With the upcoming release of the Hosting & Random Generators Manual I’m getting more and more confident that & VENTURE FORTH is a solid fantasy adventure game.

Yeah, sure, I go on and on about how this is a throwback to late 90’s CRPGs, but it truly gives you the tools to play that kind of hack & slash adventure “the longest roleplaying game in the world” is known for, but in less than 20 pages! And with the Hosting manual, I’m trying to pack as many game-mastering tools this kind of game needs in one place.

So let’s see what’s this all about, shall we?

Table of Contents

First we start with Area Level, a series of guidelines to create an assortment of adventuring zones that will form your overland map. Here I go on how to fill the area with towns for the characters to rest, equip and look for work, randomly generate quests for them to have stuff to do, and how to create dungeons. 

Then we jump to Companions, with rules on how to randomly generate recruitable allies to join your party. You know what I mean, your Minscs, your Xzars, your Deekins, your Morrigans. Quirky NPCs who help during combat, give the PCs quests on their own, and eventually for players to take over in case their main character dies.

After that, just a bunch of Random Generator tables. I won’t lie to you, this manual is kind of a math fest, but nothing more complicated than calculating your total attack bonus on some other RPGs. Here you got tables to generate random encounters, loot and magic items.

And finally the Bestiary, a list of critters to fight! Your standard fare of wolves, zombies, rust monsters, gnolls, bugbears and necromancers. I also set some clarifications about how to combine grinding with boss fights for those clever enemies who surround themselves with minions.

With the Character Creation & Adventuring Booklet and Hosting & Random Generators Manual combined you’ll have all the rules you need to run a full & Venture Forth campaign. So, gather your party and venture forth!