The Introduction sets the scene: a wild coastal region that lies on the far-flung borders of a powerful kingdom, separated from the comforts of civilisation by wild seas and wilder lands. Definitely a place where adventure might be had, and the Introduction goes on to suggest ways in which this setting might feature in your campaign. Top of the list is the obvious one of being the place in which it's your characters who will be having the adventures, or indeed it could be their homeland. Alternatively, if your characters are at a higher level, perhaps the area's masters, the Lochers, have fallen into disfavour at Court and the characters might be granted the lands in their place...

The history of the area comes next, giving a good overview of the forces that have shaped the area as it is today (and with quite a few items that start spawning adventure ideas as you read through!). This moves on to a gazetteer section, mentioning some notable places (and likely travel times between them, a convenience many a DM who finds producing such estimates on demand hard should appreciate). There's a simple and clear map to show you the lay of the land as well.

If the history and location descriptions have not set your creative juices flowing, several adventure seeds are provided to start you off. There is also a list of rumours, spread them around whilst deciding which are true and what might be going on.

Appendix 1 introduces the half-goblin, a new race which will soon become familiar to those who venture into the massive Tangled Wood that covers much of the inland area. Also presented are shadow wolves, with normal wolf cunning enhanced by ancient druidic magics, and three local deities, if you favour a panoply of gods in your world with many lesser ones popular in particular areas (or you may just like these and wish to make them major deities in your world!).

Appendix 2: On The Road provides five ready-made encounters to drop into your game: each although simple is well-described and detailed, and has the potential for further development if so desired.

A neat and elegant adventure setting, with plenty for the low-level adventurer to see and do, with possibilities for brawling and some intrigue as well. The NPCs all have lives and interests of their own, you can easily imagine the Lonely Coast existing even while the focus of your game is elsewhere, it is a plausible and real place within the context of an alternate reality.

Return to The Lonely Coast page.

Reviewed: 31 July 2010