Bathtub Reviews are an excuse for me to read modules a little more closely. I’m doing them to critique 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.

Tannic is a 24 page forest point crawl for Cairn by Amanda P. In it, you explore a fairytale forest. Amanda is a friend of mine, but I bought this myself well before we met, although I’m reviewing this in anticipation of the upcoming sequel module Orestruck. Art is either by Amanda P or from the public domain.

First thing to note about Tannic is that it packs a punch. While it’s technically 24 pages, only 14 of them are actually the adventure, the rest being associated bits and bobs. Unlike module is laid out in a clear, simple style with subtle flourishes like forest green headings and highlights, and it’s not at all afraid of white spaces. It’s a leisurely, fairytale stroll through the forest, and feels that way as well.

When I say fairytale, it’s by vibe rather than by thematic elements. It feels like a fairytale imagined by someone who ventured into their local forest with their niece and told them a story about its quirks and secret places. There are no fairies here, or secret gardens, but it captures that feeling exceptionally well, through simple words that want to be whispered rather than orated: “The fallen prince strains to see clearly through memory, his sorrowful song charming all who hear him, filling their hearts with devotion.” At times Tannic’s locations feel like they have too many words to use easily at the table, but after reading the entire thing — only a few pages! — I captured the soft rhythm of the forest and although it can be a bit much to process in the moment, what I ad lib matches the forest as written well. This writing is a step above the writing in Resonance in my opinion, and as I said in that review, I suspect I’m seeing evidence of a sacrifice made to the gods of Sci-fi.

The character descriptions, too, are succinct, clear and enjoyable to play and read. Some descriptions are even buried in stat blocks “Stat as Wraith, but heʼs a business ghost.”, and they all provide insight into the character’s goals. But they’re also quite similar, with two villagers driven by a variation on curiosity and three by a variation on love. More differentiation would be appreciated; that said it communicates clearly that this is a low-key, lighthearted romantic fairytale of a module and not a horror or high adventure module. I find it better to spend time on an NPCs perspective than their looks and sounds, personally, though, and we see that here.

The keying of the Bog Tomb, is less successful in my opinion. The bullet pointed layout clashes with the rhythm of the prose, the leading here (as in the distance between lines of text) feels more than in the rest of the text and is less comfortable to read. These changes should make the dungeon easier to run than the rest of the module, but the truth is it ceases to lean into the strengths of the writing and atmosphere, and ends up less than the sum of its parts. On the other hand, the rooms themselves are often lovely, particularly the ossuary full of skulls with assorted complaints, and the final room is a beautiful and poetic situation (although rendered less potent through the use of bullet points).

There’s not a lot more to say: This is beautifully written, a pleasure to play, but not without its flaws. I prefer it to Resonant, even though I think Resonant is technically better on almost every level. Tannic’s brevity elides its missteps; while I’d love to see these things fixed, it’s perfectly playable without them. And most every choice furthers the themes. You could power through it in a single session, but it’s a lovely way to spend two or three.

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