[Review] Winter's Daughter

Old School Essentials

The tomb of an ancient hero, lost in the tangled depths of the woods. A ring of standing stones, warded by the sinister Drune cult. A fairy princess who watches with timeless patience from beyond the veil of the mortal. A forgotten treasure that holds the key to her heart.

A romantic fairytale dungeon adventure for characters of 1st to 3rd level.

Author: Gavin Norman

Link

Reddit Thread

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Other reviews: Bryce Lynch, Revenant's Quill, Ben Milton, u/realScrubTurkey, Antonios S, Wasabi Burger, Technical Grimoire

There are multiple versions of Winter’s Daughter. I have v3.1 (which does not have the ritual sacrifice mentioned in the above reviews). The newest is the one bundled with Dolmenwood (I haven’t read it, but at a glance the layout is different).

Text and Formatting

The book fits an introduction, ref’s background, hooks, player’s background, setting context, 19 keyed locations, an epilogue, and magic item appendix in 22 A5 (digest-sized) pages. It’s less dense than Incandescent Grottoes (same content but 57 keyed locations in 48 pages) but still terse and evocative in all of the same ways.

Pre-written adventure text serves two purposes: an initial reading to give the GM context, and an at-the-table reference for moment to moment play.

For moment to moment play, good room keys are paramount. The GM has two tasks:

1. Describe the initial scene to the players. What they see, smell, and hear before they enter the room or start messing with stuff.

2. Engage in the conversation with players as they ask clarifying questions and do stuff in the room.

Gavin’s house style makes it easy to engage in the conversation but hard to cobble together the initial reading. The above room key has 6 text styles:

1. Headers (blue background). Examples: “Door”, “Collapsed Wall”, “3 Wyrmtongues”

2. Bolded words (no bullet points). Examples: “Wood swollen”, “Locked”, “Rubble”, “Dark earth”

3. (parenthetical). These elaborate on the bolded words. Examples: (with damp), (piled in the corner), (behind the collapsed stonework)

4. • Bolded Bullet Points: Examples: “In the Tunnel”, “Crawling Up”, “Reaction”, “Locked Drawer”

5. Bullet Point elaboration. These follow bolded bullet points and are written in terse natural language. Examples: “Leads to area 4”, “Distrubed by noise in the room”, “Easily smashed open”.

6. Monster stat blocks.

In On Set Design, Campbell writes

After the bar are the immediately visible items! When describing things, I only use the bolded words! The players receive no extra information unless they ask for it!

The arrows indicate that it is either "Information available upon further examination" or "An item contained in or on the container". For items containing or supporting multiple items (tables, chests) indents are used to group the items.

Here, I think we’re using a similar idea, but the immediately detectable features are not easy to pick out. The information is associated well for everything except the initial reading. Here’s the same picture, but with initial reading information highlighted:

Note how many pattern-breaks there are here. We’re mentioning some of the headers (the door, the collapsed wall, the desk) but not others (the wormtongues, the loose flagstone). We’re mentioning some of the bolded words (that the door is swollen, that there’s rubble, that the desk is decaying wood) but not others (that the door is locked, that there’s dark earth behind the rubble). We’re mentioning some of the parenthesis (the rubble is in the corner, the wood is carved with angels) but not others (the dampness of the door).

The bullet-point formatting is consistently interaction-based information, which is fantastic.

Compare:

10 | Abandoned Priest’s Quarters

The entrance is swollen (with damp) and locked (no key exists). Rubble from a collapsed wall lies in the northwest corner. A moldy writing desk of decaying wood rests against the southern wall, carved with angels.

(A loose flagstone in the northwest conceals a small space underneath.)

Rubble:  Past the rubble is a 2ft wide tunnel, delving upward through the dark earth. 3 Wormtongues lurk in the tunnel. Crawling through the tunnel leads to [4].

Desk: Contains a locked drawer, easily smashed open. Inside is an old, mould-covered book—pages stuck together with damp, indecipherable. The book conceals a brass sheet, inscribed with a pastoral poem about Sir Chyde hunting with his favored dogs. One of the dogs is named: Flaegr (a clue for [12]).

