SCh1 The Purloined Pachyderm by Louis Kahn is a role playing game supplement published by Starry Knight Press. This is an adventure for 3-6 characters of levels 2-4 aimed at various OSR rulesets. As such it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result.
The supplement is available from DriveThruRPG as a 12-page PDF for $2.50 but was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. Two pages are the front and rear covers, one the front matter, one the Table of Contents, one the Open Game License and one an ad.
The first page of content is a map of a keep.
The Preface explains that this is a one-shot adventure written for the #PlayForWyatt movement started to honour a deceased gamer. The primary NPC in this adventure bears the same name. There are also details on how the adventure was written, so that it fitted in any game world and what stats are included.
The Introduction explains that the characters are asked to aid a ringmaster whose prized elephant has been stolen. The ringmaster believes it has been stolen by a mage who wanted to buy the elephant to kill and use the parts for components and a trophy. Three adventure hooks are given to involve them.
Assuming the characters agree, it’s simply a matter of travelling to the mage’s keep and clearing it out.
Appendix A: Map of The Tvinnir has a colour hex map of the region where this, and other adventures, are set.
Appendix B: The Magic Bag has a d100 table for the magical bag the characters can make a draw from, from the grateful ringmaster. Various random things can be pulled from the bag; the elephant was one of them. The results, bar the first, are good; the first result sucks the character inside the bag.
SCh1 The Purloined Pachyderm in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and, though short, has enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation could be better. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a handful of illustrations, including the map. Presentation is okay.
This is a simple, short adventure which could easily be dropped into a campaign; there’s no real need to use the mapped region, though that should be easy enough to use as well. The adventure can function as a short side quest. As-is, it’s designed for older rulesets; it could be translated into more modern ones but this is always more difficult. SCh1 The Purloined Pachyderm is a decent little side adventure and it can be found by clicking here.
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