The Goblins of Mount Shadow by Brian Young 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 intended for 2-5 characters.
The supplement is available as a 26-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $3.50 but was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. Two pages are the front and rear covers and one page is the front matter and Open Game License.
The supplement starts with a short piece of prose about the Grey King, before moving onto the Introduction. This explains that the Grey King has arisen and taken control of a number of inhabitants of the local region; Dark Fey. The characters will stumble across a deserted village, starting the adventure.
For the Castle Keeper explains that this is a mini campaign in which the characters investigate and try to find out what happened. It’s stated that many of the Fey differ from those normally encountered, being based on Celtic myth and the mythology and lore will be covered in the Celtic Otherworld World Book. There are a number of hooks for involving the characters.
Act 1 – Finding the Trail has the characters stumble across a deserted village. They can investigate and discover more villages that have also lost their inhabitants, as well as encounter minions of the Grey King.
Act 2 – The Night Comes Heavy has events should the characters decide not to proceed immediately to their destination.
Act 3 – The Attack on the Tumulus is the main part of the adventure and has the characters seeking the Grey King in his lair. Finally, there is an encounter related to the next adventure in the series.
The centre of the book has a two-page map of the local region. There are four full page maps of the tumulus at the end.
The Goblins of Mount Shadow in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and given the number of sections, it could have really used them. Navigation is poor. The text maintains a two-column black and white format and a number of errors were noticed; one notable error is the title is different inside the book to on the cover. As well as the black and white maps, there are a few black and white illustrations, which may be custom. Presentation is okay.
This adventure is intended to eb the first in a series and perhaps works best as this. However, it could be played standalone without too much difficulty and could also be dropped into other settings, including non-Brythonic ones, with a little work; all that’s needed is a location to place the main dungeon and a few empty villages. This isn’t a bad little adventure, and most of the flaws are to do with layout, rather than the adventure itself. The Goblins of Mount Shadow can be found by clicking here.
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