Flagstone: Located with a search for secret doors or traps. The space underneath contains a small metal box. The box is trapped with a poison needle; save vs poison or suffer 1d6 damage and fall unconscious for 1d6 turns. Inside, a silver crucifix (50gp), a scroll (hold person, clerical), a prayer book of stamped gold leaf (500gp), and a box of 20 perfectly preserved wafers (holy; each cures 1hp).

Wormtongue: Squirming, tongue-like worms. Dark pink and bumpy. 4ft long and thigh-thick. They have tooth-ringed mouths like lampreys. Eyeless. Wormtongues attack ravenously.

AC 7 [12], HD 1+1* (hp 3, 4, 5), Att 1 × bite (1d4 + acid), THAC0 18 [+1], MV 120’ (40’), SV D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (1), ML 7, AL Neutral, XP 19.

• Acid: Causes 1 damage per round until washed off (e.g. with water).

I’ve seen formatting like this in a handful of places. It’s more-or-less what Yochai Gal uses in Rise of the Blood Olms, and what Gabor Lux uses in Castle Xyntillan. It’s also what Josh at Rise Up Comus eventually settled on. I think it’s very strong, and wish it was standard.

The intro paragraph is something that could be read aloud, and is a terse description of sights, smells, and sounds that are perceivable without interaction. It contains bolded words that are expanded on, in order, in the following paragraphs. Parenthesis denote GM-facing information like treasure values, references to other rooms, and hidden stuff.

Also of note, the formatting in winter’s daughter, hole in the oak, and incandescent grottoes is similar but different. Each uses the aforementioned 6 text styles, but uses each of them differently.

The Map

There are separate maps for the outside (2 areas) and the tower (4 areas) but these maps are highly linear / simple and not worth digging into.

The dungeon has a left/middle/right symmetric thing going. The three paths funnel to the Hall of Hounds, where you can either fight 2x 4HD stone hounds that can only be harmed by magic or you can speak the names of the hounds “Flaegr” (room 15) and “Chedr” (room 11).

Overall, I think this is serviceable. On one hand, the map isn’t big enough or well-connected enough to provide meaningful choice. The PCs need to make it to room 10, room 11, and room 13 somehow and there’s only so many ways to get there. On the other hand, the rooms don’t have traditional encounters. The entrance chamber [5] has animated objects that attack anyone non-lawful and the crypt [8] has skeletons that attack looters but other than that, there isn’t much to threaten the PCs so they can explore every room at their leisure. In our playthough, my players explored each room.

Content

Referee’s Background

We get a bullet-point version of the background. I love bullet points, but I found these awkward in this context:

The Cold Prince

The fairy lord who ruled all Dolmenwood, before the arrival of mortals.

• Eternal winter: Under his rule, the forest lay under an eternal cloak of frost and snow.

• Frost elves: The people of the Cold Prince, immortal fairies as fair as snow and as cruel as ice.

• The war: Nine centuries ago, mortals waged war against the fey armies of the Cold Prince vying for control of Dolmen- wood.

The Love of Mortal and Fairy

In the midst of the war, a mortal knight and a fairy princess met and fell in love.

• Princess Snowfall-at-Dusk: The seventeenth daughter of the Cold Prince.

• Sir Chyde: A near-mythical hero who fought in the war against the Cold Prince.

• First meeting: They met in the deeps of Dolmenwood, in a clearing beside a circle of stones known as the Whything Stones.

• Trysts: For months, the pair trysted in secret glades, knowing that their love was forbidden.

• The portrait: Sir Chyde commissioned a portrait of his love, entitled “The Lady of the Wood”.

• The binding ring: The princess pledged her heart to the knight, bestow- ing on him a magical ring that had the power to bind their souls together for eternity (see Ring of Soul-Binding, p24).

and so on.

The bullet-point-bolded entries are like entries in a encyclopedia/dictionary. “There’s three things you need to know about the Cold Prince: eternal winter, frost elves, and the war.” I find it stilted and tough to parse, especially on a first reading.

Keyed entries like this are good when I know what I’m trying to find and there’s a coherent organization scheme. It’s the same reason monster manuals are effective: each monster’s name is a key, the keys are organized alphabetically (except OSRIC for some godforsaken reason), and so when you want to know more information about a Hobgoblin, you flip through until you see the big bold Hobgoblin header and then you can read.

