A05: Winterflower by Jonathan G. Nelson is a role playing game supplement published by AAW Games for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game although it is also statted for use with Dungeons & Dragons 3.5, like A01-3. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result. The supplement is an adventure for 4-6 characters of levels 4-5. The supplement is also available as a Fantasy Grounds conversion and as a version for Dungeons & Dragons 5E.
The supplement is available as a PDF from DriveThruRPG for $3.59, as a softcover colour print on demand book for $6.50 and as both softcover and PDF for $7.10. The PDF is the version reviewed although it was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. Two pages are the front and rear covers, one page is the front matter, one the Table of Contents and one the Open Game License.
The Adventure Background explains about the annual Winterflower Festival being held in Rybalka. A custom is for the men of the village to present women with gifts to ask them to accompany them to the festival. This year, one young woman has at least three potential suitors.
Adventure Synopsis gives a brief overview. One suitor asks the PCs to help them get a gift, after which two others ask the same. In two of the cases, “help” means “get it for me.” There are then three different paths the characters could follow, each of which is essentially a separate quest, and they may well not have enough time to do all three.
Adventure Hook has the characters approached. There is a sidebar on transitioning from Forest for the Trees to this one; events in that adventure could have alienated the characters somewhat and each of the three asking for help could help reintegrate them. The three quests involve heading to a shipwreck and dealing with undead, buying a rare gem from the dwarves and climbing a mountain for a Winterflower, the only quest that the suitor actually helps with and the most interesting by far.
There are six pages of stats for both systems, a map showing where the three locations are, a map of the shipwreck and a handout for a puzzle.
A05: Winterflower in Review
The PDF is well bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. The Table of Contents is to a similar level of depth and is also hyperlinked. Navigation is decent. The text maintains a two-column full colour format and a couple of minor errors were noticed. There are a number of illustrations and maps, most in colour, and at least some of them custom. Presentation is good. The quality of presentation has gone back up to how it was A01-3 from the lower quality seen in A04.
There do appear to be a number of problems with this adventure. Firstly, it would have been fun to see some details on the Winterflower Festival, though this is minor. Next is that doing all three adventures is tricky, which means part of the adventure may not be used. In addition, what if a character decides they want to be a suitor, or get the Winterflower for themselves? No suggestion is made of regarding that, even though it’s possible. There’s also a puzzle that needs to be solved, and puzzles can be tricky. Usefully, there’s an alternative for one word if British English is being used, although that does beg the question as to why the alternative wasn’t used instead, especially as changing the word renders the handouts useless. Then there’s the problem with the puzzle. Some groups simply are not set up for liking puzzles, especially ones that bring the adventure to a halt if not solved. A skill test should probably be substituted in such cases. A05: Winterflower has some good bits, but the adventure feels a bit flawed, and it can be found by clicking here.
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