One of the curiosities I’ve recently acquired is Warlock #7 – Fey Courts, a Patreon-funded publication from Kobold Press. This supplement contains four articles and one short adventure in a 28-page half-size booklet; all in black and white, it hearkens back to the early publications of D&D, although this product is far more professionally created than any of those. The articles are set in Midgard, the setting of Kobold Press, but they’re easily transposed to other settings.
The supplement begins with an article by Wolfgang Baur, chief Kobold of Kobold Press, on three “Lost Courts” of the Elves, describing old places of power where the fey once lived. This is a beautifully written piece, full of imagination and inspiration. It lacks any game mechanics, but the descriptions evoke places of beauty and loss. The histories of each court is given, as well as an idea as to their current state and what adventurers might find there.
Jon Sawatsky’s “Recollection of the River Court” describes the interesting places and people you can find in King Ulorian’s court. A few NPCs have stat-blocks, and it introduces new magic items: wine of the court and wine of the river. It’s well-written, if not as elegiac as Baur’s piece.
Shawn Merwin has two articles, both describing new monsters. The first is a rogues’ gallery of the River Court, describing three of the main servants of King Ulorian. The second describes three variant Undines. Each stat-block contains one interesting mechanic, something of which I approve. It’s very easy to design dull monster statistics that are just “I hit things”; you need that one thing to make them unique. The one “miss” here would be the River/Pond Undine – it has a 10-foot cone attack of cold water, but it just deals damage – and 10 feet is too little for a cone in any case. If it were 15-feet and reduced the speed of the targets, I’d find it more interesting. The rest are fine. I feel the descriptions are generally more engaging than the statistics.
Troy E. Taylor rounds out the collection with an adventure for tenth-level characters, “Guardians of the Trifles”. It uses several monsters from Tome of Beasts, and it would be wise to have that publication if you’d like to run this. The adventure sees the characters caught up in an altercation between the River Court and some rebel elves. The play of the adventure allows the characters to meet the River King, and to venture into a fey realm to recover some “trifles”. It’s an inventive tale, although occasionally the story logic doesn’t flow smoothly. The River King chastises the characters for not observing the borders of his realm – it seems odd to me that the characters wouldn’t know of them! The transition between “fetching sunflower seeds” and “getting trifles” is handled poorly, I think.
The adventure is not overwritten; indeed, it leaves several details for the Dungeon Master to fill in. However, it’s got enough details so the DM has guidance, and it has some delightful scenes. I recommend this adventure.
Overall, Warlock #7 – Fey Courts is an excellent publication, detailing some of the fey areas of Midgard very nicely. For me, Wolfgang Baur’s article is the standout, but all of them could prove useful. The formatting and art are very nicely done. Highly recommended!