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The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem

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The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem
Publisher: Red Moon Medicine Show
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 08/02/2019 11:10:12

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This adventure clocks in at 31 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page kickstarter-thanks, 1 page ToC, 1 page to track monster hit points, 1 page to note down dead PCs, 1 page advertisement, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 23 pages of content, laid out in 6’’ by 9’’ (A5), so let’s take a look!

We begin this module with a brief author’s commentary before getting into the nit and grit of things. This module is intended for 4 – 5 level 1 – 2 characters, and the rules employed are LotFP (Lamentations of the Flame Princess) and may be easily adapted to other OSR-games. My review is based on both the PoD softcover and the pdf-version. Monsters note HD and HP as well, and come with move rates and ascending AC, in case you were wondering.

So, first thing first – that lady on the cover has nothing, AT ALL, to do with the content. Nothing. Structurally, this is basically a mansion-crawl that encompasses a quasi-Victorian mansion and the accompanying mansion grounds. The mansion has glass windows, and the story does assume some things that particularly picky history-buffs may consider to be a violation of the assumed early modern period quasi-historic setting of LotFP. It also mentions dwarves. Most folks won’t mind, though. The manor grounds come with a rather amazing isometric map by none other than Todd Gamble, meaning that it’s beautiful; a player-friendly version of this map is provided as well, which is a nice plus. A downside of this map? It renders the entirety of the manor grounds opaque, as it lacks a scale or grid or any other means to discern how far the respective areas are situated from one another. The map of the manor itself is top-down, less impressive, and puzzlingly lacks a player-friendly map sans labels.

The module sports 12 rumors, and the respective areas come with random encounters – d6 for the first two rough areas, d4 for the final one. A pet-peeve of mine: One of the creatures that can be encountered is a small serpent that has a bite that translates to save-or-die. This may be me, but I think save-or-die should be earned, the consequence of player actions, not the consequence of a random encounter.

Another thing you need to know: This is, in spite of what the title implies, NOT a horror module. Indeed, I wouldn’t even classify it as dark fantasy. This is not to say that it’s not deadly, but it never, at no point in time, is creepy. A theme of decay suffuses the book, but that’s about it in that regard. The respective rooms do not get read-aloud text.

As far as organization is concerned, it’s a bit weird that we first get the mansion descriptions, then those for the manor grounds, and then the ones for the stygian garden – mansion grounds, manor, garden would have made more sense, sequence-wise.

All right, this is as far as I can go without diving into SPOILERS. Potential players should jump ahead to the conclusion. … .. . All right, only referees around? Great! Abelia Prem was a peculiar woman of a scholastic bent, not interested in the trappings of marriage and child-raising, and more intrigued by honing her mind, hosting extravagant salon parties for the local who’s who, with a specific interest in the legendary eponymous Stygian Rose, a black plant that ostensibly grows on the banks of the river Styx, capable of reviving the dead. Her fortune squandered on research, she died, and her ghost ostensibly haunts the manor. In practice, this haunting is reduced to a soft humming in the background. That’s creepy once, but otherwise, the angle is not developed.

The manor grounds include a creeper that attempts to strangle you. Which translates to damage and no increased chances to surprise the players. The monsters also include stone archer cherubs (and later a kind of mini-boss statue that can birth a limited amount of them) and buzzard dandys! Yep, you read right! What do they do? Which powers do they have? They attack and have sucky morale. That’s it. I wish I was kidding. You have a concept as cool as buzzard dandies…and do nothing with it. There is a gargoyle with a devastating breath weapon (2d10!), and other encounters feature a fleeing hobo and a wild goat.

