The Fire-Witch’s Manor is a role playing game supplement written and published by M.C. Planck. The supplement is set in the author’s World of Prime novels and is intended for use with Heroes of Prime but is also suitable for Dungeons & Dragons 3.5. 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 14-page PDF for free from DriveThruRPG. One page is the front cover, one the Open Game License, one the Contents and one an ad.
The Fire-Witch’s Manor explains that the fire-witch has a manor house in the wilderness from which she launches raids on Varsoulou, pursuing an ancient war that is no longer popular in her homeland, though her forces are indistinguishable from bandits. This is apparently a conglomeration of two bandit gangs found in Scorpus – The Stinging Sea. It is assumed that the rules found in Heroes of Prime, Explorers of Prime, Merchants of Prime, Lords of Prime and Generals of Prime are used, but it should still work with D&D 3.5.
Alignment explains the colour coding of alignments in the World of Prime.
Archetypes explains that the NPCs use archetypes found in Heroes of Prime.
The Battlefield explains that the manor sits in a plain and has been fortified.
Approaching the Manor explains what will happen if the manor is approached during the day, during the night or when it is on high alert. Preparations explains how long it will take for the manor to become fully prepared.
The Fields has the various hazards and traps on the approaches to the manor.
The Manor House describes the manor and traps inside.
Night Battles covers how the manor is defended during the night.
The Bell of Blinding is not some sort of magical item, but a pre-planned method of blinding attackers at night.
The Fires of Doom is a last-ditch defence if the manor is breached that involves fire and will, if left unchecked, burn the place down.
Entering the Manor has a number of ways this could be done as well as stats for the manor’s walls.
Burning the Manor explains what happens if it is set on fire.
Freeing the Dependents is on how to release these if the manor is going up in flames.
The Combatants has stats for the various NPCs found in the manor.
The Fire-Witch’s Manor in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and has enough different sections that these would have been useful. The Contents covers the major sections and is hyperlinked. Navigation could be better. The text maintains a two-column format and a couple of minor errors were noticed. There are no illustrations. Presentation could be better.
There aren’t any adventure hooks explaining why the characters would want to be attacking the manor, which is a shame, as it would have been easy enough to include a few, and there is little incentive for the characters to go up against the manor. It’s well defended and lacking in treasure. As it is, this is a hostile site with little to link it to anywhere. It can also be easily dropped into other settings, but could probably do with a little more development. The Fire-Witch’s Manor can be downloaded for free by clicking here.
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