The Fantastic Adventure by Mac Golden is a role playing game supplement published by Troll Lord Games for use with Castles & Crusades. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result. This is an adventure for 4-8 characters of levels 1-3.
The supplement is available as an 18-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $6.99 from DriveThruRPG. It is also available in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed although it was purchased at a reduced price thanks to a special offer. Two pages are the front and rear covers and one page is the front matter and Open Game License.
Using the Module explains that it is intended for a single night’s play. It is intended for low-level characters with little access to powerful divination magic due to such magic revealing the twist if used, but it could be adapted to higher level play. The Red March where the adventure is set can be dropped into any campaign setting, but is located in the Rhuneland of the World of Aihrde.
Background and Synopsis gives some details on the Red March, which is noted for its Rithwood trees, and a sidebar explains the benefit bows and arrows made of this wood have. It gives some details on one of the villages in the area, a fabled gem and the dreams of faeries.
Act I: “What Players Are They” has the characters arriving at the village of Westfork, with a d12 table of rumours about the Red March, some true, some not. The characters are greeted cheerfully by the villagers, including the mayor, until the local sheriff arrives with some ‘Wanted’ posters depicting the party. Though the characters are “definitely” guilty, the locals are willing to overlook this if they agree to recover a gem called the Anomaly Stone. Should the characters agree – any that decide to slaughter the villagers instead will likely have future problems – they will be escorted. Should they flee, it may still be possible to get them back on track.
Act II: Something Odd This Way Comes has the characters being shown the way to the monastery where the Anomaly Stone is said to be. On the way there, they will stumble across an adventuring party consisting of monsters. These are not necessarily hostile, unless the characters attack, and are heading to the same place.
Act III: Shattered Dreams and Fulfilled Nightmares gives some background on the monastery and the primary creature that resides there. The monastery is then detailed.
The adventure then wraps up, but how it does essentially depends on the characters’ behaviour. They could well have done it with little combat, if they made friends with the monstrous party and avoided some combats. It also suggests that, if the characters wish to continue in Aihrde, The Mortality of Green, despite being many miles away, could be a follow-on adventure.
Appendix A: NPC’s details the four monstrous adventures.
Finally, there is a full-page map of the Red March.
The Fantastic Adventure in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and, despite being comparatively short, has enough different sections that they would have been useful. Navigation could be better. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be mostly free of errors. As well as the black and white map, there are a number of other black and white illustrations, up to full page in size. Those taken from the cover are definitely custom; others may have been reused. Presentation is okay.
This appears to be a fairly standard “fetch the object” quest, but there are differences. The object, despite what the villagers think, doesn’t actually exist, originating in a faerie’s nightmare. How the characters are got to do the quest as well is also different. It does assume that the characters don’t use violence to avoid the quest the villagers want them to do; if they did, they would likely win. The Fantastic Adventure is a different little adventure and it can be found by clicking here.
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