In the frozen wasteland of the Norselands, a gentle druid returned to his village after a successful hunt. Upon his return he found his village reduced to a smoldering ruin, his home ransacked, and his family slaughtered. All love died that day, and his soul became a rock of ice bent upon revenge. Thus begins the fury of the rabid wolf shaman Fenrir.
This Sidetrek Adventure is set in the great viking north and is suitable for 4-5 6th level characters. It includes skill encounter rules for viking lie-tells and cross country travel as well as 6 custom battlemaps suitable for printing.
Sidetrek Adventures are short flavorful adventures that can be inserted into an ongoing game with very little effort.
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This adventure is 26 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page back cover, 1 page SRD, leaving 22 pages of content, so let's check it out!
Fenrir's Fury is a sidetrek in the North, i.e. a viking-themed adventure and I really love those. Unfortunately studying Scandinavian literature and culture has made me rather picky about what I consider acceptable and "getting" the mindset, so let's check out whether Fenrir's Fury prevails...
Essentially, the basic plotline is simple and can be easily inserted into any Northlands-style environment and features one interesting dichotomy, that of the culturally victimized being. The vengeful villain of this piece, a druid called Fenrir (which is a bit unfortunate as far as names go...) had to find his village destroyed, everyone slaughtered. Now he is up for revenge and wants to destroy a village that might be responsible for the viking raid that destroyed his world. Unfortunately, the PCs are currently in said village...
After participating in drinking contests and a drunken brawl, games of tall tales (presented as skill challenges - nice!) etc., the fey allies of the druid storm the mead hall and try to kill everyone. While the attack on the sanctity of the mead hall is a trope, in literature such transgressions usually would come off as rather despicable, as they violated an unwritten law to which, at least in my mind, the fey would have adhered. Oh well, on the plus side, this adventure features one battlemat-style map in full color (including grids) and a DM-version that has the terrain features spelled out - neat. The town of Volksfelt (linguistically not particularly Scandinavian, but oh well) is also under assault by Ice trolls and even a large ice elemental (also with their own maps) and once the PCs have vanquished these foes, they'll be sent off to avenge the fallen. After another (AWESOME!) skill challenge that has the PCs encounter numerous potentially deadly natural hazards, the PCs will have to battle yetis on a frozen river (again, with a map!) and finally confront the druid and his companion (who prove to be rather deadly and come with their own map!). The druid actually has stats already calculated into his stats, but also provides the unmodified ones and stats for the druid's dire wolf form. That's neat service! Should the PCs save the village thus, they will have helped the people, yes, but the victory is bitter-sweet - after all, they will go out on raids again. It's this cycle of violence, honor and revenge, that makes the adventure work on a cultural level.
The pdf concludes with an appendix of the village's stats and a short glossary.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are actually top-notch, I noticed no glitches! Kudos for such a small company as KromeDrgaonGames! Layout is also professional and features a reddish rune-border on the top and adheres to the 2-column standard. We don't get a b/w-version or bookmarks, which are minor downers. This adventure actually surprised me with its quality - especially as far as go-play aspects are concerned. With all those neat full-color maps and the stats and DM-help-maps, you actually don't have to read this adventure in advance and run it just as you go. Add to that the cool skill challenges and the very low price and you should like this particular venture to the North. As a full-blown adventure, I wouldn't recommend Fenrir's Fury, as it's designed as a side-trek and is not truly complex or too intriguing. If you're a linguistic nerd like yours truly, you'll notice some discrepancies/problems in the nomenclature of names/locations, but apart from people like me, this won't be a deciding factor. I was rather torn about my final verdict, between 3 and 4 stars, but due to the work cut out for you and the low price, I'll settle for a final verdict of 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.
Endzeitgeist out.
solid little side trek that could use a little more polish
This product is 26 pages long. It starts with a cover and credits. (2 pages)
Introduction (1 page)
This is a side trek adventure for 4-5 6th level characters. This is a nice background with a well done villain. It is set in a viking style setting. It fits in well in the Land of the Linnorm Kings and or as a side trek during the Jade Regent AP when it travels threw it. Either during the 2nd AP or just before the 3rd one.
Part 1 (4 pages)
The PC's end up at a village and are invited to join the locals in the feats hall for games and a feast. After taking part in both for awhile the feats hall is attacked. The PC's half to defend the Jarl from a attack. While this is going on the village is being attacked as well, after defending the Jarl the PC's likely rush to save the village from the two threats.
Part 2 (5 pages)
At this point the PC's are allowed to rest in the village that night and thanked for helping the village. In the morning the Jarl if he was saved or someone else if not ask the PC's to seek out the enemy and stop them. They find out that the village has been being attacked by a known enemy. This involves a overland travel with deals with some weather, some encounters and then the final fight with the enemy once they locate him.
Appendix 1 (1 page)
This has basic information on the village and a glossary of terms.
Appendix 2 (10 pages)
Maps, both large mini maps and regular sized maps.
It ends with a OGL and back cover. (2 pages)
Closing thoughts. There is no art except whats on the cover. Editing and layout are pretty good. The adventure is well done with a interesting villain, the best kind of villain in my opinion. Someone who seems themselves as doing the right thing. I would have liked to have had some more information about how the villain comes about doing what he is doing. There is enough and it makes sense but I would have liked some more details. The biggest thing missing is advice on running the final part with the villain trying to convince the PC's of the worthiness of his cause and what happens if they side with him. I think that was a missed chance to take a pretty cool like side adventure and make it a very good one. So what's my rating? I am going to give it a 4 star review. It is solid and you can run it as is. It just could have with a bit more work been better.
This short adventure takes your players to the frozen wilds of the far north. Visit the small viking village of Volksfelt and enjoy the entertainment of a lavish viking wedding feast.
Ultimately the players must defend the village against the vengeance of Fenrir a rabid wolf shaman bent on the destruction of the village. Journey across the frozen wilderness and finally confront the druid and bring peace to the poor people of Volksfelt.
This product includes custom battlemaps for each encounter that suitable for printing.
DM I sent a copy to all reviewers on RPGNow. I take it you didn't get one.
I'll send you a copy as soon as I find your email again :)
Nope I am not a featured reviewer anywhere other than I suppose you could kinda consider me one here on Paizo but that's it. As for the email you did have it when we exchanged emails this summer. I will send you another one so you can remember which one is mine.
I was hoping to have this and a couple of other reviews done today. But that doesn't look like it will happen. I should have them done tomorrow or Friday though.
