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Broken Tree Inn is part of a collection of first and second-edition RuneQuest supplements by Judges Guild which are nominally set as "Gateway" adventures but which work just as well set in Glorantha. The production standards, as is the norm with Judges Guild products, are amateur; the 48 pages includes the paper cover. The text within is largely single-column justified, with the exception of character statistics. The font is large, serif and there's plenty of white space. Paul Jaquays does quite a good job of the cover art which provides an accurate visual of the Inn and its grounds, however Kevin Siembieda's interior art ranges from below average to downright terrible. The regional and interior maps are nothing special, and indeed it is a little hard to justify the space given to them. The writing throughout is clear and there are no major glaring errors and only a few typo's.

The book starts with a three paragraph description of the history of the area which certainly smacks of being appropriate for Glorantha and follows with three scenario ideas of varying difficulty. Boiled down to the bare essentials, the region is the border between a large Elf stronghold, the Tall Seed Forest, and the expansions of the human Empire. Human lumberwork, land clearing and farming has become a little too close for comfort and there's more than some tension between the two. In the first scenario, the Elves employ the PCs to open the gates of the Empire's border fort. The second scenario is simply a reverse of the former; defend the fort from a night-time attack of the Elves. The third is Elven bounty-hunting in their forest.

Of the three, the first scenario is certainly the most interesting as it involves alien contact (in RuneQuest elves are quite alien indeed), secret meetings at the Inn, and a great deal of subterfuge and risk. No-one would want to be caught betraying their own species. The second and third scenarios, although allegedly more difficult in game terms, are really quite impoverished in their narrative imagination and are best ignored. What is somewhat disappointing is that further elaboration of the first scenario is not undertaken; after all there are four border forts in the area and if one suddenly is taken over by Elves presumably there would be a reaction and the possibility of a longer-term campaign.

With the exception of random encounter descriptions, the rest of the publication is details of the setting and characters being the Broken Tree Inn, the Fort and the Elves each of which there is detail and plenty of opportunities for further plot development. The Inn itself is the site of some interesting history which players with a modicum of intelligence and curiosity will unearth. There is also evidence of some prurient humour, whether by accident or design, in the Elven character names; "Dry Root" and "Long Stem" stand out in particular. In contrast the Inn is only described in the most brief terms; the map is without significant detail, and the only character of note is Yara Mith, the fort's commander. Finally, there is also some description of some special magic items that the Elves have in their possession.

Overall, Broken Tree Inn gives an interesting setting, plenty of opportunities for further development, but leaves most of the work to the GM to tie all the pieces together in an interesting fashion. A particular production flaw is presenting all the character stats with the same font and by going into individual detail for minor NPCs. In AD&D of course, one can simply note an NPC's stats in a single line,. In this publication 9-12 lines per character is given, and regardless of the relative importance; two and a half pages, for example, is dedicated to the stats for Runner #1, Runner #2, Runner #3 etc all the way up to Runner #13.

Despite these criticisms Broken Tree Inn remains a recommended product. It is an interesting location, it does have an interesting scenario and there is plenty of opportunity for further development (negotiating "land rights for Aldryami" is one obvious course of action, for example). It is certainly an impressive publication for 1979 when the gaming industry was still finding its feat. However, the lack of detail in the plot is disappointing; mind you, at least it has a plot which is more can be said for most publications of its time - and for the decade that followed. Further, and in particular, the general lack of substance for the page count significantly reduces the overall value given.

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