I don’t see myself ever needing to try to reference information about the cold prince’s frost elves, so having the hierarchy (i need to go to the “cold prince” section, then search for the “frost elf” key) is noise. This is a case where I would prefer natural language:

The Cold Prince

The fairy lord who ruled all Dolmenwood, before the arrival of mortals. Under the Prince’s rule, the forest lay under an eternal cloak of frost and snow. Frost Elves, the people of the Cold Prince, are immortals as fair as snow and cruel as ice. Nine centuries ago, mortals waged war against Cold Prince for control of Dolmenwood.

This is still choppy (notice how each sentence doesn’t flow into the next), but feels better to me.

Hooks

Content wise, these are great! Our table had great timing; we had a player re-join (welcome back Luke!) and their “Dreams of the Lady” were a great way to introduce them to the table. The different hooks lead to very different vibes.

For example, in “Dreams of the Lady”, the explicit goal is to bring the ring (room 13) to the lady (room 19). This leads to very cooperative play; the ring itself also wants this to happen, and the lady generously rewards this course of action. The guards at the lady’s tower are also supportive. The PCs end up having to fight some wormtongues, bring a ring to a lady, and then get paid a lot.

Then, in “Tomb Robbers”, the explicit goal is to bring the ring to an undisclosed/unnamed wizard. This leads to conflict; the ring does not want this to happen, and will haunt the PCs (and then the wizard). The lady’s tower becomes a side-mission (a very dangerous side mission) with a lot of loot.

Formatting wise, I have the same quibbles about needless bullet-pointing as above, though this time they’re literally just paragraphs with bullet in front instead of whitespace.

Inheritance

▶ An elderly, long-lost relative of a PC dies, bequeathing some minor wealth to the PC (whatever the referee wishes).

▶ Among the papers and oddments the PC receives is an old charter, accompanied with family tree proving the PC to be a distant descendent of one Brigford the Wise, brother of Sir Chyde. (The referee may decide how accurate this genealogical information is.)

▶ The charter shows the location of the tomb where Brigford is interred alongside his brother, noting that the fabled sword and ring of Sir Chyde are (legally speaking) the property of the inheriting PC.

▶ The documents claim that the ring has the power to open a doorway to Fairy.

can quite literally be

Inheritance

An elderly, long-lost relative of a PC dies, bequeathing some minor wealth to the PC (whatever the referee wishes).

Among the papers and oddments the PC receives is an old charter, accompanied with family tree proving the PC to be a distant descendent of one Brigford the Wise, brother of Sir Chyde. (The referee may decide how accurate this genealogical information is.)

The charter shows the location of the tomb where Brigford is interred alongside his brother, noting that the fabled sword and ring of Sir Chyde are (legally speak- ing) the property of the inheriting PC.

The documents claim that the ring has the power to open a doorway to Fairy.

Bullet points are supposed to represent unordered lists! You should be able to read the bullet points in whatever order you want (like a shopping list). Here, the bullets need to be read in order for them to make sense, which is bizarre. Just make them paragraphs!

Player’s Background

The following tale is known among the common folk of Dolmenwood, and may be heard by PCs.

Under what circumstances would the following tale be heard? Like, is this supposed to be a dice roll or what? I have a little alarm bell that rings in my head whenever I read the word “may” or “can”.

I dispensed with uncertainty and just told the players the tale.

Deeper Investigation

If PCs spend time and money to employ sages, seek out obscure tomes, or consult with oracles, they may be able to divulge some of the true story of the knight and the princess. Each of the following facts requires a significant research effort.

OSE book gives us a process for sages:

Sages are very rare individuals who devote their lives to the study of obscure knowledge. A sage may be consulted to answer unusual questions.

Time and cost: The referee must judge the time and cost required to research the answer to a question.

Chance of success: There is never a 100% chance of success in finding an answer.

So it would be helpful if we want to directly hang this on the sage mechanic to supply the three relevant parameters: time, cost, and probability of success.

Meanwhile, OSE offers no guidance on how “seeking out obscure tomes” works. Call of Cthulhu has a library use skill; 5e has investigation. It doesn’t feel like we can properly convey the activity of library research through conversation, much in the same way that we don’t try to pick locks through conversation.

Area Descriptions

Outside the Mound Random Encounters

We have a 4-member list of very specific encounters. We’re to roll a 1-in-6 chance every two turns, so it’s very conceivable that the PCs get the same encounter twice before moving to the next area.

