A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Vathak 5e Adventures – The Shrine of St. Mina of the Dust

Vathak 5e Adventures – The Shrine of St. Mina of the Dust by Lucus Palosaari and Rick Hershey is a role playing game supplement published by Fat Goblin Games for use with Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. 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 the Shadows Over Vathak setting for four 1st-3rd level characters.

The supplement is available from DriveThruRPG as a 20-page PDF for $3.95 but was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. Two pages are the front and rear covers, one the front matter and one the Open Game License.

Adventure Background explains that a small shrine stood in a forgotten forest, and that beneath it is the tomb of a vindari noble family no lost to history. The tomb is occupied by undead and the shrine was recently taken over by deep ones.

Adventure Location suggests that it be located in the Forest of Alder in Seleasia.

Adventure Hooks has ways of getting the characters involved.

Running this Adventure and Abbreviations explains what’s needed and how material is laid out. A sidebar gives some details on the Shadows over Vathak setting.

Beginning the Adventure has the characters finding the shrine in the forest. There are encounters outside it, and then inside, where as well as the deep ones and the undead there is a fallen cleric who is a descendant of the family buried in the tomb.

The Appendix has new monsters and important NPCs.

Vathak 5e Adventures – The Shrine of St. Mina of the Dust in Review

The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough with enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation is poor. The text maintains a two-column format and some minor errors were noticed. There are a number of colour illustrations, including maps. Presentation is decent.

The adventure is based on an older one, The Summer Temple, adapted to 5th Edition and the Shadows Over Vathak setting with some other changes as well. It is easy enough to drop into another setting, as the Vathak links are not very strong. This is pretty much a standard tomb exploration, with some variable treasure left up to the GM and a primary NPC who does not appear to behave in a particularly intelligent manner. Vathak 5e Adventures – The Shrine of St. Mina of the Dust can be found by clicking here.