Review: Feast of Goblyns

 I am not going to review all of the Ravenloft adventures. I owned them all at one time, but somewhere between 1990 (when I was an undergrad) and 2000 (when I was married with a house and new baby) I sold a lot of them off. I don't really regret it since I have bought most of them back on PDF.  But a few I kept, this is one of them. Largely because there is a lot here that feels like it could have gone into the Boxed Set.

RA1 Feast of Goblyns

by Blake Mobley. Art by Clyde Caldwell, Stephen Fabian, Karen Wynn Fonstad, Roy E. Parker.

96 pages, plus maps.

For this review I am considering my original copy from 1990 and DriveThruRPG PDF. 

This is actually a rather great adventure for a number of good reasons.

First, it expands Ravenloft, the game, into new areas. It has the set dressing of Gothic Horror, but it is an AD&D MacGuffin adventure. Nothing at all wrong with that. It introduces a new type of vampire. Introduces a new idea for Goblins, or rather, Goblyns that works great with the horror elements. It also has a proper GM screen, some more monsters, and Ravenloft-themed character sheets.

Secondly, it expands Ravenloft, the setting, into new domains. That is to say, not everything has to be about Strahd and his drama.

The adventure itself is, like I said, a MacGuffin hunt. Find the Crown of Souls and keep it out of all the bad guys hands.  In the process, a new Domain can be created.  The adventure itself is actually pretty fun and a good one. The NPCs are quite memorable. 

Back in the 1990s RPGs were all about the Meta-plot. I blame Vampire: The Masquerade, but Ravenloft was not immune. While Feast of Goblyns was not originally part of a meta-plot it was later retconned in as the first part (of 6) of the Grand Conjunction.

This works out well to be honest. The Grand Conjunction showed that Ravenloft was a malleable place and the lands, rulers, and rules, could change anytime. This was not a fixed world. So I do find it odd when people complain that Ravenloft is different than it was then. Really? It changed between 1991 and 1997 and no one blinked an eye then.

I never ran the Grand Conjunction back then. I might go back and reread it to see if it is something I would do today. Maybe start out in "Classic Ravenloft" and then Grand Conjunction and then end up with a Ravenloft from the 5e version. I mean it is not beyond the scope of the lands really.

My physical copy is still in great shape, likely because it has been inside my Realms of Terror box for about 30 years.

The PDF is good, if a touch fuzzy. I do not have the PoD version.

One thing I was looking forward too with the PDF was the ability to print out the character sheets. The PDF, once printed is a bit fuzzy. My own scan is a bit better.

Again, I have a lot of great memories of this one. Running it and reading through it. The early 90s were a great time for Vampire games and media. Vampire the Masquerade was out, Bram Stoker's Dracula was out in 1992. So this was the right game at the right time.

The adventure is/was fun and a great addition, but I think most of its value comes showing what can actually be done for/in Ravenloft and of course all the play aids and DM tips.

I would certainly run this one again.