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I’ll start off by noting that I’ve been playing D&D since late 1981, when I received the magenta Basic Set by Tom Moldvay for Christmas. And while I’ve played various versions of old school D&D and several retroclones, I’ve always retained a soft spot for B/X and more recently, Old School Essentials. With that being said, I think that thus far, the first two volumes of Gods of the Forbidden North constitute the most imaginative and impressive setting/adventure I’ve ever read. It has a bit of everything: ample roleplaying opportunities; colorful NPCS, both potential allies and villains; sandbox hexcrawl play; dungeon crawls of varying lengths, difficulty levels and complexity, and a meta-plot that can be incorporated or ignored as the DM and players desire. The cartography is top notch and the images are plentiful and evocative, though because a variety of artists are employed, their tone varies somewhat and I like some much more than others. Additionally, in true old school style, there are tons of new monsters and magic items to keep your players on their toes. Furthermore, the setting itself, which is an arctic wilderness, offers many opportunities to engage the environment and make full use of the OSE Advanced rules system. Extensive guidance is provided for this at the end of the book. As much as I enjoy Vikings, I also like the fact that the author keeps them out of this setting and leans into Inuit-inspired cultural influences and tropes, with the colonists being inspired by the Romans. However, though there are some yeti, somehow he doesn’t have any proper sasquatches in here. Hopefully that gets rectified in volume 3. After all, they were in the D&D Master Set.
Turning to the specifics of this volume itself, after about a 10 page introduction, there are eight chapters of adventures, followed by extensive appendices that include monsters and NPCs, new magic items, rules for the DM, summaries of XP awards for the various adventures, a helpful glossary of names (essential in a work of this length), and an index, which is also essential. Throughout, the author offers summaries, tips, and previews of potential adventures to come as aids to the DM. References are frequently made to other volumes in the series and the pdf text is fully hyperlinked. While one could certainly pull individual scenarios and dungeons out of this or any of the volumes, they definitely work better together as a whole. Think of only reading The Two Towers, for example. Sure, it’s great (and in fact was the first book of Lord of the Rings that I read because Fellowship of the Ring was missing from my middle school library), but you lose quite a bit if it’s simply extrapolated from the whole. I should also note that not all of the adventures are written solely by Robert Alderman, other OSR luminaries, such as James Spahn and Glynn Seal, are enlisted to write or co-write some sections. But it doesn’t feel too jarring, for the most part and the tone, which is increasingly dark, stays consistent.
The first three chapters of this volume (technically chapters 11-13), are basically urban adventures. One is set in the village of Kangul, while the others are in the main northern city of Valkengrad. All offer both investigative elements and dungeon crawls and have links to larger plots within the campaign. Again, this is great, since it allows different character classes to shine and highlights different aspects of play. As many of us know, even if your players love dungeon crawling, it can get to be a slog if that’s all you’re doing. Chapter 12, “Children of the Green Light,” connects all the way back to the start of volume one, reinforcing ties with some key NPCs. It is a long and complex chapter with a variety of potential outcomes that will have major implications for subsequent developments. Players enjoying intrigue and investigation should enjoy this chapter. The same is true for Chapter 13, “The Tower of All-Seeing Eyes,” ably written by Frog God Games’ veteran, Casey Christofferson. This is one of my favorite chapters owing to the heavy influence of the classic 80s film, “Big Trouble in Little China.” DMs should absolutely watch this movie before running this chapter, though you might not want your players to, lest they get too many hints. Designed for 7th level heroes, this is a very deadly dungeon and presages the dangers to come. Once more, there are serious implications and consequences tied to what the players accomplish, reinforcing the depth of the setting. And best of all, yes there are freakin’ ninja!
In chapters 14-15, the adventures shift to the Underworld. As these adventures are even more perilous than what has come before, it makes sense that they are all designed for character levels 8 and up. And the adventure returns to more of a sandbox/hexcrawl here, with the dangerous environs taking center stage as the party explores. In addition to standard wandering monster tables, random hazard tables are provided, tailored to different locales. There are fewer opportunities for meaningful social interactions down here, but not everything the party encounters will be hostile and careful players can greatly enhance their chances of survival. There are lots of new monsters in these chapters, keeping PCs on their toes. Extensive exploration has the advantage of revealing more of the history of the Forbidden North, thereby gradually providing more clues to the meta-plot. These chapters also lean into the Mythic Underworld tropes of classic fantasy without quite getting as silly or weird as say, Operation Completely Unfathomable, which I also enjoy. Chapter 15 is entirely devoted to an Underworld city, called Morgathaur, though it is not completely detailed and ambitious DM’s could flesh it out a bit. Indeed, it has many of the vibes of the Shadow Elves gazetteer from BECMI and that supplement could easily be adapted or inserted herein.
Chapter 16 veers more into the realm of super (or pseudo) science, detailing the Green Dome of Foranadoth, an ancient citadel occupied and re-purposed by serpent-folk from beyond the stars. These are canny and deadly foes and the party will be hard-pressed in this challenging environment. Chapter 17, “Maleum Hatus,” details a death-trap dungeon inspired by Tomb of Horrors. It is technically optional and somewhat incidental to the meta-plot, but the PCs can acquire a valuable artifact herein that will greatly aid them down the road. But be warned: there is the very real chance of a TPK here. It requires smart players, not just high level characters, to survive. The last formal chapter, “Brass Temple of the Magoth,” is another dungeon crawl and connects more directly to the meta-plot. As such, the DM should find ways to get the party here eventually. Extensive notes are provided for the reactions of the temple’s denizens in accordance with the party’s actions. This dungeon is probably easier than the previous one, but it’s still tough and there’s a satisfying boss fight. The party should feel they’ve made significant progress if they get through this.
Overall, as noted above, I think this is an amazing product. Taken together, this trilogy should provide years of play and the full adventure path will take characters all the way to level 14, which is the default cap for OSE. Indeed, so far as I know, this is the full adventure path ever published for OSE Advanced. It sets a high bar. I do have a few minor quibbles, however. The author is a professor of creative writing. At times this is reflected in the text being a bit too verbose. While I’m not a big fan of the usual OSE bullet-point style of presentation with respect to room design, this goes too far the other way at times, giving redundant or possibly unnecessary advice or detail, not unlike you often find in DCC modules. Additionally, because there is simply so much information here, it will likely require at least a couple read-throughs for a DM to get comfortable. Not all DM’s have that kind of time. If you’re not so concerned about the meta-plot, this won’t matter so much. Next, while I understand the reasons for doing so given the length of the text, it’s a bit annoying that stat blocks are not provided for monsters found in the OSE Advanced Fantasy Referee’s Tome. So, you’ll need that or your monster book(s) of choice at the table and have to flip through it on the fly. This will greatly slow things down in play. Full stat blocks in the text are provided for new monsters, however, and full write-ups are in the appendices. But the author sadly defaults to just giving the average (4.5 hp per die) for every monster in the book, even boss monsters and main villains. Sorry, but this is just lazy and it’s a major pet peeve of mine. Given all this effort, couldn’t you be bothered to roll for HP, Rob? Heck, they have computer programs to do it for you. Lastly, while most of the art is excellent and evocative, some pieces, presumably by the same artist, are really childish and cartoony (i.e. p. 65 and p. 95), and detract from the overall vibe. I realize that these pieces are more in line with OSE in general, but they seem strange here. This being said, I still think this is an amazing achievement. We are just starting the campaign now, but I’m eagerly looking forward to years of playing in this setting/adventure path. There are so many great ideas in here and plenty of adventuring variety to satisfy all kinds of players.
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