A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Demiplanes: The Frozen Cage

Demiplanes: The Frozen Cage by Robert Brookes 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 with some parts being considered Open Game Content as a result. This supplement details a demiplane, a small, artificially created plane formed from elemental material between the Plane of Water and the Plane of Air that functions as the prison of a mythic obcisidaemon. Two forces are battling for control, one trying to free the obcisidaemon, one keep it imprisoned.

This is a ten page bookmarked PDF that is available from RPGNow for $2.45 but was purchased at the greatly reduced price of $0.21 as part of a special bundle. Two pages are Raging Swan’s standard plain front and rear covers and there is another, similar page, one page is the front matter and Contents and one page is the Open Game License. The PDF comes in two formats, one optimised for print and desktop and the other for screen and mobile.

The first page is Frozen Cage At a Glance. This gives a brief history of the plane, details on how to enter it, its physical and other traits, lore and lists of notable NPCs and locations.

Next is a d100 table of Demiplane Dressing with 50 different results and a roughly half page side on map of the plane.

Three pages detail the Notable Locations mentioned earlier, with sidebars of hazards and random encounters and events, although the third page is mostly taken up with a history of the plane.

Demiplanes: The Frozen Cage in Review

The PDF is well bookmarked for its length, with everything except the sidebars linked. The Contents is less thorough, only covering the main sections, but is hyperlinked. Navigation is therefore very good for a small supplement. The text maintains a two column format and no errors were noticed. The sole illustration is the black and white map of the plane.

This demiplane is potentially very dangerous. Not only is the plane extremely cold, creating hazards in itself, both from the cold and from related features such as ice, wind and blizzards, but the inhabitants are dangerous too – although no stats are given.

The force trying to free the obcisidaemon – itself an extremely dangerous foe – is 1,500 strong and lead by a 20th level antipaladin. Such a force will be no pushover to encounter. There are also a lot of dangerous creatures to encounter, from plentiful undead to frost drakes and other creatures associated with cold. A straight up battle will not be a good idea.

The demiplane as described is not terribly flexible. There is a force of bad guys and a force of good guys and the characters arrival could change the balance of power between both. The bad guys will not necessarily attack immediately, but trying to overcome such a large force will not be easy.

One thing that this demiplane could be used for is as the ultimate goal of a bigger campaign. The influence of the obcisidaemon is described as spreading, hence the force that is trying to free it. The players could start of by combating this influence outside of the plane, building in power before heading to a final confrontation with the obcisidaemon and its followers. This would more than likely require quite a lot of development by the GM; no stats are given for the major denizens and a host of adventures building up to the final confrontation would be needed. Still, the obcisidaemon could be used as the major foe at the end of an adventure path-sized campaign.

Demiplanes: The Frozen Cage is not very flexible as-is, but there are seeds there to expand it and it can be found by clicking here.