1. A PC suddenly spots a ghostly, violet-eyed owl gazing down from a high branch. Save versus spells or fall into a faint for 1d6 turns.

2. 1d4 tipsy goblin merchants with lanterns climb cautiously out of a trapdoor in the forest floor. They have stepped into Dolmenwood from Fairy, seeking rare night-fruits. (See Dolmenwood Goblin, p20.)

3. A gust of wind whips the branches of the trees into a frenzy. PCs near trees must save versus paralysis or be struck for 1 damage. Flames sputter and may go out: torches 4-in-6 chance, lanterns 2-in-6.

4. A huge, warty toad creeps over, eyes the PCs quizzically, and utters a single, croaking word: “Betrayal”.

As I’ve said before about lists this short with encounters this specific, getting two encounters in a row is very twilight-zoney, which I don’t think is the intention. The PCs see a huge warty toad creep over, eye them quizzically, and utter “Betrayal”. 10 minutes later, the PCs see a huge warty toad creep over, eye them quizzically, and utter “Betrayal”.

1 | Approaching the Burial Mound

Twisted trees (seem to close in around as PCs pass by, blocking their way out).

Do they just seem to close in as the PCs pass by, or do they actually? Like, are the PCs blocked or nah? When the adventure is over, what happens?

2 | The Whything Stones

This, as far as I understand, used to be a (willing) human sacrifice ritual in previous editions. Now, it’s just bizarre/out of place.

Backing up a little, I think it’s worth talking about different preferences for information. In Interesting and Useful Dungeon Descriptions, Prescott (of Trilemma Adventures fame) writes:

When they say, "What do we see?" they're not asking for an "interesting" description, they're asking for a useful one. They need information that will help them stay alive:

Should we go around this corner? (If we do, will we die?)
Should we use this spell now? (If we do, will we die later?)
Should we turn back? (Are we already too beaten up to survive the trip home?)

…

In general, useful information reveals a pattern that lets the players predict what's coming.

I’d call this game-able information. The GM is providing information that lets them make meaningful choices, solve puzzles, etc.

Other sorts of information can (broadly) be narrativist: it doesn’t help the players make any choices, but it does provide narratively satisfying structure.

Finally there can be verisimilitude information: it doesn’t help players make choices, it isn’t narratively satisfying, but it makes the world seem more real. I think this is what Prince is getting at in his review of Secrets of the Nethercity:

A separate but related problem is that of the [Lore] entries. AX2 makes use of the setting’s extensive pantheon of Cthonic deities like Nargund, Telith, Bel, Naga etc. etc. and the dungeon is filled with bas-reliefs, shrines and murals dedicated to them. There’s this separate lore entry you can roll on and then the party nerd knows the deity’s name. I think a huge opportunity was missed to sort of justify all this anthropological detail. If there had been some sort of area where knowing what particular god was being worshipped would have clued the characters in on some sort of rite to bypass its guardians, all this detail would have paid off, and the person taking the Theology proficiency would have been able to smile smugly at the morons who just got the +1 initiative proficiency.

IE, the Nethercity’s dungeon is filled with bas-reliefs, shrines, and murals because the author thinks thats what would be there, not because those things are useful details on a gameplay level.

I’m okay with this! I think there should be a healthy blend of game-facing information and simulative information, leaning towards game-facing. When verisimilitude sounds like gameplay information, I object. A good litmus test here is that if you’re describing an area and the players write it down, they did that because it sounds like a Clue; it sounds Important.

That’s my beef here. We’re presenting a lot of information. A stag ritual. Magical runes. Icy fae writhing in torment. Slime and slime-haze. Exactly 13 owls with pentagram eyes. This all sounds Important, like a Clue. It’s totally unrelated to the rest of the adventure. Red herrings all the way down; pure verisimilitude.

I recommend cutting it entirely.

3 | Tomb Entrance

▶ If examined: Scratches are discovered. Looks like something heavy was dragged up the stairs (a long time ago).

Please don’t keep the GM in suspense! If I read ahead, I can infer that the drag marks were made by dragging whatever used to be on the now-empty statue plinth in room 7. Just tell me that!

▶ If examined: Scratches are discovered. Looks like something heavy (the statue from room 7) was dragged up the stairs (a long time ago).

