Bathtub Reviews are an excuse for me to read modules a little more closely. I’m doing them to critique a wide range of modules from the perspective of my own table and to learn for my own module design. They’re stream of consciousness and unedited critiques. I’m writing them on my phone in the bath.

Curse of the Ganshoggr is a 14 page module for Errant written and illustrated by Gus L. In those 14 pages it covers the overland Claymarshes and the dungeon itself and lair of the Ganshoggr, King’s Howe. This is Gus L’s classical style of play as exemplified in his introductory module Tomb Robbers of the Crystal Frontier, in concentrated form. In a viking-esque hall, a cursed king will reward the anointed champion who slays the monstrous goose with gold and land. This is the second module I’ve reviewed where a common bird substitutes the dragon in a story, and it’s a off kilter trend, to be honest. Hit me up with diversified dragon-replacements in the comments

The world itself is a romantic fantasy, of cursed champions, troll bridges and honourable battles. It feels an homage to the era of King Arthur, with allusions to the romantic fantasy of him that came after. It’s a pleasant melange, although a little unexpected. I’d enjoy more fairy-tale adventures, I don’t see them often, although it’s got steep competition particularly with a similarly but hugely different in scale Arthurian module Valley of Flowers.

Unsurprisingly coming from Gus, Kings Howe is an exemplar of how an interesting spatial layout improves a dungeon. I have fresh in my mind the Cleaning of Prison Station Echo, where the dungeon was really a long crawl in which you experienced different scenes. Kings Howe is branching, looping and non-linear despite being only a few rooms, with multiple and secret routes to the final battle with the Ganshoggr. It also is an excellent example of using layered history in a dungeon: The Ganshoggr has claimed this place, but the smaller rooms it cannot fit in predate it and contain more ancient evils. It even squeezes in a neat puzzle challenge in an optional room, that I suspect witty adventurers could use to weigh the odds in their favour in their battle with the Ganshoggr.

Layout is less excellent than Gus L’s usual fare, probably because this is a shorter, free-release module. That’s not to say it isn’t good: A consistent iconic colour palette and solid high headings make for a higher level easy read, but a lack of differentiation at the paragraph level (for example, monster names and locations are highlighted in the same way), make it a little less legible then I’d like. The art is striking, bizarre and creepy, in a way that I like, but clashes with the humour and quaintness of the piece.

Overall, this is a neat little dungeon, and one that I’d recommend to drop into your campaign if it weren’t so strangely setting-specific. You could just ignore the set up, though, and have the Ganshoggr inhabiting a region in your sandbox. It definitely serves its apparent purpose of a brief introduction to Errant for those curious to try it out; although if you’re sold on the system, or uninterested in it at all, Tomb Robbers of the Crystal Frontier is a heftier dungeon crawl. Sanctimonious Slimes is an upcoming tense for errant as well, if the fairy tale goose-kingdom vibes aren’t for you. Irregardless, about as good as a short classic style dungeon gets.

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