A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Dungeon Backdrop: Undercity Chapel (P1)

Dungeon Backdrop: Undercity Chapel (P1) by Bart Wynants 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 $3.75 but was purchased at a reduced price in a special bundle. Two pages are the front and rear covers, two are ads, three the front matter and Contents 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.

Using a Dungeon Backdrop is a standard piece explaining how to use this, that the backdrop is intended for use with the Duchy of Ashlar but can be modified to fit elsewhere, that location descriptions only cover the basics and that treasure is only minor and level appropriate treasure needs adding.

Dungeon Background explains that after the death of the Duchy of Ashlar’s founder, his daughter inherited the throne and her younger brother entered into plots to usurp her. He opened a gateway to the plane of shadow below the city and eventually caused a civil war; he was betrayed and lost but his body was never recovered. The shadow gate resulted in a plague of undead until it was sealed and a chapel built by the Knights of the Black Swan to protect it.

The Adventure Begins has three different hooks for getting the characters involved.

Whispers & Rumours has six rumours about the Undercity Chapel.

The Surrounding Locality has some details on the sewers, ten pieces of dressing and ten things to find, as well as sidebars covering rat swarm attacks and navigation in the sewers.

Notable Locations at a Glance gives an overview of the important places.

Generic Dungeon Features gives an overview of the sewers’ general features, followed by ten pieces of dressing and ten things to find, after which is a full-page map of the location.

The area is then described, covering the various locations. Each page has two columns, one with a description of the areas and another with some GM Notes and plenty of blank space.

Aftermath wraps the adventure up in three different ways, depending on the hook used, and has three further adventure hooks and a sidebar explains that this, along with Dungeon Backdrop: Martryn Manor and Dungeon Backdrop: Aninas Family Crypt, has been designed to link together with Sacred Blood to form a mini-campaign.

Dungeon Backdrop: Undercity Chapel (P1) in Review

The PDF is bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. The Contents is to a similar level of depth and is hyperlinked. The text maintains a two-column format and appears to be free of errors. As well as the map, there are some stock black and white illustrations. Presentation is okay.

Though the adventure seems fairly tied to the Duchy of Ashlar, if the background is removed, it should be fairly easy to drop into other settings; none of the background material is truly essential. As with other Dungeon Backdrops, this is not a complete adventure in and of itself and will require some development to finish it. Dungeon Backdrop: Undercity Chapel (P1) is a decent framework to build an adventure around and it can be found by clicking here.