Forsbury After Hours aka All About Fantasy Entertainment by John Josten is a generic role playing game supplement published by Board Enterprises. This is part of the Small Bites series and is the “World Walker” version of the supplement; the full version is more than double the length but is only available to Patreon supporters.
This is a 30 page PDF that is available for free from DriveThruRPG. One page is the front cover.
The first page of contents has an Introduction, which includes a warning that mature themes are touched upon and the Table of Contents. This is followed by mention of the online Fletnern Wiki and extracts taken from that wiki that have to do with Forsbury, which includes ones that were included in The Merchant Wars of Forsbury aka All About Caravans and Cartage, although this supplement is set several years later. This includes military units, businesses, groups, sites and cities.
The Sounding Board has a collection of blog posts.
Feeding Forsbury is the first, which considers just what sort of food a caravan and cattle city in the middle of the continent would have – beef and preserved goods are big ones.
Travelling – Around the World is on travel and timekeeping in a world where time in inexact and travel is therefore not to a timetable.
Fantasy City Living is essentially an in-character narration by the author on how his focal point for Fletnern has changed over the years.
Does fashion matter? is a piece on just what people would be wearing, and how it would affect where such as their coin purse is (important for pickpockets) and the reaction to others when characters stroll into the tavern decked for a fight.
Lifestyles of the Magical and Mundane is on life in Forsbury and how it affects things. Characters may have horses – All About Equines is referenced here as to costs – but travelling around the city with them is problematic and expensive. Similarly, some clubs don’t allow full-armed people to walk in the door. Calendars are considered important, as they affect what is showing in a place on a specific night. There’s also a mention of jestering in Forsbury, including a recent, and more adult, import.
News of Fletnern has material to do with Forsbury.
All My Rambunctious Friends is the story of how a fiddler got paid with a cask of beer, brought it home and a chain of events then followed which essentially created an open-air concert.
The Tinfolder Tale is the story of a fairly arrogant illusionist who managed to annoy the local ruler and paid the price.
The Good Life has a list of various business types related to pleasure and leisure.
Slang & Superstition has some local terms and their meaning and origin.
What’s Missing explains what’s in the full version.
In Conclusion wraps things up and has links and details to the various sites and Patreon campaign.
The final page gas a list of the Forsbury Cartels, what they specialise in and some notes.
Forsbury After Hours aka All About Fantasy Entertainment in Review
The PDF is well bookmarked with the major and minor sections linked. The Table of Contents is not as thorough but is hyperlinked. Navigation is excellent. There are also a number of external links to previous supplements and relevant articles on blogs and the Fletnern Wiki, a useful addition. The text maintains a two column format and appeared to be almost free of errors. There are a number of stock black and white illustrations. Presentation is okay.
As with other supplements in the series, this is a collection of related material, much of which is from several different sources, rather than a coherent whole. Most of it is related to entertainment but some of it is more related to Forsbury than anything else. Some of the level of detail gone into is far more than many would use – references to ‘gold farmers’ suggest the author knows this – and related to creating a fully-functioning and logical society in a fantasy setting.
The Introduction may give a content warning but, perhaps because this is the abbreviated version, it isn’t that explicit. It does deal with more mature themes than usual though. As usual, this is a collection of interesting, but often disparate, material broadly connected to the central subject. Readers may not use the material but that doesn’t make it less interesting to read. Forsbury After Hours aka All About Fantasy Entertainment can be found by clicking here.
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