Reviews & Commentary 'The Goat Lady' by Sílvia Clemente & Miguel Ribeiro From The Red Room For The Wretched Rpg or Other OSR Rpg Systems

 "On the Westernmost part of Kharabas, one can find the Kingdom of Baetica, a strange and eerie place inhabited by rude and superstitious folk. At the heart of the country stands the Biscaya mountains; they are ancient and mysterious, a place feared by most Baeticans. The ruler of Biscaya, lady Lydia Alvarez, seeks protection from her unruly subjects. What seemed to be an easy job for an experienced group of bastards will become trickier once the party discovers an ancient evil has been unleashed in the mountains. And it must be stopped before it is too late. A scenario inspired by an old Portuguese folk tale, The Goat-footed Lady, Richard Donner’s 1985 fantasy tale Ladyhawke and several low-budget horror movies." 

The Goat Lady by Sílvia Clemente & Miguel Ribeiro From The Red Room is a forty two page dark adventure based on Portuguese folk tales. And this adventure is very well done. Let me explain, 'The Goat Lady' presents itself as both an old school  adventure & a horror scenario. 

We get a cast of NPC's who move the adventure along after the party becomes trapped in a storm; "The party has been travelling on their way to the castle; it is a rough walk.They are following a winding and steep trail up the mountain. On one side, they have rocky and dark mountain walls and, on the other, a dark and deep abyss. Although it's still early in the afternoon, suddenly the sky turns dark.Then, a flash of lightning breaks the sky, followed by the roar of thunder; it starts to rain heavily.The characters have been caught in a bad storm." 
So 'The Goat Lady' avoids the 'you all meet in a tavern' trope right off the bat. And from here the player's PC's meet a tarot reader and a young boy who puts them on the road to the castle of Lady Lydia. And the PC's get embroiled in the political goings on of the region. The villagers hated being ruled by a royal after her husband's death. The villagers are fighting a guarilla style war against the Lady Lydia & the player's PC's are hired to root out the rebels. 
And things go from bad to worse as the party is subject to mountain of mystery. And the supernatural goings on there but things are actually centered around the castle. There's far more going on & around at the castle then meets the eye. The Goat Lady actually is an NPC driven point & dungeon crawl with lots & lots of supernatural elements within it. The NPC cast is interesting, the adventure locations dangerous, the supernatural happenings within The Goat Lady are well done. Where the adventure actually shines is when it's employed for the Wretched Bastards Rpg. 

Why does 'The  Goat Lady' work for Wretched Bastards?! Because it showcases exactly what can be done with the system & done well. Supernatural happenings, deadly encounters, compelling game play, and more are where Wretched Bastards shines when paired with 'The Goat Lady'. 
Could 'The Goat Lady' be paired with other OSR systems?! And in point of fact is can & that's where I think 'The Goat Lady' could work very well for the Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg. You've got all of the adventure elements here for an excellent LoFP mini campaign. We've got powerfully written NPC's, weird supernatural happenings, solid political motives, & more. 

The other OSR style system that 'The Goat Lady' could handle is the Lion & Dragon  rpg. Messed up royals, political rebellion, occult horror and more are all perfectly aligned with Dark Albion's themes. And with a bit of hand waving by the dungeon master the 'Goat Lady' could work very well within a mini campaign of Lion & Dragon. 

'The Goat Lady' is an adventure that thrives on player PC play & interaction because of the fact that it's NPC driven and driven well. The Goat Lady is very well done & wouldn't be outta of place within a Ravenloft style horror campaign setting either. It's easy to squint and see the main antagonist as a Dark Lord villain. 
And this also means that 'The Goat Lady' could be used for other OSR style games such as Castles & Crusades easily. The C&C players have all read all of the rules back to front & are jaded rpg's. An adventure like 'The Goat Lady' is the perfect spanner to throw into a campaign to have them questioning the campaign narritive. 

The Goat Lady also has an unexplained aspect & that's the fact that the castle or it's lands are going to be up for grabs! Keep this in mind as 'The Goat Lady' could be a perfect horror adventure for  Adventurer, Conqueror, King rpg. Tempt the PC's with the lands haunted by supernatural horror & stay for the conquest & carnage! 

So is the 'Goat Lady' worth the download?! Yes I think that Sílvia Clemente is a far more vicious rpg writer then many folks were expecting. The author knows her horror influences & The Red Room's adventures wear them on their OSR bloody sleeves. This is a solid entry from the Red Room and I can't wait to see what they come up with next! 
'The Goat Lady' by Sílvia Clemente & Miguel Ribeiro From The Red Room For The Wretched Rpg or Other OSR Rpg Systems Is Availabe Here.