Revelry in Torth (by Venger Satanis) is a location-based sandbox adventure inspired by pulp Sword and Sorcery and Lovecraft. It is a 39 page book with a color cover and has grayscale interior artwork. Thisis a review of the PDF version. Sadly I have not had an opportunity to playtest it yet.

Background and Setting Information

The book begins with acouple ofpages offiction: two moody short tales and a bit of background info about the setting. All of this contentsets the tone:good stuff so far. Everything is easy to read (except for a few exoticalien or demonic names)and contains many familiar tropes found in the author's works (for example,those accursed snake-men are always up to no good).

There are twonew classes: the Shadow Priest and the Wandering Minstrel. Both gain a newspell-like ability at each level, each of which are usable once per day.

The Shadow Priest doesn't specify any level progression or saving throws, but since it lists some prerequisites I'm assuming that it is a template that is added top of another class (similar to the Compendium Classes in Dungeon World). All of the abilitiesrelate to shadowy effects. There is one powerat level 5 that is a save or "die" (which is reversible under specific circumstances). This seems a bit overpoweredto me but I'm not familiar with manyOSR specialtyclasses with which to compare: I'm only familiar with the core classes presented in Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess.

The Wandering Minstrel is a slightly different take on the Bard, and it uses the level progression of a Thief or Rogueclass. Each of its abilities consistentlyrelate to music or social charms that manipulate the emotions and minds of others. As an aside, when I first read the name of this class I was expecting a take on the "Wandering Jew" figure: a character who iscursed with endlessly wandering the land until something very important and earth-shattering happens. I might use that idea some day.

As a quick aside, this entire book is inspirational that way. Either because it taps into familiar media (such as Frank Herbert's Dune or even the Bible) or simply due to the author's creativity. I frequently stared off into space thinking of evocative desert landscapes with eerie constellations forming in the sky, foretelling doom and terror.

Next is some information about the setting, grouped under a few different headers:what a native PCof Torth would know (including what they'd know of history and ofsome grim portents), an overview of the fivehistorical "ages", and a rundown of the four most prominent tribal groups, which are kind of like this setting's races (but without that sort of mechanical distinction). Each of these tribes have their own core beliefs, favored factions or cults, typical behaviors or philosophies andeven colour schemes (a nice little way to help the players recognize each one during encounters). Most of them seem to favour occult study: a nice surprise, as I was expecting warrior-centric tribes.

After there's information on threesecret societiesor cults: each of them are appropriatelyominous and worship sinister figures. A GM could mix and match these tribes and cults to create a great variety of NPC allies orantagonists. It would be cool to give each of them some defining physical characteristics in order to further differentiate them, such as vibrant color skin tones as on Barsoom or animal traits from those offrogs, insectsor, very fittingly, serpents.

Magic Use in Torth has its own unique twists as well. The biggest irony of the setting is that magic and sorcery are taboo and distrusted. Which is interesting considering that three out ofthe four most prominent tribes appear to value study of the occult, demonology and sorcery. This may be one of the reasons for so much inter-tribal strife, for each tribe, and faction, has their own ideas on how magic works and who's most worthy to use it. I like this idea very much.

There's mention of a magic-enhancing drug that feels like an homage to the Spice in Frank Herbert's Dune. I felt that this was appropriate,considering that both Dune and Torth seem to draw some inspiration from middle-eastern folklore and terminology. Sadly I could not find any descriptions of these drugs other than verybrief,yeyinteresting, flavor text. There is, however, a specified mechanic for nasty side-effects for them. I admit that I was a little confused by this, but then again, most OSR games are gleefully cruel this way.

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The Main Location: Aryd's End

The main location for this adventure, Aryd's End, gets its own section. There's some history, which has nods to Lovecraft, andwhat I think is another nod to Dune: a secret twist about the city's established defences. I may have read this last part incorrectly, but my interpretation of it sure felt exciting. I began to hope that this great story hook gets used in the adventure itself (sadly, it doesn't, but it might in the sequel).

