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100 Fantasy Adventure Seeds

This is a review of the 112-page PDF of adventure starters, 100 Fantasy Adventure Seeds, from Postmortem Studios and is available from RPGnow for $6.50.

Summary

As the subtitle implies this is a collection of ideas and inspiration for jumpstarting adventures. Many of the ideas are typical of side treks, and then there are the ones that are pure evil, like the one about the scenic snow capped mountain that is really a dormant volcano. Or how about that one with the Bermuda Triangle like setup about missing ships that turns out to really be about a band of renegade merfolk preying upon trade and military vessels sailing too near their territory? These are the kind of sinister plot twists that Game Masters are sure to love.

Most Suitable Setting: Target genre is fantasy, and the plot seeds play up to the established tropes and expectations of said genre. There is even the typical “you meet in a bar/tavern” scenario or two. But not every plot seed is so clear-cut and transparent.

Suggest System: Suitable for use with any fantasy RPG.

Stock Characters: Sadly none. Not even a single NPC.

Game Mechanics: None. This is presented as a collection of generic fantasy adventure plot seeds. This means GMs will have to provide both the game rules and their own stock NPCs. Which is how it should be.

Before anything else I’d like to say I really liked the cover art. It reminded me of the old classic Phil Foglio style, which may or may not be considered a flattering remark by the artist. That said I wanted to like what I am reading, and I do, but there are too many minor annoyances to overlook them all. For instance this had to be the slowest loading PDF from one page to the next I have seen in some time. On the bright side at least the layout is easy on the eyes, except when the font slips under 11 point, which luckily isn’t that often. I also like the “coming soon” section as I feel it is nice to be informed that other supporting products are due out soon, shows a company is making an effort.

Despite the PDF issues outlined below this is a potentially very useful supplement, especially for the overworked Game Master. This is the sort of gaming aide that you would want to have on hand for those times when school or work or life in general has you running in circles and you need something, quick, so you can set-up a decent adventure for the weekend game.

PDF Issues: Unfortunately there are quite a few. First, whenever I attempt to do a block copy all I get is a bunch of blank lines. Doesn’t matter what I copy into or how I try to wrangle the font, something is not working here. Second, the pages have a definite load lag. In several instances I can see multiple image layers, beginning with a blank page the moving onto the large gray button at the bottom followed by the border then the actual text. Obviously this PDF could use some optimizing. Third, the search feature does not work. I have tried to search for words like “bar” and “fantasy” and “game” to no avail. Fourth, the pages I printed at random on my laser printer all came out as blacked out lines where the text should have been. (Looked like one of those FOIA documents about UFOs!) While the first three issues are minor black marks the latter constitutes a major black mark that, assuming the issue isn’t solely on my end, requires immediate fixing.

Negatives: Font size. I can’t stress this enough, but if you are putting out a PDF with anything under a 11 point font size- which should be used sparingly- very few of us average Joe Readers are going to be able to read what you’ve lovingly labored on for so long. And that frustrates us, especially when everything looks so interesting. Why do you eagle eyed writers mock us so? *smirks jokingly*

Positives: The font size switches to something readable on screen around page eight. However, to save myself from squinting I have skipped over the preceding pages. Was there anything of interest in them? Probably not. The adventure starters themselves appear to all be contained from page 8 and one. Each sample plot seed takes up a single page and is presented in a simple straightforward format that outlines the description containing the plot hook, provides several possible story twists, then wraps up with an epilogue. Nicely presented.