This, unfortunately, is a running theme for the module. There’s a pool with bright green water. Due to harmless algae. There’s a big toad. An insane and trapped fairy, and an oak that houses a spirit the PCs can potentially converse with. None of these things matter in any shape way or form. There is one thing that is cool about this book: The 12 different unusual plants herein are interesting: Super cannabis, a poison that only affects unmarried women (maidensbane…odd…I’d have expected that to tie in with virginity rather than matrimony, but yeah); there is the Love-me-not plant that fortifies against amorous emotions and advances (which is an interesting concept to explore), a rose that can petrify those pricking their fingers, etc. These plants do come with proper values and quick and dirty rules to grow them. The two pages featuring these are definitely the highlight of this book. The mansion hides a tunnel dug by dwarves, remains of an accident there, and a subterranean river that may or may not be Styx. There may or may not be a rose. It’s up to the referee.

Conclusion: Editing and formatting are very good on a formal and rules-language level, and the book’s layout adheres to a two-column b/w-standard. The module sports nice b/w-artwork (original pieces), and cartography, as noted before, is inconsistent: The mansion grounds are beautiful and come with a player-friendly version, but lack a scale; the mansion gets a less impressive, functional map, but lacks a player-friendly version. The pdf sports a grand total of 3 bookmarks, which don’t really help navigating this – I recommend the PoD over the electronic version.

I am pretty puzzled by this module. Why? Because Clint Krause usually does better. There is something almost aggressively disappointing about this adventure. It almost feels like this is by intent, but if so, it doesn’t fulfill that promise. There are weird things, a purely cosmetic ghost, fey and hostile plants, sure, but they never gel together, always feel like they’ve been put there without much agenda or thematic consistency. The module touches upon fey, upon a ghost, upon plant monsters…but these never establish a leitmotif, a sense of identity. Paradoxically for the botanic theme, this module felt, to me, sterile. This extends to the chance of the finale being optionally a “tough luck” disappointment. And this is, in a way, a pity. You see, this module feels like it could have been a masterpiece. If the plants had actually been required for puzzles, etc., or had offered immediate usefulness in the module, if there had been a sense of cohesion in the enemies, this could have been cool. The ghost angle could have made this a somber, low-key experience that could have perfectly hit the small notes of sadness, tragedy and loss. It could have been an amazing tragedy, a great gothic yarn. But as written, this feels like it only developed its concepts half-way and lost interest in them, leaving us with a module that feels painfully disparate and unfocused. As noted, the author usually does much better.

This may sound devastating, and yeah, it kinda is, but this module does have nice production values, and it’s not a cash-grab; it feels like an orphaned module, but it’s not actively loathsome or bad. I can see groups enjoying this…but if you want my honest opinion: Skip this, and if you want to support Red Moon Medicine Show, instead get Vacant Ritual Assembly #6. The Rootmire crawl included in that installment is vastly superior to this adventure in each and every way.

Final verdict…well. I had forgotten all about this module, something that usually never happens to me. I had to reread this, and frankly, I wouldn’t buy this again. As a person, this is a 2-star file for me; as a reviewer, though, I can see this work for some groups, which is why my final verdict will be 2.5 stars, but I can’t bring myself to doing anything but rounding down – I just can’t find a reason to get this over e.g. the Rootmire crawl from Vacant Ritual Assembly #6.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
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The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem
Publisher: Red Moon Medicine Show
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/27/2015 20:08:28

The anachronism... it burns. This location reads/is mapped like a mansion out of Jane Austen, not something for the LotFP timeframe, let alone something that'd work with any sort of typical OSR renaissance/medieval/ancient fantasy.

On a more minor note, the spatial relation of the eight levels and dozenish outdoor features is left to be inferred from the details of the keys, which end up unclear. It could have used a half page or so describing the overall arrangement of the spaces, which would be a reasonable replacement for the wasted "blank page to track monster hit points". The second-lowest level has a layout that reads like a d&d convention, rather than having any clear relation to the narrative reason for the existence of that level. There's also a completely unexplained mystery in the second-to-last location (#50); there's no motivation, no viable cause within the bounds of the module for why that event happened 10 years ago or presents itself to modern explorers in the way it does. This reeks of authorial laziness.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
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The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem
Publisher: Red Moon Medicine Show
by Sophia B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/06/2015 04:20:27
http://dieheart.net/stygian-garden/

Clint Krause from Red Moon Medicine Show has impressed me in the past with his weird OSR fanzine Vacant Ritual Assembly (reviews here: http://dieheart.net/?s=vacant+ritual+assembly). The issues are creepy and strange and full of inspirational material for a small price. It’s one of my favorite zines and definitely worth a look if you like spooky old-school stuff.

