Free Role Playing Game Supplement Review: Three Waters Keep’s Men

Three Waters Keep’s Men by Andrew Hand and Michael Johnson is a free role playing game supplement published by Limitless Adventures. The supplement is aimed at Dungeons & Dragons game systems, in particular 5E by the looks of it, and is therefore covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result. The supplement details a secret organisation that is plotting against the ruling family of a kingdom.

This is a nine page bookmarked PDF that is available from RPGNow. One page is the front cover, one page an ad for a Kickstarter campaign and one page is the Open Game License.

There is a page introducing the supplement, including things such as the adventure hooks and new items, rules or otherwise that are always included, and an overview of the organisation in question.

Next there is a history of the group. There are some pieces of knowledge that can be determined using appropriate skill checks and another by divination. There is then the Secret History of the group. In summary, Three Water’s Keep was ruled by a noble family that also controlled the bridge and gained income from tolls. The family became greedy and started buying up other bridges and in some cases demolishing them to amass power and wealth by controlling the crossings. When the last lord foolishly barred passage to the king, he was executed and the family was stripped of their holdings. The son vowed revenge and a devil decided to help him. Now, the former knights of the keep work against the kingdom, building power as they do.

Next there are details on the Lesser Knights of Three Water Keep. There are ten of these, each of which has a codename, role and what services that can offer. There are stats for an average knight and a new magic item they have.

The Greater Knights of Three Water Keep, of which there are nine, are then covered in a similar manner. These have a more powerful version of the magic item.

Finally, there is the descendant of the original lord, who now runs the organisation. They are described in more detail, has the greatest of the new magic items and the details of the bargain struck with the devil, as well as a short adventure hook.

There is then a full page map of the keep area, showing a sketch of the original keep and a larger map of part of the area with it now demolished.

The PDF is extremely well bookmarked for a short supplement. Navigation is excellent. The text maintains a single column format, with numerous sidebars, and a few errors were noticed. The main error was in the table for the greater knights, where three of the four columns had been mislabelled; not a critical error but slightly confusing until the lesser knight table was referred to. Apart from the map, the sole illustration was on the front cover, and the supplement has a colour background. Presentation is pretty good.

The organisation Three Waters Keep’s Men may look at first glance to be a foe of any characters, but this may not always be the case. As stated, it can provide other things as well. Each of the NPCs covered has an area of expertise or skills that can provide use for characters, both legal and illegal. They can be sources of anything from goods and services to quests, without the characters actually knowing who they are dealing with. Many members of the group or not evil either, although the leaders are. So characters could deal with the group for some time without even knowing what its aims are, or even that the people they deal with are members of it – assuming the even know of the group’s existence.

This is a nice little supplement that provides an organisation that could, with a bit of effort, be interwoven into a campaign and act in the background and occasionally in the foreground. Three Waters Keep’s Men can be downloaded for free by clicking here.