Fat Goblin Travel Guide to Epiphany’s Wayside Inn by BJ Hensley is a role playing game supplement published by Fat Goblin Game 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 16 page PDF that is available from DriveThruRPG for [$3.95] 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 Contents and one the Open Game License.
The Introduction starts with some background. The titular tavern is a travelling tavern that was taken over by a cult of succubi, who move it around from place to place out in the wilds and use it to lure in travellers and prey on them. There are several adventure hooks for involving the characters, including as a place to get out of the rain. The occupants are then given a few paragraphs.
The inn itself is then described. Some rooms are pretty standard whilst others are less so, as they house previous captives or the lead succubus. A sidebar describes the tavern’s ale, an alchemical concoction intended to make potential victims more pliable. The description ends with the suggestion that the tavern could be used to relocate the PCs to another location.
Appendix 1 covers the NPCs. The lead succubi and alchemist/bartender dhampir are described individually; the lesser succubi and dhampir bouncers are not. Also covered are the four captives that can be found.
The final two pages of content have maps of the inn.
Fat Goblin Travel Guide to Epiphany’s Wayside Inn in Review
The PDF is bookmarked, although there are some junk bookmarks, some improperly nested and by the looks of it one missing. The Contents is to a similar level of depth and hyperlinked, as well as arranged more logically. Navigation is good but slightly let down by the bookmark errors. The text maintains a two column colour format and appears to be free of errors. There are a number of colour illustrations but, apart from the colour maps, these appear to be stock. Sadly the maps don’t come in unlabelled player-friendly versions.
Taverns and inns are a staple of fantasy settings, so this one fits nicely into that theme. It isn’t specifically an adventure, although it is aimed at characters of levels 7-10, more of a location where an adventure could happen. It shouldn’t be hard to turn it into an adventure though; there is enough material given to easily slot it into a campaign as-is. It could also be done so that players do not suspect at all what they are walking into. What might seem like a simple stopover could turn into a fight for their lives. If PCs are not forewarned in any way, they could easily fall under the sway of the succubi, especially given the ale. Fat Goblin Travel Guide to Epiphany’s Wayside Inn is a nice little location and it can be found by clicking here.
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