Wrath of the River King
Robert F
Explorer
5 out of 5 rating for Wrath of the River King
First off, this thing is "Sparkly"!
Kobold Press's Wrath of the River King, is one good-looking module -(yeah-yeah, I'm old, I still call 'em modules).
On par with their (K.P.'s) recent release Tome of Beasts; Wrath boasts 63, artistically bordered pages, full of gorgeous-gloss and full-color-class on high-grade paper-stock. The artwork-selection, layout and quality, is jaw-droppingly good, and the cartography is pristine.
And then there is the writing...
Baur and McFarland are seriously on-point here, their smooth, semi-minimalist, writing-styles, easily evoke those weird, haunting feelings of "faerie-tales and far-away's", while the necessary, mechanical-crunch is kept clear, concise and cadenced.
With a touch of eerie, otherworldly menace; these writers weave together multiple, colorful (and easily compartmentalized,) story-arcs and plot-twists full of weird, whimsical (and sometimes creepy) characters and locales, into a grand tapestry of fear, fun and frolic.
A roller-coaster-adventure-path, that begins -simply enough- with concerns over a missing miller's wife. But plot's twist, tables turn, and stakes escalate before culminating in dire dealings with the eldritch, nobility and courtly intrigues of the otherworldly, Summer Lands. Dire dealings over which the fate of the town and populace of Riverbend will hang in the balance.
Some (non-spoiler) Hi-lites for me :
* Fast and furious rules for obstacles, rapids, gear-loss and other river-crossing dangers and (river survival) hazards. And there's even a "Swim To Shore" mini-game in here.
* The Birch Queens Fair; you must see this carnivale exotique for yourself
* The characters and creatures, powers and personalities are beyond memorable; Sidhe and Shadow Fey, Eel Hounds and Death-Butterfly Swarms, a of pair Nixies, named Ripple and Shimmer; yeah that's right, "Ripple" and "Shimmer". How about; "Lady Clatterspin; Queen of the Crawling Fey", or Mudflick the Foul, or the Brownie called Wickerbell... I mean c'mon, how much more do you need? -(And yes, there's even a dragon.)
* Written for the Midgard Campaign Setting by Kobold Press, Wrath of the River King holds to a clear and concise, open-format, and is ridiculously, easy to adapt to any magic-based, or high-fantasy, campaign or system.
If you have any love, desire or need for fey-mischief in your campaign, any interest in the mercurial motivations, alien ambitions or dark designs of the "Bright-folk", then you owe it to yourself to check out Wrath of the River King, just be sure to watch the clock, time passes strangely in the Summer Lands.
...( and did I mention "Ripple" and "Shimmer"?)
First off, this thing is "Sparkly"!
Kobold Press's Wrath of the River King, is one good-looking module -(yeah-yeah, I'm old, I still call 'em modules).
On par with their (K.P.'s) recent release Tome of Beasts; Wrath boasts 63, artistically bordered pages, full of gorgeous-gloss and full-color-class on high-grade paper-stock. The artwork-selection, layout and quality, is jaw-droppingly good, and the cartography is pristine.
And then there is the writing...
Baur and McFarland are seriously on-point here, their smooth, semi-minimalist, writing-styles, easily evoke those weird, haunting feelings of "faerie-tales and far-away's", while the necessary, mechanical-crunch is kept clear, concise and cadenced.
With a touch of eerie, otherworldly menace; these writers weave together multiple, colorful (and easily compartmentalized,) story-arcs and plot-twists full of weird, whimsical (and sometimes creepy) characters and locales, into a grand tapestry of fear, fun and frolic.
A roller-coaster-adventure-path, that begins -simply enough- with concerns over a missing miller's wife. But plot's twist, tables turn, and stakes escalate before culminating in dire dealings with the eldritch, nobility and courtly intrigues of the otherworldly, Summer Lands. Dire dealings over which the fate of the town and populace of Riverbend will hang in the balance.
Some (non-spoiler) Hi-lites for me :
* Fast and furious rules for obstacles, rapids, gear-loss and other river-crossing dangers and (river survival) hazards. And there's even a "Swim To Shore" mini-game in here.
* The Birch Queens Fair; you must see this carnivale exotique for yourself
* The characters and creatures, powers and personalities are beyond memorable; Sidhe and Shadow Fey, Eel Hounds and Death-Butterfly Swarms, a of pair Nixies, named Ripple and Shimmer; yeah that's right, "Ripple" and "Shimmer". How about; "Lady Clatterspin; Queen of the Crawling Fey", or Mudflick the Foul, or the Brownie called Wickerbell... I mean c'mon, how much more do you need? -(And yes, there's even a dragon.)
* Written for the Midgard Campaign Setting by Kobold Press, Wrath of the River King holds to a clear and concise, open-format, and is ridiculously, easy to adapt to any magic-based, or high-fantasy, campaign or system.
If you have any love, desire or need for fey-mischief in your campaign, any interest in the mercurial motivations, alien ambitions or dark designs of the "Bright-folk", then you owe it to yourself to check out Wrath of the River King, just be sure to watch the clock, time passes strangely in the Summer Lands.
...( and did I mention "Ripple" and "Shimmer"?)
Last edited:
Similar Threads
