Adventures in the Borderland Provinces (PF) is a role playing game supplement published by Frog God Games for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. 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 a collection of adventures set in the Borderland Provinces of the Lost Lands and is also available in versions for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition and Swords & Wizardry.
The supplement is available as a 166-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for [$] and is also available in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed although it was purchased at a reduced price during a sale. Two pages are the front and rear covers, one is the front matter, one the Table of Contents and ads and two the Open Game License.
The single page Introduction gives an overview of what the supplement is intended to do, and that it’s assumed that a copy of The Borderland Provinces is owned, which covers areas in more detail. It’s also stated that treasure isn’t listed in many of the encounters in the adventures; given that the availability of treasure can vary from campaign to campaign, the GM can determine what loot there is themselves.
On a Lonely Road is an adventure for 4-6 characters averaging at 2nd level. There are some hooks to get the characters involved. They are hired by a professor to accompany and guard him, his assistant and possibly some students and other professors into the wilder lands of Quillande Ferosc in the Yolbiac Vale. The professor is largely considered to be a crackpot, but he has got some stuff right. And, unfortunately, also got some wrong, which makes the trip more dangerous than expected. This is a potentially dangerous adventure.
Illusion and Illumination is an adventure for 4-6 characters of 6th level. It starts with some background and what’s really going on before moving onto a synopsis and hooks. The characters have to escort a halfling who has apparently offended the Faerie Queen so he can apologise for any offence he has made. The situation is deliberately confusing; some of the fey involved have been dipping a little too deeply into a local ale that really affects them and have essentially lost the plot.
The Mountain that Moved is an adventure for 4-6 9th level characters. There is some background given and some whispers and rumours. A pass has suddenly disappeared following a mountain moving. There are some hooks to get the characters involved. They will travel to a village full of pretty unpleasant people and there will have to deal with a demon problem.
The Two Crucibles is an adventure for 4-6 8th level characters. The background is then followed by the synopsis. In this adventure, the characters are recruited to head into the Wilderland Hills to attend a Vanigoth gathering, called the Crucible of Blood, in which one of the chieftains will be elected as a warlord independent of the Vanigothic king. Someone is attempting to place their own preferred chieftain in that position.
The War of the Poppies is an adventure for 10th level characters. It is primarily based around intrigue and politics. The characters are hired to look for some young nobles who have gone missing, and will get tangled up in the opium trade, and a new variant of the drug that is causing a lot of problems; enough that they will also be asked for any solutions they might have.
A Most Peculiar Hunt is a roaming expedition across the Unclaimed Lands for 4-6 characters of 12th level. They need to find out what is driving monsters from their homes, and into other regions, and put a stop to it. They can learn bits of the story in different places and this adventure is more sandbox, consisting of various encounters that can occur in different orders, and sometimes not in specific locations.
Ectarlin’s Last Ride is an adventure along the shore of the Amrin Estuary for 4-6 characters of 12th level. Much of the region’s trade goes along the river, rather than the unsafe roads, but a number of merchant vessels have been found empty of both crew and cargo recently. The characters are employed to find out what is happening and will discover that there are several things going on. A couple of encounters can be done in either order.
Appendix: New Monsters has six new monsters.
Map Appendix has 34 pages of maps for the various adventures, in GM and player versions as appropriate.
Adventures in the Borderland Provinces (PF) in Review
The PDF is well bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. The Table of Contents only covers the major sections. Navigation is decent. The text maintains a two-column black and white format and some minor errors were noticed. There are a number of black and white illustrations, some of which may be custom, as well as the maps. Having the maps available in player friendly versions is useful. Presentation is decent.
This isn’t a collection of connected adventures, but is instead one of adventures all in the same region. There are no links between any of the adventures, besides all being in the Borderland Provinces, nor do they take place in the same parts of the region. They all tend to involve travel, sometimes a lot of travel.
Given that this is a collection of unconnected adventures, any links will be of the GM’s making. A GM could use these to fill in gaps in a campaign set in the region, though slotting them into an existing adventure (such as The Sword of Air) will probably be harder, given that these adventures have the characters travelling around a lot; in that sort of situation, the characters would likely be heading out of their way a lot. Adventures in the Borderland Provinces (PF) is a decent collection of adventures for the region and can be found by clicking here.
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