The Palace of Ballogfar Part II aka All About Ogres (and Ruins) by John Josten is a role playing game supplement published by Board Enterprises. Though most of the supplement is generic, there are some Legend Quest references. This is part of the Small Bites series and is the “World Walker” version. The full version is only available to Patreon supporters and is about five times the length.
The supplement is available as a 27-page PDF for free from DriveThruRPG. One page is the front cover.
The Introduction explains that this supplement is part two of three (though this is called Part II, it should be noted that Part I is called The Lost City of Ballogfar), or four, covering Ballogfar, the largest dungeon setting ever published.
The Fletnern Wiki section starts with a glossary of some terms before duplicating entries from the wiki related to Ballogfar and Ogres, including people, regions, races and military units.
The Sounding Board collects entries from the blog. Scavengers gives examples of two groups heavily into repurposing items, one using leftover titan items, the other, goblins, using pretty much anything from a kitchen as a weapon.
Scroungers are those that make use of what they find. In this case, the ogres of Ballogfar reusing items from the Goblin Empire’s capital.
Styles of Ruins talks about different types of ruin, such as buried by volcanic eruptions or in a jungle.
Puzzle Locks and FRPG Riddles starts with what seems to be a reference to The Tomb of Horrors, to illustrate why English, or other language, word tricks makes little sense in a fantasy setting, and doesn’t work so well in real life either, and that the puzzles in Ballogfar hopefully avoid this.
Lifestyles of the Magical and Mundane covers Ruin Cuisine, what the maktara and ogres in the Lost City eat.
How to Play an… Ogre Fighter discusses sensible tactics for fighting ogres – earlier it was stated that an ogre fighter is one who fights ogres, not an ogre that fights – why some other systems make little sense in this case and why sometimes running away is the best option. Essentially, fight with intelligence; ogres are less intelligent.
News of Fletnern starts with The Origins of Ballogfar, which recounts the legend of the city’s founding and what parts might be true. The City of Rhum 652 explains what happened when adventurers from Rhum attacked ogres indiscriminately after an ogre attack on a settlement, and how this was sorted out.
Optional Rules has some ogre weapons with Legend Quest stats and a new skill, Flintknapping.
Monsters and Other Menaces starts by comparing the differences, and similarities, between Legend Quest ogres and d20 ogres. Details about the goblins, orcs, and ogres: explains the differences in temporal focus between the three groups. The Native Ogres covers those ogres that lived in the ruins, namely the palace. Dragonkind lists the dragons and related creatures in the ruins.
Church Bells has an ogre legend and details on ogre mummies.
A Funny Thing Happened to Me on the Way to the Adventure has Ancient Expeditions, which explains that the Goblin Empire at its height ventured into the lands to the south.
Pull Back the Curtain details the designer’s philosophies towards the creation of the ruins.
What’s Missing? explains what’s in the full version.
Finally, In Conclusion wraps things up and has links.
The Palace of Ballogfar Part II aka All About Ogres (and Ruins) in Review
The PDF is well bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. The Table of Contents is less thorough but is also hyperlinked. Navigation is good. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be mostly free of errors. There are a number of illustrations, primarily black and white stock but with a single piece of colour. Presentation is okay.
The supplement is the same as most in the series, being a collection of generally related articles and items. Predominately, the articles cover ogres, both in general and in the Lost City, making the collection more coherent than some in the series. Again, there isn’t much about the Lost City in the supplement itself; that will largely be GM material that doesn’t appear in these free editions. The Palace of Ballogfar Part II aka All About Ogres (and Ruins) is an interesting collection of articles on ogres and it can be found by clicking here.
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