The Crooked Moon hardcover book contains a campaign that deserves a place among the old(er) ones
There’s no shortage of horror roleplaying games, with a lot of systems you might consider: Call of Cthulhu, Vaesen, Mothership, Shiver. What you don’t tend to consider is 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, perhaps because fear is such a simple concept in that game, while the rules to simulate the effects of mounting sanity loss don’t see much play. But it’s possible to run a horror game without needing specialised rules, you just need the right material. Enter The Crooked Moon, stage left.
The Crooked Moon is a full-sized campaign, containing sufficient material to advance a party from levels 1-14 (and if desired following that, from 15-20). There are new rules in the hardcover core book, but none of those rules are additional instructions for handling the effects of horror. The book is enormous, with a short primer on how to run folk horror, the central tenets of the genre, and how it differs from other adventures. It contains some excellent advice that I would have liked to have seen more of for those brand new to running horror games.
There’s a short gazetteer detailing the world of Druskenvald and the 13 different provinces where the campaign takes place. This includes a guide on how to pronounce their names, which differs from a UK dialect (Charlotte as SHAR-lit), but does give you an idea of how much work has gone into this. A brief table of adventure hooks is included for each region, which is enough to give you an overview of the world and to create simple adventures for a session zero or if the characters survive the main campaign.
The book then moves onto the player options, including 13 new player species. For example, the Ashborn are tiny fiends with scorpion tails, the Gnarlborn are plants given form and purpose by ancient powers, while the Threadborn are living dolls constructed (and I’m not kidding) to bring joy and fun to the world.
Subclasses follow, presenting variants on existing 5E D&D classes that make them more appropriate for the setting, which is a smart nod to classical horror. The Barbarian, for example, is augmented with volatile serums in the manner of the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the Paladin becomes a Witchfinder, while Sorcerers become Blood Mages. These are simple variations, but they’re woven into the fabric of the world to make it far more meaningful.
New backgrounds are also made available, 13 (of course) in all, ranging from Amnesiac to Wicker Weaver, each with a thread that ties into the story as part of the background, but also with a short entry on how to play them. Inevitably, the backgrounds lean into the additional Feats found in the book, all of them interesting new boons without being overpowered.
Dark Bargains are an exciting addition, representing a deal made with powers beyond the mortal realm. Yes, your character gains an ability, but the cost for using it likely serves the interests of the powers that granted it. It’s creative and very appropriate for the setting.
The majority of the core book is taken up with the campaign, The Crooked Moon, which links 14 scenarios together to create a compelling adventure. Each character finds themself with a ticket to ride the Ghostlight Express, the train that ferries souls to the afterlife, introducing them to two doomed nobles and a plot that sees an ancient evil on the brink of return.
The system uses a tarot deck to determine changes in the campaign, but also includes a dice-based tarot for those who don’t have their own set of cards, going so far as to print the cards in the middle of the book for those who want the visuals. Additional narrative points are gathered in the form of fateweaving, where characters follow one of 13 threads to get additional feats, bonuses and stat increases. But more than that, these threads also provide additional narrative within the adventure at different points. More work for the GM, but with a commensurate reward in the storytelling.
Once into the campaign, there are GM notes throughout as to how to maintain the tension, which parts to concentrate on and how best to bring the game back on track should it start to drift. This is necessary, because the individual chapters are presented (for the most part) with maps, NPCs and events that occur as part of the adventure, all of which lead to a boss fight. The maps are all detailed and there are many NPCs to work with, all with intent and reason. So, while it is possible to run through the initiating events without any preamble, the wealth of investigation and interaction that’s made available with each chapter means that you’d miss out on a lot if that’s the path you took. That said, character-level advancement in the campaign is milestone based (unless you carry out a lot of side quests), so if the players are just looking to get to the next boss, it can be played that way.
While the characters reach level 14 at the conclusion of the initial campaign, there is a second-stage campaign of sorts to take them further. In this plotline, the moon begins to fall, drawn to the world by the emergence of eight great evils. This mini-campaign focuses on defeating those eight great evils with no other preamble: no NPC’s, no maps, just several more boss fights with impressively crafted end-of-level bosses. While it could be used to get the characters to level 20, it’s really just eight very hard fights to tack onto the end of the main campaign. However, the Final Fantasy inspired ending is worth it for any group that has manages to get there.
The final part of the book is the bestiary, encompassing all the creatures of Druskenvald, the many bosses that can be encountered, as well as familiars and magical items.
The artwork is superb throughout and the language is clear and evocative – it’s plain to see that a lot of love has been poured into this. Since Avantris is staffed by live-streamers with many years’ experience, it’s good to see that wealth of knowledge being put to work in a way that others can benefit from.
The box set includes a set of custom dice with a custom-lined dice bag, which is nice enough, but unremarkable, as is the GM screen. A double-sided cloth map of the world is also included, while also being pictured on the inside covers of the core book. The 12 different battle maps come in A4 segments to be slotted together. These represent their encounters well, but had a habit of moving around and separating when minis are placed on them.
Three decks of reference cards feature NPCs, encounters, bosses, monsters, items and spells, plucking that information from within the books. Sadly, the cards aren’t large enough to reference larger creatures, serving only as a visual reminder of what each looked like. The choice not to add a Tarot deck is a disappointment, given how it’s used in the game, but what would have been a great touch for an immersive campaign isn’t part of the Game Ready Bundle.
However, the biggest issue is the cost associated with these extras. They skyrocket the price to nearly three times the cost of the book! Taking The Crooked Moon hardcover by itself, with a superb campaign as evocative and well put together as anything that’s gone before, with triumph and tragedy around every corner, it’s a Must Play. But you don’t need these expensive extras to enjoy it.
Review by John Dodd
An incredible campaign that’s evocative and engaging, and our Must Play score reflects that rather than the pricey add-ons.
It’s horror, but not done from the inescapable, undefeatable creatures point of view. The struggle is real, but the evil can be overcome.
Game genre: Tabletop Roleplaying Games
Designers: Dan Dillon, Andy Flynn, Mikey Gilder, Richie Gilder, Derek Hudson, Nikkie Pacheco
Publisher: Avantris Entertainment
Pages: 632
Age: 12+
RRP: £157
Hardcover core book
Double-sided cloth map
3 Reference card decks
Set of polyhedral dice
Dice bag
12 Battle maps
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