Description
The town of Moonbright is in peril! Beyond the safety of the town, the ancient woods are alive with kobold raiders. But all is not as it seems, and as powerful forces within the forest begin to stir, players will find that every choice they make has potentially deadly consequences…
Trouble at Mossbeard Mill brings you an exciting introductory adventure for Tales of the Valiant!
- Suitable for five 2nd-level characters with the ability to scale up or down!
- Guides characters from 2ndto 4th level, inviting them to use investigation, exploration and social skills as well as their swords!
- Utilizes the rules from the Tales of the Valiant Alpha Release
Can the PCs save the town of Moonbright from destruction? Will they uncover the secrets of Mossbeard Mill? What surprises lay in store?
Be Bold. Be Brave. Be Valiant!
Dylan Hyatt –
Great opening for the Valiant system (easily adaptable for any game system) – the adventure provides everything the GM needs: maps, NPCs, atmosphere and plot prompts. Mystery and intrigue, and of course some great boss fights, which rewards players using their wits as much as their PCs’ powers.
Robert Fairbanks –
A No Spoilers, Product, Setting, and Scenario Overview
The Product:
‘Trouble at Mossbeard Mill’ provides a ‘Lot’, of bang for your buck. This adventure module is 28 pages of stacked content. It’s illumined by absolutely, stellar artwork, and crisp, gorgeous cartography worthy of any hard-bound tome.
Front to back, this setting and its adventure chain are well-written, informative, and instructional. Even the appendices, while including the usual monster and NPC stat blocks, also supply play tips, NPC motivations, dialogue options, RP, and quest prompts, and more. The fonts, and formatting styles herein, are also bright, easy to read, and mentally ergonomic. -It’s a good-looking book. ‘TaMM’ is written with a strong focus on social intrigue, and investigative (rather than exploratory and combative,) thinking, tactics, and decision-making. The author does a splendid job of segueing unfamiliar, or new GMs into this playstyle throughout; via a series of side-barred prompts, suggestions and alternatives, and GM-to-GM advice.
TaMM also provides some introduction and easy integration of several elements of Kobold Press’ ‘Tales of the Valiant’ (alpha) ruleset, similarly.
The Setting:
‘Trouble at Mossbeard Mill’ begins (and “ends”) In the town of ‘Moonbright’. “A village (town actually,) on the edge of adventure”, one that is very reminiscent of another town (“village” actually,) whose name is sometimes confused with French cuisine. But, Moonbright might be even more detailed. The town and environs are a no-brainer for PC base-of-operations/ hometown/ jumping-off-point for nearly any campaign. It’s a pre-made, plug-in-and-play, suburban/wilderness milieu, fitting into just about any environment with little to zero campaign prep.
Some of Moonbright’s GM-friendly amenities include:
– Tips and guidelines for running investigation-style adventures are laid throughout.
– Pre-installed adventure hooks; PC motivators and prompts, start, and “re-start” options, and side-quests abound.
– Quick-and-easy write-ups on local lore, resources, and trade, and a micro-history (background,) for the town of Mooonbright, and its prominent (key) personages.
– Tables and info for PC cultural interactions, like preparation for, and participation in an upcoming local festival. And, a marketplace famous for unique, locally-made trinkets. And, more tables, describing more NPCs, clues, story seeds, and GM options, including among the outlying farmsteads, forests, and logging camps beyond Moonbright.
– A fully conceived, and vividly fleshed-out town; its surrounding environs, key inhabitants, and local, threats and happenings.
– Plenty of random encounter tables, rumor charts, boxed text for PCs, new diseases, and magic items.
The list goes on and on… And there’s already a lot of meat on ‘them thar bones’ for a paltry USD x5.
The Scenario:
In the interest of “No Spoilers,” this section will be both brief and vague.
Before long (after arriving in Moonbright,) PCs should quickly and easily become invested in any number of the many available, plot hooks, clues, rumors, and NPC story prompts available in this 3-part story arc. Throughout their eventual travails of preserving the town of Moonbright, PCs will encounter, a band of kobolds with a horrifying (it’s gross) secret. They’ll broker a deal, or else otherwise deal with a primeval, world-hopping, forest entity from Moonbright’s past. Adventurers will attempt to unravel ‘Unseelie’ fey intrigues, local river mishaps, and missing person’s mysteries. They’ll hope to outwit and expose changelings and traitors. And eventually outmaneuver and outfight, vengeful undead, freshly freed from their magical imprisonment.
And that’s not all, there’s more …and it’s 5 bucks!
Now, why 4/5 stars? Layout partly, I’m not a fan of PDF formatting in general. But in their defense, I don’t think I’ve ever given 5 stars. Not even to the Village of …You know, the one with the eggs. Buy it, I did. The strip-mining, and inspiration material alone is worth more than 5 dollars.
I hope your PCs really like Rutabaga’s!
– Cheers.