This pdf is 61 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page ToC, 1 page author's note/dedication, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 55 pages of content, so let's take a look!

The first of Michael Tumey's Haiku of Horror series of supplements details a bath house and as such, since in Western culture they are not that common, we kick this supplement off with an introduction on the concept of bath houses that essentially takes the basic concept from Japanese culture and introduces the audience to Kaidan's particular take on the concept as well as providing concise lists of prices. Throughout the supplement, terms ranging from the distinction between "onsen" and "sento" as well as "tatami" are explained in concise boxes that not only help immerse into the given setting while providing some additional knowledge and bits of trivia that may broaden your horizon if you are not that familiar with Japanese culture. Now this does not mean that this is some dry textbook, mind you - instead, we are introduced to the Autumn Moon bath house, fully mapped in gorgeous full color on 4 full-page maps. The house itself gets a room by room description and after that, a fluffy summary of the current servants/attendants introduces us to a basic net of allegiances that represent the social dynamics of the house.

Here are some SPOILERS. Players should jump to the conclusion. A tragedy has befallen the bath house and ever since then, the place is haunted: An attendant called Kana has met an end most foul: The young beauty (and secret witch-in-training) sought to escape the bonds of her servitude and find love in one fell swoop. Enjoying a secret wedding ceremony with her betrothed, the chaste maiden set out to commemorate her marriage with her beloved. This act was, unfortunately, misinterpreted by the bath house's mistress and former proprietor of Kana. Thinking her subordinate was conducting prostitution under her roof, the rage at the humiliation and loss of face prompted her to use her brush and drown both poor Kana and her beloved. Said dread secret is still tied to the place, Kana's pillow book (=diary) is still hidden in the bath house and at night, her ghost is still roaming the place.

Speaking of ghost: We don't get only one incarnation of her, but rather a massive array of 5 (!!!) versions of the build, spanning CRs from CR 6 to a whopping CR 22. Beyond that, she is not a regular ghost, but rather uses the new, also featured Yurei no kami (grappling hair ghost)-template, at CR +3 and even 4 new haunts (one of which has a very minor formatting glitch) as well as a new curse, the Ju-on - a grudge, in case you're not familiar with the movie. We also are introduced to traditional Kaidanese marriage gifts, since they are relevant for properly dealing with the spirit.

/SPOILERS

In addition to the content, we get 33 pages featuring the map of the bath-house to cut-out and use with miniatures as well as high-res versions of the gorgeous maps.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, though not perfect, I didn't notice any significant glitches. Layout adheres to Kaidan's bamboo-lined 2-column full color standard and Mark Hyzer's stellar b/w-artwork complements the excellent maps well indeed. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

This essentially is both a map, a mini supplement of a nice location, some complex stats and finally, a sandboxy mini-adventure/ bare-bone-style red herring to be inserted into a campaign, all in one - whether you want to use it as a diversion, blow it up to full-blown adventure-status or just use it as a backdrop, this bathing house has something to offer - and at a very fair price to boot! That being said, as the first installment, I think there's some room for improvement, namely the environment of the place - whether it is the hardness of the wall, slippery floor or similar minor DCs and details that make places come to life - the bath house, as awesome as it is, could use some small bits and pieces like this to make it feel a bit more organic: Locking doors, vortexes (including swim checks) etc., perhaps a page from the pillow book - in short, some action for the skills (perhaps using one set of DCs for each intended level range) would have made this even better.

As written, we still get a cool location oozing flair and some VERY creepy imagery and crunch for a very fair price. Nevertheless, I feel like this misses the highest echelons by a slight margin, making me settle for a final verdict of 4.5 stars, rounded down to 4 for the purpose of this platform - still, a recommended purchase if you're looking for some easily inserted horror, though!

Endzeitgeist out.

The following review was originally posted at Roleplayers Chronicle and can be read in its entirety at http://roleplayerschronicle.com/?p=35034.

Welcome, weary traveler, to our humble Bath House. You will find that we will do everything in our power to help you wash away the wariness from your long pilgrimage. Yes we provide many services here, but if you choose to stay the night I recommend you stay in your sleeping area… Oh no, we have not had any major problems, but your safety is important to us. There will be no problems, I assure you, please come in!

OVERALL

Rite Publishing has taken its oriental setting to a much higher level of quality than most other, much larger game production companies out there. Most people would be offended to see that this 61 page product only has 9 pages of content, and as many pages of maps and map segments, but I can assure you none of it is wasted space.

RATINGS

Publication Quality: 9 out of 10 Kaidan is a haunted land, and the cover of all of the products looks like it is right out of any Japanese horror movie. If you know anything about some of the horror mythos in the orient, you know how creepy and disturbing they can be. The transparent black background sets off the already creepy penciled art. Add some white lettering with red borders and there is no doubt about what this supplement is about. The interior layout is great; nothing innovative or special, just solid layout that makes this a very useable product. The bamboo borders on the pages is appropriate for the setting and adds to its overall feel. The use of traditional Japanese prints is handled well and is a great contrast to some of the black and white art that makes this feel like a horror filled setting. There was a small disconnect in one of the creature descriptions dealing with hair color. A minor problem, but after you read this particular creatures description you will see why it is mention worthy. There are some good high quality maps in this book and the addition of printable map sections that allow the use of miniatures is sheer genius. Sure those map sections take up quite a few pages, but to have that in your GM kit is huge!

Mechanics: 10 out of 10 Autumn Moon Bath House is one of those supplements that isn’t mechanic heavy. It isn’t to say that there are not mechanics, just not too many of them. The creature/creatures are interesting and one has an interesting attack mode. Pathfinder encourages the use of miniatures and the included map sections help the GM run the game correctly if they include minis in their games.

Value Add: 10 out of 10 The adventure in Autumn Moon Bath House has an intriguing plot that could be dropped into almost any setting with very few problems. One additional factor that really adds value to this product is the kind of min culture lesson that you get. Michael K. Tumery takes the time to introduce the reader to the proper Japanese names of some items and explains their uses. The maps have a dual purpose, first they make the adventure come alive for you if you choose to use minis, but this bath house could be a bath house in any oriental adventure. The other purpose is that with enough supplements like this one, with the maps it has, you could quickly produce a high quality village with mapped out buildings, to scale.

Overall: 10 out of 10 There is so much Rite, I mean right, I mean, well you get the idea. There are a lot of great things about this product: the art is good, the layout is great and the maps are well done and usable. The resolution to this haunted Bath House is interesting and just challenging enough to keep players engaged.