On a gameplay level, I think this is trying to hint at two things:

• Players can drag statues around (for sale or whatever else)

• Someone has been here

Strangely, neither of these conclusions are relevant. The only reference to someone being here is the scratch marks. There are no dead adventures, no sprung traps, etc. The person doing the dragging is never referenced elsewhere. The other marble statue is not given a treasure value (??). I’m at a loss as to intent.

4 | Worm Hole

Characters skilled with tracking can detect trails of three slug- or worm-like creatures.

There aren’t skills in OSE! Can I just say that my fighter is skilled with tracking? How many things like this can I say that I’m skilled in? If you’re playing OSE Advanced, there’s a Ranger class that explicitly has tracking skill, but they’re the only ones. Does the existence of the Ranger class imply that no one else can track? This is a (pun-intended) worm hole, and I would prefer a more normal mechanic (like a X-in-6 roll, a search for secret doors, or automatic discovery).

5 | Hall of Guardians

Items: All about 1’ tall. A silver crucifix (200gp), a wooden statue of a cherub, a holy book, a huge candle.

What is the encumbrance value of a 1ft tall silver crucifix?

6 | Blindfolded Statue

White Marble Statue

A fair maiden (long, flowing hair and robe, upon her brow a star). Beseeching silence (the statue is posed facing the stairs, with her finger raised to her lips). Blindfolded (a black cloth is wrapped around the statue’s head, covering her eyes). Round plinth (also of marble, 3’ across, 1’ high).

▶ Removing the blindfold: The inside of the cloth is embroidered with golden crucifixes.

This is a (as far as I can tell) grievous red herring. The statue is blinded (with the power of god), and is shushing the stairs down. As far as I can tell, neither sound nor sight is at all significant. It’s totally unclear (to the players and GM) why the statue is blinded or why it beseeches silence. This is the sort of thing that looks like a Clue.

As referenced above, the statue in the opposite room is missing (implied to have been dragged away), but this statue isn’t given a treasure value (or weight).

7 | Freezing Mirror

Full-Length Mirror

Silver frame (beautifully wrought, engraved with crucifixes and unicorns at play). Hung from the wall (behind the statue plinth).

▶ Passing in front: Save vs paralysis or be frozen still.

▶ Covering the mirror: Bypasses the freezing effect.

▶ Value: 1,000gp material value.

▶ Removing from the tomb: Its magical properties fade after one month.

▶ Unfreezing people: Holy water, cure light wounds, or sunlight.

Notes:

• I would prefer for “unfreezing people” to be associated with getting frozen, like “Passing in front: Save vs paralysis or be frozen still. Holy water, cure light wounds, or sunlight unfreezes.”

• The mirror does not have a coin weight. Bespoke, bulky treasures should given weights; this is an encumbrance management game!

• The mirror doesn’t operate when someone gazes at it (as is traditional), instead it operates when someone passes in front.

8 | Family Crypt

There’s a lot going on here, but we can make some inferences:

1. The floating skeletons are Lady Amaranda and Lord Brigworth. We infer this because their coffins (question: does coffer mean something different in across the pond? I don’t think Americans typically put skeletons in coffers) are open and empty.

2. The floating skeletons are sentient and are able to answer talk (they can speak old-fashioned common)

3. The skeletons are floating because of the slime.

However, that hardly answers all the questions.

• What in the heck is the slime doing here? We’re told that the slime drips in from a crack in the ceiling. This whole area is a mound to outside. Is there a crack on top of the mound too?

• What’s the deal with the fissure in the floor? Is that from the slime dropping on the floor and making it float? If so, where’s the rubble?

• Why are the skeletons animated? Does the slime have the ability to raise the dead?

• What do the skeletons know?

These are important questions because when you give the players a totally bananas room, and NPCs in the room who they can talk to, it feels pretty safe to assume that the NPCs will get asked questions about the room.

10 | Abandoned Priest’s Quarters

A Loose Flagstone

▶ Locating: A search for secret doors or traps will find it.

Here’s the OSE text on searching for secret doors or traps:

The following stipulations apply to searching for secret doors, room traps, and treasure traps.

Time: Searching takes one turn.

Referee rolls: The referee should always roll for the character searching, so that the player does not know if the roll failed or if there are simply no hidden features present.

One chance: Each character can only make one attempt to search a specific area or item.