There are descriptions of aquirky cultural habit, as well as some sayings: most of which are ominous, of course, but one or two made me chuckle. I rather enjoyed the small section on cuisine: there are some neat things in there, as well as a possibleadventure hook (hint: the town's precioushoney comes from bees... giant bees who live in a mountain!).

There's a quick rundown of a few interestinglocations within town. It is implied thatthese buildings will allbe featured in theadventure later on.

Lastly we get introduced to some important NPCs. These include the rulers of Aryd's End and their closest associates. There are some neat possibilities here, in terms of motivations, but I wonder how these characters will ever be used in the adventure itself, or how any of their secrets will come to light (regardless, it was entertaining to read this part). These characters are all kind of scummy and would fit in well in the lecherous and"backstabby"courts of Westeros.

The last page before the adventure is a table of Rumors. Each player character will know one of these, determined randomly, and it is recommendedthat theGM decides on their accuracy or whether to use them as supplementary encounters or hooks. These rumors are mixed in terms of practicality : some are about vague and high-level background material, others could be used directly in social orcombat encounters. In addition to this table is a sidebar that presents an Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic. This can be used to simplify circumstantialdice modifiers. Those familiar with the latest edition of Dungeons & Dragons will know what this means, although the actual rule is handled a bit differently.

The Adventure

The Adventuretakes place within andaround the city of Aryd's End. The authorrecommendsthat the party begins about a day's journey away. There is a table of random encounters (usually monsters); there are some interesting beasties here (the Giant Oozing Slug Brain with Spider Legs stands out) butI don't find much use for random monster tables in general. After that, there are a few encounters and a mini-dungeon, all of which, I feel, were included toset the mood, if nothing else.

Once the party reaches Aryd's End they are beset by a variety of encounters, most of which seem to to involve one or more NPCs approaching them and pulling them deeper into the meta-plot or into the general mood of crazed revelry. There are a handful of encounters that, if ignored, can cause huge catastrophes or otherwise greatly affect the setting.

There is one crucial event at the very start which affects the players regardless of how they deal with it or not. What I like about this is that it isn't railroading - per se. The players don't have to do anything specific or aren't expected to react in a scripted way. Nevertheless, this one encounter triggers the main "plot", if you will, and sets things in motion. I like these kinds of encounters because they give a goal to an otherwise aimless sandbox. Along these lines are one or two encounters that reveal a timeline, of sorts, which will come to pass. This also, theoretically, focuses the players into doing something proactive.

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Strangely, this amazingly detailed image is super-tiny. I was surprised that it didn't get a full page!

There are a handful of locations for the players to explore with some NPCs tointeract with, including a curiosity shop and a bordello. Sadly, neither location has much detail other than basic descriptions and a key NPC or two for the players to socialize with.

There is one encounter which does feel railroad-y: the party is summoned to audience with the King, which cannot be refused. If the party isn't interested, they will be forced into doing so; if they fight, they will be hunted and killed. I'm not crazy about such encounters, and would rather handle this sort of thing differently (example: I'd have one of the king's aides personally invite them as guests for a big party, which would feel more subtle and yet allow for more frenzied decadence).

The rest of the encounters follow the same formulae: an NPC approaches the party and gives them an ominous bit of advice or warning; an event occurs which moves the story forward, whether or not the party decide to get involved; anNPC encounterwhich may or may not be hostile (depending on the party's reputation, current condition or behavior) or amicro-dungeon to explore and loot.

While all of this felt a bit simplistic and straightforward, it all felt very atmospheric and ripe with chances for interesting roleplaying. Despite one or two encounters that kind of forcefully involve the characters, this adventure is rather open-ended. Because of this, I would have liked a few more locations to explore or things to encounter if the party goes off randomly. If I ever run this, I'll bring out Vornheim to fill in the gaps, for sure.

The last two pages cover somemagic items and spells. A fewof the magic items have cool background stories and at least one nifty power that goes beyond the "mundane" +1 bonus. They're all suitably thematic. The spells are interesting, if not disturbing.

