Today we are pleased to offer you our review of Trails of Fire. First of all, we want to thank the Belgian studio Red Eyed Rabbit for sending us a physical copy of this adventure compatible with D&D5e.

Trails of Fire, a work by Erlend Van der Haegen, is available on Drivethrurpg for $69.00. The digital copy is not included with the purchase of the physical volume and costs $25.00. In any case, they are available in a bundle that costs 79.00 instead of 94.00.

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Volume Review by Trails of Fire

The manual of Trails of Fire certainly importantly presents itself. 400 pages, hardcover, large format. An imposing and impactful volume, with an effective cover illustration. The combination of the black frame and the bright colours of the image is successful, and who doesn’t like dinosaurs?

Unfortunately, the manual is not as solid as such a tome deserves. The connection between the spine and the cover seems to be too sacrificed and, opening it with the frequency required for an entire campaign, the risk is to see it ruined prematurely. Overall the care that has been put into Trails of Fire, from an editorial point of view, follows this line in all aspects.

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The Author’s Artistic Choices

The paragraphs are not laid out in the best way, and the excessive difference in spacing between one column of text and another stands out. There’s a curious choice to include the maps (made by Eli Claes) in the volume: not only is the grid too small, but the thickness of the manual makes them simply unusable. Luckily can be downloaded separately, but for $5.47. In general, however, we are talking about squared maps for the board, not those that allow the DM to orient himself; inside the manual, they are not very functional. In this way, they cannot even shine from an aesthetic point of view.

Even from this point of view Trails of Fire sins a bit of pride. Despite the gorgeous cover, the manual pages use stock images found online. This creates a series of ups and downs that can be found in various manuals, but also a much more problematic inconsistency. Stylistics, since the illustrator’s stroke ends up changing from page to page. But also thematic, because for obvious reasons we find ourselves seeing creatures that are represented differently on each page.

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Review by Trails of Fire: the Price-Quality Ratio

This would be a venial sin if we were talking about a budget or amateur product. Trails of Fire however, is proposed as a volume of a certain value and certainly has a considerable cost: for almost seventy dollars such neglect cannot be ignored.

Moreover, we are indeed talking about a volume of four hundred pages, but also that more than a third of these are occupied by a bestiary. Of course, they are an addition of interesting options for the Dungeon Master, and all linked to the regions touched by the game campaign. But the illustrations are digital modelling of each creature’s respective miniature. Miniatures can be purchased on the website Mini Monster Mayhem, which supported Red Eyed Rabbit in the development of this manual.

This type of operation is certainly legitimate, but it helps to justify such a high price even less. A manual with these characteristics would have deserved a much lower outlay, although the production costs are undeniable.

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Campaign Review by Trails of Fire

Trails of Fire proposes a game campaign divided into fifteen different interconnected adventures. The events will take the characters from the first to the tenth level, following the milestone advancement system. It is interesting to have a pre-made campaign with such a broad scope that maintains a very concrete approach, without distancing itself too much from the basics of a setting.

About that, Trails of Fire does not rely on any known setting. The events are set in a region that is described more or less in detail, but the author specifies that this can be placed in any setting with a more or less compatible mountain range.

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Setting’s Ambitions

To be honest, at times Trails of Fire gives the impression of wanting to be born as a new setting rather than as a series of adventures. Red Eyed Rabbit spends a lot of time describing places, legends and culture. Maybe not enough to outline an entire setting, yet sometimes more than is necessary for an adventure.

Furthermore, the various scenarios proposed seem to be a little too heterogeneous. Certainly in moving from the first to the tenth level, the characters are expected to travel a lot. And it is reasonable to expect passages from kingdoms of late medieval inspiration to mountain peaks populated by dragons, from cursed forests to underground realms. Adding dinosaur-infested valleys becomes a bit cumbersome. If you then also throw in a city-state clearly inspired by the Far East, in my opinion, it becomes a bit too much to handle.

