For decades, the tiny village of Ravenmoor has existed quietly on the upper reaches of the Lampblack River, far from the centers of civilization in Varisia. Linked to the outside world only by an overgrown, mostly forgotten trail, the villagers are comfortable with their isolation. Their ways are humble, quaint, and at times odd, and when travelers come, they find the town awkward and unmemorable. Certainly, the lack of a village inn, the oppressive humidity, and the bug-infested moors and swamps that surround the village do little to encourage visitors. When a clerk in the city of Magnimar discovers that, due to a clerical error, the village of Ravenmoor hasn’t paid taxes in years, a tax collector is sent to the distant community to settle accounts with its mayor. When the tax collector fails to return, however, a group of adventurers must travel to the town during its Founders’ Feast celebration to investigate his disappearance. Did he really make off with the taxes for himself, as the villagers suspect? Or did he never make it out of Ravenmoor at all?
Feast of Ravenmoor is an adventure for 3rd-level characters, written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and compatible with the 3.5 edition of the world’s oldest RPG. It features a terrifying adventure set in a rural village in the frontier realm of Varisia, and a brand-new monster eager to torment and frighten unsuspecting adventurers.
Written by Brandon Hodge
Pathfinder Modules are 32-page, high-quality, full-color, adventures using the Open Game License to work with both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the standard 3.5 fantasy RPG rules set.
This adventure is a solid piece of work, with plenty to keep the party busy but nothing that will really wow the players. I recommend it if you are looking for a modest "creepy village" motif, but not for a major part of a campaign or a unique chapter in a saga.
The Good: This adventure has a fully-developed back-water village in which your PCs may muck about. It is a place with several dark secrets, unique locations, and a thriving culture. Reading this adventure you get a palpable feel for this village and its people. The story stems from this: There is no "must follow" storyline; rather you are given a setting and a time-line. How the PCs interact with it is up to them, and there are multiple paths that depend on their course of action. There is also clues to the deeper mystery, which the PCs may uncover as they see the weirdness about them. Overall, it is a solid sandbox adventure, with creepy locations and developed NPCs.
So Why Only Three Stars (or the Bad)? Much of this adventure simply fails to "wow" either the GM or the players. Most of the encounters are simple fights or straight out of the Bestiaries. There are no surprises. The "Grand Reveal" is rather cliche and the fight that follows is exceedingly difficult. My players did not find it to be that exciting. The village, while fully developed, is not terribly unique. There are a few minor details (such as the food they eat, or the manner of their worship) that are memorable. But this flavor does not really establish this setting from any other "creepy village." Many of the horror tropes end up being unfortunately cliche, and the mystery ends in the way that most people would expect it to.
If I may be permitted a bad analogy, this adventure attempts to be the original "Wicker Man" but ends up being a regular epsiode of the "X-Files." There is a lot that can be used here, but nothing that makes it a must-have or must-play.
My experience: I ran this for a five man, APL 3.2 group. Our spread was Fighter, Alchemist, Cavalier, Monk, and Witch. This was run for Pathfinder Society. It took us 10.5 hours over two sessions. It cuts nicely in two portions, not sure how I'd do it to break it into 4 hour slots. Probably Feast, House, Field.
Combat: The combats in this for the most part seemed right on the money. They challenged my party, pushed them to their limits, and made them get creative. There are a couple encounters that are rough on them. I would thoroughly encourage an APL of 3-4. Less than that and you risk wiping your table at times.
Roleplay: The roleplay is where this module truly shines. For a player to enjoy this they need to be willing to get “into” the scenario and be willing to explore new ideas and concepts. There are tons of RP opportunities in this module and that’s what made me love it. As a GM, you have to have a real strong attention to detail, because it’s the small things that make the RP spots what they are.
Overall: The module started out a little creepy, and kept getting creepier and creepier. My players were weirded out through and through by the end and were loving every minute of it. I heartily recommend this to anyone who likes a good story and a great adventure.
I ran this adventure several months ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Designer Brandon Hodge has done a terrific job of bringing the squalid, degenerate village of Ravenmoor to life in all its fetid, perverted glory.
I’m not going to go into great detail about the module’s plot and such like, but I will say that it has several absolutely cracking encounters that are really flavoursome and fun to run. If your party enjoy roleplaying as well as investigation you should definitely run this module. If they only like combat, they may get a tad frustrated as a fair amount of the time the PCs are interacting (non-violently) with the villagers.
Sadly, the module is not perfect. The final battle seems to be rather under CRed to me never mind the fact that it is an EL 4 fight followed immediately by an EL 5 fight; very harsh for a 3rd-level party if they are not super-optimised. I would advise anyone running this adventure to take a very close look at the end encounter and modify it to give their players a chance!
However, in my mind flavour beats crunch and so I have no hesitation in recommending this module to any group that isn’t obsessed with combat. Overall, I’m rating this module at 4.5 stars; I’m removing half a star for the toughness of the last battle. For the purposes of this platform though, I’m awarding 5 stars.
In Feast of Ravenmoor, the PCs are sent to the remote village of Ravenmoor to search for a missing tax collector. Once there, they get to attend the village’s monthly festival and experience the very strange customs of the locals. The adventure is rife with lots of role-playing opportunities. Indeed, depending how the PCs approach their mission, it’s possible to get through this adventure with very little combat at all. Although the story is set in Varisia, Ravenmoor’s remoteness and non-Varisian-like customs make it easy to transplant the adventure to other areas of Golarion or even to other campaign worlds if Game Masters desire. Overall, Feast of Ravenmoor is a straight-forward mystery adventure that should keep players entertained for several sessions.
(based on 19 ratings)
