Dwellers Amid Bones Collector’s Edition by Creighton Broadhurst and Fabian Fehrs 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. This is an adventure for 5th level characters.
The supplement is available from DriveThruRPG as a PDF for $5.99, as a softcover print on demand book for $8.99 and as both softcover and PDF for $10.98. The PDF is the version reviewed although it was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle and has 35 pages with two being the front and rear covers, two are ads, three the front matter, one the Open Game License and one the Contents. The PDF comes in two versions, one intended for print and high-end devices, one intended for low-end and mobile.
The Foreword talks about the adventure, how to play it and that it’s a comparatively short one.
Reading Stat Blocks is a standard page for the publisher explaining how to use these.
Using This Adventure explains how the encounters are laid out, how to read trap blocks and how to identify both magical and non-magical treasure.
Adventure Background explains that a tribe of orcs claimed a swathe of woodland hills until they were defeated and scattered by a hero-led army. One of their cairns has remained hidden, but now a pair of forest drakes has moved in. The tomb is still haunted by a ghost who objects to their presence, and he returns every time he is defeated.
The Adventure Begins has a hook to involve the characters, them being hired to look into the depredations of some dragons. Lore can be discovered about the cairns and drakes, and information from the peasants. A half-orc PC can also receive a vision.
Arcmoor starts with Arcmoor At a Glance. This covers two pages and gives a brief history of the settlement, together with demographics, notable folk, notable locations, marketplace, lore and whispers & rumours, together with a map of the village and general details on villagers. A sidebar covers using the adventure in the GM’s own campaign.
Notable Locations is another two pages and covers the main locations from the previous section. Two NPCs have stats given and there are details on a haunt. Sidebars cover the village’s features and surroundings.
Life in Arcmoor is a single page, with another NPC’s stats, as well as law and order, trade and industry and a d6 table of events.
Into the Tuskwood covers the nearby forest. The Tuskwood has some details on the forest, how to find the cairn and some information on notable features.
Area Features covers the forest’s features, with a d6 table of woodland dressing and a map.
Random Encounters has random encounters for the forest, along with a stat block.
Cairn of the Ferocious dead covers the tomb itself. It starts with general dungeon features that apply throughout unless stated otherwise. There are also some lore checks and a small table for generating minor points of interest for unkeyed areas. The various keyed locations, of which there are five, are then described following the pattern covered earlier. Areas with potential combat have some guidelines for scaling the encounter, making it easier or harder.
Conclusion looks at tidying the adventure up and gaining a reward if hired.
Further Adventures looks at what happens if the characters fail to slay the drakes as well as various ways of having more adventures.
Water & Movement has rules for moving in water.
Water & Combat is similar but covers combat.
Dwellers Amid Bones Collector’s Edition
The PDF is well bookmarked with everything but sidebars linked. The Contents is not as thorough and is hyperlinked. Navigation is good. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be almost free of errors. There are a number of stock black and white illustrations. Presentation is decent.
The difference between the original adventure and this version is the addition of Arcmoor and the Tuskwood, expanding the adventure from a simple tomb crawl to adding a mini-campaign area that the GM could develop further. It would be easy enough to drop this into other settings, as long as there is some suitable terrain, though certain changes such as tribes and gods would need making. There aren’t a lot of opponents in the adventure, but there are some dangerous ones, and the characters can ally with the ghost against the drakes, at least until the drakes are defeated, adding an option for negotiation. Dwellers Amid Bones Collector’s Edition can be found by clicking here.
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