Review & Commentary On The Manse on Murder Hill From Taskboy Games For Your Old School Campaigns

Reading through Taskboy game's The Manse on Murder Hill is like reading through an EC or precode horror comic but its done in such an entertaining style that you forget that your reading an old school rpg adventure. This is the type of plot that you want for a low level party of adventurers, something exciting gritty and entertaining for you as well as the players. This review and commentary is for the updated as well as expanded adventure on Drivethrurpg 

The plot is like something lifted right out of a pulp magazine, 'Several children of Little Flanders have gone missing near an abandoned house of evil repute. A desperate town has begged your heroes to exorcise the house of evil spirits and rescue the children. Will you brave the dangers of the Manse on Murder Hill.'

 For a Labyrinth Lord adventure for levels 1-3 this product takes full advantage of every aspect of the dungeon adventure trope and has it twisted  into a solid direction that actually follows a nicely handled plot with goals, treasures, and gives everything you need to play in a two dollar product that is worth the money. 
The artwork in the product as I've said in a past review of the product looks like it came out of a Hellboy comic and that's a good thing. The mood here is right in line with the swords and sorcery aspect of Little Flanders. You've got NPC's here that fit the local space, lore, rumors, and menace lurking around the corner. You've got places of interest, equipment, and high weirdness. Whist reading through this I was reminded of whiffs Robert E Howard's Solomon Kane, traces of Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea and bits of a low level Lamentations of the Flame Princess. The product oozes with atmosphere and weirdness in a low level sort of way that one generally doesn't see with products of this cost. There is a lot of quality here. 
The PC's might wander where they will but this adventure takes full advantage of a solidly done investigation with full rounds of dungeon and location crawling in three spots or more. There is lots happening in Flanders and its on the level of a Twin Peaks meets Solomon Kane kinda vibe. Even though this adventure could be used with any sword and sorcery system including OD&D. And yet this is a straight forward adventure with plenty of action happening below the surface as well as on top. This product reminds me of at at least several old school fantasy comic books from the 70's with traces of late two thousands game design sensibilities and that's a good thing. But make no mistake, one wrong move in this module and your adventurers are dead meat. The second thing that I love about this adventure are the maps, handouts, and attention to details that the author has done. There's something very pulpy reading through adventure and seeing these. Its like an invite into the world of the adventure. And this is where The Manse on Murder Hill shines, the drawing in factor of this adventure.
For the Labyrinth Lord retro clone Manse on Murder Hill is a must. Seriously this is an essential adventure for the DM to have and its solidly done. But if PC's make mistakes your going to be dead meat.
Scattered throughout this product are three or more campaign hooks that could see the DM fleshing out the events of Little Flanders.  And to be honest while this adventure is designed and executed for Labyrinth Lord. I wasn't thinking of that game while reading it at all. I was looking thoughtfully over at   my shelf and contemplating Lamentations of The Flame Princess or  Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea for running this one .
Now there are several reasons for this and number one is the fact that Little Flanders could easily be tucked into the peusdo historical realms of LoFP with little problem, making it a perfect little local starting place for adventurers of the freebooter type. 
For Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea, this is a nice and even low level starting adventure where you've got locations recovering from the Green Death and on its way back to the road of recovery but in dire need of adventurers. In point of fact I'd go so far as to say that besides the efforts of  Corey Ryan Walden. Manse on Murder Hill is great starting adventure for low level PC's with enough action, excitement, and engagement for your PC's for a very long time to come. Now with enough bang for your buck for two dollars, I'd say that this adventure could be adapted for OSRIC, Fantastic Heroes and Witchery, and other advanced clones but this might require some juggling with the stats and adventure elements & materials within this product but I think its well worth it. 
In point of fact I'd go so far as to say that using this adventure you could take the location of Little Flanders and pop it right into a post apocalyptic isolated location and still have the action, flavor and adventure intact. To take this further with a little imagination you might have the adventure taken further afield into the  Cthulhu Dark Ages rpg . But then again that might be going to far a field for a solidly done and well written game adventure. The best one's spark the imagination and get the players and DM thinking in just that sort of way. Five out of Five in my book! 

