A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Monstrous Lair #9: Wights’ Barrow

Monstrous Lair #9: Wights’ Barrow by Creighton Broadhurst is a role playing game supplement published by Raging Swan Press. The supplement is stated to be system neutral, but also compatible with any version of Dungeons & Dragons, and is therefore covered by the Open Game License with some parts considered to be Open Game Content as a result.

The supplement is available for $1.45 from DriveThruRPG but was purchased at a reduced price thanks to a special offer. The supplement comes in two versions, a plaintext file and an eight-page PDF. Two pages of the PDF are the front and rear covers, two pages are ads, about half a page is the front matter and Contents and one page is the Open Game License.

Using this Monstrous Lair is a standard piece of text and explains what the tables are and that the supplement makes two assumptions; the GM has a map of the lair and stats for monsters and details of any treasure.

After some introductory paragraphs on wights, the d10 tables follow.

1: Outside the Lair describes what might be found outside the barrow.

2: What’s Going On? has various activities the wight might be doing, from distracted to lying in wait.

3: Major Lair Feature notes a feature in the barrow that is comparatively major.

4: Minor Lair Feature is similar, but the feature is essentially smaller.

5: Wight’s Appearance has options for customising what the wight looks like.

6: Treasure has some items of low value to sometimes effectively worthless treasure.

7: Trinkets & Trash is pieces of generally worthless stuff.

Monstrous Lair #9: Wights’ Barrow in Review

The PDF is bookmarked, with major and minor sections linked. The Contents is to a similar level of depth and is hyperlinked. Navigation is good. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. There’s a single stock black and white illustration. Presentation is okay.

This is another in a series of simple supplements; the contents are essentially two pages long and are a set of seven d10 tables. Wights are a type of undead that generally live in barrows; they are effectively descended from the barrow-wight of Middle-earth. In some places, this supplement does focus in on the differences specific to a wight, but most of the time it could be used as a general dressing book for tombs and undead, making it far less specific than would be liked. Monstrous Lair #9: Wights’ Barrow can be found by clicking here.