Review 9: The Cursed Abbey
It's time for another pamphlet adventure! This week I'll be talking about "The Cursed Abbey", a short dungeon written by Christian Sahlen. The system that this is written for is called SKR, which is an as-yet unreleased game (also by Christian Sahlen), but it is compatible with most of the standard B/X retroclones. In it, we are presented with an isolated abbey that has been afflicted with a demon's curse, causing it to be trapped in an unpredictable time loop. I ran this using Black Sword Hack.
Getting it to the Table
This one is a wonderful example of efficient layout; not only because it is in pamphlet form (which already requires a certain amount of brevity), but because you're essentially getting two versions of the abbey in the area key. The premise of this adventure is that while the PCs are exploring from room to room within the actual building, there is a 50/50 chance of either entering the room as it appears in the present or as it appeared in the past. Thus, each keyed area includes a Then and Now section. While this could easily get cumbersome, the author manages to avoid it because the descriptions are kept to short, evocative phrases that convey a lot of sensory details in few words. One slight issue that comes from pamphlet layout is that it can be difficult to arrange the information in a sequential order once the pamphlet is unfolded. However, this was just a minor problem, and overall I could run the bulk of the adventure with the map spread open on the table and the room key surrounding it.
As far as preparation, next to none was required. I ran this at a brewery with some friends, and after we created some doomed, decadent, and barbaric Black Sword Hack characters, I basically asked them: "So, a cursed abbey on a mountain or a lost tomb in the desert?" (describing another SKR pamphlet adventure that I will review at a later date). Because I had read through them both and had the Black Sword Hack bestiary handy to swap out stat blocks, it was just a matter of opening up the pamphlet and getting into it! I also love being able to tuck a few of these into my notebook and just keep them with me in case a game breaks out.
What Worked?
- Concise, evocative descriptions. Christian Sahlen is perhaps best known for writing Cy_Borg, and this kind of brilliant writing is found in Lucky Flight Takedown as well, which I'll also review later.
- Nearly all-on-one-page layout. There are only two areas that are not included on the spread along with the map. They probably could have squeezed it in but the text is already pretty small.
- Time loop! This was super fun to describe for the players, and my favorite moment was seeing their faces when they realized what was happening.
What Didn't Work?
- If you're not used to pamphlet adventures, you might get thrown off by how the pages are ordered, but that's minor.
- Honestly, it's pretty solid from start to finish, so I just wrote this to have another bullet point so it doesn't look silly and lopsided.
Final Thoughts
For such a small word count, there is a lot of detail packed in, and a lot of ways for the players to interact with the environment. Because the PCs are technically outside of the time loop, they can actually make changes in the past that carry through to the present. There is also a great deal of environmental storytelling accomplished through this premise, and my players had an excellent time exploring and learning what happened. We ran it as a one-shot, but this would be a great little adventure site to add to a longer campaign, with ample opportunity for hooks and links to other things.
You can get "The Cursed Abbey" from the Stockholm Kartell web store. Thanks for reading!