A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement The Measure of a Man

The Measure of a Man by Scott Fitzgerald Gray is a role playing game supplement published by Schwalb Entertainment for use with Shadow of the Demon Lord. This is a Master level adventure.

This is available as a six-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $1.69 but was got for free thanks to a special deal. Around three quarters of a page is the cover illustration and Credits.

The opening paragraphs explain that this is a darkly comic Master adventure. The Vault of Hope explains that a number of nobles pooled their wealth in order to create a vault to protect knowledge and culture from the destruction of the Demon Lord. The Cult of Amra was founded by Amra in order to destroy the pre-eminence of the World Mother in the Old Faith and discredit Astrid in the Cult of the New God, blaming women for every problem, and force them to obey and everyone to worship the Demon Lord. Amra and his followers discovered a ritual in the Vault of Hope that allowed him to summon demons and overthrow the clockworks. He also found an item called the Dick-Ribbon of Manhood – that very name should give you an idea as to what the adventure involves.

The characters are heading to the Vault for one reason or another; they could be taking stuff there to be left or could encounter Amra’s cultists elsewhere. This basically turns into a dungeon crawl – there is a full-page map of the vault – where there are various “manly” activities going on.

The Measure of a Man in Review

The PDF lacks bookmarks and at this length does not need them. Navigation is okay. The text maintains a two-column full colour format and appeared to be free of errors. There is a single illustration on the first page, which appears to be custom, as well as the map. Presentation is good.

This is intended to be a comic adventure and the problem with such is that opinions on what is actually funny can vary tremendously. If extensive and fairly basic genital-themed humour and one-dimensional villains who are stereotypical woman-haters are your thing, then this is funny. If you don’t find that funny, this is not a great adventure, simply a dungeon crawl dressed up in sexual references. The Measure of a Man is definitely an adventure that isn’t for everyone, but it can be found by clicking here.