Christina Stiles Presents: Waysides – Rock Bottom by Spike Y Jones is a role playing game supplement published by Rogue Genius Games for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some of it is considered to be Open Game Content as a result. This is one in a series of supplements that describe locations, in this case a tavern.
This is a fourteen page PDF which is available from RPGNow at the regular price of $1.99 but was purchased at a greatly reduced price as part of a special bundle. One page is the front cover, one the front matter, one page the Credits, two pages the (oddly long) Open Game License and one page an ad for other products.
The supplement starts by introducing the concept of Waysides, drop-in locations that can be added to a campaign, and explaining the standard format.
It then introduces the tavern called Rock Bottom, starting with usage. This is a place the PCs are most likely to visit but not use. The Background explains how the tavern was created – really, it’s just a ramshackle affair between some buildings, and that it is the sort of place where those without any hope go.
The Description covers the tavern’s “layout” – given its construction, there are only two locations – and there are a few, poor quality, goods and services (food and drink) available.
Next there are various personalities. These are the tavern’s owner and the other staff member, various interesting clientèle – some of which are not what they appear to be – and a general description of typical customers, many of whom are beggars.
Finally there is a list of adventure seeds followed by a colour map of the tavern.
Christina Stiles Presents: Waysides – Rock Bottom in Review
The PDF is very well bookmarked for its length with all the sections linked. Navigation is excellent for a short supplement. The text maintains a two column format and what appeared to be a couple of errors was noticed – two NPCs that are described as being half-elves are listed as being humans in their stat boxes. The sole illustration, bar the cover, is the colour map of the tavern. Presentation is okay.
Taverns are a mainstay of FRPGs and characters spend a lot of time in them. This is not the sort of tavern that they are likely to want to spend time in though. It is the type that they might visit in pursuit of a less than competent criminal, or perhaps to obtain information from beggars. It could also be the place that they start (or end up) after bad things happening to them. The adventure hooks are useful, and the addition of two NPCs who are actually undercover agents opens up interesting possibilities. It’s a shame that the map is not available in a player-friendly version though.
Christina Stiles Presents: Waysides – Rock Bottom is a useful tavern – and you can’t really have too many of these – that is well described for its price, and can be found by clicking here.
Leave a Reply