Now he has written an adventure: The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem is a module for Lamentations of the Flame Princess (LotFP) and similar retro-clones. A haunted house and its surroundings serve as a location for a creepy venture for low-level characters. Apparently this was a Kickstarter which was funded successfully in early 2015.

Please note: I received a review copy of the softcover print and a PDF from the author. This is a reading review, I haven’t played the module. And it contains SPOILERS!

First, let me say that I am not familiar with LotFP. I neither have read the game nor any adventures that were written for it. Thus, I can’t compare it to other works which are geared towards the European 17th-century horror feel of the game.

Having said that, with The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem Mr. Krause manages to convey a tone of strangeness and baroque bizarreness which should be in tune with LotFP. This is where this product shines and which makes it different from standard EDO-fantasy. The color of this module is mostly evident in the descriptions of the monsters. Many of them sound like they sprung from a faerie nightmare: the gigantic Grandfather Toad, Archer Cherubs made from stone, a plant called Stranglecreeper, the Marble Knight, acid-spitting Gargoyles and more. Still, there is some humor to be found in the forgotten manor: shitting goats, buzzard dandies or cheeky statues.

The product starts off with an introduction of Abelia Prem, a noblewoman who was obsessed with finding the mystical Stygian Rose but who suffered from dementia in her last years. There is a rumor table to get the players started.

The adventure consists of three main locales: the Manor itself, the Grounds and the Stygian Garden.

The book is organized according to these locations. There are several maps with map keys and corresponding entries. The maps look modern and are easy to read. They are of a more digitized aesthetic and not so much of the old-school variant (i.e. the maps of msjx). There is also a very nice illustration by Todd Gamble of the Manor Grounds which gives you a good overview about the locale. To my delight, there is also a player version so you can show that to your table without spoiling anything. At the end of the book, there is a separate bestiary which repeats the monster stats and also a page for tracking monster HP. That’s very nifty. As a nice gimmick, the product closes with an In Memoriam where you can write down PCs that died. I also like the appendix with Abelia Prem’s plants. The map entries are well written and I like that the author used bold text for important bits (monsters, items, points of interest). It doesn’t save you from reading the module carefully, but it doesn’t look like you’ll accidently slip too much GM information in most cases.

Where The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem falls short for me is its logical progression which is probably due to the premise of being location-based. In most cases, PCs will start roaming the Manor as an entry point and then continue through the Grounds to the Garden. You can leave out locations but for closure you’ll presumably progress/crawl till the riverbank (A -> B -> C). Personally, I’m more a fan of modularity but a location-based module has physical restraints.

My next criticism ironically goes into the opposite direction: There are some “shortcuts” which will bring the PCs faster to their goal but which will make them miss out some of the most interesting sites of the adventure (at least if they don’t double back and explore everything).

On the other hand, what I really like about the ending of the module is that there are different possibilities about the river and the rose, it doesn’t need to be the river Styx and there doesn’t need to be a Stygian Rose. Mr. Krause included a simple table to roll on or you can decide.

Visually, the product is finely put together. It’s a neat softcover with 24 pages in half-letter size (pocket sized, feels most similar to A5). The cover looks neat although I’m not sure who the lady is supposed to be. Perhaps Abelia Prem in younger years? The interior artwork (black & white) is also impressive.

tl;dr

Altogether, The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem is a compelling module with a very good setting and tone. I’m not sure if I can judge this objectively because I already have a high opinion of Clint Krause from reading his previous works. I have some minor quibbles but nothing severe. Depending on how much the PCs want to explore and how many random encounters you want to throw in, this should give you and your players several hours to sessions of fun. For what it’s worth, I totally recommend this product even if you’re not into LotFP (like I am). While it’s a bit eerie, it doesn’t try to shock or disgust you but lures you in with its strangeness.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem
Publisher: Red Moon Medicine Show
by Eric F. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/01/2015 09:14:11

