The Thing in the Ice by Joseph Mohr is a role playing game supplement published by Old School Role Playing for use with Cepheus Engine. 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 19 page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG. Two pages are the front and rear covers, three pages are the front matter and three the Open Game License.
The opening paragraphs explain that Saresere in the Sonora sector (this adventure is set in the Frontiers of Space setting) is a frozen planet lacking atmosphere that the Kon Lo Corporation has miners stationed on. This isn’t entirely accurate.
The Information Given by the Patron has what the characters are told when hired. This is inaccurate in places.
Saresere gives some details on the world.
The Kon Lo Corporation gives some details on the company.
The Patron gives their stats.
Complications explains what the lies told to the characters are.
Most of the rest then details the location on the planet that the characters travel to. They need to find out what is going on and, importantly, survive.
Conditions for Success has how to complete the mission.
A single page has a map of the location
The Thing in the Ice in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and has enough different sections that they would have been useful. Navigation is poot. The text maintains a single column format and a number of minor errors were noticed. Bar the map and covers, there are no illustrations. Presentation is no better than adequate.
The patron is keeping important information back, stupidly so. Yes, there are secrets the patron doesn’t want exposing, but the characters are going to discover them simply by doing the mission. Not giving them the information hinders the likelihood of it being successful; not useful for the patron (if they are that worried, they either shouldn’t hire freelancers or should have them killed afterwards). This isn’t the first time in these adventures that patrons have held back information that means the characters they hire are less likely to succeed. Other than that, this is a pretty straightforward monster hunt, albeit with a dangerous, intelligent monster. The Thing in the Ice can be found by clicking here.
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