A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement 20 Shadowfell Trinkets and Pocket Finds Volume One

20 Shadowfell Trinkets and Pocket Finds Volume One by Stephen Hart is a role playing game supplement published by The Grinning Frog. The supplement is a combination of one aimed at the Dungeons & Dragons games and system agnostic.

This is available as a Pay What You Want PDF from RPGNow and has five pages. One of these is the front cover and another is full of ads for other supplements.

The first page is an introduction which explains the concept behind the design, which is to generate stories. It considers what has been left out, value, skill checks and where items might be found. This is a standard introduction for this range (and is identical to the one in 20 Seashore Trinkets and Pocket Finds Number One) and some elements may or may not be specifically appropriate.

A d20 table takes up around a page and a half. This has different things to find and has the basic information that can be read to players as well as information that can only be discovered on a successful skill check, where appropriate for the result.

About half a page is taken up with 6 Shadowfell random outdoor events.

20 Shadowfell Trinkets and Pocket Finds Volume One in Review

The PDF lacks bookmarks but with only two pages of content these are not needed. The text has a two column format and the tables are a single column and no errors were noticed. The sole illustration is on the front cover and the pages have a background. Presentation isn’t bad for a short supplement.

One of the first questions that might be asked, to those unfamiliar, which isn’t answered in the supplement or specifically in the promotional blurb, is just what Shadowfell is. The feeling of the table is that it’s something connected to undead, but what it specifically is, is another name for the Plane of Shadow, one associated with the Forgotten Realms. Consequently, the various results are not purely undead in nature. As suggested, it could also be used in other settings, such as the Curse of Strahd (and therefore Ravenloft) as well as other undead or vampiric-themed adventures.

The various results are themselves well detailed, both the items (one of which would appear to be referring to Tomb of Horrors) and the encounters. These can provide adventure hooks and puzzles for players, as well as simply elements of flavour.

20 Shadowfell Trinkets and Pocket Finds Volume One is really quite a nice collection of random items and events to find and it can be checked out for free by clicking here.