By (author) John Holmes
A beautifully illustrated Mythras Adventure for Monster Island
A Bird in the Hand is a scenario set on Monster Island. The characters become involved in a quest to assist a lizardfolk tribe, and a struggle against a malevolent evil threatening to dominate life on the island.
By (author) John Holmes
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I'm a big fan of the monster island setting and was so pleased when I heard about this scenario. A bird in the hand really lived up to my expectations! It manages to include enough detail for you to bring the NPCs and events of Port Grimsand to life whilst not being overly bloated or wordy.
I don't want to give too much away, but the book is almost two adventures in one - your lucky players will get to experience the hustle and bustle of Port Grimsand and it's colourful characters in the first half, before heading into the jungle for an expedition they will never forget.
Additionally the hex crawl rules make travel itself and eventful (and potentially hazardous!) undertaking, especially for the unprepared.
It also helps that the book is layed out in a really intuitive way with everything easily accessible whilst you're running, so you don't have to worry about memorising everything.
Would totally recommend!
So up front I have to say I don't like writing reviews and I especially don't like to do so for adventures I haven't run. That said, I really want to run this adventure and definitely feel it should come recommended if you intend to play Mythras/Monster Island. I will try and stay spoiler free.
If you're not familiar with Monster Island you should think about becoming so, however a clever DM should be able to easily substitute the contents of this module and their own creativity as a substitute.
I was going to call this a little adventure but at 60 pages (inc. Covers) and chock a block full of events and info it feels anything but. Broken into three distinct chapters you cover quite a bit of the traditional adventure pillars, social/exploration/combat and there is plenty of opportunity for a variety of character builds to shine.
The story is interesting and fun with a plethora of NPC's to act as aid or foils as well a wonderful mix of exciting environments to explore and challenge the PC's. It's difficult to do it justice without spoilers so you'll just have to take my word...or buy it.
The individual chapters should offer many nights of enjoyment as the players are challenged in a variety of ways from a possible heist, trekking through a hostile jungle and some exciting exploration keeping all your bases covered. If you enjoy a good pulp action adventure you'll enjoy this.
Tonally I was reminded of such films as Doc Savage or Indiana Jones the environment is reminiscent of Kong Island meets Tortuga.
As a GM I was particularly impressed at the ease in which this adventure could be expanded and the advice given to help new GM's, a lot of guidance is given in each chapter to help with structuring that part of the adventure but it is 'guidance' not railroading. The section on Hex Crawls is certainly useful and one of many pieces that you could easily carry over to other games alongside NPC's, creatures and so forth.
The art is excellent, with some lovely story pieces and some simpler but useful, clean and well done map pieces. The cover is particulaly excellent and captures quite a bit of the feel for the adventure.
