Evocative City Sites: Voell’s Garden by Benjamin Bruck is a role playing game supplement published by Rite Publishing 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 a 27 page PDF that is available from DriveThruRPG for $2.95 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 the Open Game License, one page is an ad and the final page is essentially a job offer.
The supplement starts with a full-page labelled map of the garden – which is actually a greenhouse. The next page has a map of a smaller area of the greenhouse, and there are four more such within the narrative.
The usual in-character narrative follows, with an attempt to gain access to the greenhouse followed by more devious means through Bedlam Asylum. The interior of the greenhouse is rather maze-like in its complexity and there is a sidebar on using the maze. The current owner of the garden is the leader of a rather bizarre cult – one that is even more bizarre than it seems. There is a nice d12 table of strange flora – and by “strange” it means “creepily disturbing.”
Next are descriptions of the owner and leader of the cult, as well as the individual who acts as his intermediary. Both have secrets. The greenhouse itself is protected from scrying and dimensional transit and it, too, has a secret – the entire greenhouse is alive. The thing the cult worships is a plant entity that has taken over the garden. There are details on the creature’s sap – a poison – and a number of adventure seeds.
Next are the, typically incredibly complex, stat blocks for the two primary NPCs and the plan entity. Which is CR 24. Yes, this greenhouse creature is pretty dangerous.
The final seven pages of content have black and white battlemaps for the greenhouses. Sadly, the labels have been left on the battlemaps, decreasing their utility.
Evocative City Sites: Voell’s Garden in Review
The PDF is decently bookmarked with major and sub-sections linked. Navigation is good for a short supplement. The text maintains a two column black and white format and appeared to be almost free of errors. Other than the maps, there are a number of, mostly public domain, illustrations. Presentation is okay.
This is a pretty effective, and potentially very dangerous, plant locale that can be dropped into a city. As with other supplements in the series, it is theoretically set in Questhaven but can easily be dropped into other settings. Getting characters to the greenhouse shouldn’t be too hard; getting safely in and out again will be more of a problem. Although there is only one plant-based item mentioned, this would be a good place to drop in other rare and valuable plants. If the creepy plant cult, oily intermediary and lethal gargantuan plant entity can be avoided. Evocative City Sites: Voell’s Garden is a good entry in the series and it can be found by clicking here.
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