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Review by Trails of Fire: Broken Promises

The risk is to create an adventure that is a little too uneven. Erlend’s intentions are to make the scenario he created fully come to life, trying not to reduce everything to the type of adventure that only sees an alternation of combat and exploration: the one you least prefer. But he says he must comply with the requirements of Mini Monster Mayhem, Lee Stansbury’s line of miniatures that inspired the bestiary. The need for a rather high number of clashes goes without saying.

Unfortunately, the result is the succession of a series of adventures that alternate fighting and exploration. There are moments of narrative or interaction, sure, but they are relegated to paragraphs that simply throw out the topic. There is no real game structure that supports them, they are just a framework in which to move. They can be good ideas, but the narrator must rework them effectively.

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The Illusion of Choice

Likewise, Trails of Fire promises an adventure in which the characters’ choices have real weight, unlike what usually happens. A promise kept, at least in part. This is because the adventure still has very strong railroading.

Scenes and locations are very open, allowing a rather free game even if, as mentioned, everything is left to the free inventiveness of the Dungeon Master. When the adventure takes the pulse of the situation, it does so in a very rigid manner: from time to time the characters must necessarily move on to a predetermined next step. Otherwise, it is recommended that the master ensures that this happens. Such a substantial pre-made adventure must accept this compromise.

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Review by Trails of Fire: Recurring NPCs

Even the promise of influencing events is relative. The choices of the characters certainly have a bearing on the fate of the Valley of Ventris, the setting of the campaign. But these become a mere note of colour: no matter which faction triumphs thanks to the support of the players, the flow of the campaign will remain unchanged, without crossroads. It’s ironic to be able to influence the fate of a kingdom but not the succession of events.

However, it is much more appreciable a certain recursiveness of the NPCs. Many of them reappear several times during the adventures, sometimes changing roles. More importantly, you can use them as allies depending on the choices you made previously.

Of course, there is a lot of illusionism here too: often it’s a matter of choosing between two options, one of which will be useful in the future in the same way as the other, without therefore really having any real weight. But if nothing else it helps to give a little satisfaction to players who want to leverage interaction as well as shooting. And, as already specified, a 400-page campaign requires some fixed points.

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A Bit of Context

The campaign is divided into fifteen distinct adventures. These can be played individually, but work best if played in sequence. The author points out that they are meant to be quite deadly; in this regard, it does not offer tables or suggestions for conversion, but only to increase the number of characters to reduce the difficulty. Not exactly the most practical choice.

It partially compensates for this lethality with hooks for the introduction of new characters into the story, ready at the beginning of each adventure. It must be said that maintaining continuity between players but not between characters could still make the campaign lose some bite. Still, it is certainly an expedient that allows it to be completed With satisfaction. Indeed, many players may prefer to see the fate of the protagonists (and the game world) hanging by a thread.

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Setting review by Trails of Fire

The events take place in the Southern Crest region, which as specified can be placed in any setting, within a mountain range that is difficult to cross. The Southern Ridge is divided into eight more specific locations, which characters will visit during the various adventures:

• Lakkenmarsh, the capital of a rich marquisate with lush lands, is reminiscent of a medieval city in Western Europe.
• Quana, a city-state permeated by a strong mysticism, is outlined with strong influences of oriental folklore.
• The Blackleaf Forest, an ancient sacred forest separating Quana and Lakkenmarsh, is cursed by the constant appearance of unnatural creatures bent on destruction.
• Delver’s Deep, an underground kingdom ruled by gnomes with a marginalized and exploited drow minority.
• The Rearing Woods, forests so thick that they do not allow sunlight to pass through, are home to creatures that thrive in the darkness.
• Raggen Mountains, are snow-capped peaks which, as per tradition, are inhabited by powerful dragons and tribes of primitive goblinoids.
• The Valley of Ventris, is a valley in the centre of the entire Southern Crest where tribes and primal creatures have an unusually high concentration.
• The Unbiased Land, is a barren land that has been chosen as neutral territory between the two main human tribes of the Valley of Ventris.

