The Village of Briarton (VoB) is a location-based accessory for Dungeon
and Dragons Third Edition (3e) by Gold Rush Games, makers of Sengoku and
other products. It details a village and the surrounding area and is
meant to serve as a base for heros to adventure in and perhaps
originate from. It is obviously of more use to lower-level adventurers,
but it could still be useful for mid-level adventures as well.
The product I received is a pre-release PDF file that contains all the
text but no artwork or maps. So my review will, by necessity, be
somewhat incomplete. Because the artwork and maps are missing, the
Style rating especially should be taken with a grain of salt, because
the missing ingredients will have a huge impact on the look and feel of
the final product.
On Setting Supplements
There has been a trend of late in the d20 support business toward longer
modules and more setting-based modules. In addition, more new products
are coming out that do not have a single over arching plot. Instead
these products have a number of subplots and interesting characters, and
the GM and players create their own storyline as the subplots take place
around them. In some ways this is a return to much older modules from
the 1st edition days, when a module like B1 (Keep on the Borderlands)
would provide setting details and monster stats and the players decided
what they wanted to do and where to go.
I believe that a lot has been learned about writing adventures in the
last two decades, and the newer modules are superior to the older Basic
and 1st edition efforts. The Village of Briarton falls squarely in this
new tradition and perhaps takes it even farther. I wouldn't even
classify VoB as a module. It is more of a setting supplement with
adventure hooks and description of inhabitants and locations. Think of
it more like a chapter out of Kingdoms of Kalamar or the Forgotten
Realms (though much more detailed of course) and you have the right
idea. The writers of VoB seem to be very clear about what their design
goals were, and they even announce on the cover that VoB is a 3rd
Edition Setting Sourcebook so that no one is fooled.
This is made even more clear in the Introduction, where the editor
discusses the problems with villages in the past. Many PCs seem to
originate in villages, but they frequently leave to pursue adventure
and usually never go back. The editor maintains that it is much
easier to pursue adventure and go to dungeons and ruins from a small
village out of the way than it is in a city. Because it is small and
many people are known by name, the events are more concentrated and
impactful, and the ruins and wandering monsters are more plausible. I
agree with this, and I want to see more of these kinds of product on
the market, so I am predisposed to like VoB.
Overall Structure
The supplement is divided into five sections. The first is the
introduction, which describes the impetus behind the setting. The
next is the Overview, which covers the history and daily life of the
village. The following section is Arundel Manor, which describes the
residence of the local lord. The Village describes the village and
its inhabitants, though none of them seem to be overly fond of
numbers. The final section describes the Outlying Regions and its
interesting inhabitants. There is also a comprehensive index that
lists all the characters and locations mentioned.
The Introduction describes how to use the book. Interspersed
throughout the descriptions of the village are Interaction Seeds:
these are short suggestion for adventures and subplots. These are
quite helpful and useful, but are not terribly detailed. The village itself is
located in a relatively remote northern province far from the center
of the country and is designed to be used without excessive need for
modification. In addition, only 50 of the approximately 450
inhabitants are detailed, which means it is easy for the GM to
customize the other villagers. A new deity is given that is a focus
of worship in the village, but there is room for other faiths and
small shrines in the village. In addition, an evil cult is included,
based on a new deity, and this can be modified but should be left in.
The Overview of the setting discusses the history and overall life on
the village. The site was founded 30 years ago when a powerful knight
won a land grant to develop a village in this location. 15 years ago,
a raiding party of orcs attacked the village and carried off some of
its inhabitants. The villagers staged their own raid and managed to
recover most of their own, but many villagers were injured and some
died, including the son-in-law of the lord, who was being groomed to
take over the village. In a nice touch, the repercussions of this
raid are still evident in the village now, from the half-orc son of a
captive villager to the town drunkard, who cannot forget the events of
the raid. The village has grown more prosperous in the intervening
years and is doing well now.
There is a nice section on the economics of the village, discussing
how most people live on barter and are largely self-sufficient. This
sort of thing is frequently ignored in fantasy supplements. There is
even a short description of daily life and what adventurers would
expect to see in the village.
