Review:Giddy Ghost Inn from Myth Merchant Press

“Myth Merchant Press” just released a short supplemental encounter to their first module effort, “Trouble In Tallreed Waters ” called “Giddy Ghost Inn .” I decided to download the free offering and take a look.

Upfront Review: The “Giddy Ghost Inn” has some nice ideas and layout, but some editing issues and overall tone left me feeling flat. It just was not enough to inspire the purchase of the complete ” Trouble In Tallreed Waters” module.

Full Disclosure: I earn a small commission if you click on any of the RPGnow.com links in this review and you choose to buy something. I did not purchase “Giddy Ghost Inn” as it is a free download.

The PDF is seven pages long, including legal boilerplate, cover page and maps. “Giddy Ghost Inn” contains a short description of the aforementioned inn, a map and rules for running a drinking contest.

The art is of good quality, with a nice graphic for a cover page. Inside, the columns are clean and easy to read. The editor wisely included a “side note” column for further explanations. The layout is excellent.

The first half of the document is a rules system for handling a drinking contest. I liked the concept, but the execution is flawed. The complicated rules, requiring two charts to figure out what you should roll against on your fortitude save, did not impress me. I did like that the author included an example, but the system is still too complicated. A small item that really bothered me were the levels of drunkeness.

Tipsy

Merry

Drunk

Hammered

Plastered

“Hammered” and “plastered” seemed anachronistic, given the time period. I tend to apply these terms to drunken fraternity brothers, not barbarians.

Following the drinking game rules is a nice map of the inn. It looked like the product of an off-the-shelf CAD program, but I could not determine which one. Not amazing art, but I liked it.

A two-page description of the encounter is the last section of the document. One page of text describing the inn, a stat block for the bartender, alist of regular patrons (no stat blocks), some adventure “seed” ideas and a menu. Yes, the author included a menu for the inn, including prices. It is within this section I found the most issues.

The description text has lines like this that really annoyed me.

“You are surprised that the establishment is gnomish and, though they are small, the furniture is all sized for the common man. “

I do not like it when authors give “feelings” to PCs. That is the player’s job. As for the overall writing quality, “passive voice ” makes too many appearances in this document for my liking. It was not an enjoyable read.

There are some nice aspects to the “Giddy Ghost Inn,” but they are overshadowed by complex rules and poor writing quality. I am just not inspired to purchase the full module after reading this sample.

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

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trask

Trask is a long-time gamer, world traveler and history buff. He hopes that his scribblings will both inform and advance gaming as a hobby.