Searching for Room Traps

Adventurers may choose to search a 10’ × 10’ area for room traps. If the search succeeds, the trap is discovered. See #Searching.

Chance of finding: If a character is searching in the right location, there is a 1-in-6 chance of finding a room trap. (Some types of adventurers may have an increased chance.)

Then, here’s the map of the room

Each square is 5ft, so there are 8 different 10x10ft squares the characters could pick to search, and only 1 of those squares contains the flagstone. It’s also slightly ambiguous as to whether we’re supposed to ignore the (default) 1-in-6 chance here or not. I’d assume that we guarantee discovery from the phrase “will find it”.

I’m curious about the intended gameplay here, and suspect that folks generally don’t play it rules-as-written. It’s hard to imagine that players would have some cause to deliberately search in that specific 10x10 area; there’s nothing that distinguishes it from other 10x10 areas; there aren’t other loose flagstones that form a pattern, and its presence isn’t otherwise signaled.

Confusingly, the example of play from B59 is contradictory:

DM: The room is six-sided, 30’ on a side and 20’ high. The door you came in is the only one you see. There is nothing unusual about the floor or ceiling. Besides the body of the goblins, there is a wooden box along the northeast wall and a pile of old rags in the north corner.

Morgan: Silverleaf is checking for secret doors. Fred is looking for traps, Black Dougal is examining the box, and Sister Rebecca is guarding the door. I’m prodding the rags with my sword - any movement?

DM: (after rolling for appropriate chances): Silverleaf notices that one of the stone blocks in the southwest wall is slightly discolored. Fred does not see any traps. The box is the size of a small trunk; it is latched by not locked. Morgan, nothing moves in the pile of rags.

I think the room in question is a hexagon with a side length of 30ft, which means that the whole room has ~2300 sqft. It has a perimeter of 180ft, and the characters are only able to search in 10ft sections, so at best I’d think that Silverleaf only has a 1-in-18 chance of randomly picking the right place to search (they didn’t specify which section), and then a 2-in-6 chance of finding the secret door if they search in the right spot for an overall of 2-in-108 chance. Something is afoot. Similarly, Fred isn’t specified to be looking for traps in a particular place (there are 23 non-overlapping 10x10ft squares for Fred to potentially search).

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We also get a clue about a one of the hound’s names:

Inside the book cover: A brass sheet, inscribed with a pastoral poem about Sir Chyde hunting with his favoured dogs. One of the dogs is named: Flaegr.

Unfortunately, no such poem is actually provided. I think this is a great opportunity for a handout or having a bit of extra fun, so here’s such a poem:

The Hunt of Sir Chyde

In misty morn when dew hangs low,
Through tangled brush and woodlands grow,
The echoes tell of hoof and horn,
As Sir Chyde rides with hounds at dawn.

Bright Flaegr bounds through fern and thorn,
His golden coat by sunlight worn.
Astride the hills with tireless grace,
He leads the pack in fervent chase.

The quarry hides where shadows lie,
Yet Flaegr’s howl cleaves the morning sky.
No trail too faint, no scent too weak,
Through streams and glades, his prey he'll seek.

By amber light, the hunt subsides,
And Sir Chyde, with pride, abides.
Beneath the oaks, his hounds recline,
Their collars glint in soft moonshine.

Oh, Flaegr bold, of heart so true,
The hero hound 'neath heaven’s blue.
When tales are told by firelight's gleam,
Thy name endures, a hunter’s dream.


- ChatGPT

11 | Statues With Weapons

Longsword: With wavy blood grooves. The sword is enchanted (of fairy construction): +2 to hit and damage. It carries a glamour that affects mortals who wield it, compelling them to attack the largest foe in battle.

This is a cool room! The battle mural hints at the sword being special, but only if the characters clear the mold. The sword itself is flavorful but powerful.

The Player’s Background notes:

Grave goods: Sir Chyde was buried with the following items of note: the sword with which he slew the fairy giant Butter-for-Bones, his moonstone engagement ring, the portrait of the Lady that he had commissioned.

similarly, the Inheritance hook

The charter shows the location of the tomb where Brigford is interred alongside his brother, noting that the fabled sword and ring of Sir Chyde are (legally speaking) the property of the inheriting PC.

both reference a special sword. I infer that this is that special sword (I don’t see another one in the module), but would love for the module to explicitly state it.

