The Drowning Village by Joseph Mohr is a role playing game supplement published by Old School Role Playing for use with OSRIC. 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 as a 27 page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG. Two pages are the front and rear covers, three the front matter and three the Open Game License.
The opening paragraphs explain that a village is now experiencing problems from a rising lake which threatens to engulf it. Many things have been blamed, but no-one knows why this is happening.
For the Game Master explains this is an adventure for 4-6 characters of 3rd to 4th level and that underwater breathing magic is valuable but not essential. It also explains what is causing the problem and how to fix it.
Potential Hooks has four hooks for involving the characters.
Random Encounters on the Road to Houra has a d8 table of random encounters.
Random Encounters in the Village is another d8 table of encounters, including some former villagers who have risen as aquatic ghouls.
Random Encounters on the Lake is another d8 table of encounters.
Key to the Village of Houra describes the various locations, including NPCs as well as potential clues for the characters to find out what happened. Some of the buildings are now partly or fully underwater.
New Magical Items has two new items.
Random Villager Table has a table to determine how many are encountered and then another to determine who.
Random People at the Inn is a d12 table of those staying at the inn.
The final page of content is a map of the village.
The Drowning Village in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough with enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation is okay. The text maintains a single column format and some minor errors were noticed. Bar the map and covers, there are no illustrations. Presentation is okay.
This is essentially an investigative adventure. There is no enemy to defeat, though the characters will encounter monsters and threats all the same. Instead of searching a single location, they will have to investigate drowned houses, speak to various NPCs and determine what happened in order to fix it. It may well be possible to use the village afterwards, which is useful, as settlements are always useful. The Drowning Village can be found by clicking here.
Leave a Reply