'Undiscovered Quests & Adventures (Q&A)' is an e-zine featuring articles and adventures for the 'Undiscovered: The Quest for Adventure' RPG. It is published in PDF format by Eilfin Publishing, and available from the publisher's website, as well as from RPGNow.
Before I start, I should mention that I don't own the Undiscovered Rulebook. I do however have the free Quickstart, available from Eilfin's website, and the author has advised me that this should be enough to perform a fair review of this e-zine.
Presentation
The PDF is inconsistently-formatted for on-screen use, with good use of hyperlinking to websites and e-mail addresses throughout, and a fully linked table of contents, but sadly missing bookmarks for the articles. It would have been nice to have links from the cover to feature articles too. The way the document is secured does not allow copying of text or artwork, which I found somewhat annoying while preparing this review.
Occasional lapses of grammar and syntax are a problem throughout, as are poor word choices. This got to me a little, though I am something of a grammar nazi. The layout is a standard two-column format, unadorned by border graphics or other fancy elements. The reader is not distracted, but neither is the material enhanced, as it can be by well-thought-out graphics (White Wolf's 'Exalted' is a great example). The one sour note is the cursive font used for headings, which is at best annoying, and at worst unreadable.
Most of the artwork is passable, but none of it is brilliant, and some of it is just bad. My first thought upon seeing some of Robert Carlos' pieces was that he needed to work on his anatomy, but pieces by the same artist in later issues seem to indicate that he has. The maps included with the adventures are well laid-out, but unfortunately they still make use of the annoying cursive font mentioned above.
Content
Two adventures are included in this issue: 'The Star of Eilfin', and 'Trading Company Troubles'. Both adventures use boxed text and complete stat-blocks extensively, blessings to inexperienced, un-imaginative and/or just plain lazy GMs. Balancing the adventures for parties of different levels and sizes is made easier as well, with the use of a 'combined level' rating. Either or both of these adventures would be relatively easy to convert to a number of systems, including d20, and would reward the effort.
The first adventure, 'The Star of Eilfin' is a relatively simplistic quest for the magic pendant of the title, though it is quite well-thought-out. For example, the PCs are made to sign extensive contracts by their employer, who has been swindled one too many times by 'greedy adventurers'. However, the final encounter with the pendant's guardian might prove troublesome unless the GM is willing to lead the PCs toward specific topics of conversation, so they can discover what must be done.
'Trading Company Troubles', the second adventure in this issue, is set in the town of Nyalan, detailed in the preceding article. I'll cover the details of the town later, as it is provided as a ready-made location in its own right. This adventure is the first of a trilogy, the other scenarios to be published in future issues. In this installment, the PCs investigate assassination attempts made on a wealthy merchant, but this is only the start of a tale of intrigue and dark deeds. As with 'The Star of Eilfin', this adventure is quite well-thought out, with multiple adventure hooks provided to cover a variety of circumstances, and a very plausible story driving the action throughout. Much of the substance of the adventure is investigative, and that old CoC device, the revelatory diary, is employed to good effect.
This issue also includes a number of rules expansions and optional rules, including ones for knocking out opponents and mounted combat. For me, these are important to have in a fantasy game, and allow players a greater range of tactical options. Also included are rules for a new monster, the Giant Rat, and a new PC race, the Half-Alfar. All of these additions to the 'Undiscovered' rules seem well-balanced and eminently useable.
A selection of pre-made NPCs and locations for your 'Undiscovered' game are provided in this issue, and like the adventures, most of these are easily converted to your fantasy RPG system of choice. The two NPCs, Lolandrean the High Priest of Kala, and Vlarnae, High Priestess of Zale complement each other nicely, and are well-detailed. The two locations are the town of Nyalan and the land of Trenord, both of which would fit quite easily into a number of fantasy settings. The locations are just as detailed as the characters, and provide a number of story seeds that an imaginative GM could make good use of.
Three pieces of fiction are featured in Issue 1. I found all three pieces adequate, but none was exceptional. As illustrations of certain aspects of the game world, they serve their purpose, but nothing more. Phillip Theriault's piece, entitled 'Thieves' Dilemma' does include some good descriptive prose, and was the best of the lot for me. As with the other articles, the fiction suffered from the occasional poor choice of words, but this wasn't too distracting.
This issue's 'Showcase' section features artwork by Sara Brodin. Brodin's anatomy needs work, but the shading on all three pieces is quite good. I'm not much of an art critic, so I'll leave it to those more skilled than I to pass further comment.
Finally, there is a small section entitled 'What's Happening in the World Today'. This section provides an excellent collection of story seeds, and was one of the stand-outs of the e-zine for me. There are a wealth of adventure ideas and plot developments here for inventive GMs to mine to their hearts' content.
Overall, this e-zine is representative of the quality of material being put out in PDF format by small publishers these days. The rules additions make this an essential supplement for players of 'Undiscovered', and the adventures, NPCs and locations make it a rewarding purchase for players of other fantasy systems. I look forward to seeing future issues.
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