I received a copy of The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem from the folks at Red Moon Medicine Show, if you've never heard of this adventure nor Full Moon Medicine Show then you don't know what your missing. Klint Crouse is a damn fine writer whose OSR drug of choice is the Lamentations Of The Flame Princess rpg system. Klint's module is engaging, challenging, and damn fine in what it does. The book is wonderful, its well put together, the artwork echoes the weird adventure locations that are presented in the book. Red Moon Medicine show ran a very successful Kickstarter for this adventure a few months ago and once again I'm late to the party on this one. We always hear about the negative Kickstarters well, let me tell you that this is exactly what the Kickstarter program is for. Producing weird and wonderful unique adventure modules for the OSR. There are three things that this module does well :

It presents an adventure location with its own rules and consistency as well as reasons for existence. This module echoes many of the current Lamentations design philosophies and yet wraps back around to the early LoFP modules as well. You can easily drop this place into a country or small town campaign or urban setting. This module drips with atmosphere as good as the nicer Ravenloft or old school modules. Jesus the maps are gorgeous. I'm both jealous and amazed at Red Moon Medicine show's creativity. Because the way that this module can be plugged into a campaign and played with is amazing.Take one twisted fairy tale and then let the folks at Red Moon Medicine Show get a hold of it and you end up with something like The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem. So yeah, blah, blah, it's excellent but is it actually playable? Well as a matter of fact its not only playable but it's a non rail roadie adventure location that can be dropped right into the back half of your old school campaigns. See the garden and all of its environs are just waiting for adventurers to stumble upon it. There are is a table of rumors in the back of the book that would allow adventurers to get themselves neck deep into the action of The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem. The module has all of the components that I've come to love about LoFP adventures. The utility of them, and The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem is no different in that regard. You see with a bit of work this adventure could be back ported into a wide variety of OSR systems. One nice thing about The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem its a self enclosed and encompassing within its own parameters. The locations are perfect for any level of party because this adventure is about investigation,adventuring, and the weird. The weird is present throughout the Garden and it doesn't care about your adventurers or their foolishness. Its got its own thing that its doing within the garden and its going to drag you into its clutches kicking and screaming.

We know that the Gardens easily work within the confines of a Lamentations of the Flame Princess campaign but where else could this adventure work? You place The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem within a retroclone game like Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea but would it work there? Yes, the adventure location & grounds could be placed in behind a waterfall in on the other side of the river Yys. The adventurers stumble upon it and mayhem ensues. This adventure should stand on its own, as an adventure location it deserves this and its mechanisms should continue to work on a number of levels the contents should give you a clue what's in store for adventurers. Yeah, I don't want to go into too much detail on some of the adventure elements in the Gardens but its sufficient to say that the Red Moon Medicine crew hit the high points in this adventure. This one has plenty of potential in spades of actually back fitting it into any OD&D game that flirts with the weird but I can tell you that hack and slash players are going to ruin it for the rest of the party. This is a bit of a thinking man's adventure not boring but there are several twists and turns that are going to do the players for a wee bit of thinking. This also means that the weird elements could be adapted to other retro or near clone systems. Yes that's right kids many of the elements in The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem could be used in a Dungeon Crawl Classics game campaign with the focus on the type of weird tale that Red Moon Medicine show is famous for emulating. In the end do I think you should grab this module? Umm yes in spades because I'm very proud to have it on my shelf and on my table. The adventure's author summed up best some of ideas and design philosophies of The Stygian Garden of Abelia Prem. Abelia Prem was one very twisted lady. Happy exploring adventurers. My best advice is to pick this one up now! five out of five for writing, production values, and overall twisted OSR value. Want to know more? We've got more information here http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/2015/09/unboxing-commentary-on-stygian-garden.html Eric Fabiaschi Sword & Stitchery Blog



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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