Arundel Manor is the home of Lord Arundel, the master of Briarton. He
lives there with his widowed daughter, her son, and his boon dwarven
companion. Nothing too exciting here, though it is nice to see a
ruler with Charisma-altering magic.
The Village is the next section and it focuses on shops, the inn, and
a holy shrine. All the usual shops are here: blacksmith, brewery,
carpenter, cobbler, strange house of wondrous goods, mercantile house,
glass-blower, mill, pottery, and tannery. All the shopkeepers are
given full stat blocks and descriptions (including visual ones).
There is always a short paragraph on their history and how they came
to their position. The house of wondrous goods is an interesting
addition that I think is very useful. The proprietress inherited it
from her late alchemist husband, and it is almost magical, in that
almost anything can be found there if one looks long enough. It's a
great idea and the adventure even explains how her husband was fleeing
from the south after a failed potion caused a powerful man to die.
Also, after many entries are adventure seeds that describe hooks for
short adventures. In general there is enough information so that a GM
can cook something up quickly given all the statistics in this and
later chapters.
One interesting addition in this section is two new skills, Hide and
Fish. These are commoner class skills and allow one to either fish
for game or hunt for meat. These skills are obviously subsets of
Wilderness Lore and are thus not suitable for adventurers. The intent
I suppose is to give a restricted skill that doesn't make those who
take it masters of the wilderness. I'm not sure this is a good idea
in general, but for the purposes of commoner NPCs these skills seem
reasonable.
The inn doesn't have any dark secrets (thank god) and a fair amount of
information is given on when meals are served and what the PCs might
find there. A detailed price list is given in a sidebar for
everything the inn provides. The shrine of Erilys is also described
in a fair amount of detail and the local 6th-level cleric Maerwynn is
fully statted out.
Other inhabitants around the village are also listed, most of them
farmers or woodsmen. They range from a jovial retired soldier to a
shepherd terrorized by a wizard's prodigal abomination. Some grew up
there and others have retired there to farm or drink away their days.
Several travelers who pass through are also discussed, ranging from a
half-elf bard to a wandering tinker who repairs broken pots and pans.
There was definitely some care in creating the village and its
inhabitants: they all fit into realistic roles and even have clear
historical analogs. It is important to point out here that the
village is 99 percent human. I think this makes it much easier to
integrate into most campaigns, though presumably they could all be
turned into halflings or gnomes without much trouble.
The outlying regions are discussed next, and this mostly focuses on a
variety of hermits and wanderers one may encounter in the wilderness
surrounding the village. A crotchety wizard lives there in a cottage
with his pet goats, as does a wandering ranger. A retired paladin who
uses her warhorse as a prime stud also runs a breeding farm near the
village. The local druid Malcolm also makes his home in a forest
grove nearby with his many animal companions.
There is also a discussion of ruins nearby, from the old evil wizard's
abode occupied by orcs, to an abandoned abbey, to the secret lair of
the local evil cult. All of these seem reasonable, though I can't
tell if maps will be provided for these or merely illustrations.
The product ends with an excellent index that lists every character
and location with a page number reference. I can definitely see where
this would come in handy.
Bonus Information
The module presents a fair amount of bonus information. There are
several new spells that tie into various plot points in the adventure.
There are two new deities, each with new domains, which are populated
mostly with familiar spells but also new ones. The spells in general
do not seem overpowered. One exception is Refresh, which effectively
gives a person a full night's rest in two hours. This also refreshes
wizards for their spells. I don't think this will cause problems in
general, but I can see situations where munchkins would love it. The
deities make sense, and I particularly like the inclusion of a home
and hearth deity. These were far more common historically than they
seem to be in role-playing products and add some verisimilitude to the
setting.
In addition, as mentioned above, two new restricted commoner skills
were added, as was a new monster, the grass cloaker. There is a fair
amount of additional information.
Cliches
Unfortunately, despite its other good qualities, VoB does seem to be
prone to some cliches. For example, there is an evil cult at work in
the village, and some of the villagers are supporters of the cult.
The way the cult is developed is more imaginative, and the plot could
turn out to be somewhat interesting, but it is something of a cliche.