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Character Options

Linked to the Southern Crest locations, there are various character options. They are presented first two new races of Dragonborn: the good-natured but dangerously stubborn Azure, with the voice of thunder, and the mischievous and wild Sylvan, linked to the natural environment.

Gods are then available in new backgrounds, which allow you to play characters who start already integrated into the city of Quanan as nobles or commoners. Alternatively to belong to one of the two tribes of the Valley of Ventris, the Stranga and the Varga. The author recommends composing the group mostly with more local characters, keeping at most one foreigner in its ranks, to best guarantee immersion in the game.

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Review of the New Subclasses by Trails of Fire

Perhaps the element connected to the small setting presented more interesting for players are new subclasses, one for each class of the basic manual of Dungeons & Dragons 5e. If some steps of Trails of Fire show some defects, these are very interesting. Their dual advantage is that of being strongly integrated into the context proposed for the campaign, but very easy to recontextualise in other settings.

Certainly among those that are most striking is the Primordial, a Barbarian who uses his Rage to transform into a primitive animal (yes, even a Tyrannosaurus). The Veiled Warrior is instead a Warrior who can exploit the innate magic of the drow to face acrobatic and cunning combats. It is very peculiar the Oath of Antlers of the Paladin, which links him to the primordial nature of the Valley of Ventris to the point of making his armour similar to the plates of a dinosaur. Equally original is the Barber Surgeon for the Rogue, a figure almost bordering on steampunk. Obviously, there is no shortage of specializations for all spellcasters who marry the Southern Crest’s unique sources of arcane and divine magic.

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Review of Adventures by Trails of Fire

As anticipated, there are fifteen adventures that make up an entire campaign and will ultimately determine the fate of the Southern Crest. Our reviews are strictly spoiler-free, but I’ll try to give a quick overview anyway.

Although they are playable individually, as mentioned, it is advisable to experience them as a single campaign. Much of the charm they can have is in fact in reconstructing the background of the narrative with the elements that are acquired gradually. This often happens through small deus ex machina or forcing of the narrative, but even more, so these are sins that are all the more venial the more we can enjoy a broad picture of the events.

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Recurring Patterns

The PCs will be kept below constant pressure from the feeling of being between a rock and a hard place. Sometimes due to the need to choose which of the two factions of the moment to support, others because events will follow one another at a very fast pace with dangers to escape from.

Overall it’s about a pattern that repeats quite often across the fifteen adventures. The constant changes in the setting and composition of the group will certainly help to avoid boredom, even if they will take away a good part of the classic charm of the “long campaign”. Southern Crest’s salvation could become more a matter of curiosity than affection for the setting.

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Bestiary review by Trails of Fire

As anticipated, more than a third of the manual is occupied by the bestiary. Approximately 150 pages of new creatures and NPCs, including some unique individuals. These are antagonists and potential allies used during the adventure: excellent baggage to accompany the characters from the first to the tenth level.

The creatures presented are well characterized and described, and this is also reflected in the mechanics. They are certainly a strong point of the manual. As stated by Erlend, they are inspired by a line of miniatures created by Lee Stansbury for Mini Monster Mayhem. As we anticipated, the images are the 3D modelling files of these miniatures. Some may appear a little flat on the page, others have plays of light that make them more interesting. But they are certainly all extremely inspired. What is certain is that the resulting miniatures are truly splendid, very detailed and with their well-defined style.

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Conclusions of the Review of Trails of Fire

Trails of Fire is a decidedly peculiar supplement. As impressive and satisfying as it is to have in a bookshop, the physical copy (unlike the digital one) has a decidedly high cost compared to what it offers, especially considering the greater care it would have deserved in certain details.

However, it can arouse a lot of interest and a lot of involvement, especially among those groups that accept some essential points within a plot. A master with a good ability to extrapolate an entire setting from the volume, and to lead his group through each step through which the story is structured, will ensure many hours of fun at the table.

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