The Lonely Coast is a free role playing game supplement published by Raging Swan Press for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The supplement is covered by the Open Game License and therefore some of it is considered to be Open Game Content. The Lonely Coast is described as being a mini campaign setting and, as well as this supplement, there are a number of others set in the same area, including tribes, settlements and adventures.
This is a forty nine page bookmarked PDF which is also available print on demand softcover. The version reviewed is the PDF, which is the expanded version not the original, thirty page, supplement. Two pages are Raging Swan’s standard, plain, front and rear covers, one page is an advert for other supplements, two pages are front matter, one page is the Contents, including a table of stat blocks by CR, one page is the Foreword, two pages are taken up by the title pages for the appendices and three pages are taken up by the Open Game License and details on more supplements set in the region.
Reading Stat Blocks is an explanation as to how the various creature stat blocks are laid out, covering what is and isn’t included in the various scores, such as modifiers.
Introduction and In Your Campaign give an overview of the setting and how to use it in a GM’s campaign, including as a player demesne.
History gives a brief overview of the history of the region.
The Lonely Coast At a Glance gives an overview of the demographics of the region and the major, primarily human, settlements. These are all fairly coastal in nature, and situated pretty close to each other, with distances and journey times given between the major settlements. This has a map of the region and a brief overview of notable locations.
Settlements of Note covers the human settlements; four villages, Bossin, Hosford, Oakhurst and Swallowfeld, a town, Wolverton and a fortress, as well as the Priory of Cymer. The four villages and the town are further detailed in their own supplements. The priory is the setting for the adventure Retribution, Oakhurst for Against the Cult of the Bat God and Swallowfeld for Dark Waters Rising.
Folk of the Lonely Coast covers the various different player races, and how common they are, in the region, with a number of stat blocks for different generic NPCs.
Adventurers on The Lonely Coast covers player classes, suitable archetypes, and again how common they are.
The Tangled Wood has some important locations in this large, fairly dense, wood, as well as the fauna, flora, people and humanoids that can be found there. The wood is the location of the tribes from Bleached Skull Gnolls and Half-Goblins of the Tangled Wood and Deepwater Lake in the wood is the home of Pazuzu’s Fury. Centaurs of the Bleak Moor is in a region bordering the wood and that supplement is complemented by another, Minotaurs of the Black Hills.
Coastline and Cliffs covers several locations found on the coast, including the Orestone, the lair of the Troglodytes of the Tentacled One.
Weather has charts and explanations for the weather during the different seasons.
Adventure Hooks has hooks for several adventures, including one that can be used for Retribution and one that is directly linked to Road of the Dead.
Random Encounters has a d12 table for encounters on the road and a d20 table for encounters in the Tangled Wood.
Whispers & Rumours is a d100 table of rumours, although there are nowhere near 100 rumours in it.
Appendix 1: New Stuff has deities and demons referenced in this supplement and in some of the others in the area. Degenerate Creature is a new template, and has stats for a Degenerate Troglodyte, which comes from Troglodytes of the Tentacled One. Half-Goblin presents a new creature, Half-Goblin, including stats for several types and some clans. These are further detailed in Half-Goblins of the Tangled Wood. Shadow Wolves is a new, dangerous, wolf that has been magically augmented by druidic magic and poses a serious threat.
Appendix 2: On the Road has five different encounters of different CLs. Some of these may be friendly, others are definitely not and some can be engineered either way at the GM’s choice. There are stats and descriptions for the creatures and NPCs encountered, notes on their strategies and tactics and each also has a small section on scaling the encounter up or down by one level.
The Lonely Coast in Review
The supplement is very well bookmarked, with the major and minor sections all linked, and the Credits, which aren’t as thorough as the bookmarks, are hyperlinked as well, making navigation well above the average, especially for a short supplement. The text maintains a two column layout throughout with no errors noted and there are a number of black and white illustrations, presumably either stock or from related supplements. Presentation is good, in black and white.
The region is designed as a mini-campaign setting, and could be dropped onto the outskirts of many empires and settings without too much trouble. The map only covers a relatively small area, with the various settlements being under half a day from each other at the furthest, although the region does cover more than that. This is therefore a useful setting that can be dropped in many places.
As well as the supplements that are explicitly set in the region, a number of others are advertised as being compatible. There is as a result quite a bit of material available for the region, making it much easier to run a campaign set there, and many other supplements will probably be compatible. By itself, there is enough detail given that a competent GM could flesh it out more, but the other supplements are all comparatively inexpensive.
The Lonely Coast is a good, well written and fairly detailed setting that can easily be dropped into many campaigns, and it’s free, so click here to get it.
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