A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Subterranean Enclave: Deephearth

Subterranean Enclave: Deephearth by Brian Wiborg Mønster is a role playing game supplement published by Raging Swan Press for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As such, it is covered with the Open Game License with some parts being considered to be Open Game Content as a result. This is one in a series of underground settlements that are essentially underground villages, with this one being for a small, hidden svirfneblin fishing village.

This is a ten page bookmarked PDF which is available from RPGNow for $2.45 but which was purchased at the greatly reduced price of $0.21. The PDF comes in two variants; one optimised for desktop and print and the other for screen and mobile.

Two pages are the publisher’s standard plain front and rear covers and there is another similar page, one page is the front matter, Contents, and Stat Blocks by CR and one page is the Open Game License.

Deephearth At a Glance is the standard two-page overview, giving some details on the settlement, a fishing village on an underground sea that is only accessible by water. A recent earthquake caused some land to rise and blocked access to the sea, and since then a number of svirfneblin have gone missing, one turning up dead. The village’s demographics, notable NPCs and locations, marketplace, lore and whispers & rumours are in this section, as well as a map.

Notable Locations covers the ten locations from the previous section in more detail, which includes a huge petrified mushroom used as the village’s shrine. There is also a sidebar on light in the settlement – the svirfneblin have darkvision so need none. The village is therefore dark, although lamps do exist in some of the dwellings for visitors. These are only used when a building is shuttered tight, as the svirfneblin are paranoid about attracting monsters. Characters will need to bring their own, but such will make them both highly visible and unpopular.

The final page is on Life in Deephearth, law & order, trade & industry (largely fishing and scrimshaw) and a d6 table of random events. The sole stat block is also in this section; the being that is responsible for much of Deephearth’s recent problems.

Subterranean Enclave: Deephearth in Review

The PDF is well bookmarked with the major and minor section linked; on the sidebars are not. The Contents only cover the major sections, but they are also hyperlinked. Navigation is therefore above average for what is a short supplement.

The text maintains a two column format and no errors were noticed. The sole illustration is the black and white map of the settlement.

The primary adventure hook relates to the recent problems. The ruling council has been unable to come to a decision about what to do, because one of their members is amongst the missing. This lack of activity on their part has annoyed a recently returned svirfneblin adventurer. There is an obvious, disguised person in the village who is the logical suspect to be behind the recent disappearances. They are not the culprit however; more of a red herring in this case. The true culprit has other motives. This provides an interesting twist to a standard situation. Actually finding Deephearth may be an adventure in itself.

Subterranean Enclave: Deephearth is a useful and interesting location for fleshing out the underground, and it can be found by clicking here.