The Afterwordillustrates the author's design goals and plans. He mentions that this is the first part in a trilogy and so I'm eager for more. I admit that after The Islands of Purple-Hearted Putrescence, I'm a bit spoiled: I was expecting a few more random tables of unique encounters and setting-building material.

Summary

Cons

• a lack of a table of contents; the contentfelt a bit disorganized
• the headings were sometimesunclear about what each block of content was about
• the runic glyph watermark on every page was a bit distracting (note that this is a pet-peeve of mine: many RPG publishers do this)
• I would have liked a few more locations or random tables of encounters (not strictly combat ones)
• as with other works by the same author, some features contain subject matter unsuitable to all tastes

Pros

• lots of rich flavour, colour and mood: it would be easy to create your own material or to hand-pick suitablestuff from other works to add to the setting
• very memorable encounters: this book can be mined for ideas and inspiration
• reallyniceartwork and maps
• easy to read text and layout: friendly conversational tone

Overall I liked this work, although not as much ashttp://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/130556/The-Islands-of-PurpleHaunted-Putrescence" target="_blank"> the Islands of Purple-Heated Putrescence (IPP). The setting, while open-ended, felt a bit "smaller" than I expected. I'd like to see more information about the key location, Aryd's End. Regardless, I found a lot of the material very inspirational: whether I end up running this or not, I can mine this for ideas. I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/141221/Revelry-in-Torth" target="_blank">Revelry in Torth is available at Drive Thru RPG.

Thanks for the review, Necrozius!  Much appreciated.

Yeah, I was equally disappointed in the quarter page turnout of that image.  Apparently, the artist somehow lost the original piece and only had a small, not high-resolution file size for me to use.  Since I advertised its inclusion in the Kickstarter (and think it's an awesome piece), I used it despite its lack of size.  Live and learn.

BTW, anyone that wants the 7mb full-color rendering of Aryd's End, just ask.  I'd be happy to email it.

VS

Does it say which system this is for?

Quote from: tzunder;807668Does it say which system this is for?

It's O5R.  Those familiar with old school fantasy RPGs like D&D should be good to go with minimal conversion (if any).  I use a minimalist stat block for all my adventures.  Hope that helps.

VS

One thing I could have done with is a city map, at least a relative-locations sort of thing. A local area/wilderness map would be good too.

It's a good product and once my new print copy arrives I'm looking forward to using it as the other side of an interdimensional portal, perhaps in the depths of the Liberation of the Demon Slayer caves (nearly TPK'd my party with the LoTDS random encounter chart yesterday - 4 Cult Priests & their Super Intelligent Telekinetic Green Jelly makes a a tough fight!)

Quote from: S'mon;832911One thing I could have done with is a city map, at least a relative-locations sort of thing. A local area/wilderness map would be good too.

It's a good product and once my new print copy arrives I'm looking forward to using it as the other side of an interdimensional portal, perhaps in the depths of the Liberation of the Demon Slayer caves (nearly TPK'd my party with the LoTDS random encounter chart yesterday - 4 Cult Priests & their Super Intelligent Telekinetic Green Jelly makes a a tough fight!)

Yes, a city map would have been a good idea.  My gaming style is more cinematic than true old school where half the adventure is acquiring rope, pick axes, and a 10' pole and the other half is sitting around a map, planning their next move.  

I'm more, like, choose a location that sounds interesting, ok, you're there, this is what you encounter.  What's next?

VS

Does OSR stuff work with 5E?

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;833592Does OSR stuff work with 5E?

Yes, most of it should work fine with little to no conversion.  A few things might require some fine-tuning.  

I use 5e to playtest my adventures and never have a problem.  Of course, the way I run new D&D is pretty old school.

VS

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;833592Does OSR stuff work with 5E?

I'm running Liberation of the Demon Slayer in 5e. Converting the stat blocks usually just means adding an attribute-type bonus to damage, eg 2d6 might become 2d6+4. The listed AC & Attack Bonus numbers work as-is. Hit Points generally need doubling if you want a major threat.