Free Role Playing Game Supplement Review: Bad Myrmidon

Bad Myrmidon is primarily written by Rafael Chandler (with a small contribution by James Edward Raggi IV) and published by Neoplastic Press. It would primarily appear to be intended for use with Labyrinth Lord but it should be possible to use with other OSR systems without too much trouble, and the adventure recommended for characters of levels 1-3. It is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open game Content as a result.

This is available as a PDF for free from RPGNow. It was originally a charity Pay What You Want supplement but, after fundraising was complete, became available for free. The supplement can also be bought as a print on demand book from Lulu or second hand on occasion from places such as Amazon. There are four different files. Two are pngs, one being a copy of the cover and the other a copy of the colour map. Two are PDFs. The first of these is 52 pages long and lacks the cover, colour hex map or links of the second. The second PDF is 54 pages long, with the two extra pages being the colour front cover and a hyperlinked colour hex map. For both versions, one page is the front matter, one a black and white hex map of the island, two the Open Game License and one a full page illustration.

The supplement starts with a two overview about the cowardly and really quite unpleasant Achilles (a bit of a different tilt to the story). After the Trojan War, a still-alive Achilles hid all his treasures in various temples – where his worshippers would then defend them, so Achilles wouldn’t have to risk himself. This supplement is of one such temple on the island of Leuke.

There are four primary factions on the island, three of them related. Penthesilea is an Amazon queen who was killed by Achilles and has returned from the dead seeking revenge. The Sisters of Penthesilea are the dead queen’s sisters, who are all also undead, and hate the Myrmidons and the Amazons. The Myrmidons are the worshippers of Achilles, who will defend his temple to the last man – unless that is too risky. The Amazons revere Penthesilea and have come to the temple to slay the Myrmidons.

Next the island is described. This is a traditional hex crawl with 61 different hexes – and there is a unique encounter in every single hex. Many of the encounters are connected, many are bizarre and almost everything encountered on the island is thoroughly deserving of being killed. There are some encounters where that isn’t the case, such as some GIs who have fallen through a portal and a lich-demon (not the only demon wandering around loose) who is actually quite pleasant and helpful. Unless the characters annoy him. Which will be a mistake. Encounter lengths range from a short paragraph to several pages, including a really nasty man selling broken “brides.” If a character buys a bride to marry, they get a useful bonus but all the brides are powerful – 9th-14th level, far more powerful than the recommended character levels for playing the adventure – and will recuperate and take revenge on their tormentor. However, if rescued and treated well – which is time consuming – they will become useful allies. The man selling them is really easy to kill too. characters would be well advised not to buy bread from any wandering old woman either.

The island itself is full of nasty things that will either try to kill the characters or frankly make the world a better place for everyone else if they are killed. The final encounter is in a trap-ridden dungeon – The Temple of Achilles – where all the various factions are converging. There are some really nasty traps and rooms where actions have unforeseen consequences in other areas; the place is suffering from gravity/time distortion and magic may not do what is expected. All four of the factions are in the temple, and there are clues on how to solve the problems.

Bad Myrmidon in Review

The bookmarked PDF is very well bookmarked, with everything linked, plus the colour hex map of the island links to each individual hex. Navigation is therefore very good (for the regular PDF, navigation is quite poor). The text maintains a single column format and appeared mostly error-free. There are various black and white illustrations, all of which appear to be custom. Presentation is very good.

For sheer amount of content in relation to size, this is an excellent supplement. Hex crawls are not uncommon, but for every single hex to be detailed; well, that’s probably extremely rare if not unprecedented. The encounters are often extremely memorable, albeit not necessarily in a good way. Not every encounter has monster stats, though; some will need further development by the GM in such cases.

This adventure is definitely inspired by classical myth, but its take is entirely different. Being an island, it should be easy enough to drop into any campaign, although names will probably need changing. It is perhaps best suited for a darker campaign, though, as it has a definitely dark tinge to it. Or it could just be an island to visit where PCs can feel good about slaughtering almost everything that moves; the inhabitants are by and large just that unpleasant. This is very definitely not a family-friendly adventure, though, nor are the illustrations. This is an excellent sandbox hex crawl, especially given what it costs – nothing – and is definitely recommended. Bad Myrmidon can be downloaded for free by clicking here.