13 | The Knight’s Tomb

Upon its wrists: A pair of copper bracelets engraved with owls. Their eyes are amethysts. (Each bracelet is worth 1,000gp.)

Is this supposed to be related to the Drune somehow? We’re told that owls are Drune symbols; was Sir Chyde related to the Drune or is this coincidence?

Hanging Portrait

A fair maiden (with long, flowing, blond hair and white robe, upon her brow a star). Amid a stone circle (the background depicts a scene PCs may recognise—the Whything Stones, area 2). Grimed with dust (aged and damp).

▶ If restored: Worth 1,500gp.

How does portrait restoration work in OSE? What is it worth unrestored? What is the encumbrance of the portrait?

Silver Candlesticks

Floor-standing (4’ tall). Tarnished and blotchy (after years entombed).

▶ If cleaned: Worth 200gp each.

How many are there? What is their encumbrance?

14 | Warded Pool

I found this area confusing to run. Here’s my best interpretation:

• The shimmering pool at the bottom of the stairs is the real bottom of the tomb. It’s currently unreachable.

• The place where the pool connects to the stairs (both stairs) has a “curtain” of candles. In order to step into the pool, you’d have to cross through the candles.

• The candle curtain is effectively a portal. Anyone and anything that crosses the curtain is transported to faerie. This is testable by chucking a coin. Once the object crosses the curtain, it is no longer perceivable by folks on the other side. It lands in faerie, not in the pool.

The edge cases are tricky. I know this because I had to adjudicate them. My players were sketched out by the candle barrier (and pool) and wanted (like good players) to test it at length. They probed it with 10ft poles, tried to test the water, would stick a pinkie past the candles, etc.

I think it comes down to how obvious you want the teleportation to be. If you want players to know what they’re getting into, make it so that objects disappear as they pass through the curtain (like their 10ft pole just keeps getting shorter, but can be retracted). If you don’t want players to know what they’re getting into, make it so that the objects only go to faerie after they’ve completely passed the barrier. In this interpretation, they could stick a toe in the water, test the water with a stick, etc.

But pick one, and rule consistently. I was doing it on the fly and my players were horribly confused.

The Fairy Prison Random Events

2. A cawing white raven. Brings a message to the princess, announcing the arrival of her friend, Lord Mantle-of-Runes.

Lord Mantle-of-Runes is only mentioned here, in this one random encounter. What is the Faery Lord like? What are his stats? How long after announcement does he arrive? What does he want? How many guards does he bring with him? Does he have loot?

I rolled this encounter during play, told the players about the announcement, and then promptly forgot about it <_<

“Here you go GM, make up absolutely everything related to this Lord Mantle-of-Runes fellow. Good luck!”

15 | Tower on a Frozen Lake

Purple Crack in the Sky

Sticky, purple drips (occasionally fall from the crack, staining the snow).

Uhhhhh what the hell? This is never explained or elsewhere referenced. None of the wedding guests have anything to say about the crack in the sky. It’s totally irrelevant; an absurd little detail.

Maybe this is supposed to relate to the fissure from area 15? If so, why is the fluid sticky and purple rather than slimy and transparent? Why does it not have the weightlessness property? So, so confused.

16 | Entrance Hall

Griddlegrim and Grimmlegridge were a blast to roleplay! I had Grimmlegridge talk like the thing, and gave Griddlegrim a thick fake new-york-italian accent. The book mentions:

Checks names of all who come to the door. Allows invited wedding guests to enter. Will let uninvited people in if they eat a shroom from his pouch.

My players chose option 3, which was to explain that they had Sir Chyde’s ring, that Sir Chyde’s ghost was in the ring, that the ghost wanted to be re-united with Princess Snowfall-at-Dusk and to please go inform her of these events (they just explained the situation truthfully and simply).

Given that the fae have literally been waiting hundreds of years for exactly this, and that Snowfall-at-Dusk (per the adventure hook) had literally been requesting this in her dreams, I thought it was fair that this just worked.

17 | Fairy Kitchen

The deeper one delves, the larger the pantry seems. There is a 1-in-6 chance per person per turn of finding something worth 2d10 × 10gp in the mortal world. Rare fairy wines, jellied dreams, sprite dust, tarts of infatuation.

