A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Prison of the Hated Pretender

Prison of the Hated Pretender by Gus L. is a role playing game supplement published by Hydra Cooperative. It is an adventure that is stated as being intended for use with Basic and 5th Edition versions of Dungeons & Dragons.

The supplement is available from DriveThruRPG as a 21 page Pay What You Want PDF. One page is the front cover.

The supplement starts with an explanatory note that this is intended to be an introductory adventure that teaches players the lessons of caution and retreat necessary for survival The Prison has traps and monsters that can kill 1st level character, but traps are well marked and monsters can be escaped. No Read Aloud text is given and there are plenty of other explanatory boxes.

Next is the hamlet of Broken Huts, which is given an overview and a d6 table for rumours and yokels to give them, as well as some background for the prison. The prison itself is then detailed, with the various encounters, creatures and locations. An Appendix has several items that can be acquired. There are two versions of the map, one with and one without notes.

The section on 5E conversions has stats and number alterations for the creatures converted to 5E.

Notes on Play finally discusses the dungeon, and how it differs from standard 5E play. It is not heroic, there are no alignments given and characters are not expected to follow a pre-determined path through. 5E’s core premise of battle and gaining XP for such is avoided and a less bellicose approach is recommended, advising the players beforehand.

Prison of the Hated Pretender in Review

The PDF lacks bookmarks and, though not long, these would have been useful. Navigation is poor. The text maintains a four-column landscape format and appeared to be free of error. There are a number of illustrations that appear to be custom. Presentation is decent.

This is an unusual adventure. For one thing, there are many sidebars throughout the text explaining the logic of various things related to running this, and other, adventures. These will vary in use depending on the experience of the GM, but are definitely useful for those with less experience. The sidebars cover a wide range of topics from running traps, safe havens and using rumours in play. It also presents a less combat-oriented style of playing than is typically seen in 5E. Prison of the Hated Pretender is an unusual little adventure with some interesting ideas and it can be found by clicking here.