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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9488499" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/4Kak014.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /><a href="https://www.dmsguild.com/product/412207/The-Last-Waffle-Shop-in-Barovia" target="_blank">Product Link</a>Product Type: Adventure, LocationCoS-Required? NoA more comedic take on the horrors of fast food retail, The Last Waffle Shop in Barovia is a collection of 6 encounters for various tiers of play. Taking place in a domain consisting of a single building, Barovian Chicken and Waffles is a gloomy hole-in-the-wall specializing in food reminiscent of the real-world Waffle House, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p85ugE6Oj60" target="_blank">just like that franchise it attracts an absurd amount of violence.</a> Its darklord is a human by the name of Oleksii, tasked with managing the store. Nobody knows the history behind the shop, and his own tales give vague origins that change by the day. The reality is that Oleksii was cursed after the Dark Powers ate at his establishment, giving them a bad stomach ache for three days. Oleksii is thus cursed to always be on the brink of saving up enough money to retire, but myriad financial troubles and sabotage of the restaurant’s operations pushes this goal a little bit back. He is also in debt to various supernatural entities, including a few warlock patrons, and he is unable to leave more than 15 feet from the store. Unless it’s in the Village of Barovia, at which point he can leave for 1d4+1 days before teleporting back.Barovian Chicken & Waffles travels the Domains of Dread as well as other planes of existence across the Multiverse, and its patrons typically reflect locals who don’t realize that the place is anything more than a simple (if a bit weird) eatery. Sample inhabitants and locations are given based on setting and domain, such as it being in a shady alley in Borca and the food has a 25% chance to be poisoned, or if in Eberron it’s occupied by soldiers on shore leave during the Last War; warforged customers pretend to eat out of politeness’ sake. The regular faces include the illithid barista known as Gary, an employee named Viktor who became a ghost after being locked in the pantry and continues to tidy the place unbeknownst to Oleksii, an alkilith demon haunting the bathroom which causes it to be perpetually out of order, and an ogre zombie dishwasher. We even have a menu that’s a separate PDF handout, listing various food items and their costs, along with a humorous Disclaimer which reads like the warnings you see on medicine labels (“in the case of pregnancy please consult with your health care professional”).Oleksii reacts with jaded resignation whenever he witnesses or is told about the strange and dangerous things that unnaturally occur around the restaurant. For example, bringing up Vicktor’s death will only earn a response that the ghost won’t be paid overtime, and revealing the existence of a portal to the Abyss in the bathroom will cause him to use it as a place to dump trash.The six mini-adventure encounters all focus on different areas and people populating the restaurant, such as a dine-and-dasher who is actually a talented martial artist who escapes by the classic <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NinjaLog" target="_blank">“ninja log” decoy trick upon falling to 0 hit points,</a> or beating some batter-turned-ooze back into the bowl in the kitchen.It’s up to the DM how many of these quests are available at once: a few at a time in case the domain becomes a recurring location, or all at once and the PCs can do as many or as little as they want. But for those parties that do all of it and thus earn some measure of respect from Oleksii, there is one final possible adventure where he hands them a letter from Anna, his supposed betrothed asking to meet on the shore of Lake Zarovich. As she was supposedly eaten by a giant frog long ago, Oleksii thinks this to be a trick. He is indeed right, as a group of oblex (shapeshifting ooze monsters that mimic other people’s forms) have secretly taken over a neighborhood in Vallaki, and one of the oblex is mimicking Anna. Nobody else in Vallaki realizes that anything’s off, and if the PCs confront Anna or try to pry into her affairs the rest of the oblex will attack. The product doesn’t give specific numbers, suggesting that it be enough to give the feeling of being surrounded and overwhelmed. Once the oblex are killed, other townsfolk in Vallaki will form a mob to try and arrest the party members, and won’t listen to reason. Returning to Oleksii with the news will be met with disbelief, as he sticks to the original story of Anna’s death. The book notes that the entire experience is meant to feel unsatisfying and underwhelming, presumably in a dark comedy way, but that DMs may still think to reward the party with level-appropriate rewards. The elder oblex leader does in fact have a suitable reward: Anna’s Betrothal Ring, a magic item that can cast wish one time. Oleksii either doesn’t know or wants to admit anything supernatural about it, insisting that it’s a fake imitation.Overall Thoughts: Although quite cheap at $2.50, this product’s usability hinges on knowing what best makes your gaming table laugh. The encounters are all over the place in terms of recommended level, so it’s far from being balanced if one were to run it as a typical adventure locale. It does brush up hard against the serious tones of a typical Ravenloft campaign, so it would be hard to use it as a recurring element unless one’s campaign is similarly silly. As for myself, I liked it and can see myself running it as an offbeat Halloween one-shot.Join us next time as we review Vestigial Appendages, an arsenal of 20 magic items themed after the wicked imprisoned entities in the Amber Temple!</blockquote>

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