Oh hey, an infinite wealth generator! Merely find yourself in the fairy pantry and you can mine ~55 gold per hour of delicious delights. It would be handy to know how much they weigh <_<.

Treasure and XP

Guardians:

• Room 5: 4 religious objects (40 xp)

• Room 8: 2 Floating skeletons (friendly unless the players loot the crypt, 40xp)

• Room 10: 3 Wormtongues (57 xp)

• Room 12: 2 Stone Hounds (only activate if you don’t solve the puzzle, 250xp)

• Room 13: Sir Chyde (friendly unless you steal the ring, 300xp)

• Room 15: Griddlegrim (friendly, 13 xp), Grimmlegridge (friendly, 1200xp)

• Room 17: 2 Frost Elf Cooks (friendly, 10xp)

• Room 18: 9 Frost Elf Guards (friendly, 180xp), 7 Frost Elf Nobles (friendly, 875xp)

• Room 19: Snowfall-At-Dusk (friendly, 300xp)

My players explored the crypt, killed Chyde’s skeletal parents, solved the Flaegr and Chadr puzzle (they loved saying the dogs names, I think we just laughed and said Flaegr and Chadr for a solid 10 minutes. We still sometimes just yell out “Flaegr and Chadr”) talked to Sir Chyde, brought the ring to the Princess and left.

That path has you killing the religious objects, the floating skeletons, and the wormtongues, for a grand total of 137xp.

Loot:

• Room 5: Crucifix (200g, ??cn)

• Room 7: Mirror (1000g, ??cn)

• Room 8: Pearl Necklace (500g, 10cn), Gold Medallion (500g, 10cn)

• Room 10: A silver crucifix (50gp, ??cn), Prayer book of stamped gold leaf (500gp, ??cn)

• Room 13: 2x Copper Bracelets (1000g, 10cn), Hanging Portrait (1500g (if restored), ??cn), An Unknown Amount of Silver Candlesticks (200g, ??cn)

• Room 17: An unlimited amount of fairy food treats worth 2d10•10g. 1/6th chance to find per turn per person. ??cn

• Room 19: Star Headband (300g, 10cn), 30 ice-jewels (200g, 1cn), 12 necklaces (150g, 10cn), sapphire brooch (1000g, 10cn), 20 fur coats (100g, ??cn), 20 gowns (100g, ??cn)

Magical Items:

• Room 10: Clerical scroll of Hold Person (1cn), Box of 20 holy wafers (1hp each, ??cn)

• Room 11: +2 Sword (must attack largest foe, 60cn)

• Room 13: Ring of Soul-Binding

• Room 16: Pouch of Limitless Fungi

I think it’s worth thinking about different play experiences. In the “lawful” route, say that they do what my players did. Fight the religious objects, skellies, and the wormtongues. Solve the dog puzzle, bring the ring to the princess, get paid, circle back and loot the bracelets from Chyde’s skeleton. They’re getting 137xp worth of monsters and bringing back 14350g of treasure, for a solid ~105x ratio of treasure to monsters. The suggested ratio is 3-4x.

Say they go full violence. They fight everything and kill it somehow. 3275 xp from monsters, and they get more loot (snowfall-at-dusk’s headband, coats, and gowns), amounting to 18650g for a ratio of ~5.7x, which is still way too high.

5 magic items in 19 rooms is also a lot.

When I ran this, I cut all of the treasure values by 5x (so each ice-jewel was 40g instead of 200g), and removed the holy wafers and it still felt like a bit of a monty haul.

Conclusion

Skip it. I think Gavin’s other low-level works (Hole in the Oak, Incandescent Grottoes) are both better adventures, and there’s an abundance of other 1st level adventures (even some with similar room counts, like Vaults of Volokarnos). It doesn’t have enough to strip mine to justify buying without running.

If you’re going to run it, I recommend you:

• Remove the Whything Stones area entirely

• Cut all of the treasure by 5x; come up with encumbrance values

• Figure out how you want searching to work (w.r.t. area 10).

• Pick an interpretation for area 14 ahead of time.

• Figure out what the heck is going on with the weightless slime and fissures (area 8 and 15).

• Rework the random encounters to be a little more pressing.

• Either scrap or flesh out the Lord Mantle-of-Runes random encounter. As written it’s a total booby trap.