Places of Power: The Mistfall Refuge

This installment of the Places of Power-series clocks in at 11 pages, 1 page front cover, 2 pages of advertisement, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 5 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

Averin Steelhammer and his dwarven clan did not have the best of times – driven from their ancestral lands by a horde of demons (guess they dug too deep), they aimlessly wandered the foreboding Greyspire Mountains – until they found the echoing cliffs of the eponymous mistfall refuge, etched with protective runes and magical obfuscation, the enterprising dwarves figured it would be a perfect place to start anew – turns out they were right. The lore pertaining this fabled place is suitable obscure (read: High DCs) and entry is only gained via invitation and by paying a hefty entrance fee – but once there, whoever had to vanish…is gone, proofed against the magical espionage of the vizier crossed and the vengeance of the king for absconding with his daughter. Yeah, the place with its protections is pretty much the location that a certain barbarian (and pretty much every group of PCs I ever had) would certainly require at least once – after all, PCs have a real knack for stepping on the toes of the completely wrong folks…

The whole application process and being led there, btw., is also covered alongside the obligatory rumors and events…and yes, there is a teleportation hall, a tavern/guest house/theatre-crossover and the pdf does not fail to comment on the particularities of daily life. Beyond the absolutely gorgeous 1-page isometric map (seriously worth the price of admission and a great hand-out), the place obviously has adventuring potential galore, even before introducing the 4 sample “guests” who are currently biding their time in this refuge from the worries of the world. Made me really chuckle, btw.: Moog, the awakened bear monk. Yes, that is one of them. Come on, that *is* cool!

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch. Layout adheres to RSP’s elegant 2-column b/w-standard and the pdf features some nice b/w-artworks. The pdf comes in two iterations, one optimized for screen-use and one made for the printer – kudos there! The cartography by Simon Butler and Dyson Logos is excellent beyond the usual standard of the series: We actually get a stunning isometric map this time around. Personally, I consider the map alone worth the low asking price. I think by joining Raging Swan Press’ patreon, you can actually get the high-res map for the evocative place, but I am not 100% sure. The map provided is cool, but sports keyed rooms.

Jeff Gomez and Jacob Trier joining forces has delivered nothing but amazing in this Place of Power: Beyond being extremely useful tool for the GM (“Oh damn, now the city’s powerful guys will want them dead and I have no logical explanation why they’re not found…wait, they helped that one dwarf a couple of sessions before…”) to make the PCs escape overwhelming odds, it also makes a glorious place for a subdued investigation into the fugitives…and then there’d be the question of who actually made and magic-proof’d this place…a ton of amazing adventure, unique yet easily usable in just about any context, a ton of ideas crammed into a precious few pages: This is glorious and epitomizes what the series should be about. My final verdict will clock in at 5 stars + seal of approval.

You can get this cool sanctuary here on OBS!

You can directly support raging Swan Press here on patreon!
Endzeitgeist out.

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