Willow is an old-school, grim, backwater micro setting made for Swords and Wizardry rule system, but can easily be used with other old-school systems or even 5E. All in a compact zine format.
It is a modular town that can be dropped into your campaign. Its fully formed and flavorful. It focuses on game-able content and being easy to use at the table. It is graphic and art heavy and utilizes a lot of random tables to make it easier for GMs to run in a pinch.
THE SETTING
A dreary provincial town called Willow sits beside the Lake of Tears. The lake is framed by weeping willow trees, their vines pouring into the lake’s shores. Willow is not what one would call an upbeat town. The rains here are relentless and the grey skies loom low like a giant cage. Travelers do not linger here long; one night in the Blue Brew Inn is enough to make most jump on the ferry and move on. But recently the ferries have stopped running as something terrible has taken up residence upriver. Meanwhile, the town residents will not talk about the noises echoing up from the staircase that descends below the lake, nor the broken stone circle on the hill at the edge of town. The town's leader, a witch named Morose Morgan, is a recluse and refuses to leave her island and answer any questions from travelers.
Willow is a mini hexcrawl and players will have to work to investigate a mystery to move on from this damp backwater town to bigger, brighter places.
- Hooks and rumors for players
- 5 Keyed Hex Locations
- Random encounter tables for different areas
- New monsters and monster factions
- An aquatic themed dungeon
- NPC generator
- NPC relationship web
- Key NPCs with desires, fears and mannerisms
- A mystery to be solved upriver
- A shop and inn
- Town history
- Organization structure for the society of the town
- Changes and sets of events that happen over time
- New magic items, including magical plants and insects
- Flow charts for how the village will react to different actions players take
THE ZINE
- Trim size : 5.5” x 8.5”
- 100gsm paper stapled with 130gsm cardstock cover
- Color printing (but almost entirely one color)
- Printed with Mixam
