A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Module 2: Sweet Dreams in Ashfold

Module 2: Sweet Dreams in Ashfold by Keith Done and Angela Caffery is a role playing game supplement published by Friends of Eldoria 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 4-5 1st-2nd level characters.

This is an 82 page PDF that is available for $2 from RPGNow; however, a free copy of it was received in exchange for an independent review. Two pages are the front and rear covers, two pages are front matter and About the Author, one page is the Contents, three pages are blank, four pages are ads, references and links and one page is the Open Game License.

About This Publication explains how the adventure originated as a convention module first run in 1990 and then revised and run again at a convention in 2018. The Setting explains that the adventure is for the Eldoria setting. This setting is referenced during the adventure, and this part explains where more material can be found, namely in the Encyclopedia Eldoria 2nd Edition and the Reliquarium Eldoria.

Getting Started has suggestions for running the adventure together with a sidebar on Time in Eldoria. There are a number of different options for characters to defeat the monsters; the adult version is too dangerous for a low-level party to really consider straight-out combat as the primary option.

The Player’s Introduction can be read, or perhaps paraphrased, for players, and gives their background to the adventure. They have been asked to travel to the village of Ashford, which recently had a meteorite strike nearby. The meteorite impact caused a tremor that comprised the winter store house, causing problems for the villagers.

GM’s Background gives some of the same information that the players have, but expands on it. As well as damaging the store, the meteorite impact also released a couple of eggs from a predatory (and deliberately intended to be similar to the Alien franchise monster) and thought to be extinct race. One egg hatched and the creature has since matured. The monster, the Mistweaver, emits a mist that causes affected creatures in the area to stay put and sleep heavily, ensuring that the monster’s food source remains close by. The Mistweaver has also retrieved more eggs; it is currently the only adult of the species, but this will change. There is a timeline of events running up to when the characters arrive. This section has a sidebar on Ashfold Sweet, a type of mead brewed in the area that is a popular export (this mead was mentioned in passing in Ten Market Stalls).

Ashfold Village describes the village itself. Not every location is detailed; only the more important locations are, such as the tavern and other businesses as well as locations such as the chapel, damaged store house and pond. There are plenty of residences that would be lived in by normal villagers. Some important NPCs are briefly covered here, being described in more detail later, and one important location is mapped. There are also sidebars for Honeyberries and Bloodberries, and the latter can be important to the adventure.

Ashfold Surrounds covers the area outside of the village, to about a mile from it, the area that is affected by the Mistweaver’s influence. There are various points of interest that can provide clues, useful items or NPCs or dangers.

Running the Adventure covers the adventure itself. This is a three day series of events, some of which are fixed, before the Mistweaver and the young creatures attack all the villagers to eat.

Despite the fact the adventure has a timeline, it is not really a linear adventure. There are encounters that will happen at certain times but, barring the first bandit attack, the characters may be able to alter these. The characters may also be affected by the mist. There is also a brief random encounter table and sidebars on the Justicators, a religious order that administers justice, and the city of Quorull, which doesn’t play a part in the adventure but is briefly referenced by one of the NPCs.

Ashfold Maps has a map of the village, one of the immediate surroundings to a mile out and one of the local region.

NPCs of Ashford has detailed descriptions of major – or perhaps potentially major; it depends on what the characters do – non player characters and of minor one.

Arcana has new magic items. The Awakening Stone is a charm, a new type of item that can be found in Eldorian Charms, that allows a good night’s rest and a set wakeup time. Liacca Moss is a curative and Averaach is a fairly dangerous item that reacts to magic and is deposited on Eldoria by meteorites. This section has a sidebar on Priath, the Eldorian god of dreams and time.

The Bestiary Section has stats for the Mistweaver, both Adult and Hatchling and a Bee Swarm (the characters may encounter some hives).

The Player Handouts section begins with a list of handouts which are then reproduced on the next five pages.

The final page of content is the NPC Quick Reference Chart which lists the NPCs’ names, class, base statistics, usual location and plot function.

Module 2: Sweet Dreams in Ashfold in Review

The PDF lacks bookmarks, which in a supplement of this size is a comfort detriment. The Contents covers the major sections and is hyperlinked, but doesn’t cover the minor ones. Navigation could be better. The text is either single column format or single column with sidebar and some minor errors were noticed (the one that stuck out the most was an NPC who was listed in a couple of places as being 25 – yet she has a 15 year old son. The age should probably be something like 35).

The pages have a colour background (which sadly can’t be disabled for printing) and various illustrations. There are some nice hand drawn black and white maps and a variety of colour images which appear to be stock photos or illustrations, albeit ones that have been selected to fit the subject quite well and added nicely. Presentation is pretty decent. The handout are also rather nicely done, and handouts are always good, but as the page backgrounds also print, these are a bit wasteful of ink. Perhaps it would be better to have the handouts either on blank backgrounds or, as well, available as a separate PDF.

Sweet Dreams in Ashfold may be designed for the Eldoria setting, but it should be easy enough to drop the village, and thereby the adventure, into another setting. Some references will need to be changed, primarily the names of other locations and deities, but this shouldn’t be too difficult. Some of the sidebar content is useful for the adventure; other bits are more teasers for the Eldoria setting.

Despite the timeline, this isn’t a linear adventure – it’s more of a sandbox. The characters can trundle around the village and surroundings trying to work out what is going on as the timeline advances in the background. If they are quick on the ball, they can alter the timeline of events, at least for some things. The section on Running the Adventure is not very long, because this really is there for the backdrop of events that are happening, and what will happen at specific times unless the characters affect things to change potential events. This can also be considered to be a sourcebook for a village, with some new items and new monsters.

As a result, this is quite a flexible adventure, and there are some notes for GMs on running it, including the fact that players may come up with an idea that hasn’t been considered. It may not be the best choice for an inexperienced GM, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to run.

Module 2: Sweet Dreams in Ashfold is a nice little inexpensive starting adventure that also contains some background to Eldoria and it can be found by clicking here.