Review & Commentary On GMA1: Cult of The Rat God By Andy Castillo Jr For 1edition, 2nd edition, & OSRIC RPG

 "Your travels have brought you to the City of Genepa, a thriving port and trade town. While you explore the city and seek adventure, your inquiries lead you to an ancient troll commander’s lair. You also travel through reptile infested swamp in search of an elusive group of slavers that are reputed to be lead by a Wererat bandit and his wife. The Rat King and The Rat Queen. Life is full of surprises." 

"As if that were not enough, a necromancer has stirred the restless undead at the southern edge of the city and the council calls upon your services to try and sort out this problem. The Ratmire and Laborer’s districts are in complete disarray and the Planned Afterlife Cemetery appears to be the source of the Hungry Dead"  

 GMA1: Cult of The Rat God By Andy Castillo Jr  has been on my radar for a long time. Again this is one of those modules that I'll get around too. Well last week I pulled the trigger with a nice Amazon gift card I got for the holidays from one of my players. GMA1 isn't a small  module at ninety nine pages but it's one where there's a ton going on. Andy Castillo's writing here is on point and the plot winds its way with the PC's up to thier armpits in tepid swamp water; "The party's inquiries lead them to a troll and reptile infested swamp, in search of an elusive group of slavers that are reputed to be lead by a wererat bandit and his wife, The Rat King and The Rat Queen.  Meanwhile, a necromancer is busy, secretly plying his trade in or about the Ratmire District and the Planned Afterlife Cemetery.  As undead start to rampage throught sections of the city each night, the council summons the players to investigate the cause of these serious discturbances." As I said GMA1 is expansive and well done. Encounters are quick and the author's writing is on point. The font and layout is also good with the artwork nor the layout laboring the eye. 
  Encounters in GMA1 are solid and challenging while moving the action along. On the whole  GMA1: Cult of The Rat God seems like a well thought out module. What's really unique here in GMA1 is the fact that this module allows the PC's to actually be heroic and solidly moral for a change. There are real stakes here with an undead army that if it get's loose could spell doom for the campaign setting. 
One of the things that makes GMA1 solid for OSR play is how adaptable the module is. And this makes GMA1 perfect for adapting it to Castles and Crusades. The encounters can easily be shifted into an existing campaign such as Greyhawk. 

The action here is fast paced and the author keeps thing moving. There's some decent encounters and the stakes are reasonable high. There could be a world ending threat but it needs to be checked by the adventurers. GMA1 is PC driven and perfect for runnning with Hyperborea rpg or Castles & Crusades or even OSRIC. 

There's a good deal of both urban and wilderness in GMA1 this is a welcome style of module with the PC's able to showcase thier talents in this module. And GMA1:Cult of the Rat God has some very decent adventure locations that can slide right into existing campaigns. And this mades this module very modular for campaign usage. There something profoundly satisfying about reusable adventure locations th at can be used again and again. GMA1: Cult of The Rat God has all of the hallmarks of a great module and be sure to visit the author's website for further details on the module here.