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The life around a travelling circus has been the base of countless novels and movies. Also roleplaying game books, like Ravenloft’s Carnival, World of Darkness’ Midnight Circus or Scarred Lands’ Blood Bayou. But I like the concept, so this is not a problem.
The adventure is not linear, but event-based. Therefore the players have almost complete freedom to explore and interact with the characters, although there are a number of events that take place during the day.
The plot (SPOILERS!!!)
The carnival has settled outside the village of Falcon’s Hollow, introduced in the free module D0: Hollow's Last Hope. The PCs are around so must probably they will visit it to have a good time. What they don’t know is that the carnival’s owner has a dark secret related to the town and the fairies living in the surrounding forests.The adventure is divided in three chapters. The first one describes the circus and its inhabitants through 15 locations. We have the Wild Sleigh Rides, the Blind Peep Show, a Pie Baking contest and the traditional Menagerie of Freaks (including the sword-swallower and Udmor the One-Headed Ettin). The second chapter features a number of timed events, like several contests and a trouble in the ice maze.
During the first two chapters the carnival has been infiltrated by the fey. The nymph queen Syntira, who wants the locals punished for cutting the local forest, is in command. So there are people disappearing, and some carnival members have been charmed to follow orders.
What the queen doesn’t know at the beginning is that the Witch Queen of the North, through her servant the Cold Rider, has corrupted the fey. Therefore the “mild punishment” is becoming a “great butchery”. Even worse, the carnival’s owner is helping the Witch Queen because he thinks he will get his lover’s soul in return. Eventually Synthira summons the PCs and asks them to stop the Cold Rider.
The adventure’s third chapter is the dark side of the first one, when the fey unleash their devil plot after the big fireworks. The book describes eight encounters, twisted versions of what they found during the day. The PCs have to stop them in order to save the villagers.
Style
Like all Paizo books, Carnival of Tears is a really elegant product: great interior illustrations, three fantastic maps, full colour… And they include some designer’s notes, which is a nice touch.
Conclusions
My group and I played this group a few weeks ago and we loved every moment of it, from the funny first chapter to the nightmarish last part. There are great encounters and interesting NPCs. As the DM, I found the book very easy to read and very useful while running the game.So highly recommended.
