A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement The 11th Hour

The 11th Hour by Bret Boyd is a role playing game supplement published by Tricky Owlbear Publishing through Fat Goblin Games. This is an adventure for 1st level characters for Pathfinder and, as such, is covered by the Open Game License with some parts considered to be Open Game Content as a result.

This is a 19-page PDF that is available from DriveThruRPG for $0.98 but was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. One page is the front cover, one the front matter, one the Contents and one the Open Game License.

The Adventure Summary explains that the characters are forced to take shelter in an inn due to weather; suggested to be a storm but other alternatives are suggested. Due to a series of events, two sets of magic combine an hour after they arrive and send the entire inn into a one-hour time loop. The characters arrived slightly after one of the triggering magics was set up, so know that the loop is happening, keeping memories from one loop to the next. None of the NPCs do. Running away will not help either; when the loop resets, the characters will be back where they started, in the inn.

First there is a description of the inn, with the various points of interest. Next is the sequence of events, which the characters will somehow have to figure out and interrupt. The adventure can be run in real time, if desired, although after several iterations of the loop this may become tiresome. Finally, there is a section on concluding the adventure.

The NPCs in the inn are then statted out and a page for Notes follows, with the various event times listed and blank lines to add such as the PCs’ actions. The final three pages of content have maps of the three floors of the inn.

The 11th Hour in Review

The PDF is bookmarked, but a number of locations are missing. The Contents is to a similar level of depth, with generally the same missing sections, and is also hyperlinked. Navigation is good but it could have been better. The text maintains a two-column colour format and appeared to be free of error. There are a variety of colour illustrations, and it looks as if some of them at least are custom, as well as the maps. The maps are nice but, unfortunately, do not come in player-friendly versions, which means they are not as useful as they could be.

This is a rather different adventure. It’s a puzzle, but a temporal one at that, and there isn’t any combat in it. Instead, the players have to figure out what is going on and how to stop it, and will have multiple opportunities to do so. Possibly many opportunities; this is probably not suited to every group’s style. The 11th Hour is a different, interesting adventure that is only really let down by the lack of player-friendly maps and it can be found by clicking here.