The Ghostly Library scratches a lot of different itches; it's a mystery, it's a ghost story, it's set in Ravenloft (sort of...), and by sort of I mean it's set on Gothic Earth. Gothic Earth is a fairly low-fantasy re-imagining of our own world circa 1890 with the supernatural layered in. It was a setting TSR developed as a bit of side project to the original Ravenloft campaign setting that now appears to be experiencing a second renaissance on DMsGuild.
It can be difficult to discuss a mystery adventure without spoiling details but I'll endeavour to do my best.
The Ghostly Library by Mrs C, Evans starts off with the characters being engaged to determine the cause of some recent disturbing attacks on one Doctor Henry Fitzroy. Fitzroy has been victimised by seemingly 'normal' people with no apparent links to each other on multiple occasions and now seeks resolution and peace from his current circumstances. During the course of the PCs investigations they should discover not all is as it seems, and at the climax of the adventure the players will be forced to set aside normal conflict resolution in D&D (ie violence) and use their wits if they hope to succeed and survive.
One of the measurements of a truly great adventure mystery is that clues are laid out in a way and a context most players could be expected to pick up on without applying any weird leaps of logic. This keeps the adventure from descending into chaos and prevents players from getting frustrated and feeling unsatisfied with their gaming experience. Mrs Evans has done a terrific job of presenting multiple logical avenues of investigation, while also providing one extra encounter that can be thrown in at a time the players might feel the most lost. It's truly fantastic to be able to write an adventure in this style that provides the DM narrative tools to help guide things back on track if necessary without removing player agency.
The adventure is populated by a variety of distinct and interesting NPCs for the players to interact with, and breaking from the standard medieval high-fantasy setting of D&D should give the players time to absorb and deal with moral implications of their choices before they make them.
Overall I would highly recommend The Ghostly Library for any true fan of gothic horror (as opposed to slasher or jump scare horror) as well as to anyone looking for a satisfying investigative mystery for their players to engage in.
The Ghostly Library is currently available from DMsGuild at https://www.dmsguild.com/product/284042/The-Ghostly-Library?term=the+ghostly
-Jay
Great review Jay. Because of your last two reviews I’ve looked to DM Guild for extra gaming material. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThanks man!
DeleteIt's a tremendous resource not only for full-on books but for smaller tools as well.