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Thursday, August 5, 2021

Quick Review: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Encounters 4: Ring Fort

Today, let's look at:

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Encounters 4: Ring Fort by Douglas Cole, Jarl of the Dungeon Vikings.

Ring Fort provides a Viking ring fort in full detail for use in DF. It has a map of the fort and town, details about the physical structure and layout of the fort, and detail on the inhabitants. Sections discuss using the ring fort as a "town" for DF, and have enough details if the PCs assault the place (well, not specific loot details, but still) or had to fight out of it against some monstrous threat.

Details are excellent, down the number of men and their equipment, locations of importing businesses in town, and names and personalities of peoples. The place is ready to go with little in the way of needed detail to make it game-ready.

Amusingly, there is a quote from a Japanese used here on a Viking fort. That just struck me as funny. Maybe we need DF Encounters 5: Himeji-jo? Hmm . . . I've been there at least once . . .

Overall, it's a useful supplement. The map is attractive, but I do wish there were battle maps of the gates - the most likely places for combat if the GM uses it as a battle location and not just as "town" outside of the "dungeon." Still, it's a good resource to have if you need a wilderness town for PCs to interact with, provided you're okay with it being Viking-themed or are willing to reskin everyone as orcs or generic Olden Tymesfolk or whatever. A nice addition to the Encounters line.

2 comments:

  1. A detail of the gate would be a great addition for a future use of the map (which I had commissioned on my own dime so that I could really ensure that the details were accurate).

    The quote was like the ONLY one I could find that was on point.

    Himeiji-jo would require a bit more than 10 pages, methinks. But it serves the same role as The Citadel at Nordvorn: both keep and town, major defensive emplacement and symbol of might. It'd be a great book.

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    Replies
    1. Probably true - 10 pages would be tight, even if you just focused on the structure.

      I'd love to see that gate map at some point, although I won't ask you to spend money getting it made just in case I may use it.

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