Review and Commentary On Tranzar's Redoubt From Taskboy Games For Your Old School Campaigns

Wizards have always have been a problem,but there are some that are completely bat crap insane who cause problems. This adventure is about one of those wizards, Tranzar is the type who demands the attention of adventurers. With wonderful writing by  Joe Johnson, fantastic artwork by David Guyll  and maps by the magical pen of Dyson Logos this is an adventure that pits your party against a wizard whose made a pact with a demonic tree. I kid you not and it only get's worse from there. If you like Hellboy and the Evil Dead films then this adventure is going to be right up your alley. This adventure clocks in at forty four pages of delicious old school fun and a devilish romp through the imagination of Mr.Johnston.
The dungeon here is a living, breathing, horror filled pit of OSR adventure that drips with atmosphere and weirdness while accessing some of the deeper viberational weirdness of stuff that many other adventures miss. Here the 80's vibe is online but not not in a way that echoes some long lost nostalgia but in a very solid and fun way that makes your PC's think or die.


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This is a straight up Labyrinth Lord Compatible game adventure with nice maps and a well drawn set of maps and features that ties the whole product together in such a way as to make it easily accessible for the DM. Everything from random plant life hazards to weird dungeon dressing is clearly laid out. Here's where the whole thing shines like a diamond, the cave complex of Tranzar is fantastic adventure location and there are clearly defined reasons for the party of adventurers to be together in point of fact four of them. The adventure reminds me at once of some of the best part's of 80's fantasy films without the stupid bits, the adventure has a nice assortment of random tables in certain areas. And this is an adventure that makes the PC's think or die horrid deaths of doom. Right off the bat, I love the graphic presentation of the elements of the adventure the visual tone of the product is kept throughout and its a very well done bit on the author and designer's part. The NPC's throughout the product are very well done and have motives of their own. The set up is different without being too alien and going far afield from the rest of the adventure. The traps in this adventure are different, dangerous, and at times lethal if played with wrong. On a whole the dungeon elements and NPC's should never be underestimated at all by either the DM or the party of adventurers.
Tranzar's Redoubt has lots of interesting trappings scattered throughout that make it a really nice addition for a sword and sorcery style of game. I can see adapting this adventure to any number of retroclone style clones. The amount of spit and polish that went into this adventure shows. But is it worth the purchase price? At two dollars the answer is a simple yes, the module accesses many of the tropes of the 80's but does so in such a way as not to be stupid, tiresome, or dumb. This is a smart, cagey, and at times whimsical adventure that can be easily played in one sitting or with a bit of baiting can be stretched over a couple of sessions. In point of fact I can see using some of the elements in this one in other adventures. I wonder if this will be last we see of Tranzar? Well only time will tell but if your adventurers are lucky then he will meet his end completely.
Parts of this adventure reminded me of Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness. Technically this adventure could be used as a cross adventure with Mutant Future's Mazes and Mutants campaign option. Or another retroclone system. 

With a bit of adapting the adventure location could be used as the focus for a rather twisted and strange campaign side option for Mutant Future. A few things to pay attention to first off is the level of the PC's, this adventure while designed for levels four to six could easily challenge higher level PC's because of the clever bits and encounters. If the party plays this one wrong there are a few TPK points in this adventure. The encounters have not only a back story to them but a mini history at times that reminds me of early TSR modules mixed with a midnight Saturday evening movie. Joe Robertson and co. did a bang up job with this adventure marking well the old school influences while fusing their own energy throughout the product. The ideas in this module are fresh but a word on treasure and relics in this one, your going to have to scale this adventure to the party and retroclone system of your choice. This adventure would also make a fine addition to the Lamentations of the Flame Princess line, the weird pulpy elements are solidly well done and the value for this module is clear. This adventure set's a pretty high bench mark for those DM's looking for something new, different, well done, with lots of play value. Taskboy Games continues its solid performance and edge in retroclone adventures. A definite four out of five for this great old school beast of an adventure! Very well done and a great value for the money!