RPGPundit Reviews: The Inn of Lost Heroes

This is a review of the adventure module "The Inn of Lost Heroes", published by Small Niche Games, written by Peter Spahn.  It is marketed as an adventure for 3-5 characters of levels 3-5 on the cover (though the introduction says 4-6 characters instead).  Its presented as an adventure for Labyrinth Lord, but of course we know that means its very easily usable in almost any OSR game. This adventure is about 30 pages long, with a handful of appropriate artwork throughout; nothing spectacular, but nothing amiss either.

I've reviewed many of Spahn's adventures at this point, and they are always pleasant surprises very far afield from the typical OSR-dungeon-crawl.  Spahn's adventures always have plots, chronological timelines, and a wealth of NPCs and background, all without falling too far off from the old-school aesthetic.  The Inn of Lost Heroes stays true to this mold, and tries to add a new twist: an OSR horror story.  To make this work, though, I find that the module relies on a somewhat more heavy-handed tactic than usual for his adventures.

As usual with adventures, I am wary not to reveal too many details in order not to spoil the fun for potential players.  What I have chosen to tell about this adventure is that it is based on a cursed/haunted Inn, and can thus be very easily introduced to most any campaign.  Part of the horror of the Inn is that it is a kind of trap for those who enter, moving the hapless travelers into a demi-plane full of silent-hill style creepiness. In order to escape, the PCs must solve the mystery of what terrible event occurred at the Inn in the first place, who is responsible for its curse, and go through a series of very difficult trials to break the curse.

When I talk about "heavy-handedness", I'm referring to various elements of the adventure that are made to limit the PC's abilities and to ratchet up the pressure.  But I should note that strictly speaking, the adventure is not a railroad; it is even possible to avoid being trapped in the Inn based on PC choices, though if you do that, in essence the adventure is over.
Once the PCs are trapped in the Inn, the rest of the adventure is very much a micro-sandbox; there's no particular order in which PCs must act, investigate, or interact with the Inn.  What happens from there is entirely in the hands of the PCs. There are a series of setpiece encounters in this stage of the adventure, which depend on what rooms the PCs investigate, and a number of random encounters that are generated by a table.  Its quite well designed in that sense.

On the other hand, the adventure is set up so that no level-appropriate magic or items can allow premature escape from the Inn's curse.   And the adventure is set up, as far as I can see, to seriously tax the PCs' resources, unless they're really quick to figure things out and act. What's more, the "solution" to the curse depends on a number of individual challenges, each of which is better suited to one character class over the others, but that solution also results in a curse that affects said character from that moment until the end of the adventure.

The culmination of the adventure involves confronting a truly fearsome enemy (for that level), and then the PCs are faced with an easy way out versus a much more challenging (and seemingly fatal) one that is nonetheless the "right thing to do".  

I could see some players, while not being railroaded, nevertheless feeling somewhat forced by the moral implications of certain choices.  

On the whole, like all of Spahn's adventures I've reviewed thus far, this is a very worthwhile adventure.  In spite of some potential problems and the challenges that could be faced by certain groups, the overall plot and ambiance of the adventure is fantastic.  If you think that the theme of this adventure is the sort of thing you or your player group would enjoy, then it would certainly be recommended.

RPGPundit

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Quote from: RPGPundit;668889Part of the horror of the Inn is that it is a kind of trap for those who enter, moving the hapless travelers into a demi-plane full of silent-hill style creepiness.

Thanks for the review! The Inn of Lost Heroes was in essence my tribute to Silent Hill. If your group is ok with the tropes of that series, then they should be ok with the adventure. Otherwise, they're probably not gonna dig it much.

I tried to provide enough "outs" in the beginning of the adventure so the players would know they had a choice to get gone before the door slams shut. My group is pretty good about exploring adventure hooks, but I know there are many who feel that if they can't just pick up and leave they are being railroaded.

Glad you liked it for the most part. Thanks again!

Pete

Labyrinth Lord stuff by Small Niche Games always sounds really good. It almost makes me feel sorry that I don't enjoy running the type of fantasy that has elves, dwarves, orcs and halflings, nor do I use (old school) D&D-ish rules sets.

PSpahn, have you thought of making conversions to other common rules available? I'd be more inclined to picking them up if they used something like OpenQuest or BoL.

Quote from: HombreLoboDomesticado;668918Labyrinth Lord stuff by Small Niche Games always sounds really good. It almost makes me feel sorry that I don't enjoy running the type of fantasy that has elves, dwarves, orcs and halflings, nor do I use (old school) D&D-ish rules sets.

PSpahn, have you thought of making conversions to other common rules available? I'd be more inclined to picking them up if they used something like OpenQuest or BoL.

I write them for LL because that's what I've been playing for the past few years. Almost all of my published adventures were written for my home game first (more or less), so they have the advantage of having been playtested by my group.

I'm not familiar with the systems you mentioned, but I would not be against collaborating on a conversion with someone who knew the nuances of an open system. Hit me up at smallnichegames - At - gmail - DOT - com if you're interested.

Pete

Oh, OpenQuest is a streamlined version of BRP/RuneQuest from D101 Games. BoL is Barbarians of Lemuria by Beyond Belief Games. Both games' authors might actually be interested, no idea.