encounter, where the PCs find some wrecked wagons. They can easily find where the bad guys took things away in their own wagon. Following that trail, they may be spotted by guards and be forced to deal with them. If the guards escape, the bandit camp will be ready for them.

The bandit camp is in a ruined keep and most of it is in tunnels beneath the ruins. There is s detailed hex map of the tunnels with important areas described in concise but effective ways. There is a chance to find some help in the tunnels, but it's self-serving. If the players survive, they learn the secret of the old keep -- it houses a gate which connects to a warehouse in Tro. The PCs could go through the gate and end up in Tro where they could report to the merchan'ts guild or even spend some time. Apart from the rewards they were offered, they could make extra money if they haven't told too many people about it.

Evaluation
This is a nice adventure with a couple of twists along the way. Finding an ally is one and the gate is the other. The entries for locations in the tunnel are clear and there is no read-aloud. The NPCs are given sufficient information to both engage in combat and to have them react to the pcs and each other in believable ways. The nature of the adventure means it could be dropped just about anywhere people use caravans. There is also the possibility for a continuation if the players decide to keep the secret of the gate to themselves.

by sdonohue

The Fantasy Trip Quick Quest 3: The Unself King is a 2021 release from Steve Jackson Games. It was written by Howard Kistler and features art by Rick Hershey and a map by Dyson Logos. It is part of the Quick Quest series for The Fantasy Trip.

Presentation
This is available as a pdf and as a z-fold brochure. The z-fold features 3 panels of 5.5 x 8.5" and is portrait on heavy stock. The contents is in a two-column layout and the only color is the cover. There are effectively 6 pages here.

Content
This adventure is designed for 4 - 6 staring characters or 3-5 more experienced ones. The Unself King is an ancient figure whose face is said to rob those seeing him of their memories and even their self-awareness. He's a figure of horror who has vanished and only the mad would try to bring him back. In this adventure, the players will be called upon to thwart the efforts of The Deathless Midwives who are planning to do just that.

The adventure starts with some background on the Unself King. The next is a couple of pages on the midwives featuring names, backstories, motivations and character sheets. We get a little background on the Illa Forma, a magic book used by one of the crones to create creatures and extend her life, and then we're on to the adventure.

The players arrive in the village or Parnham which is in an uproar because The Deathless Midwives were recently there and stole a pair of newborn twins. The townsfolk tell them they probably went to Crownless Hill, long the site of rituals and witchery. Once they arrive at the hills, they find tunnels which they must pass through to get to the Hilltop where the adventure takes place. They may miss some of the encounters in the tunnels, but they have to defeat all three midwives and remove the three foci (one of which is the unharmed twins) to stop the Unself King from returning in a ritual called The Becoming. There is an epilogue which covers the consequences of success or failure at stopping the Becoming.

Evaluation
This is a fun and challenging adventure even if it is a little bit of a railroad. The inclusion of the epilogue is a nice touch and even if the midwives are stopped, there's the opportunity for them to become recurring villains and they are interesting enough to make that worth pursuing. As with other adventures in this series, this one is easy to run: there's no read aloud and the scenes are described concisely, making it easy for a GM to absorb and find what's needed. Overall, this is a good adventure and one that could lead to the start of a long story arc.

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by leroy43

This supplement for The Fantasy Trip: Legacy Edition includes a 192-page hardcover book, 9 sheets containing 250+ counters, and 183 reference cards.

The TFT Bestiary finally came out, and it turned out that we printed more than demand would justify. It's sad when a long-time passion project meets a "meh" response in the market. I'm trying to take lessons from that!

Steve Jackson, in his newsletter to Stakeholders, 2024

I think my favourite line from the introduction on page 5 of this book is “You are a roleplayer; you don’t need a long intro to know what to do with a monster book.”

So here we are. A 190 pages of beasts and plants from the Am Bush (get it?) to the Wyvern, and a few pages at the end that provides information on where you might find these critters, and then a few more about what kind of treasure might be found with them. There are a couple of blank pages at the back labelled “notes”, but I don’t think I’ve met anyone in my decades of RPG experience who actually has used those blank pages.

For the Am Bush, its treasure or loot will be scattered, whereas the Wyvern will have a traditional hoard.

There are also potential reasons for why you might want to actually off these creatures. Maybe there’s a bounty on them. Perhaps they’re ingredients for an alchemist. Some are just plain edible.

Within each entry for a monster, there are the usual stats - ST, DX, and IQ. MA. Those are nice and bold in a strip across the top of the entry. Then there are the key notes about how it might fight, and tactics. Then a description, followed by habitats, behaviours, natural enemies, and sometimes notes on cultural significance.

In short, there’s a lot there for the GM to populate their game world (and their labyrinths).

The monsters from the original In The Labyrinth core rule book are here, albeit in much more detail. The intelligent humanoids are omitted (“as they are not beasts”, but the intelligent non-humanoids, such as the beloved Octopus are here.

Virtually every creature is illustrated, and some have facing guides, especially the larger or more complicated multi-hex ones. Given how flank and rear hexes work in combat, it’s nice to have the clarity.

This tome is well designed for the GM. The stat blocks are clear and easy to see. The monsters are interesting and well thought out, even the weird ones.

The book does assume experience and depth of knowledge with RPGs in general and TFT in specific, and so there is very little in the way of cruft. It’s all useful material, it’s clearly laid out, and you can pick it up and use it right away. At 190 pages it’s actually longer than the core rulebook!

If you’re running a campaign, this book is virtually a must have. And if you’re playing in one and your GM doesn’t have a copy, then the group should buy them one. Not only do you get the book, but also a set of about 250 die cut monster counters compatible with the TFT play mats, and a deck of 4x6 cards for each monster in the book.

Those cards have served me really well during a session. Rather than needing to have the book open, I have the relevant cards right where I need them.

This supplement gets top marks.

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