Free Role Playing Game Supplement Review: DNH1a – The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil – Sidequests – River Crossing

DNH1a – The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil – Sidequests – River Crossing is a free role playing game supplement by L. Kevin Wilson and published by Dark Naga Adventures, a publisher imprint of Fat Goblin Games. This supplement is aimed at Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition and the Old School Revival. This is a sidequest for the Haunting of Hastur series, aimed at level 4 characters, and is intended to be a prequel or preview adventure for The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil, which is part one of the Haunting of Hastur series, to give the characters a bit more experience if needed. The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil itself is available in editions for D&D 5E/OSR and Pathfinder, but this particular adventure doesn’t come in a Pathfinder version. The supplement is covered by the Open Game License and therefore some of it is considered to be Open Game Content as a result.

This is a seven page PDF which lacks bookmarks. One page is the cover, one page the front matter and one page the Open Game License.

The adventure itself is a simple two page encounter with a one page bestiary. The characters are travelling with a caravan that is crossing a river when it is attacked by bandits. Partway into the bandit attack, cultists join in and help drive off the bandits.

There is a timeline provided for the combat, explaining what the various forces do. One option provided is what is essentially pregenerated combat, aimed at speeding it up, with rolls for the bandits and cultists already done. The aftermath of the combat will give the players clues regarding the main adventure, if they are listening carefully.

The PDF lacks bookmarks but doesn’t really need them for this length. The text maintains a two column format and no errors were noted. Excluding the front cover, there are no illustrations, but there is a colour map of the encounter. Unfortunately, although the map is nice, it has no scale and it is a bit small to be used as a battlemap. The overall presentation is good for a small supplement.

The adventure is intended as a prequel but, as stated, it could be dropped into another setting, although changes might need making regarding the cultists; they are related to the next in the series. The adventure is described well, and the optional express combat can help speed things up for pure NPC vs. NPC combat. Adapting the adventure should be easy enough.

DNH1a – The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil – Sidequests – River Crossing is a nice, small encounter that could be used in other settings and it can be found for free by clicking here.