There's a lot packed into a few pages here, a nice little adventure to spring on your party when they are travelling and welcome the sight of a welcoming inn on a remote road...

The background lays out concisely why all thoughts of a quiet's night rest are out of the question. Whilst the background is quite specific as to names and places, it ought not to be too difficult to change them to fit in with your campaign world - all you need is a fairly wild forest on the borders of civilisation which has a road through it that sees at least some traffic (else why attempt to run an inn there?). A couple of hooks are provided if you want the party to have more reason than a routine rest-stop on their travels for being here.

The adventure itself is quite simple. The adventure opens with a bit of socialising with other guests and an opportunity to find out about the history of the establishment. The place used to be the home of a vampire, now dealt with... but somehow some of his spawn get loose in the night and the first the party knows about it is when other guests start screaming! Of course, as seasoned adventurers, they are the most suitable people to deal with the problem.

The inn and its immediate surroundings are mapped and described well, facilitating a sandbox approach in which the party may wander freely and interact with whatever they find. Note that the maps show secret doors and the like so will have to be modified before they can be shown to the players. However good room descriptions and details of who is where and what they are likely to do makes the adventure easy to run.

Overall a neat adventure with plenty of excitement - just when the characters weren't really expecting it! Moreover, it's a nice inn that could be used again (if it survives the night!) or, perhaps even better, before you decide to run this adventure. All the more startling if this is a regular point of call without any prior trouble...

Return to One Night at the Red Vampire page.

Reviewed: 29 August 2016