In addition, the nasty skinflints and cranky woodsmen are part of the
cult. That is to say, many of the people the PCs will instinctively
not like are evil, and I don't think that is something to be
encouraged in a product, because it encourages lack of thinking.
In addition, there is a cantankerous wizard living outside the town
and a good-hearted ranger who patrols the area. There is a castle
ruin nearby that was occupied by an evil wizard who had orcs as
minions. There isn't necessarily anything wrong with these elements,
but they aren't terribly imaginative.
Presentation
The editing overall is fine. I found no misspelled words, which is a
relief. Too many publishers can't even be bothered to run the
spell-checker. (I know in saying this that someone will find a
misspelled word in my review, but that is the peril a reviewer must
skirt.) One noticeable problem is an excessive love of the apostrophe
and the possessive. This crops up several times in the text. Sometimes
it is merely clunky, but sometimes it is wrong. I found similar
problems on the website, so
it might be something to look into.
The text is fairly large for a d20 product, but the sidebars are not
excessive. There is a fair amount of white space, and an entirely
blank page and a full-page ad at the end of the product. There appear
to be many illustrations and maps, though of course I cannot comment
on the quality or appearance of these elements. Unless the
illustrations or maps are particularly good, the price point for this
adventure seems to be somewhat high.
Attention to Detail
One excellent feature of this product is the care taken with many of
the elements. For example, the names of the inhabitants are almost
all based on Middle English antecedents. Examples are Roderick,
Alfgar, Cormac, Ulric, etc. The exceptions are people
like Stefan Dinescu (a traveling acrobat who settled in the village),
Genevieve (an itinerant bard who is related to the innkeeper) and Angwyn
ap Llewellyn (a cantankerous wizard living in the wilderness). It is
refreshing to see this sort of coherence in naming when it is missing
in so many role-playing products.
In addition, there is a fair amount of detail on many inhabitants.
They all have foibles and little secrets, and all of these make sense
and could easily come up when PCs interact with them. The NPCs in
general are much better developed than is usual in these kinds of
products. The economics and daily life of the village are fleshed out
well and make sense.
Conclusion
Overall, I liked the Village of Briarton, but I wished there was more
to it. One useful product to compare this to is the Crucible of
Freya, which also was 48 pages. That module did not describe the
village in great detail, but it did describe many encounter areas
around the village in great detail with maps. Finally, it had a
prepared story line that the DM could follow to construct an adventure
with little prep time. If one adds in the Wizard's Amulet and the
supplemental material available on the Necromancer Games website, there
is enough detailed there to take the characters to 5th level easily.
The Village of Briarton is set up differently. There the village is
detailed in great detail and many more characters are discussed. In
addition, they have more complex motivations and the village is much
more vibrant because of all the interlocking personalities and
histories, large and small. Of course, that means that the area
around the village is described in much less detail and the DM has to
work harder to prepare adventures there. On the other hand, if I
wanted to start characters as being from a specific place, I would
want to start in Briarton, because then I have a ready-made place to
adventure from that I can actually make come alive for players.
There is some empty space in the product, and one thing I would like
to see added is more support for adventures in the village. Perhaps
more adventure seeds, or a master flow-chart to give a sample
adventure progression for characters from 1st to 3rd level. I know
the village was designed to be used by characters at any level, but I
can't help thinking that a primary use for this product is as a home
base for 1st level PCs. A little more support for this would be
welcome.
Ultimately, it comes down to what you are looking for as a setting.
If you want a setting with well-described NPCs and a setting that will
seem like it has a real existence apart from the PCs, choose
Briarton. If you want a lot of ready-to-run adventures and don't care
as much about well-developed NPCs, choose something like The Crucible
of Freya instead.
As for ratings, I have to give it an average in Style. It is reasonably
well-edited and what artwork I saw appears good, but I don't have any artwork
or maps, so I really can't tell. The final product could look terrible or
wonderful - I really can't know. As for Substance, what is there is very good
and clear. I give it a 4 for Substance, with the understanding that the page
count of 48 is a little low for the price of $14.95.
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