A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Campaign Codex #5: Lesser Villains (P1)

Campaign Codex #5: Lesser Villains (P1) by Creighton Broadhurst, Andy Lewis and Martin Tideswell is a role playing game supplement published by Raging Swan Press 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 available as a 17-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $4.45 but was purchased at a reduced price in a special bundle. Two pages are the front and rear covers, one the front matter and Contents, two are ads and one the Open Game License. The PDF comes in two versions, one optimised for print and high-end devices and the other for low end devices and mobile.

The first part covers nine different villains, each named along with their alignment, sex, species, class and level. Background, personality, mannerisms, distinguishing features and adventure hooks are next.

Aragan Doldal is an arrogant mercenary dwarf with a love of battle and keeping in good shape.

Darick Boden is a conman who preys on the gullible.

Ebrel Vesper is a tribal leader and cleric of Pazuzu.

Lungen Rasur works as a guide but murders his clients whilst they are sleeping.

Raine Karonen is a thug who runs his home village as a personal fiefdom.

Sitae Amaithar seduces men in order to blackmail them.

Thadrim Nytriluath is a charmer who seeks only wealth.

Valto Uronen is a grief-stricken half-orc who has fallen into the bottle.

Voniat Iasan is a bandit of the woods.

Villainous Adventuring Parties has five different adventuring parties of different CRs. Each is named, given a brief description and a list of their members.

The Codex of Villains gives the stats for the nine main villains.

Campaign Codex #5: Lesser Villains (P1) in Review

The PDF is bookmarked with everything linked. The Contents covers the main sections and is hyperlinked. Navigation is good. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a number of black and white stock illustrations, up to full page in size. Presentation is decent.

The supplement has nine villains covered in detail, who the characters could encounter. Each has different motivations and goals, so it’s entirely possible to encounter all of them at some point. Though the villains are not the most powerful, and many lack allies, they are also not the most dangerous around, but they could prove a challenge. The adventuring parties are less useful; not even classes and levels are given for any of their members, so a GM will need to do a lot of work to use them. It would be easier just getting some pre-generated NPCs and grouping them together. Campaign Codex #5: Lesser Villains (P1) is a decent collection of NPCs and it can be found by clicking here.