Review of A Druid's Lament

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Saturday, June 21st is Free RPG Day ‘14 and with it comes a slew of new and interesting little releases. They can usually be divided between tasters for new games that will be released at Gen Con this forthcoming August and support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera. In general, the tasters for the new, ‘hot’ games are highly anticipated and on the day itself, in high demand, but come the day, it would be remiss of us to ignore the less-in-demand titles. Many of these it should be made clear, are worth your time and effort to make it to your friendly, local gaming store to get hold of a copy.

A Druid’s Lament is a scenario for Castles & Crusades, Troll Lord Games’ stripped down version of the d20 System that offered Basic Dungeons & Dragons-style play for a modern version of the venerable fantasy RPG. It should be noted that 2014 marks the tenth anniversary of Castles & Crusades. The scenario is designed for four to eight characters of between Sixth and Eighth Level—the six pre-generated adventurers are all Seventh Level. At just twelve pages in length, it offers a combined wilderness and dungeon adventure that can be played through in a session or two.

A Druid’s Lament takes place in the forest in Minnimar on the mythical world of Valunci. The adventurers enter the rural town of Sherwood to discover that its inhabitants are in mourning following the death of a local family in the nearby forest under bloody circumstances. If they investigate the deaths, the adventurers will find clues pointing to the centre of the forest and the forest itself to be inimical towards all intruders.

The following day, the adventurers will learn more about what has befallen the forest. A half-elf Druid came upon men voraciously taking from the forest and when they refused to desist, she cried for vengeance. It came and now that the proverbial genie has been unleashed, it refuses to go back into the lamp. She seeks the adventurer’s help in this, and points them toward the Great Tree at the heart of the forest, where it stands gnarled and be-wintered hiding a dark secret…

Cleanly and neatly laid out, A Druid’s Lament comes with decent art and clear cartography. It is a simple affair, but then at twelve pages long, there is little time for it to get complicated. A good adventure then for Castles & Crusades, one that easily adapted to other fantasy settings and RPGs.